Milton Express
February 26, 2021
Message from the Principal
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”… the possibilities are endless when you enter the pages of a memorable book. No author has demonstrated this more than Dr. Seuss. In his world-famous books for kids, Dr. Seuss created colorful characters and inspired generations of children of all ages to explore the joys of reading. Each year, Read Across America in March commemorates the famous author’s birthday by engaging children across the nation in reading activities throughout the school and at home. Although the purpose of this day is to encourage and motivate children to read, we need to continue to find ways to help motivate children to read all year round.
Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school. Although children across the country celebrate reading and literature as part of Read Across America each year, let’s continue to stress to our children that reading is a lifelong celebration that should never come to an end. We will kick off our celebration of Read Across America on March 1 as students will be able to watch a video I recorded that includes a read aloud of Green Eggs and Ham, and it also reviews our school spirit days for the week, as well as information about our book donation drive.
This year, we are challenging our students to read as much as possible at home during Read Across America Week. In order to track their reading progress, we are supplying each student in preK-grade 3 with a reading log where they will either color in the number of books read, take part in a reading BINGO board challenge, or write the titles of books they read in Cat in the Hat patterns. To further increase their motivation to take part in more reading, I have informed the students that I will allow the student in each class who has read the most number of books from March 1-5 to “silly string” the principal! I can’t wait! :)
Thank you for your continued support and cooperation in reading to your child and having him/her read to you on a daily basis to further promote a love of literacy!
March Highlights and Reminders
Milton will be celebrating Read Across American and Dr. Seuss' birthday the first week of March. Check out the end of the Milton Express for details about "spirit week".
March 5 - Full Day Kindergarten lottery closes. Please complete this form if you are interested in the full day kindergarten program.
March 5 - Virtual Family Fun Night. See the PTO section to register for sessions.
The school calendar originally showed March 12 as an early dismissal. Please note the following change to our school schedule:
March 12 - Grades 1-3… 8:35 am-1:05 pm (Plan A hours)... NO VIRTUAL AFTERNOON
PM and Virtual Kindergarten… 8:35 am-11:25 am (Note earlier hours)
PM PreK… 8:40 am-11:00 am (Note earlier hours)
Full Day PreK… 9:00 am-12:00 pm
There is NO AM Kindergarten or AM Preschool.
March 19 - Report Cards are available in the Genesis Parent Portal
Please remember to submit the COVID-19 form in the Parent Portal. Forms should be completed by 8:00 am so your student can enter the building and start their school day!
Stetho-Scoop
News from our School Nurse, Erin Zotti
Thank you for continuing to follow our Rules for Return to help keep our students and staff safe and healthy. If your child suffers from seasonal allergies, now is the time to speak to your Pediatrician about any medications that may be needed. Allergy symptoms can mimic COVID-19 symptoms so please speak to your child’s doctor regarding their diagnosis.
Reminders and clarifications:
If anyone in your household (including parents, grandparents, siblings) is awaiting a result of a COVID-19 test, the siblings and the child must stay out of school until the results of the test return.
Please do not send children to school if someone in your household has symptoms of COVID-19.
Any person who has had exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 must self-quarantine for at least 14 days from the day of exposure.
A negative COVID-19 test does not reduce the length of quarantine.
If someone is a contact only and self-quarantines for 14 days, their household contacts are a contact of a contact and do not need to quarantine unless the household contact becomes symptomatic.
If you reside in Chatham Township contact Madison Department of Health at 973-593-3079.
If you reside in Chatham Borough contact Westfield Department of Health at 908-789-4070.
Travel: Please fill out this form if you will be traveling outside of the area (NY, NJ, PA, CT, or DE) during Spring Break
Under the direction of the Department of Health, currently, travel quarantines for students in schools are set at 10 days.
A negative COVID-19 test does not reduce the length of a travel quarantine as we are considered a congregated setting.
The date of return is day zero and the student may return to school after completing the 10th day of quarantine (day 11).
Counselor Corner
February was a quick month! While thoughts turn to spring and warmer weather, parents and students still need to be prepared for remote learning and working from home. Many parents have shared with me their challenges that come with balancing school and work from home so I thought I would share some excerpts from a recent article, written by Jo Frost, from Parents magazine. The article offered some great ideas for parents on how to be successful when both you and your children are working from home.
Set boundaries. Sitting next to your little student makes it harder for them to grasp that you’re working. "The kids can be nearby, but establish your own space," says Frost.
Stick to routine. "Kids thrive on it," says Frost. It’s easier for them to do schoolwork and respect your workday if you largely stay on task. Make beds, have breakfast, get dressed—and then each of you report to your spot.
Signal when you’re busy. "Have a red or green light, an actual sign, that tells everyone if you’re free or not," suggests Frost. Kids love visual cues—it’s why classrooms are full of them.
Feed the meter. Your kids need and want you, and the perk of working from home is the ability to be together instantly. Stick to a schedule so they have your attention at predictable times. In addition to mornings and evenings, Frost suggests lunch. "Come together, sit around a table, and talk about what happened and the plans for the afternoon. Then say, ‘Right, okay, I have to go back to work,'" says Frost. Without guilt! After all, your work is for their well-being too.
You can read the full article here: Work From Home Advice
What's Happening in HEALTH
The students of Milton Avenue School have Health once a week. Mr. Finken teaches Health to all the second and third grade students at Milton Avenue School, and Mr. V. teaches the first graders. The health curriculum covers a wide variety of topics, including learning about how the body works, various safety-related topics, social and emotional health concepts, nutrition, and many other health topics.
The first grade health program covers topics such as the elements of the body (skeletal, respiratory), as well as personal health and safety. We also cover topics related to feelings and dealing with emotions. Some of the more recent topics covered among our second grade students include nutrition (reviewing the My Plate diagram and learning to identify components of a food label). We also recently learned about germs and ways we can protect ourselves and others from getting sick. Currently, we are doing a lessons on disabilities. Students will learn about some different physical disabilities, accommodations that can help people with disabilities, and etiquette that can help guide us when communicating with people who have a disability.
In third grade, we completed a few lessons on nutrition. We reviewed how to read food labels, as an effort to better understand what the terminology on the food labels mean, and how it can help guide them to make healthy choices. We have started to learn about muscles, how they work, some of the major muscle groups, and the concept of voluntary versus involuntary muscles.
Mr. Finken has always enjoyed working with the students at Milton Avenue School but this year, in particular, has been extra special. The students’ ability to be compliant with maintaining distance and keeping their masks on has been tremendous, and the behavior and cooperation that the students have demonstrated in class each week is certainly worth recognition.
PTO NEWS
After School Enrichment (Virtual) is Returning!
The MAS PTO will be offering a 6 week VIRTUAL After School Enrichment session starting he week of March 15. Registration will open on Community Pass beginning this Sunday, February 28 at 8 PM and will run until Monday, March 8. Information about course descriptions, class costs and updated ASE policies can be found HERE and on the Milton home page under Announcements.
Thanks to the generosity of Milton families, we collected 77 pairs of shoes (that's 154 shoes!) through our Kindness Challenge for the children and adults in Africa.
READING PROGRAM UPDATE
Milton students continue to impress with their reading progress this month! The students have read so many books in February that they will get to donate 7 more books to the library. This brings the total dedicated so far to 14 books!
1T leads the way, dedicating 3 more books this month. Together, they left Stonehenge and saw the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. Next stop, France, but they quickly moved on to Brussels, the capital of Belgium! This is their 6th stop!
3R earned 1 more book, bringing their class total to 3 books, and their world tour to Stonehenge! Enjoy!
KW-PM, 3C and 3K each earned their first books too and are all seeing the sights from the Statue of Liberty!
Many other classes are reading their way around the world and getting very close to dedicating a book soon, especially 2B and 2M.
Keep up the great reading everyone! The google form for the reading program can be found here.
JOIN US FOR VIRTUAL FAMILY FUN NIGHT ON MARCH 5
Just because we have to social distance doesn't mean that we can't have fun! This year's Family Fun Night will be virtual and bring the fun to you. Enjoy a cooking class, watch a magic show, learn the latest dance moves, and participate in other fun activities, all in the comfort of your own home. Please see the attached flyer with activity descriptions.
March 4 is the last day to register! Registration is now open via CommunityPass. If you have any questions, please send a message to MASFFN2021@gmail.com.
Read Across America Activities
Milton Avenue School will be celebrating Read Across America AND Dr. Seuss’ birthday the week of March 1-March 5 with lots of fun activities! Each day the teachers will read a Dr. Seuss story related to the theme of the day. We ask the students to “dress to celebrate” by wearing the following outfits. Each class will also participate in a "reading challenge" and a chance to cover Mr. Andreazza in silly string!
Additionally, Milton is hosting a "Gently Used Book Drive" for the Bridge of Books Foundation - see below.
Monday, March 1
Wear as many colors as you can!
Tuesday, March 2
Wear clothes from the different places you have traveled!
Wednesday, March 3
Wear your clothes backwards, inside out, or mismatched!
Thursday, March 4
PAJAMA DAY! Wear your favorite pajamas to school
Friday, March 5
SPIRIT DAY! Wear your favorite Milton wear or blue and white!
BOOK DRIVE - USED BOOKS NEEDED!
Milton Avenue School will be hosting a book drive during the week of March 1-5 to collect books for the Bridge of Books Foundation. This foundation distributes books to underserved children. We hope the Milton community will be able to help us by donating gently used books that your children have outgrown. The foundation is accepting books from preschool through high school-aged children. If you are interested please consider the following:
• If a book makes a sound or has pop-ups, it must work;
• If a book has parts, it must be complete;
• Please NO adult books (except parenting books)
• Please NO magazines, textbooks, encyclopedias, coloring books or workbooks
Thank you for your help in fostering a love of reading for all children!