275 Mennies Elementary School students celebrated earning Magnet Club Status for the 1st marking period on Thursday, November 30. Students had a glow dance party in the cafeteria with Cole and Mr. Hannah 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 2nd, 3rd, and 4th marking periods.
This past week in AFJROTC, cadets marched in the Vineland Christmas parade down Landis Ave. 52 cadets, including the. Color Guard and the Saber Team, marched down the Ave singing cadence.
In class, cadets learned to make parachute cord survival bracelets in groups. ALPHA Flight leaders are learning how to brief administrators weekly on past events of the week and future events. This week they briefed the VHS Vice Principal Craig on AFJROTC's upcoming events and talked about a community service event they participated in this week. We had guest speakers SA Ryan Ulerick, SA Sean Geary, and Petty Officer Dial from the United States Coast Guard came in to share experiences, opportunities, and information on the Coast Guard. They came back on Friday to lead PT with the Flights. Everyone enjoyed the workouts. We want to wish SA Ryan Ulerick and SA Sean Geary best wishes as they are reporting to their stations after just graduating from boot camp training down at the Cape May Coast Guard Training base. We thank them for coming in and sharing their experience with us.
Damaris Lopez Colon, Jaqueline Cruz Perez, and Eylin Atilano Cuevas are the Vineland High School November Dancers of the Month! These three dancers work hard and put forth great effort in their daily dance class and deserve this recognition.
The 8th grade students from Wallace Middle School made a domino in Mrs. Ramirez's bilingual mathematics course with the topic related to rational and irrational numbers.
While discussing force, students in Ms. Pilla and Ms. Bronson's third-grade science class at Petway Elementary School collaborated within groups to create a maze made from magnatiles. Then they used straws and cotton balls to use the force of air to move the cotton ball through the maze. Students then wrote a reflection of their findings in their science notebooks.
Durand 4th graders from Mrs. Fiocchi's class understand the meaning of gratitude! They hand-delivered their gratitude projects to the person they chose who has had the biggest impact on them at Durand School. This project is loved by the teachers, students, and all of Durand staff equally. Students did a fantastic job at naming all of the wonderful staff at Durand and reflecting on how they’ve made an impact on their lives.
Helpful tips for this cold & flu season! Parents may contact their school nurse for further information.
For the month of November, Wallace Middle School Safety Patrol Advisor Jamie Ecret tasked the Safety Patrol members with giving thanks to the staff at Wallace School to show them they are appreciated. The students were to write a message of thanks and/or encouragement. Upon delivery of their message of thanks, the students took a selfie with the staff member they chose to recognize. The students were very excited to take part in this project and we are glad we could give a little something back to the staff at Wallace Middle School!
8th graders in Ms. Espinosa and Mr. Leon’s Science classes at Wallace Middle School have been learning about forces. They worked in groups to observe various devices and investigate what forces are acting on them. They also recorded what components influence the movement of the devices. They observed a flying balloon, floating magnets, an air-powered car, and a magnetic cannon.
Despite the cold weather, approximately 70 parents and family members came out for the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee meeting held at Sabater on Tuesday, November 28. In addition, for the first time, an ESL-Only Parent Advisory Meeting was held at Winslow on Wednesday, November 29, with around 20 parents and family members in attendance. The meetings provided the same information, but the meeting at Sabater was conducted in Spanish, and the meeting at Winslow was in English with Ukrainian and Haitian Creole interpreters. VHS ESL and Bilingual students also assisted at the meetings, providing child care and interpreting services. 50 parents obtained access to the Parent Portal at these events. Sabater's Jonathan Salazar devised an efficient system for getting parents into their new accounts quickly, and a team of administrative assistants from Sabater and Landis was able to get the parents navigating the program on their phones. Teachers Jessica Mercado and Mari Cortes then gave demonstrations of how to find information within the Portal, and stressed the ease and importance of keeping contact information up to date. They also talked about the different uses of the Portal, Google Classroom, and other communication apps such as ClassDojo, Talking Points, or Remind that are commonly used by teachers. Parents were reminded to bring a fully-charged phone to their conference in case they needed to download or register for one of these apps. Finally, Sabater Teacher Sugeil Colón-Torres talked to parents about how to prepare for a productive parent teacher conference, and provided some helpful hints about things parents can do to foster productive relationships with school staff and help their children succeed in school.
Citizenship was celebrated this month throughout Mennies Elementary School through discussions, assemblies, the WMEN morning news, and character definitions in all of the classrooms. Mrs. Tara Myerson, 1st grade teacher, also put together a Character Video to review the meaning of being a "good" citizen at school, at home, and in our community.
Mennies Character Badge Winners for the trait of citizenship were honored, and 5th grader Emmy Gonzalez was selected this month as the School CITIZEN of the Month. Mrs. Ludlam nominated Emmy and commented that she is always willing to help others. She is kind, sweet, responsible, and always follows the rules.
The Vineland High School Academic Team completed its first match of the year against Millville on November 29th. The Vineland-Millville Brain Brawl is held annually and was hosted this year by Millville at Millville High School. After two rounds of challenging questions about science, history, math, literature, current events, and local trivia, Millville prevailed, but Vineland demonstrated great team spirit and good sportsmanship.
The VHS team included Christian Alvarado and Denise Gonzalez, who served as captains of their rounds with Casey Russoman, Jezabelle Wilson, Michaela Giuliani, Kaelin Zheng, Iris Giocondo, and Valentino Chanza; alternates included Jillian Schultz, Brandon Nieves, Desunny Gonzalez, and Christopher Gagnon. Supporting team members pictured include Kendra Chestnut, Juliana Panco, and Alexica Perez. The illustrious Daniel Kuzma served as our school judge, and the coach of the team is Vanessa Rasmussen.
The FINAL HOURS of the Vineland High School Performing Arts fundraiser are here!
VHS Performing Arts needs your help in the final hours of our fundraiser! From home goods to candles to gourmet foods, every purchase will support our VHS Performing Arts classes.
Just use this link: https://registercw.com/gateway?organizationMidasId=27647
Charleston Wrap has Gift Wrap & Accessories, Personalized Gifts, Kitchen Essentials, and more. Home delivery and free shipping are available!
Check off your holiday gift list with over 2,500 quality gift ideas and help our important cause: Arts in our schools! The fundraiser ends tomorrow, December 1st. Please place your order now before it's too late!
Wallace Art Club students, led by art teacher Nichole DeJesus, have been hard at work making and selling ornaments to raise funds for a class trip to Grounds for Sculpture!
November's Portrait of a Graduate trait was "communication." Keri-Ann Haley's 8th Grade Honors English I classes at Veterans Memorial Middle School just finished the memoir "Night" by Eli Wiesel. Haley utilized a page from the graphic novel "Maus" by Art Spiegelman and connected the two pieces of literature. Both of the texts focus on The Holocaust. Maus is about a young man's somewhat tumultuous relationship with his father. The narrator does not understand his father and why he acts the way he does. It is only when the father starts communicating with his son about his own past that the son is able to truly understand and accept his father for who he really is. Through this interaction, the reader realizes that a major theme associated with Maus is that "communication is key."
Students viewed this example page from this text, chose groups, and created their own shortened Graphic Novels with the same focus theme of "communication is key."
Nearly 500 students from all four middle schools were treated to a free concert today at the Landis Theater courtesy of the Vineland Downtown Improvement District. The concert is part of the Seward Johnson sculpture exhibit that lines downtown Landis Avenue.
The concert, called “The Awakening,” is performed by the Sounds for Sculpture project and is a dynamic muti-sensory acoustic performance featuring original musical compositions by internationally renowned jazz musician Christian Tamburr. The music is inspired by the iconic bronze sculptures by Johnson featured on Landis Ave. The project premiered at Lincoln Center in NYC in 2019 and tours around the world. The ensemble, led by vibraphonist Christian Tamburr, features some of the top names in jazz, including trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt, pianist Oscar Perez, bassist Griffin Fink, drummer Carmen Intorre Jr, and guest vocalist and cellist Shana Tucker.
A concert for the general public will be held this evening, November 29, at 7 p.m. at the Landis Theater. Admission is free, and the expected run time is 90 minutes. For more information, click here: https://www.theave.biz/hot-topic/sounds-for-sculpture-the-awakening/
Miss Welden’s 7th grade accelerated ELA students at Pilla Middle School participated in a mock trial after reading The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe. Students put the narrator on trial for murder to prove without a reasonable doubt that he was either guilty of the crime or innocent by reason of insanity. Students researched courtroom jobs and chose roles to play in the trial. Students took the positions of judge, jury, prosecution, defense, and expert witnesses. After hearing the evidence from both sides, the jury found the defendant guilty, and the judges handed down a sentence. This project-based learning activity was student-led and showcased progressive peer collaboration.
Vineland Public Schools hosted the first Community Partnership Action Committee meeting of the school year on Tuesday, part of an ongoing initiative spearheaded by Superintendent Alfonso Llano.
Nearly 50 city and county organizations, city officials, Board of Education members, and district staff and administrators participated in the meeting at Vineland High School. This year’s meetings will revolve around the theme “new year, new opportunities,” with rotating guest speakers and activities that focus on the variety of options our students have available to them at Vineland Public Schools and the ways in which our community can support them. The meetings will be held every other month, with alternating months featuring a community forum or activity in place of the meetings,
The group enjoyed a light lunch from Sodexo, the district’s food service provider before being welcomed by Llano. Former VHS principal and current Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Suzette DeMarchi spoke on the school’s nine Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs currently at the school and plans for upcoming programs such as next year’s Cybersecurity program. DeMarchi explained that students have the ability to follow the CTE tracks and earn up to 30 college credits and/or certifications by the time they graduate high school.
DeMarchi then introduced VHS South principal Jacqueline Roman-Alvarez, who spoke briefly on how community members can become involved at VHS.
The attendees were then split into groups and taken on a tour of some of the CTE programs and the RISE program. The groups visited the Agriculture, Studio Production, Automotive Trades, Construction Trades, and RISE classes and had the opportunity to see the students in action and learn more about the programs. Staff members took the attendees on tours of their classrooms or work areas and provided an overview of their courses. Several classes were in session at the time, and the community members were able to watch construction and automotive students in action. Members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter were also on hand to answer questions about the Agriculture program and lead the groups.
VHS Families:
Please join us for a VHS Community Conversations/Superintendents Townhall Meeting in the VHS South theater on Monday, December 4, 2023. Let’s come together, enjoy some pizza, and strengthen our partnership.
Please RSVP by Dec. 3: https://bit.ly/40fW1mG
Sabater PTO celebrated a successful Family Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A! It was fun, and the food was delicious. Sabby Star became famous and brought smiles to families. Thank you, Chick-fil-A!
