Mark your calendars for the following dates:
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The Support of the Little Silver Community is Unwavering
On Saturday, September 16th, the Little Silver Community came out en masse to support the Love 4 Lily event. The featured event, the Point Road versus Markham Place Staff softball game, followed the opening vocal ensemble facilitated by Mrs. Stephanie Bennett and Ms. Jennifer Brush and the opening remarks of Mrs. Lindsey Ince. Mrs. Ince successfully tossed the first pitch before staff members took the field.
http://www.thejournalnj.com/hits-lily-softball-tournament-success/
The following “thank you” is on behalf of the Ince family:
Dear friends,
There have been many dates in the recent past that will forever be ingrained in our brains, many of which we wish to forget. But September 16, 2017, is one that we will remember fondly and forever, as this was a day in which an entire community came together to rally and show support for our baby girl. The Love 4 Lily Softball Tournament was truly amazing and brought me to tears. To see all of your smiling faces and receive your hugs and words of encouragement was truly heartwarming, and Arabelle and I were completely lifted up by your love. Lily must have sensed it too because when we got back to CHOP that evening, Lily just about jumped out of bed to greet us. It was a magical moment! It was so wonderful seeing past and present students and families, and I wish I could have had the opportunity to speak with more of you. I was overwhelmed by your love and support which filled me with hope and strength that I later passed on to James and Lily as soon as we were reunited. We cannot begin to thank everyone enough for: your donations, well wishes, love, and prayers. A huge thank you to Doug Glassmacher and the LS Men's Softball League. Words cannot express our gratitude for being the recipients of such an unforgettable, uplifting day to honor our girl. Many thanks to the O'Hara family for their generosity. Thank you also to Dr. Kossack, Dr. Albert Devine and the rest of the administrative and board office teams. Your understanding, support, and love mean so much to us. Thank you to the staff of Point and Markham for kindly donating your time to play, volunteer, paint faces and nails, sell tickets and Lily gear. We are so lucky to belong to such a kind and loving community who would take us in and show us endless support. James and I would love to write each and every one of you a personalized, handwritten thank you note, but we are beginning to accept that this may be an impossibility! Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for such a special day. Your generosity, prayers, kindness, good vibes, and moral support are unparalleled. We truly feel stronger as we move into the next phases of this journey with our powerful Lily army behind us, lifting us up with their incredible love. Thank you. Love for Lily!!!!
With love,
Lindsey, James, Lily, and Arabelle Ince
http://www.thejournalnj.com/hits-lily-softball-tournament-success/
The following “thank you” is on behalf of the Ince family:
Dear friends,
There have been many dates in the recent past that will forever be ingrained in our brains, many of which we wish to forget. But September 16, 2017, is one that we will remember fondly and forever, as this was a day in which an entire community came together to rally and show support for our baby girl. The Love 4 Lily Softball Tournament was truly amazing and brought me to tears. To see all of your smiling faces and receive your hugs and words of encouragement was truly heartwarming, and Arabelle and I were completely lifted up by your love. Lily must have sensed it too because when we got back to CHOP that evening, Lily just about jumped out of bed to greet us. It was a magical moment! It was so wonderful seeing past and present students and families, and I wish I could have had the opportunity to speak with more of you. I was overwhelmed by your love and support which filled me with hope and strength that I later passed on to James and Lily as soon as we were reunited. We cannot begin to thank everyone enough for: your donations, well wishes, love, and prayers. A huge thank you to Doug Glassmacher and the LS Men's Softball League. Words cannot express our gratitude for being the recipients of such an unforgettable, uplifting day to honor our girl. Many thanks to the O'Hara family for their generosity. Thank you also to Dr. Kossack, Dr. Albert Devine and the rest of the administrative and board office teams. Your understanding, support, and love mean so much to us. Thank you to the staff of Point and Markham for kindly donating your time to play, volunteer, paint faces and nails, sell tickets and Lily gear. We are so lucky to belong to such a kind and loving community who would take us in and show us endless support. James and I would love to write each and every one of you a personalized, handwritten thank you note, but we are beginning to accept that this may be an impossibility! Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for such a special day. Your generosity, prayers, kindness, good vibes, and moral support are unparalleled. We truly feel stronger as we move into the next phases of this journey with our powerful Lily army behind us, lifting us up with their incredible love. Thank you. Love for Lily!!!!
With love,
Lindsey, James, Lily, and Arabelle Ince
POINT ROAD
Point Road facilitated a series of “School Rules Workshops” to involve their pupils in creating student-friendly definitions of the school rules:
To be respectful
To be responsible
To be ready to learn
During Respect Week (October 2nd - 6th) each classroom will create a poster with a slogan or creative expression to illustrate one of the school rules. On Wednesday, October 4th, Sock It to Bullying Day, staff and students will be encouraged to wear mismatched socks to show their individuality, creativity, and acceptance of one another. On Friday, October 6th, Unity Day, all staff and students are encouraged to wear blue and white. The PTO Cultural Arts Committee has arranged for a special performance, “Mystery of the Character Surprise”, where students can see how making good choices should be their guide to being responsible young people. It will also provide students with strategies to differentiate between “tattling” versus “telling” an adult when something needs to be reported. Violence Awareness Week is October 16th - October 20th.
To be respectful
To be responsible
To be ready to learn
During Respect Week (October 2nd - 6th) each classroom will create a poster with a slogan or creative expression to illustrate one of the school rules. On Wednesday, October 4th, Sock It to Bullying Day, staff and students will be encouraged to wear mismatched socks to show their individuality, creativity, and acceptance of one another. On Friday, October 6th, Unity Day, all staff and students are encouraged to wear blue and white. The PTO Cultural Arts Committee has arranged for a special performance, “Mystery of the Character Surprise”, where students can see how making good choices should be their guide to being responsible young people. It will also provide students with strategies to differentiate between “tattling” versus “telling” an adult when something needs to be reported. Violence Awareness Week is October 16th - October 20th.
MARKHAM PLACE
September 15th was the first annual Kith Selection Day in which all 5th graders, plus any new students and staff, were assigned their Kith. Each “Kith” is comprised of mixed grade levels of students and teachers. Mr. Platt opened the ceremony reminding the Markham School Community of the goals of the Kith program: To develop a deeper sense of community, to engage in service learning and to have fun while building relationships. 8th grader Michael Bikker was sworn in as the Official Kith Statistician and will keep score throughout the year. After the ceremony, each Kith returned to their meeting place to develop 2-3 school rules to bring to the Constitutional Convention. A week later, on September 22nd, the MPS Student Government met to determine the school rules for the 2017-18 school year. Those rules are still under lock and key and will be revealed by the Student Council Executive Board this month!
PARCC SCORES ARE IN!
During the September 20th Board of Education meeting, the 2017 PARCC score results were presented to the community. A link to the presentation can be found here!
http://www.littlesilverschools.org/curriculum.html
http://www.littlesilverschools.org/curriculum.html
2017 Inter-District
Strings Festival
The 2017 Inter-District String Festival will take place on Tuesday, October 24th at Red Bank Regional High School. Markham Place orchestra students will participate in several different performance clinics along with students from Shrewsbury, Red Bank, and RBR's Visual & Performing Arts string & guitar program. There will be an informal concert around 1:45 PM in the RBR Auditorium. All are welcome to attend!
Little Silver PTO’s 5K Was a Great Success!
On Sunday, October 1st, the Little Silver PTO hosted their 24th Annual 5K. It was a picture, perfect day for what hopefully will be a record breaking event for the LIttle Silver 5K. Children also engaged in the One Mile Fun Run and the Kiddie Races. Thanks to PTO Co-presidents Alicia Aninowsky and Normajean Swiss for their leadership and hard work. Also, special thanks go out to the Chairs of the 5K Committee, Stacey Tietjen and Michelle Koster, for all of the preparation that goes into this one-day event!
Little Silver utilizes many different online resources. While the district piloted i-Ready during the 2015-16 school year with two grade levels, the district began using the resource in grades 1 through 8 beginning with the 2016-17 school year. The New Jersey Student Learning Standards (Previously the Common Core Standards) are both comprehensive and rigorous. In reading, students are faced with complex texts, including both informational and literary texts, which require that they employ “close reading” techniques and make note of textual evidence. In mathematics, students are challenged to balance conceptual understanding (why), procedural fluency (how), and application (when). i-Ready was designed to assess the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS). It is an adaptive tool that provides teachers with information to diagnose learning needs and personalize individual learning paths. i-Ready is one of many online tools used in Little Silver. While we are finding it to be a good predictor of standards mastery in grades 3-8, we are cognizant of the fact that online testing is new to students in the primary grades, and until the children become more adept in this form of assessment in the lower grades, teacher assessment is invaluable.
Last year, new legislation was passed requiring school districts to notify parents of any State assessment or commercially-developed standardized assessment that will be administered over the course of the year.
Parental Notification of Standardized Assessment
Select button below to access information for parents links:
“Testing time” refers to the maximum amount of time allotted to students to complete the assessment. Most students finish well in advance of the allotted time. Students with IEPs may have extended time.
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) is in the final phase of the state-required procurement process for the new Science assessments that will be administered this school year. The NJDOE expects the procurement process to be finalized in the coming weeks, at which time the NJDOE will release detailed information and guidance for districts on the new Science assessments.
These new Science assessments will be administered in Spring 2018 and will be aligned to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science, which all school districts were required to implement by the 2017-18 school year. The Science assessments will be administered in grades 5 and 8. There will be no 4th grade Science assessment this school year.
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) is in the final phase of the state-required procurement process for the new Science assessments that will be administered this school year. The NJDOE expects the procurement process to be finalized in the coming weeks, at which time the NJDOE will release detailed information and guidance for districts on the new Science assessments.
These new Science assessments will be administered in Spring 2018 and will be aligned to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science, which all school districts were required to implement by the 2017-18 school year. The Science assessments will be administered in grades 5 and 8. There will be no 4th grade Science assessment this school year.
Mark Your Calendars!
There are two events on the horizon. On Saturday, February 24th, the Little Silver School District will be hosting a Strategic Plan Renewal Day to identify goals for the next five school years. Also, stay tuned for a date to chat with legislators regarding the current Funding Formula and its impact on our school district. In an effort to change this funding formula, the Little Silver Board of Education, along with other local Boards, is planning to host an event to communicate our concerns over current funding. As noted in the past, the New Jersey Legislature enacted a statewide school funding formula referred to as SFRA. The SFRA is a "weighted student formula." The formula delivers state and local funding driven by a “base cost,” or the per pupil amount necessary to support the core curriculum program for every student, regardless of need. The State views Little Silver as a district having the ability to pay for our students’ education. As a result, taxpayers assume 94.3% of the total cost to run the district. As explained in the past, operating costs exceed the 2% property tax cap, forcing the district to make very difficult budgetary decisions. As a non-partisan entity, our district is not seeking a political debate, but rather a forum to discuss financial challenges with politicians who will be involved with the legislative discussions pertaining to full funding of the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) formula as well as the challenge of unfunded mandates.
Did you know that most parents do not view our curriculum on Rubicon Atlas? Are you curious about what your children are learning? If so, visit the Curriculum page on the website and click on Rubicon Atlas. You can also access the site directly by clicking here: https://littlesilverschools-public.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Public/View/Default.