Smith News

October 7th, 2022

Achieving Excellence One Student at a Time

Ms. Christine Davis

Interim Principal

It has certainly been an exciting and smooth start to what promises to be a fantastic school year. It is hard to believe that the first month of school is over. Students are adjusting nicely to their new schedules and routines.

Middle school is a unique and wonderful time in the lives of students and their families. In fact, the biggest shift in a child’s K–12 education is the transition from elementary school to middle school. Lockers, switching classes, and having multiple new teachers are big changes for students and parents. Below is a link to an article that talks about these changes and describes strategies to ease the transition from elementary to middle school.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/easing-shift-elementary-middle-school

Here at Smith School, we believe that communication is essential to foster important school-family partnerships, and we strive to connect with our students, parents and families, and community each and every day. We will continue to update our school community with necessary information via email, website/social media postings, and phone messages. We also encourage you to visit our website and follow our social pages for announcements, information, and celebrations.

As always, we wish to say thank you to our Smith families. Smith continues to be an amazing school thanks to the support of our school community.

Have a safe, healthy, and happy fall season!

Dr. Ryan Esdale

Interim Supervisor of K-8 Education and Student Welfare

Profile of a Ramsey Graduate Competencies: Communication

Over the last 5 years our District Goals have remained largely unchanged. Specifically, our dedication to the Profile of a Ramsey Graduate competencies continues to be a primary focus for teaching and learning at Smith Middle School. This school year, we will highlight what the critical components of each competency look like in our classrooms. To start this catalog dedicated to the operationalization of the Profile of a Ramsey Graduate competencies, we will focus on Communication. Students are encouraged and given authentic learning opportunities to convey their ideas while using intentional and precise language that is succinct and appropriately suited to purpose and audience. Most importantly, we are working to create opportunities across the curriculum for students to practice the use of specific and accurate tools to effectively communicate ideas.

For example, Ms. Stracuzzi’s 8th grade science was was working through the language and wording of a Claim, Evidence, and Research portion of a lab. Essentially, Ms. Stracuzzi provided a platform for all of her students to discuss and grapple with how to express their understanding of validity and reliability through the lens of a scientific experiment. The students exchanged ideas with their lab partners, and then presented the refined understanding during a whole-group discussion. As a result, the students were not only deepening their understanding of the content, but simultaneously sharpening their communication skills.

Team Highlights: 8th Grade

The Smith School class of 2023 is off to a great start this school year! Our 8th grade students have kicked off their final middle school year and truly hit the ground running.

Students in Ms. Perrotti & Ms. Clinton's science classes have already begun working in labs! In this lab, students worked collaboratively to test what falls faster, a heavy or light object. Their goal was to identify the parts of their experiment and write their own procedures that would lead to a fair test. 8th grade science students have been studying that fair tests provide us with trustworthy data. After designing and running their experiments, students reflected on whether or not the data they collected really could be trusted. They communicated their reflection through a CER (Claim, Evidence, Research).

On October 24th, 25th & 26th, the 8th grade class will take a field trip up to Ramsey High School to meet with teachers & students, take a tour, and get a glimpse of their future as Rams at the high school level! On October 26th, the 8th grade will take their traditional class photo to be signed by each of them in June and hung on the walls of Smith alongside the generations of Smith 8th grade students.

Staff Spotlight- Kate Dobbs

Hey Smith community! My name is Kate Dobbs and I teach 7th grade social studies. Our content area for 7th grade social studies is civics. I am thrilled to be able to teach students to become active and engaged citizens.

This is my first year at Smith School and everyone has been so welcoming and kind. I graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in History and with an M.Ed. in Social Studies Education.

Some things I enjoy are knitting, playing volleyball, and traveling to historic sites when I am given the opportunity. A fun fact about me is that I share a birthday with Kermit the Frog!

I look forward to a great school year with your 7th grade students!

Scholastic Book Fair 2022

The Scholastic book fair is coming back at Smith School!

We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. Hosted by our library staff and PTO, this event is an opportunity for our students to build their home libraries and further their love of reading. As always, all purchases benefit our school.

The Book Fair will take place IN PERSON from OCTOBER 10th-OCTOBER 14th in the Smith Library Media Center!

Students will be visiting with their ELA classes on assigned days during the week of the book fair, talk with your student to see when their class is scheduled to visit the fair. Students will have the opportunity to shop during their recess periods as well, and up until 3:15 PM after school during the week of the Book Fair.

Here is what you need to know...

Our Book Fair offers a cash-free payment option called eWallet. It’s a convenient digital account that your child can use for shopping at our Fair. Grandparents, friends, and others can contribute, too!

Consider contributing to our Smith teachers classroom libraries! Our ELA teachers will be creating a wish list of books they would like to add to their classroom for your students and future generations to order. Purchasing a book for a teacher's classroom helps to support our school and build a culture of reading. During the book fair, there will also be an option to purchase gift cards for specific classroom teachers to purchase class novels. Please visit the following link to view the teacher wish list for the book fair.

If you can’t make it to the Fair, then shop online at our school’s Virtual Book Fair. The online store is open October 7th until October 20th. All orders can ship directly to your home, shipping is free for book orders over $25. Your online orders will also benefit our school! Click HERE to visit our Book Fair homepage to learn more and get started with eWallet and online shopping.

Interested in volunteering to assist in running the book fair? Click HERE to sign up with our PTO! There are still plenty of slots left.

We’re excited to celebrate our love of books together at the Book Fair. We look forward to seeing your child there!

"Fall'ing in Love with Smith School!

Team 7-1 "Mighty Monkeys" collaborate and utilize creative energy as they create a team mascot & slogan to represent for the 2022-2023 school year (Above)

The 2022 Back to School night at Smith featuring a visit from our very own Ramsey Ram mascot! (Above & Below)

Smith Volleyball celebrates their first win of the season (Above, Below)

6th Grade Social Studies students honor and commemorate the 21st anniversary of 9/11 by writing poems of remembrance (Bottom Right)

7th grade science students test melting point and try to figure out if the amount of soap and fat changes the temperature it takes to melt them. (Top Right)

Mr. Baeira's Business Exploratory students learn and practice the correct way to write a check (Right)

20220921_172634.mp4

The Smith School Environmental Club is in harvest mode! Fall treats grown right in our very own courtyard will be used to decorate the front of our school. (Above & Below)

Mrs. Ung's social studies students explore how experiences shape our identities.

Taking inspiration from "Where I'm From",7th grade students crafted their own identity poems (Top Right, Right)

Health Information from Our

Smith School Nurse

Laura Spiegelman BSN, RN

Certified School Nurse

201-785-2314 Fax 201-785-2320

lspiegelman@ramsey.k12.nj.us

2022-23 Flu Season FAQ

What's New?
Flu Vaccine and COVID-19 Vaccine Coadministration
Flu Activity

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2022-2023.htm#:~:text=The%20composition%20of%20flu%20vaccines,Fluad%20Quadrivalent%20adjuvanted%20flu%20vaccine.

Reminders Parents/Guardians:

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, report it to the school nurse to receive updated procedures and protocols.

Please be diligent in screening your child daily for illness symptoms. Keep your child home from school and have them seen by a physician when not feeling well.

COVID-19 FAQ and vaccine updates

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Consider supporting the cause! https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-support

Next Meeting Date: November 17th at 9:15 AM

Click HERE for this month's book choices.

Click HERE for the interest form and schedule of meetings for the school year.

Click HERE to contact Ms. Kelly if you have any further questions.

Parent Book Club 2022

Parent Book Club is a group where interested parents and guardians of Smith students are invited to join the library media specialist once a month to read and discuss popular, young adult literature in the Smith School Media Center. This is the 25th year that the Smith library media center has invited parents to participate in our book club, and we are excited to welcome parents back to continue this tradition!

Each month, our library media specialist will be choosing three Young Adult books all sharing one common theme; you may choose to read all three or pick from this list the ones that interest you most.

The theme for our November meeting will be Family Systems. All 3 selections will deal with themes surrounding familial relationships.

Our first meeting will be Thursday, November 17th in the Smith library at 9:15 AM and will last about one hour. The books and descriptions can be found by clicking here for the Smith Library Media site.

If you are interested and have not already signed up, please complete this form, print, & have your student submit it to the library media center, OR you can complete the form and email it directly to our library media specialist, Ms. Kelly.

Smith School Supply List 2022-2023

Supply Lists for the 2022-23 school year are now posted. Please remember that all personal belongings should be labeled, such as pencil cases, binders, and backpacks.

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

Chromebook Insurance

Chromebook Insurance is Due Now....Register

We will no longer be using Family ID for Chromebook Insurance. Instead, we will be using PaySchools Central to collect the Chromebook insurance fee. Most parents should be familiar

with PaySchools as it is the same platform that the district leverages for parents to fund their student lunch accounts.

Information on Payschools Central, including how-to guides, can be found by visiting https://www.ramsey.k12.nj.us/PaySchools