At last night’s Board of Education meeting, Athletic Director Sylvester Cifaloglio presented an overview of the winter athletic season. A slide presentation shared highlights from each team’s season, recognizing the contributions of their senior athletes. The Board took this opportunity to honor these seniors, acknowledging their hard work, commitment, and leadership throughout the season. It was a fitting way to celebrate our student-athletes' accomplishments and our coaching staff's dedication!
Eight top chefs from the district’s elementary schools will prepare to show off their cooking chops in the 12th annual Future Chef Competition, to be held on Wednesday, April 2, at Wallace Middle School. The theme of this year’s competition is “Favorite Chili Recipe.”
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:
Yair Rojas from Sabater Elementary School making Yair's Homemade Chili
Peyton O'Donnell from Petway Elementary School making White Chicken Chili
Delilah Bogan from D’Ippolito Elementary School making DD's Dancing Chili
Dallas Johnson from Rossi Elementary School making Pulled Pork Chili
Samantha Pacitto from Winslow Elementary School making Sam & Dad's Famous Chili
Jaycion Palmer from Mennies making Elementary School Jay's Sweet & Spicy Chili
Mia Gonzalez from Durand making Elementary School The Dream Chili
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.
Durand students traded their dolphins for horses during Read Across America Week, with a Kentucky Derby theme: “Read for the Roses.” The school was transformed into “Durand Downs,” complete with horse and derby-themed bulletin boards that were also related to reading.
During the week, students enjoyed treats of derby cupcakes, stickers, erasers, and a free book for everyone. Older grades “read for the roses” to the younger grades for buddy reading on Monday. On Tuesday, we enjoyed our annual visit from the National Honor Society, who shared their love of reading and high school experiences. Our community guest readers enhanced our week Wednesday by sharing their time and talents with us and joining in the fun of voting and predicting the winners of our own school-based derby. Students & staff were excited to use the reading skill of predicting when they discussed and voted for who they thought the winner of the race would be as well. Our four jockeys and their horses (Galloping Greco and Forever a Winner, Charming Chuck and Harry Trotter, Zen Zion and SeaBiscuit, and Athletic Appleby and Hoof Hearted) took center stage on the playground on Friday, where Athletic Appleby and his trusty steed Hoof Hearted swept the race! Students and staff donned their best derby hats and attire to cheer them on for “the fastest two minutes in sports.”
The Durand Derby was the highlight of our week and a perfect way to culminate our derby-themed Read Across America Week! Thank you to all who helped make Read for the Roses a success.
Come out for a fun Saturday and support VHS!
Students in Mrs. Wolfe's AP Seminar classes at VHS have made a great start to Task 2! They recently concluded reading and synthesizing a unit of stimulus materials provided by the College Board. This culminating assignment allowed them to both literally and figuratively make connections between sources and challenged them to find common themes among disparate materials. Next steps for these students include conducting extended academic research, writing 2,000-word argument papers, and then creating, delivering, and defending their 6-8-minute TedTalk-style presentations highlighting their research findings and possible solutions to the problems they identified.
The VHS Athletic Hall of Fame induction is one month from today!
Tickets can be purchased on specific dates and times, but don’t forget—the Google Form must be completed prior to purchasing.
Ticket Sale Dates and Times:
• January: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
• February: Tuesdays and Thursdays
• April: 1st–7th (No tickets will be sold after April 7, 2025)
Times: Morning: 7:30 AM–9:00 AM | Afternoon: 2:30 PM–3:00 PM
Google form: https://forms.gle/ufyCPMGxSHzPLAzu9
We’re incredibly grateful to our Board of Education members for taking the time to visit so many of our schools during Read Across America week. Their commitment to fostering a love of reading and engaging with our students makes a real difference. Thank you for sharing your time, stories, and enthusiasm with our classrooms!
On Tuesday, March 4th, the VHS S.H.A.P.E. (Students Helping Animals, Plants, and Environment)Club visited students at D'Ippolito Elementary School for Read Across America. The high school students spent their day going from classroom to classroom reading various nature themes stories to all the elementary students. After reading, many of the students fielded questions about what it was like to be in high school.
Congratulations to Junior Rashee Burton, the winner of the CTE Carnival T-shirt design contest! Rashee’s creative vision brought the event logo to life, earning him the top spot among 11 talented applicants. This project was a true collaboration—Mrs. Griffiths’ Graphic Design 3 class teamed up with Ms. Kaenzig’s Marketing class to follow real-world industry standards. Marketing students developed a creative brief, and designers brought those ideas to life. Rashee’s winning design is now proudly featured on staff T-shirts and event signage, making a bold statement at this year’s CTE Carnival. Way to go, Rashee!
Winslow Whales and their families celebrated “The Magic of Reading” on Thursday evening! The excitement started with Breakfast for Dinner and ended with the classic bunny in a hat magic trick! All students were able to select a few books to add to their home libraries!
Read Across America is always an exciting week for the students at Marie Durand Elementary School. This year, Ms. Giblin’s third-grade class had a very special guest reader. Senator Testa came to read one of his favorite Dr. Seuss books, The Lorax. Before reading, he shared with the class some of the very important parts of his job that help local businesses make good choices to protect the environment. They also had a discussion about different types of pollution that they saw in the book. After reading, several students shared different ways that they could “speak for the trees,” like the Lorax. The students were inspired to write about ways that they would help the environment in their own neighborhoods. As always, Ms. Giblin’s class loves to show off their creativity through artwork, so they made their own Truffula trees. They also showed off their artistic and writing skills with heartfelt cards of gratitude that they will be sending off to Senator Testa. They shared with him some of their own ideas of how to protect our environment. In the wise words of the Lorax ~ UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s NOT! It was very clear that Senator Testa and the students care greatly for their community. They are looking forward to his next visit!
Ms. Galan's 6th grade ELA class at Veterans Memorial School received a visit from Mr. Cedric Holmes, Board of Education member. He read a chapter from their current novel study, "The Watsons Go to Birmingham," and had a conversation about being kind to others and staying true to who you are. Students loved having Mr. Holmes!
Thank you to all of the guest readers who visited All Kids First Preschool this week for Read Across America!
Ms. Rosa in the cafeteria made a special lunch for our Mennies' students, Green Eggs and Ham! Students had so much fun celebrating Dr. Seuss!
Students at DiBiase Preschool kicked off literacy month with a fun spirit week, guest readers, and a visit from the Cat in the Hat! Each student enjoyed a cupcake to celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday!
On Monday, Mendez-Quinones, Colon Torres, and Chanez, third-grade classes from Sabater Elementary, visited Wallace Middle School for a special buddy reading experience! In the weeks prior, Mr. Shinault's middle school students wrote personalized notes to their buddies. Once at the school, the buddies paired up, and the younger students practiced their reading skills, built confidence, and shared the joy of storytelling. After reading together, everyone enjoyed snacks and gathered to listen to special guest reader Shirley Santos bring a book to life. This event, during Read Across America week, not only fostered a love for reading but also strengthened connections between students of different grade levels. A wonderful reminder that stories have the power to bring us together!
During Read Across America Week Vineland Preschool families had the opportunity to attend a “Every Child Ready to Read” family workshop hosted by the Vineland Public Library.
Ms. Helen & Ms. Kelly from the library spoke on the importance of reading to children at home, keeping your home language skills strong, & skills to use to help young children build a better base for reading readiness.
They also gave information out on how to apply for a library card, the items you can borrow from the library (which now include movies & video games), and events that happen throughout the year.
At the end of the presentation, families were allowed to apply for library cards, ask questions, and even take English & Spanish books home to build up their child’s library.
What an informative workshop for families. Thank you to Helen, Kelly, & the Vineland Public Library for coming out, giving great information, & handing out books for our families!
The Vineland Preschool Program officially kicked off its 4th annual Latino Family Literacy Project this week!
Preschool families throughout the district with Spanish as their primary language are invited to participate in this 6-week program that focuses on establishing & supporting a family reading routine, improving English language skills, improving Spanish literacy skills, & strengthening parent/child interactions.
Each week the families will be given a book to read at home & taught a specific literacy skill that goes along with that book.
We can’t wait to see our families again next week & hope even more join as well!
Just a reminder! This Friday, March 7, is a legal attendance day for all schools due to pm staff workshops. Please make appropriate arrangements for transportation or, if your child rides a bus, to have someone available to greet them. School hours can be found here: https://5il.co/2rynu
During Read Across America Week, students at Wallace Middle hit the stage in the library for some karaoke fun—while sharpening their reading skills at the same time! Students practiced fluency, expression, and confidence as they read (and sang) aloud. This engaging activity brought reading to life in a whole new way, showing that literacy can be both educational and entertaining. What better way to celebrate the joy of reading than through music and a microphone?
