Ms. Ramírez's students use tangram to prove the Pythagorean theorem and make drawings with geometric figures in the 8th-grade bilingual mathematics course at Wallace Middle School. Great job!
Pilla Middle School's 6th-grade students worked on composing music using leaps in honor of leap day!
Students in Grades K-5 at Winslow Elementary enjoyed the Brain Show assembly, where they were able to compete in teams against their peers to show their knowledge in math, science, history, and language arts! A great time was had by all!
Students in Mrs. Freese and Mrs. Tarsatana’s First Grade class at Mennies School learned many facts about three famous African American Heroes. They first learned all about Jackie Robinson. They wrote facts about him and created Jackie Robinson in his Dodgers uniform. Then, they learned facts about Ruby Bridges, who made history when she was in first grade! They wrote four adjectives that described her. And last, they learned about Mae Jemison and how she was the first African American to go to space!
Students in Miss Carbo and Mrs. Geri's Kindergarten class at Mennies Elementary School have been celebrating Black History Month this February. We researched Simone Biles and wrote about her accomplishments, and also had fun learning about the amazing inventor Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr., and his invention of the 3-way traffic light!
🐸🐸 It was an action-packed day for our Winslow Whales as we “leaped” into our future and tested our knowledge with “The Brain Show!” Our classrooms celebrated 2/29 with lots of fun and learning, as our “unFROGettable” staff had some fun with random drawings throughout the day! Winslow Shout Out to Jaylin, who ended the day with a serenade to our #leapyear baby Mr. Drake 🐸🐸 #schoolspirit #leapyearcelebration
Students in Ms. Rivera’s World Language class at Johnstone School ended Black History Month with a lesson on Afrolatinos and cultural respect. An afrolatino(a) is a term used for a person of mixed African and Latin American origin.
“I asked each one of my classes today if they have heard a racial slur while in school this week," said Rivera. "In each class, 100% of the students raised their hands. We teach history so it doesn’t repeat itself, but it's equally important to teach cultural respect.”
Vineland High School Alumni, former LA Ram, and Detroit Lion Jamil Demby supported Ms. Rivera with a video submission. Demby’s father is African American, and his mother is Puerto Rican and Dominican. He reiterated the obstacles that minorities face and expressed the importance of being your true self and respecting others.
“If you go through life comparing and contrasting who you are to someone else, you’re never going to appreciate all the gifts and all the attributes that you are blessed with,” Demby said. "We are bigger than our obstacles. We are bigger than our ethnicity. We are bigger than our income. Ms. Rivera challenges everyone to define themselves by something other than their physical traits. Who are you?"
A student in Ms. Rivera's class said, “I wear my hair straight because I feel misunderstood when I wear my coily curls. I also hate answering questions about why I look the way that I look. After today's lesson, I feel like my classmates will embrace me for me.”
Join us for this year's Cap N Dagger Spring Production: We're All Stars! A Coming-of-Age Revue
This show is a musical revue that will showcase various coming-of-age stories from classic plays and modern musicals. You'll see performances from shows like West Side Story, The Crucible, SpongeBob, Dear Evan Hansen, and Mean Girls the Musical! The goal is for our audiences to discover new shows while also enjoying performances from ones they already know and love!
Performances will take place on Thursday, March 7th and Friday, March 8th at 7pm. Tickets are $10 online and $15 at the door, so come support the arts and grab your tickets now at vhs.booktix.com. See you there!
Mennies School celebrated the 100th day of school by setting a goal of collecting 100 canned items for the Vineland Soup Kitchen. Students worked hard to make sure we exceeded our goal, and we were able to donate 256 cans! Thank you, Mrs. Gancarz and Ms. Kreck, for organizing and collecting the cans!
Mennies second graders had a very busy day rotating around to each second-grade classroom learning about someone new in honor of Black History Month. Yesterday, they learned all about Oprah Winfrey, Rosa Parks, Michael Jordan, and Mae Jemison!
The latest edition of School Leader Spotlight, featuring Rossi Assistant Principal Lauren Coia and hosted by Superintendent Alfonso Llano, is now available on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/iH-PKaZKC4A?si=6P-gywyM5RXAf7bK
Mrs. Pennington's 4th-grade class at Mennies Elementary School had a great time celebrating Black History Month! Students partnered to read "Delivering Justice" and "John Roy Loyal" "Crown." The students worked together while reading and responding to the story.
Mennies 5th grade students took a field trip to the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Students saw a show about the start of our country. They toured the center with teachers and chaperones. Students had a great time learning and exploring!
Mennies 2nd Graders are learning about Alma Thomas, a black female American artist, during Mrs. Gannon's art class. Students painted concentric circles or hearts as a homage to her most famous painting, “Resurrection,” which is located in the White House. Students had a wonderful time learning about Ms. Thomas!
Ms. Moyer's third-grade class at Mennies Elementary School researched influential people for Black History Month. Students collaborated on the project and created quilt pieces about the person of their choice. At the end, students glued their quilt pieces together to make one large class quilt!
210 Mennies Elementary School students celebrated earning Magnet Club Status for the 2nd marking period on Friday, February 23. Students participated in a Minute-To-Win-It Event in the cafeteria with Mrs. O'Donoghue and Mrs. Weir as the DJs. In order to achieve this status, students had to have no discipline referrals, excellent attendance, earn A’s, B’s, or C’s on their report card, and earn G’s or E’s in the categories of Work Habits and Conduct. The Mennies Magnet Club Committee is made up of several teachers, the school counselor, social worker, and administration. Students will also get treats/rewards throughout the marking period. The Magnet Club Committee is hoping to see even more students earn this achievement in the 3rd and 4th marking periods.
Eight top chefs from the district’s elementary schools will prepare to show off their cooking chops in the 11th annual Future Chef Competition, to be held on Wednesday, March 20, at Wallace Middle School. The theme of this year’s competition is “Favorite Healthy Salad.”
The idea behind this event is to help educate the students about healthy eating habits, according to Purvesh Patel, Food Service Director. Judging will be based on the following criteria: originality, kid-friendly, ease of preparation, healthy attributes, plate presentation, and taste.
Fifth-grade students from all district elementary schools had the chance to submit a recipe for consideration, with one student chosen from each school. This year’s competitors and their dishes include:
Juliyana Yelez from Barse Elementary School, making “Healthy Summer Salad”
Jaxon Potter from D’Ippolito Elementary School, making “BBQ Salad”
Keitshaley Velez Leon from Durand Elementary School, making “Tropical Fruit Salad with Citrus Yogurt”
Jayceon Lecator from Mennies Elementary School, making “Jay’s Spinach Special”
Conor Malecki from Petway Elementary School, making “The Healthy Muncher”
Benjamin Napoleoni-Lopez from Rossi Elementary School, making “Pistachio Delight Salad”
Renisha Ulysses from Sabater Elementary School, making “Autumn Salad”
Damian Garcia-Duran from Winslow Elementary School, making “Vachalatta Salad”
The winner will receive the title of Future Chef and take home an amazing prize package. The competition will be recorded and shared on the district’s YouTube channel, VLDSchoolsTV, after the event.
On Friday, February 23rd, Barse celebrated its monthly tradition of Fist Bump Friday! Students were greeted upon arrival at school by a variety of guests with a fist bump or special greeting for the day!! Students and teachers enjoyed seeing the outpouring of participation from the community! Barse’s special guests this month included Rowdy the Rooster, the Chick-fil-a Cow, Wallace Middle School Safeties, Rowan College of South Jersey athletes, the Sheriff’s Department, and Alexis Ziegler. The Barse Bears are so thankful for the people who take time out of their busy day to join us for Fist Bump Friday!
The Latino Family Literacy Project at Dallago Preschool just completed its five-week program for the 2023-2024 school year!
Led by the Preschool Bilingual Instructional Coach Matty Romano, Community & Parent Involvement Specialist (CPIS) Brandi Gatier, and Social Worker Stephanie Staffieri, families with Spanish as their primary language were invited to participate in the project that focused on goals of:
Establishing & supporting a family reading routine
Improving English language skills
Improving Spanish literacy skills
Strengthening parent/child interactions
Each week, the families were taught a specific literacy skill that they could incorporate at home, either in play or while reading to their children. Each family made their own book to bring home that consisted of family photos, letter & number cards, an alphabet chart, and pages with shapes, colors, and emotions (all in both English and Spanish). Working closely and learning new things together made the families feel comfortable, relaxed, and able to form new friendships, as well as connections with the school!
For our final meeting, parents put the finishing touches on their family book, enjoyed refreshments, completed an application for a Vineland Public Library card, and met with representatives from the Monarch Family Success Center, PRAC, and WIC. Families also had the opportunity to meet with the Vineland Preschool Principal, Mrs. Melissa Hannagan-Painter, who stopped by to see the participants’ amazing final projects.
Not only did all of the families take home their personalized books, they also received 29 new books to add to their home libraries! Families were also given new materials to incorporate learning through play at home.
A warm thank you to Superintendent Mr. Alfonso Q. Llano and Dr. JoAnne Negrin, Supervisor of World Languages, for allocating the grant funding to make this opportunity possible for our families. The project was a huge success, and we can’t wait to see how many families will join next year!
The Latino Family Literacy Project at Dallago Preschool just completed their five-week program for the 2023-2024 school year!
Led by the Preschool Bilingual Instructional Coach, Matty Romano; Community & Parent Involvement Specialist (CPIS), Brandi Gatier; and Social Worker Stephanie Staffieri, families with Spanish as their primary language were invited to participate in the project that focused on goals of:
Establishing & supporting a family reading routine
Improving English language skills
Improving Spanish literacy skills
Strengthening parent/child interactions
Each week, the families were taught a specific literacy skill that they could incorporate at home, either in play or while reading to their children. Each family made their own book to bring home that consisted of family photos, letter & number cards, an alphabet chart, and pages with shapes, colors, and emotions (all in both English and Spanish). Working closely and learning new things together made the families feel comfortable, relaxed, and able to form new friendships, as well as connections with the school!
For our final meeting, parents put the finishing touches on their family book, enjoyed refreshments, completed an application for a Vineland Public Library card, and met with representatives from the Monarch Family Success Center, PRAC, and WIC. Families also had the opportunity to meet with the Vineland Preschool Principal, Mrs. Melissa Hannagan-Painter, who stopped by to see the participants’ amazing final projects.
Not only did all of the families take home their personalized books, they also received 29 new books to add to their home libraries!!! Families were also given new materials to incorporate learning through play at home.
A warm thank you to Superintendent Mr. Alfonso Q. Llano and Dr. JoAnne Negrin, Supervisor of World Languages, for allocating the grant funding to make this opportunity possible for our families. The project was a huge success, and we can’t wait to see how many families will join next year!
