Smith News

March 2, 2020

Achieving Excellence One Student at a Time

Ramsey Parent Academies

Parent Academies

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - RHS Auditorium, 7:30 PM

One Book One Community: Permission to Feel

As part of a comprehensive Social-Emotional Learning program, the Ramsey School District is adopting RULER, an approach to understanding and mastering emotions that has already transformed thousands of schools that have adopted it. Ramsey K-5 teachers have been learning about RULER this year and the approach will be introduced to all K-5 students beginning in the 2020-2021 school year.

RULER, the approach developed by the author of Permission to Feel, has been proven to reduce stress and burnout, improve school climate, and enhance academic achievement. This book is the culmination of Marc Brackett’s development of RULER and his way to share the strategies and skills with readers.

Marc Brackett will be presenting his blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely to help improve the lives of students .

RPEF-Sprint for Our Schools

7th Annual

Sprint For Our Schools

5K and Fun Run

Registration is now OPEN at www.RPEFrun.com

Saturday May 9, 2020
Ramsey Municipal Pool, E. Oak St
5K start 8:30am
Fun Run start 9:30am
USATF certified/sanctioned
Performance race shirts
Mile clocks
DJ, music, post-race refreshments and more!

www.RPEFrun.com

In the Classroom & Around School

#TeachForUnderstanding #ProfileOfARamseyGraduate #EnhancingTheStudentExperience

Choral Collage

Ramsey chorus students came together for the annual "Ramsey Choral Collage" on Monday February 10, 2020. The concert featured all choral students grades 5-12. The collaboration of our music programs resulted in a powerful and moving performance, complete with a packed house and standing room only.

Click here to hear "When Dreams Take Flight"

French Students - NJ Devils game

On Tuesday February 5th, Smith Schools students attended a NJ Devils game at the Prudential Center in Newark. After the game, students were able to interview players in their native French Language.

Selected students interviews new goalie, Louis Domingue. Their pronunciation was PARFAIT!!!

In order was Cameron Jaffe, Ryan Kaufman, Lily Kriz, Anthony Wiegers and Jordan Titus.

Performing Arts

Smith School 8th Grader, Nicholas Yoo, is an accomplished violinist. He has recently won the 2020 CAIC (Camerata Artists International Competition) for his solo performance.

Nicholas's extraordinary talents can been seen by his winning performance. Please click to the left to view. Nicholas is amazing, so please enjoy!

Mrs. Christine Davis

Supervisor of K-8 Education and Student Welfare

It’s hard to believe that it’s March already and that we are well into marking period three. This time of year can feel long. The weather is still not great, there are no upcoming major holidays, and it is a long stretch until the next school break. Sometimes during this stretch of the school year, students may lose the momentum they had during the first half of the year and this may be reflected in their progress. Now is the time to review skills and strategies that will help students to push through the winter doldrums successfully.

Below is a link to an article from the Association for Middle Level Education, that outlines strategies for students to develop and reinforce habits that will help them to be successful from their transition to middle school, all the way through eighth grade and beyond.

Building Successful Habits for Middle School

From the Desk of the Instructional Coaches

Scott Sirota - Mathematics Instructional Coach

Supporting Problem Centered Learning

One of the main focuses in your child's math education is problem centered learning. In this model, students are exposed to a situation that they will need specific math skills to solve. This is different from the traditional model where a teacher would simply state a skill objective at the beginning of class and begin lecturing.

There are several ways you can help support this type of learning at home:

Talk to your children about what they have learned in class. When you do this, you become an active part of the learning process. You are some of the knowledgeable experts in their children's environment. Your expertise may be in the mathematical ideas, or in the learning process itself.
You can provide help the children need with homework without taking away the gains to be made from a student's individual work. You can encourage their students to reflect on what was recently learned. When you ask questions and allow your children to explain concepts, you are part of the metacognitive process (reflecting on one's understanding and thinking) that researchers tell us enhances achievement and develops the ability to learn independently.

As always, you are some of the most important people in your child's educational experience. Thank you so much for being that support for the kids!

Musical

March 6th 7:30pm

March 7th 4:00pm, 7:30pm

Tickets
- $10 Adult
- $7 Student

Students may purchase gerneral admission tickets (for students and adults) during all lunch periods. Tickets may also can be purchased at the door (unless the show sells out).

2020-2021 Scheduling

The scheduling process is underway. All teacher recommendations and exploratory period choices will be posted in the Parent Portal on approximately March 15th. You will receive notice to check the portal for the accuracy of courses for the 2020-2021 school year at that time.