Five Petway students participated in the 41st Annual South Jersey Elementary Choral Festival on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at Washington Twp. High School with students from all over southern New Jersey. Fifth graders Lilliana Bermudez, Leonardo Canama, and Aria Davis, joined fourth graders Tierah Flint and Michaela Marcano at the all day event featuring a wonderful concert at the end of the day. The Petway students met for morning rehearsals for the past few months to learn the repertoire with their music teacher, Mrs. Andrews. This is the second year Leonardo Canama and Aria Davis participated in the choral festival. As he was about to enter the stage for Saturday's performance, Leonardo stated very enthusiastically, "It's showtime!"
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!
On Friday, March 1st, students in Mrs. Stangle's class at Mennies Elementary School learned all about the Iditarod race in Alaska and the first woman, Libby Riddles, to win the race in honor of Women's History Month. They learned facts about Libby Riddles, vocabulary words related to sled dog racing, what Mushers bring with them on their journey, and how Balto was a hero who helped save lives. Students wrote what they would take with them and discussed what character traits they would need to display to finish the long, grueling race. Students spent the day moving along their checkpoints everytime they displayed good behavior in hopes of completing their own good behavior Iditarod! Those that made it to the finish line got their own "trophy."
Mrs. Hadley's first-grade class at Mennies Elementary School learned all about the life and historic accomplishments of President Barack Obama. The children read the biography titled Barack (Jonah Winter) and worked to identify facts about his life and historic presidency!
Pilla Middle School's 6th-grade students worked on composing music using leaps in honor of leap day!
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 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 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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
