Smith News

March 1, 2021

Achieving Excellence One Student at a Time

Student Highlights

Current 8th grade student, Sebastian Vigorito, approached Mrs. Davis and Mr. Herre at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, when he was in 7th grade. He sent an email telling all about his passion for music, and how he had spent the summer of 2019 traveling locally to see different cover bands of classics such as Bruce Springsteen, the Bee Gees, and The Nerds. He wanted to bring some music to our mornings at Smith School and asked whether he could play a song before Smith's morning announcements. Sebastian began playing music on the loudspeakers shortly after asking. He would introduce the song and then play it each morning as students were coming into the building before homeroom.

Then everything changed last March. But not the music! Even during the pandemic, Sebastian has continued to provide a link to the morning song for the morning email to all students. The songs have been a smaller glimmer of normalcy we were able to provide students when they were not in school. It helped to get them out of bed and ready for the day. Sebastian has received many parent thank you's for the songs as they were playing it as an “alarm clock” for their students.

Recently, Ramsey Neighbors was excited to get to know Sebastian Vigorito, aka DJ Vigorito, and conducted an interview for their March edition. Way to represent our School, DJ Vigorito!

Smith Student Shows Love to Our Troops

7th grade student, Dylan Hunt, was interviewed this past month by Kelly Ford on Nash FM 94.7's radio show for his participation in Valentine's for Our Troops. Dylan and students of the Ramsey Public School District put their hearts and creative minds into notes and letters of thanks to the brave individuals protecting our country every day.

As the saying goes, "Little hands with big hearts can make a difference and change the world”, and our students are leading the way with their compassion and dedication to others.

A special thanks to Dylan Hunt for proudly representing Smith School. Thank you to all of the students, teachers, and administrators of our district for making this year's creation and sending of Valentines for Our Troops. The compassion and dedication demonstrated is what sets Ramsey schools apart from the rest!

Click here to listen to a recording of Dylan's interview.

Pencils for Pula

8th grade student, Lauren Marie Perez, has become an ambassador for an organization called Pencils For Pula- an organization which partners with IMPACT Service Trips to deliver supplies to public schools in Botswana for students who are less fortunate. Lauren has already collected 15,ooo pencils for students in need and starting on March 8th, the Community Service Club will be joining her collection efforts with a pencil drive!

From March 8th-March 19th, Smith students and staff are encouraged to bring in new packs of pencils to be donated to this group. Donations will be collected in a box in the main lobby!

Supporting Writers at Home


Across a school day, students will typically be writing in every class in some capacity. Outside of school on any given day, students will be engaging in activities that also require writing--like texting or emailing. Writing is such a large part of students’ academic experience, and vital for communication and expression in the world. As students enter into middle school, they are at a critical stage in developing their writing identities as well as their relationship with writing. In fact, students who are successful in writing, view themselves a writers; they believe they have a voice that is valued, and feel seen and heard by their audiences, including teachers, parents, and peers.


However, writing is also difficult and challenging work that requires deep thinking and effort. As our middle school writers move along this journey, they need support, coaching, and guidance along the way.


At Smith School, teachers are supporting writers in their classrooms in various ways, such as modeling habits and strategies of writers, coaching and conferring with students as they work at their own pace, and offering students more choice in what to write about. But, students are not just writing in school; They are writing a lot at home as well, and parents may be wondering how to support their young writers at home.


From the Desk of the Instructional Coaches

Ms. Carolyn Chakmakjan, Humanities Instructional Coach

Tips for Supporting Writers at Home


  1. Focus on what your child is doing well. Writing is personal, and as students are developing their identities as writers, encouragement is key. It’s important to celebrate writing and build confidence so that a positive association with writing will continue to flourish.


  1. Teach the writer instead of fixing the writing. It is very easy to fall into the trap of correcting every little mistake that we see. This might make that particular piece of writing better, but research shows that this has very little impact on helping students grow as writers. Instead, think about what you might say that will help your child with this paper, and the next one, and the next one after that. What will help the writer, not the writing?


  1. Talk about writing with your child. Often kids are thinking about more, and will say more, than what is written on the page. Having a conversation about the writing might bring out more ideas, or allow your child to connect more to what they are trying to say.


  1. Encourage more writing! Developing as a writer is a process that will not happen overnight. Writing regularly when the stakes are low, allows for space to explore writing that is free of judgement or pressure. The kind of writing or topic does not matter. Simply the practice of writing helps to strengthen their writing skills and habits.


Students this age may feel protective of their writing or reluctant to share--and that's okay. Perhaps they may agree to share a part of their writing, or just talk about their writing. What's important is that they feel supported in their journey as developing writers.

Smith School Spring Musical, 2021!

The show must go on! We are excited to announce that our 2021 Smith Spring Musical is..... YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN! We will be holding video auditions this year due no later than 6:00 PM on Wednesday, March 10th.

Audition requirements and further details were shared at the interest meeting on February 22nd. To access the interest meeting's Google slides presentation with specific details, audition resources, and rehearsal schedules- email Ms. Fischer.

If you need help with filming your audition, please contact Ms. Kelly or Ms. Rockefeller by March 3rd. If you would like practice with your song/singing assistance, contact Mr. Ricigliano


If you are interested in painting/building the set for the show and you missed the interest meeting, please contact Mr. Truppi for information.


The show will have two casts to accommodate COVID guidelines. Rehearsals will begin on March 15th each weekday from 3:30-5:00 PM, with outdoor performances taking place on Saturday, May 15th at 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM. If necessary, the rain date for the show will be May 16th.


Questions? Contact our Director, Ms. Leon, at eleon@ramsey.k12.nj.us

#COVIDcant

March marks one year that we have dealing with the COVID pandemic. A lot has changed over the past year but we also found new ways of learning in school, connecting with each other, tried different activities, and watched some new shows and movies. As we begin the month of March, we want to highlight what we have done that has been positive to help us cope with the changes that COVID has brought us. Share your experiences at #COVIDcant to show that COVID can't stop us from living our lives. Submit photos, videos, or a brief description here of something you and your loved ones have still been able to enjoy despite the challenges COVID has brought on.

Scholastic Book Fair 2021!

The Scholastic Book Fair ENDS March 7th, don't miss your chance to browse through our online store selection for their next great read!

Students and families can shop online using the Scholastic Store or the 360 Virtual fair.

Our Smith teachers have also created Classroom Wish Lists to purchase for students to borrow and read in the future, click here to contribute. You can also set up an E-Wallet for your student to purchase their books online.


All orders will be shipped directly to the customer’s home. ALL BOOK orders of $25 or more will be shipped for free. If the order contains any non-book item it will negate the free shipping. If you want to order non-book items and you have an order of $25 or more in books, place separate orders for the books and non-book items so that your shipping will be less expensive.


If you have any questions about this year's book fair, email kkelly@ramsey.k12.nj.us

Smith School: Home of the Blue, Gold, and CHROME


On February 3rd, Smith students made the big transition from iPads to Chromebooks!

Over the course of 4 days, students in 6th to 8th grade were able to come in and make the swap into the future.

Thank you to Mr. Rowan and the Ramsey School District technology team for making the process efficient and manageable.

March comes in like a lion, and out like a RAM

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Multimedia Promotional Video.mov
My Movie 14.mov

The first semester Multimedia classes led by Ms. Barbagallo completed their final class projects! After a semester of learning camera techniques and tricks and advertisement strategies, students were tasked with coming up with a unique promotional ad!

Depending on grade level, students advertisements were either product-based (Top left and Above) or geared towards advertising the excellent education that Smith School provides (Left).

Ms. Fischer's ELA class uses context clues to identify setting in their class novel, Bridge to Terabithia (Below).

8th grade students in Mr. Truppi's class kick off the semester with building their cars (Above).

Our new science rooms are putting put to great use as students in Mr. D'Amato's class begin their unit on Astronomy and exploring our universe (Top right).

Mr. Truppi's 7th grade students do some creative problem solving skills as they build a functioning ramp (Right).

Mr. Baeira's Business exploratory students geared up for the Super Bowl with 'Financial Football'! (Top Left and Left).

Feeling Lucky to be at Smith School

Physical education students use their new chrome books to vote on different scenarios depicting healthy vs. unhealthy relationships (Far left and Left).

Art students utilize T-Square tools for perspective drawings (Below and Center).

Ms. Rockefeller utilizes the Promethean board to guide both in-person and remote learners through Scientific concepts (Above).

Multimedia students practice utilizing film resources such as the classroom Green-Screen and editing apps for their video projects (Right and Far right).

Physical education students stay socially distanced while still having fun and being active (Above).

The library media center starts up a March Book Madness tournament where students nominate 16 books and each week will vote to decide which one at the end of the month will be named as the Smith Best Book of 2021 (Right).

7th grade students race against the clock to for an exciting challenge with Mr. Truppi. (Left)

Is your child a remote-learning student who is participating in spirit days?


Do you want to them to be recognized for their participation in learning activities at home?



Share your photos HERE to be featured in future newsletters!

Questions? Email our library media specialist kkelly@ramsey.k12.nj.us


Keep up with the raffle and other exciting events going on in the Smith library by following us on social media:

Twitter: @smithlibrarymed

Instagram: @smithlibrarymedia

Facebook: Eric S. Smith Middle School- Media Center

The Smith 2021 Reader Raffle

In honor of Read Across America Month this year, Smith students will have a chance to celebrate their love of reading AND win big!

Starting March 1st, Smith school will be hosting "Reader Raffle" until March 30th which 3 lucky students will be chosen to receive prizes on March 31st! All students are encouraged to participate and earn their chance to win.

How to Enter:

  1. For every book you check out from the Smith School library (in person or by reserving books on Destiny) you earn ONE raffle ticket.

  2. You can earn DOUBLE entries by submitting a "Shelfie" (a photo of yourself with the book) along with a short review of the book (100 words max) to @smithlibrarymed or kkelly@ramsey.k12.nj.us

  3. The raffle will start on March 1st and conclude the morning of March 31st.

  4. The winning tickets will be chosen at random from our participant jar. So the more you read, and the more "Shelvies" you submit, the more chances you have to WIN!

Health Updates From Our Nurse

Ms. Laura Spiegelman, BSN, RN, CSN/Health Ed.

Certified School Nurse, Eric S. Smith School

lspiegelman@ramsey.k12.nj.us

Please visit the link below to review the NJDOH quarantine timesframes updated on 2/15/21. Included are important updates on persons who have already tested positive for covid & fully vaccinated persons within 3 months. *Please note that at this time, for individuals who have been fully vaccinated for COVID there is no change to the travel quarantine recommendation. Quarantines post travel are still required.*

https://www.state.nj.us/health/cd/documents/topics/NCOV/COVID_updated_quarantine_timeframes.pdf



Please visit the following link to review the CDC's recent updated recommendations on mask wearing, including adding a second layer/double masking: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/effective-masks.html

Important daily reminders to help protect yourself & others to stop the spread of COVID-19 per the CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html#:~:text=Wear%20a%20mask%20to%20protect,be%20exposed%20to%20COVID%2D19.


  • wear a mask that covers your nose & mouth

  • stay 6 feet away from others who don't live with you

  • avoid crowds & poorly ventilated spaces

  • wash your hands often

  • clean & disinfect frequently touched surfaces

Smith School Parent Book Club 2020-2021

If you would like to request a copy of any of our books, or you have any questions regarding parent book club, please email Ms. Kelly at kkelly@ramsey.k12.nj.us

Thank you to all who participated in our February book club! We had some great discussions at the meeting. Our next theme will be Individuals with Disabilities. We will be holding the meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, March 24th at 4:00 PM.

We will discuss all 3 of the books at the meeting, but there is no expectation to read them all. You are welcome to read as many of the choices as you would like. The link for the meeting is below and will also be emailed out closer to the date. The titles of the books are listed below, click here for full descriptions of each of our titles.


Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly, Grades 6 and Up

The Someday Birds by Sally J. Pla, Grades 7 and Up

Finding Balance by Kati Gardner, Grades 8 and Up


Zoom Meeting Information:

Time: Mar 24, 2021 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

https://zoom.us/j/99136217095?pwd=ZjVGQmVBRW5HUWgwZDRXajVPRnJCZz09

Meeting ID: 991 3621 7095

Passcode: j7Y6AF

Information on the health questionnaire, hybrid schedule, basic guidelines, information from the school nurse, and more.

Need Technology Support for School-Issued Devices? Click Here to Complete a Student Help Desk Ticket

Smith School Supply List 2020-2021

View the 2020-2021 Supply List

Supply Lists for the 2020-21 school year are now posted. Please remember that all personal belongings should be labeled, such as pencil cases, binders, and backpacks.

iPad/Chromebook Insurance

iPad/Chromebook Insurance is Due Now....Register

FamilyID is now open to parents to agree to policies and pay for iPad insurance for the new academic year. Please click on the headline for more information, including instructions for payment and account information.

Smith Staff Directory

Upcoming Dates

Scholastic Book Fair Ends (March 7th)

Pencil Drive (March 8th-March 19th)

Board of Education Meeting (March 9th)

Smith Musical Audition Videos Due (March 10th)

Board of Education Meeting (March 23rd)

Virtual Day for All Students (March 24th)

Click Here for Smith School Calendar of Events