Wow....it is so hard to believe that we finished the 2022-2023 school year! I am so proud that Connors is a place where students experience magical learning adventures throughout their school day. It is a place where academic learning, warmth, fun and care are at the forefront! The sense of community within our Connors family is incredible. Connors is a Beautiful Place because every single member of our Connors family makes it beautiful. I am incredibly grateful for all of our Top Notch teachers, faculty, staff, Connors PTO, parents and students! TOGETHER we make a Connors Koala Family! I wish everyone a wonderful summer and can't wait to see everyone in the fall. If you need anything over the summer, please do not hesitate to reach out to me!

4th Marking Period Report Cards are now available on OnCourse.

All the best,

Principal Addi

juliana.addi@hoboken.k12.nj.us

Our 2nd graders had an incredible time at the Tenafly Nature Center. They had so much fun hiking and enjoying the spring weather outside. Students also learned about physical and behavioral animal adaptations. Students were also able to observe some animals.

We are so proud of our Peer Leaders as they published their first newspaper! Our Peer Leadership Newspaper is written by our Connors students for their fellow student peers. We are so proud of our students in taking a peer leadership role as well as for using their writing talents to write interviews, comics, poetry, fictional stories and more!

Peer Leadership Newspaper 2022-2023

The Connors 5th graders enjoyed an incredibly fun and memorable day on May 4th, planned and sponsored by our PTO. First up, 90 minutes of indoor rock climbing at Gravity Vault. Next, a delicious lunch at Napoli’s Pizzeria. Lastly, the 5th graders visited the Hoboken Senior Center for bingo and dessert!

Kindergarteners had a fantastic time at the Bergen County Zoo. We saw many animals, including horses, pigs, sheep, vultures, owls, elks, mountain lions, and our favorite spider monkeys! We had so much fun on the carousel as well! Thank you to the HPEF for sponsoring this wonderful day!

Big Congratulations to the two groups that have advanced to the finals!!! They are working on further improving their presentations and an idea by applying the comments made by the judges from the previous round in a form of a checklist. Future Engineers are working enthusiastically to prepare for the final round of presentations!!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh MY! First Graders had a fantastic adventure at the zoo. We were able to visit so many interesting animals such as black bears, penguins, giraffes, cheetahs, and flamingos.

4th Grade students had a great trip to the New Jersey Law Fair Center, where they served as a jury. They were involved in the following tasks: listening to the criminal case about perjury and the civil case about a skydiving accident, making a verdict by voting on the decision, and having a Foreperson come up to the stage to announce the final decision of the jury from each class and asking the judge questions at the end of the event. It was an excellent opportunity for students to see the Mock Trial in real action and draw connections between the classroom experience and an experience at the Law Fair!

The third graders had a blast on their field trip to the Flat Rock Brook Nature Center! Students explored nature trails and learned a lot from the amazing guides. They were even able to see a variety of different animals, including turtles, frogs, deer, turkeys, tadpoles, and owls. It was a fantastic day in nature!

Throughout the month of May, students are learning about Asian American Hawaiian Native Pacific Islander Month and Jewish American Heritage Month!

Our students did a fantastic job performing in Spongebob the Musical! We are so proud of you!

We danced and ate the night away at International Night! We celebrated our Connors community's vibrant and beautiful diversity. Our cultural diversity enriches the educational experience of every child here at Connors. It is a place where everyone can feel welcome, proud of their heritage, develop a strong sense of self-confidence and see the beauty in everyone around them. It is a place where we all belong.

Phenomenal 4th Graders went to Ellis Island for their field trip this week. Students explored the Ellis Island Museum and learned about immigration. Students enjoyed the trip- especially the ferry ride!

We had such an incredible time at our Connors FIELD DAY 2023! Connors Field Day was a day full of FUN and endless memories for students, staff, and volunteers alike! The school spirit, positive energy, and overall Field Day excitement carried through our day at the High School field.

We celebrated our wonderful students' achievements in the fourth marking period!

Our 5th Graders had a blast on their scavenger hunt!

We honored and celebrated our Kindergarteners for completing the school year. We are so proud of their achievements and cannot wait to watch them continue to grow and succeed in First Grade!

Congratulations to our 5th Graders on their moving-up ceremony! We are so proud of everything you have achieved at Connors. We will miss you next year, but we know you will do AWESOME at the Middle School!

ELA: This quarter in Kindergarten, we continued using our writer's notebook. We wrote text-to-self responses about each big book, Ana goes to Washington D.C, Bringing Down the Moon, Peter’s Chair, Hen Hears Gossip, Bread Comes to Life, What’s the Big Idea Molly, All Kinds of Families, and Panda Kindergarten. We also wrote interactive reading responses to write answers to comprehension questions about the books. We read the easy readers in our Wonders companion books for each unit and week. Then we did an independent writing assignment using evidence from the stories weekly. Students continued to learn and perfect their sentence writing skills, including handwriting, line spacing, capitalization, and punctuation. We reviewed and worked on grammar, including verbs, nouns, prepositions, adjectives, and proper nouns! We completed a writing center and a grammar center weekly as well! In Reader's Workshop, we continued to learn and read about our sight words! We also learned about the long vowels and magic e! While reading, we identified problems and solutions, determined the main idea and important details, and discussed facts and opinions. Every day we start our lesson with "We Are Readers!" and Kindergarteners are definitely readers! We are ready for first grade!!! We hope everyone has a wonderful summer and keep reading!

Math: Our Kindergarten Koalas had a blast learning about graphing, place value, creating story problems and reviewing addition and subtraction. Students learned new vocabulary words: analyze, classify, data, graphing, place value, tens and ones. Students graphed various data types such as Lucky Charms and Froot Loop cereal, unifix cubes and M&Ms. Students also surveyed the class on their favorite pizza toppings. Our kindergartners worked on solving word problems by creating addition and subtraction stories using butterflies and a net. Students learned about place value by creating place value monsters, chains and jellyfish. Also, students worked hard to review for their Unit 8 assessment by playing games during center time. They did a fantastic job!

Social Studies: To wrap up Kindergarten’s Social Studies Unit students learned about needs and wants. It’s important to know that a need is something that we must have to live and a want is something that we don’t need but we want. Students shared examples of needs and wants. Some needs included food, water, clothes, and a house. Wants include pets, toys, jewelry. Students learned about different jobs people can have. Students learned about Chefs, Police Officers, Teachers, Construction Workers, etc. When looking at jobs students focused on the cause and effect within a job. For example, if animals were to come into the kitchen when a Chef was cooking what would be the effect or the outcome. Students completed an activity sheet where they were given a cause (if you knock over the first domino what would happen?) and they were asked to draw/write the outcome (effect).

During the Month of May students learned about Jewish American Heritage Month. Students listened to a read aloud called “The Only One Club” while also learning about different holidays celebrated within this culture. Students also learned about Memorial Day by completing a Memorial Day book. We learned about Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Students learned about the different cultures that are celebrated throughout this month and their contributions to America. Some of the places we looked at were China, Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, Samoa, India, and Singapore. Students love to learn about different cultures around the world.

ELA: Throughout marking period 4, students worked so hard learning new phonics, grammar, reading, and writing skills. We have grown so much since the beginning of the year. In phonics we have covered all long and short vowel sounds, vowel teams, blends, and digraphs. Along with new phonics skills each week, students have been reading higher level texts, while learning many new high frequency words and vocabulary words. We love seeing our students applying all of the skills and concepts they have learned. During guided reading, students have spent a lot of time working on strategies to retell a text by including the characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end. We practiced writing a summary after each chapter or book in our own words. We also have worked on making connections and understanding the theme of a story. We really enjoyed working in our Reading Wonders workshop book! Students now have these books to take home and can reread stories throughout the year. Students worked hard all year to answer comprehension questions with text-evidence on their own! In Writers’ Workshop, first grader writers have been working so hard! We finished the year writing How- To books and opinion pieces. We are now writing with tons of detail and strong reasons/examples to support our writing. They were all so creative and fun to read!

Math: During the 4th marking period, first grade students showed their best efforts in the last two units of our Investigations program. Throughout Unit 7 of Investigations, students compared higher numbers by using the greater than/less than signs. Students used tens and ones manipulatives to add and subtract two digit numbers. First graders enjoyed challenging themselves by solving word problems and riddles that asked questions such as "I am a number between 70 and 85. I am 10 more than 70. What number am I?" It was all about three dimensional shapes in our final unit of Investigations. Students explored and built new shapes and structures using 3D blocks. They learned the different attributes of each shapes by recording the number of faces, vertices, and edges each shape had. We had fun going on our scavenger hunts by finding objects that matched the 3D shapes on our recording sheets. Students also completed their end of the year Investigations assessment. We all worked very hard throughout the 4th marking period by working together, challenging ourselves, and making our teachers proud during Math every day!

Social Studies: This marking period in Social Studies we learned so much! In one of our chapters we learned about our country. We discussed holidays and special days to remember important times in history. We learned that National holidays are one way we can honor and celebrate our country. We talked about how we celebrate the Fourth of July, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. We also learned about important Americans. We learned that those important Americans can help us understand our country and why our families live the way they do. We discussed influential Americans like Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. We also started a chapter called, “How Are Other People the Same and Different from Me?” In this chapter students learned about cultures and traditions from around the world. We started to discuss the number of continents on the earth. We located them on the United States globe and labeled them on our own map of the world. The children had so much fun analyzing our classroom globes. We also found our five oceans and even spotted some mountains. The children enjoyed pointing out some special places they have been before! We have learned so much in Social Studies this year and we can’t wait to learn more in second grade!

Reading: During our last marking period we have been reading poetry, realistic fiction stories, and expository texts. We focused on summarizing, point of view, theme, main idea/ key details, and problem and solution. Students have been working on their reading fluency by working with a teacher in a small group and doing individualized reading at their current level. Everyone did such an amazing job!

Writing Workshop:

This marking period the 2nd grade classes dove into expository writing again! We made our very own “All About…” books. Students were tasked to choose one animal or famous person to thoroughly research. Students conducted research by using books from classroom libraries and the internet. Students organized their research into categories like, “Habitats”, “Food and Diet”, and “Physical Features” for an animal, and "Childhood", "Impact", "Accomplishments", and "Important Events" for a famous person. Students took all their research and wrote a first draft in their writing notebooks. Second graders worked really hard turning their notes into complete sentences and then into chapters! We worked to create illustrations and diagrams that matched our chapters. We also included fun extras like a table of contents, glossary, and an “All About the author” page. Classes celebrated the completed books by having students share their “All About…” books by reading them aloud to the class. Everyone should be so proud of all the hard work they have accomplished this school year!!

Math: In the final marking period of second grade, students took their math skills to new heights! We began the marking period in Unit 5, which focused on addition and subtraction within 100. Students used the standard algorithm, as well as other methods like number lines, tens and ones, and adding in parts. Students grasped new concepts and were able to deepen their skills through the use of manipulatives. Next, students were introduced to the Land of Inch for our unit on measurement. We practiced measuring with nonstandard units like paper clips, craft sticks, and footprints. Once students had an understanding of measuring we moved into measuring with standard units like inches, feet, yards, centimeters, and meters. Students loved this extremely hands-on unit and did a great job showing their skills on the Unit 6 test. Finally, we ended the year with Unit 7, which focuses on the foundations of multiplication. Students learned to determine whether a number is even or odd. From there, they wrote repeated addition equations to represent arrays and practiced adding in groups with their cube buildings hands-on activities. Students rocked the final test of the year and are so ready to learn in third grade!

Social Studies: This marking period in Social Studies, we started Chapter 4 in Young Citizens titled "How does a town grow?". We were able to understand the various factors contributing to changes in a town. We identified the causes and effects of natural disasters in order to describe how natural disasters affect towns. We were able to justify the connections made by using evidence from the text. We were also able to define "natural environment" and identify ways humans interact with it in order to examine how humans change the natural environment. We also were able to categorize areas as rural suburban, and urban communities. Last, we described the positive and negative effects that humans have on the planet.

2nd Grade ELA POR- This marking period second grade students continued to review previously taught spelling concepts by participating in the Orton Gillingham 3 part drill. They learned how to read and write words that contain vowel teams, diphthongs, vowel variants and magic E. Additionally, students enjoyed listening to a variety of texts in order to strengthen their reading comprehension skills. Some of the texts they listened to include “A Difficult Decision,” “Grace for President,” The Life of A Dollar Bill,” and “Money Madness.” After listening to these texts, students practiced how to find the central idea and relevant details, how to identify the problem and solution and how to summarize what they read. In writing, students worked really hard on writing an opinion piece about their favorite sport and an expository paragraph about their favorite animal!

2nd Grade Math POR- During the fourth marking period, students continued to practice previously learned concepts by completing their review packet for the first twenty minutes of class. Students specifically practiced solving two digit addition and subtraction problems that contain regrouping and borrowing. Students used a calculator to check their work and, if the answer was incorrect, they did their best to figure out their mistake(s)! Additionally, students completed unit 6 and 7 of Investigations. They explored measurement and loved using a ruler! They also learned how to determine if a number is even or odd and what that mathematically means.

ELA: This marking period, the third graders thoroughly enjoyed reading our final two core novels. First, students read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Throughout this text, students analyzed author's craft, character development, plot, and theme. Additionally, students focused on various types of writing tasks, such as literary analysis essays, narrative writing pieces, and research simulation essays. Students analyzed connected rubrics, evaluated student examples, and created, edited, and revised their own writing pieces. After showing all they've learned this year during NJSLA testing, students began reading our final core novel, The BFG by Roald Dahl. Students used this text to analyze story elements, identify unknown words, analyze figurative language and main idea, and retell. Students celebrated all their hard work in ELA this year by performing their own BFG plays, comparing and contrasting The BFG novel and movie, and by creating their own BFG choice projects. We are so proud of everything the third graders have accomplished this year, and we know they will continue this amazing progress in fourth grade!

Math: During our final marking period, students in the third grade completed their first NJSLA testing period. They put their knowledge of math skills to the test and rocked all 3 days of Math testing. In June, students were challenged to complete different Math mystery games in order to prepare them for fourth grade! Students in the third grade also revisited division and learned about remainders. As always, third graders reviewed multiplication fluency daily in order to ensure that facts were mastered by the end of third grade.

Social Studies: This marking period students explored the economy! Throughout our final unit, students explored how New Jersey has progressed into an industrial state. Third graders focused on exploring the ways that our community has changed from the past to present day, analyzing population graphs and differentiated reasons for population growth in rural, suburban, and urban communities. Students recognized the role that money plays in decision making, differentiating needs and wants and learning how to manage their money with a budget. Students learned how businesses provide goods and services, understanding the various human, capital, and natural resources needed to produce goods and provide these services.

3rd Grade ELA POR- This marking period was a busy one for third graders! The students continued to practice their spelling sounds by participating in the Orton Gillingham 3 Part Drill. They also enjoyed listening to the core novel, BFG. After listening to a chapter or two, students completed a variety of activities such as sequencing events, making inferences and making connections. Students did a very good job of reviewing for the NJSLA and gave their absolute best efforts when taking the assessment.

ELA:

During Marking Period 4, 4th grade Readers and Writers prepared for the NJSLA by reviewing the core concepts they learned throughout the school year. Students reviewed strategies for reading and analyzing narrative and informational text, answering different types of questions, looking for text evidence, and how to respond to writing prompts for narratives, research simulation essays, and literary analysis essays. Students really shined during the testing week, using their time and staying focused.

After state testing, the Phenomenal 4th Grade Learners engaged in thoughtful and strategic reading of narrative literature with the core novel “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio in the Unit “Figure It Out.” “Wonder” is a rich novel with many themes that follows Auggie Pullman, a boy born with facial differences that is attending school for the first time. The story is told from the perspectives of several characters, developing the idea that there is always another way to look at things. During reading, students explored characters that undergo changes as a result of the world around them, while celebrating their differences. Point of view, characterization, figurative language, and theme were focal points of classroom discussion, responses, and Night Writes.

For Writer’s Workshop, students drew on their experience reading “Jim and Me” and wrote their own narrative stories where they traveled back in time to meet an important athlete from the past, focusing on adding dialogue to portray character traits. Students researched the historical setting and events in order to add realistic details to their stories. During Writer’s Workshop, the authors evaluated a peer’s writing using a checklist in order to give feedback on revisions and edits. As an end-of-year culminating writing project, students then published their writing in Google Slides, enhanced with illustrations, images, and even audio. It’s amazing to see how much these young authors have developed as writers and the techniques they learned to tell their stories!

Math: During Marking Period 4, 4th Grade Mathematicians prepared for the NJSLA by reviewing the math concepts they learned from September through April. They took the state exam the second week of May and tried their very best. Students explored the unit, Measuring and Classifying Shapes. Students made symmetrical designs and found lines of symmetry in those designs. They then learned formulas and how to determine the area and perimeter of polygons by decomposing shapes. Students learned and discussed a generalizable method of finding both area and perimeter. More amazing than student performance during the lessons were when students created unique designs on graph paper then found the area and perimeter of their designs. They challenged themselves and had fun doing so! So proud of our students! Students also examined angle size in relation to one kind of angle that they were familiar with from previous grades- right angle. Students learned that angles are measured in terms of an amount of turn or rotation that is part of a circular arc. They were able to identify right, acute, and obtuse angles, create 90-degree angles, used known angles to build and find the measure of other angles, and measured angles using a protractor. They had a lot of fun! In addition, students finished the school year with Multiplication and Division. Students solved 2-digit multiplication problems by breaking a problem into smaller parts and combining subproducts in order to represent a multiplication problem with pictures or diagrams, including arrays and pictures of groups by multiplying multiples of 10. Students participated in Investigations workshop groups and completed individual assignments while also utilizing IXL to practice their facts.

Social Studies: During Marking Period 4, 4th Grade Historians wrapped up the study of the American Revolution. Throughout the unit, students analyzed the process by which the American colonies united to gain independence from Britain and formed their government, compared key events, people, and ideals that contributed to the American Revolution and they examined some of the many important figures in early United States history. Students further explored the unit “Expanding National Borders” where they focused on the War of 1812 and the concept of "westward expansion" and how it evolved throughout the 19th century. Students analyzed the effects of expansion by participating in class activities and topics such as the Oregon Trail experience and the Gold Rush in 1849. 4th Grade Historians were excited to go on their Ellis Island Field Trip! Prior to the trip, students learned about reasons for immigration, as well as challenges immigrants faced when they arrived in America. They learned about the important role Ellis Island had in immigration, and the strong connection to New Jersey. It was amazing to see the buildings and artifacts first-hand at Ellis Island. The ferry ride was a new experience for many students, and a close-up view of the Statue of Liberty was definitely a highlight of the trip!

ELA: This marking period in ELA fifth graders have worked so hard! We started off the marking period with NJSLA preparation. Students practice multiple choice and short answer responses, as well as Narrative, RST and LAT writing tasks. Each and every fifth grade student showed persistence while taking this NJSLA assessments. This included all three days of ELA, two days of Math, and two days of Science. In addition, we read the exciting conclusion of Chasing Lincoln's KIller, and continued to sharpen our comprehension skills. We're currently reading the fantasy fiction novel, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Students are loving the action packed adventure and learning about Greek Mythology along the way. Finally, all students are working on their graduation speeches. Two students from each class will be asked to read their speech at the graduation ceremony on June 21st! Fifth grade is definitely finishing the year strong!

Math: This marking period in Math, we continued unit 7. In this unit, students learned how to multiply decimals and whole numbers. They also learned how to multiply decimal numbers times decimal numbers. Students were asked to solve the cost of items and calculate tip. Students also used this time to review their fractions as well. Every day during Math, Students must solve real world problems that incorporate previously learned skills in order to begin our spiral review for the year. Then, we started working on measurement. Students learned how to convert metric units. We started converting metric units with whole numbers and then we transitioned to converting units with decimals as well. We also began our lessons on converting customary units with whole numbers. We also took our unit 7 test where students had to demonstrate proficiency with multiplying fractions, metric and customary measurement. Next, we worked on Unit 8. We covered lessons on triangles where students had to identify the triangles based on the angles first, then students learned that they can identify them by the sides and the angles. We then moved on to identifying polygons and naming each of the polygons based on the number of vertices. We ended the week with working on quadrilaterals. We learned the quadrilateral family tree and the hierarchy of quadrilaterals. We also analyzed patterns of squares and rectangles. Students had to analyze how when you change one side, it affects the area and perimeter. We used color tiles to begin our modeling and then students had to notice the patterns for much larger numbers. Finally, the 5th grade is working on a culminating Math project. Students were given a project where they will be creating a taco truck business. They will have to create menus with prices, take customer orders and calculate the cost of each order, and then students will build a 3D model of the inside and outside of their Taco Truck that will include a full kitchen on the inside. This project incorporates decimal, adding and subtracting, multiplying, area and perimeter, research, and organizing skills. This is a real world project that also reviews many of the Math skills we have learned this year.

Social Studies: During this marking period in Social Studies we continued our Young Citizens curriculum. We covered the Missouri Compromise. Students learned how the Missouri Compromise was created in order to address growing tensions. Students also learned how although this compromise was agreed upon, it did not solve all of the tensions and once again tensions grew. Throughout this lesson we watched videos, had group discussions, and practiced creating compromises. Students learned that although compromises have great intentions, they don't solve all the problems and in the end, may need modifications. Students also had to analyze two political maps to determine how the United States changed from 1820-1850. Students were also able to create a comic of President Taylor that depicted his internal thoughts when creating the Compromise of 1850. They also had to create the internal thoughts of the north and the south as well. Then, students were able to choose from the Missouri Compromise, the Mexican Cession, or the Compromise of 1850 in order to create a newspaper article. They had to describe how the event related to the debate over slavery and had to create interviews that provided various perspectives. Students did such a great job creating these Newspaper Articles. We then went on to cover Unit 6, which covered why the north and the south fell apart. Students learned about how cotton ruled the south and the north but in different ways. The south grew it, while the north processed it but through policies enacted, this affected each region differently. We discussed how the industrial revolution and development of railroads assisted in bringing raw materials and crops to mills and factories. We also talked about the immigration boom that occurred during this time period and how these immigrants struggled with finding safety and feeling welcomed in the US. We learned about Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Lastly, students have been excited to share their plans for summer vacation. We thought it was a great idea to give them a real world project where they are given a budget and have to plan a vacation around their given budget. Students have to choose a location, plan hotels and excursions, find flights and times, and research. It is incredible to watch students manage their budgets and discuss their dreams with one another.

ELA and Math POR: This Marking Period in ELA students immersed themselves in the exciting core novel, Chasing Lincoln's Killer, worked on how to identify various writing prompts (Literary Analysis Task, Research Task and Narrative Task) and organize writing responses for each task. In Math students became experts on converting measurements in both customary and metric systems and how to add, subtract and multiply decimals up to the thousandths place. In addition to all of that, students worked tirelessly to prepare for NJSLA testing. Students had tons of fun playing review games to refresh their memory of ELA and Math concepts/strategies that they learned all the way back to September! Students absolutely knocked it out of the park with their focus, patience and determination throughout the week of NJSLA. Wonderful job 5th graders!

It has been an exciting last quarter in Ms. Arciero and Ms. Sivo’s homerooms! As we close out the year, we have been celebrating all the amazing things we have done this year. Whether it was learning through reading interesting novels like Wonder, the BFG and Charlotte’s Web, or working our hardest through NJSLA and never giving up, we are in awe of the determination and eagerness to learn that we have seen this year. The end of the year has also brought so much fun! Our fifth graders got to have a day of fun, rock climbing at the gravity fault, pizza at Napolis, and even BINGO at the senior center. Our 5th graders were also lucky enough to do their Hoboken Scavenger Hunt, which taught them all about their city, there is always room to learn something new even if you walk these streets every day! Ms. Sivo’s class got to go on a field trip to Flat Rock and went on some pretty cool nature trails! Finally, we had the best day participating in so many fun activities at field day! As the year closes we celebrate our wonderful 5th graders at graduation and are so happy for all their accomplishments. We can’t wait to see what they do the middle school and beyond! We cannot believe the year is coming to a close, and we are so proud of everyone for growing so much this year.

This 4th and final marking period for 5th grade was a very exciting one! Students focused on their engineering skills and continued to build robots using their vex IQ kit pieces. In groups, students developed and built a working, moving robot that was able to move objects from one place to the next. Students carefully programmed their robots, and connected wires to sensors and motors in order to allow their robot to function properly. Once their robots were completed, it was time to put them to the test through a series of robot trials. Each group was instructed to develop a design that allowed robots to move objects through a specific area in order to mimic the story we read in class about the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Powerplant disaster that occurred in Japan. Through these tests, students learned how to operate robots, and how to engineer a design that allows each robot to maneuver through various obstacles. In their final unit of the year, students began to learn about germs, specifically bacteria and viruses. Each class discovered the difference between bacterial and viral infections, and analyzed how quickly and easily germs are able to spread from person to person! We conducted a test of our own using glow power and a UV light in order to conceptualize how germs are able to spread so quickly!

In Ms. Stinson's PLTW classes we had a terrific end to our school year with our wonderful coding presentations. In Grades 1 and 3 students created animated stories complete with speech bubbles and decision making buttons to choose the stories ending! What a fantastic job by both classes and an AMAZING way to end the year! Have a great summer!!

Throughout the fourth marking period, students continued to learn new concepts, new red words, play phonological awareness games and read new stories to enhance their comprehension skills. All RTI sessions began with Orton Gillingham’s Three Part Drill, which is the multi-sensory review of learned phonetic concepts. On Mondays students learned a new concept using IMSE Orton Gillingham’s Multisensory Experience. The students continued to practice the concept throughout the week in the three part drill and in their reading. On Fridays, students had a spelling practice where they were tested to see if they retained the learned concept of the week. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays students in kindergarten through third grade learned new Red Words and students practiced these words following IMSE’s Multisensory Experience routine. Red words are words that are not phonetic along with some high-frequency sight words; these words differ based on each groups’ needs. Students reviewed these words throughout the week. Fourth and fifth graders continued to learn Greek and Latin roots to help students build their vocabulary. During the fourth marking period, students played games to review and continue to practice previously learned words. Guided reading continued during the fourth marking period with all RTI students. Guided reading began with an introduction. Next, the students whisper read the story for fluency. After that, a book talk occurred with the students responding to interpretation and reflection questions. Lastly, students in kindergarten and first grade retold the story to help students recall the events in the order they occurred. Second graders worked on identifying story elements and writing a summary of their guided reading story. Third, fourth and fifth grade students responded to multiple choice questions and wrote responses using RACES. After state testing, third, fourth and fifth graders played an escape room game to continue using their comprehension skills in a fun way! To end the fourth marking period, students applied their foundational skills while playing literacy games. Great job this year readers and writers!

Individualized Learning Pathway - Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

On Mondays - Wednesdays during the Individualized Learning Pathway (ILP) period, students who have qualified to participate in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) programming engage in a wide array of math course offerings that address their specific strengths and interests. Johns Hopkins CTY believes in researching and advancing ways to identify and nurture academically talented learners. CTY furthers research, guides educators and families and inspires students from diverse communities and backgrounds to pursue their intellectual passions and create the world of tomorrow. This week, we would like to highlight one of the CTY courses offered to our Hoboken students this winter:

G4 - G5 Field Trip To the Meadowlands Environment Center

This week students in grades 4 and 5 from our CTY Verbal courses last semester FINALLY got to enjoy their rescheduled field trip at the Meadowlands Environment Center! “Environment Through the Artists’ Eyes” gave students the opportunity to create sketches and renderings of what they observed in nature at the Meadowlands Environment Center. Later on in the day, they created a personal work of art to portray the environment through their own eyes. They had the opportunity to create a masterpiece based on the above-mentioned sketches and selected their media of choice. All masterpieces and artist statements were presented and shared in a gallery display at the end of the day as a post assessment and culminating activity. Students did a fabulous job with their artwork!

G2 - G3 Field Trip Hoboken Scavenger Hunt

Our CTY students in grades 2-3 from Brandt, Connors, and Wallace got outside to enjoy the last bit of fresh air on Monday for our nature scavenger hunt! Students participated with their groups, taking pictures of the scavenger hunt items on iPads, stopped for lunch in Columbus Park, and then made their way back to Brandt to create a Google Slide presentation of their findings. We are excited to take a look at the final projects! Students in grades 4-5 will be participating in this expedition next week once a rescheduled date is confirmed. Have a great weekend, and be safe!

CTY - Honors Grade 5 Mathematics

CTY students tackle a full year of honors mathematics with this Grade 5 curriculum that will set them up for success in Grade 6 honors math. They begin by reviewing concepts such as algebraic variables and expressions, number theory, operations with fractions, data displays, proportional relationships, geometric relationships, integers and the coordinate plane, and probability. This CTY course provides ample practice through homework, videos, notes, and practice problems. Their CTY instructor will be available for learning support and one-on-one review sessions for graded assessments throughout the entire course!

CTY - Elementary School Competitive Mathematics

CTY students will strengthen their analytical and problem-solving skills in this challenging course designed for students with little to no previous math competition experience. Throughout the course, they will learn 12 different problem-solving strategies for becoming more efficient problem solvers and stronger competitors. CTY students will practice these strategies through lessons, sample problems, mini competitions, and videos designed to challenge and motivate them. Timed assessments will also help them build experience for real competitions, and weekly synchronous strategy sessions with a CTY instructor will guide them and their classmates through competition tactics!

Johns Hopkins CTY Accelerated Grade 3 Mathematics

Our students are taking CTY Honors Grade 3 Mathematics to a higher level with this accelerated online course! They begin the course by reviewing foundational grade 2 lessons and then gain early exposure to grade 4 concepts through enrichment topics. Each chapter of this CTY course is paired with videos, interactive web pages, and projects to develop the students’ reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills for investigating and exploring grade 3 math skills.

CTY - Scratch Programming for Elementary School Students

CTY students begin this course with an introduction to fundamental programming concepts alongside other young CTY students as they learn Scratch, a graphical programming language developed at MIT. Through this course they’ll learn how to create animations, computer games, and interactive projects using Scratch, and put their new skills to use developing a computer game to share with their CTY instructor and classmates. No previous programming skills are required for this course, but students should be comfortable using a computer and browser as well as managing files. We can’t wait to see what amazing projects our CTY students create with the Scratch program!

CTY - Honors Grade 4 Mathematics

Our CTY students tackle lessons typically offered in a full year of honors math curriculum in this intensive course. Honors Grade 4 Mathematics offers a review of Grade 3 topics and prepares students for Grade 5 mathematics. These CTY students get to engage with videos, interactive web pages, graded assessments, and projects. They also develop mathematical reasoning, learn critical thinking skills, and acquire problem-solving techniques to investigate and explore challenging math concepts for Grade 4 and beyond.

CTY - Honors Grade 6 Mathematics

CTY students tackle a full year of honors mathematics with this Grade 6 curriculum that will set them up for success with Honors Pre-Algebra. In this course, CTY students will be introduced to the theory and applications of rational numbers. Modeling and real-world problems are emphasized throughout the course. This CTY course develops problem solving skills through numeric manipulation and visual representation of the topics presented, and provides ample practice through homework, videos, notes, and practice problems.

Kindergarten

Earth Day

Future Environmentalists in Kindergarten learned about the Earth Day and what they can do to help as well as protect the environment. After having a discussion about different ways to protect the planet on a daily basis, students listened to the Read Aloud. To showcase the understanding about the importance of the Earth Day, students brainstormed the promises that they can make to keep earth clean and healthy. They had to come up with 3 promises to help take care of the Earth on a daily basis. Students had a great time making the Earth Day Project!

Koinobori - Japanese Children's Day

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Month and Kindergarteners explored and learned about the Japanese Children’s Day called Kodomo no hi which happens every year on May 5th in Japan. After “going on a flight and landing in Japan”, students learned how to count to 3 in Japanese, say Kodomo no hi and Koinobori in Japanese, and create the Carp Flag Streamer that people in Japan hang around to celebrate the holiday as well as the Golden week. Students enjoyed creating the carp by decorating it and putting it together so that it can be hung on the yarn to imitate the carp streamers that they do in Japan. Students did an amazing job learning about and creating the Koinobori!

Hawaii - Lei Day

To continue the celebration of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Kindergarteners explored and learned about the Lei Day that is celebrated in Hawaii. Before making the lei, which is a flower necklace, students learned about a brief history of Hawaii, Lei Day, and Hawaiian islands. They watched a tutorial on how to put together a lei necklace and then they got to pick to either make a necklace or a headband. Students had fun learning about the Hawaiian holiday and making their own colorful and flowery lei!

Summer - Summer Bucket List

With the Summer season around the corner, students are exploring and learning about the summer season. After completing group discussions, video watching, and reading aloud, students would brainstorm activities that they like to do during summer and/or activities they look forward to doing. When the brainstorming list is compiled, students will use it to complete an exciting Summer Bucket List Project!

First Grade

Spring - Poetry

Poets in the 1st Grade are uncovering a unit of poetry about Spring. They are focusing on Haiku, Acrostic, and Rhyming poems. After gaining comprehensive information about the season of Spring, students will use that knowledge to craft the three types of poems. They are learning a Rhyming poem this week - the last word in two lines needs to rhyme. Students will get a choice of writing 4, 8, or more lines in their poem. Every verse will describe something about the season. Rhyming poems are so much fun!

Koinobori - Japanese Children’s Day

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Month and 1st Graders explored and learned about the Japanese Children’s Day called Kodomo no hi which happens every year on May 5th in Japan. After “going on a flight and landing in Japan”, students learned how to count to 3 in Japanese, say Kodomo no hi and Koinobori in Japanese, and create the Carp Flag Streamer that people in Japan hang around to celebrate the holiday as well as the Golden week. Students enjoyed creating the carp by decorating it and putting it together so that it can be hung on the yarn to imitate the carp streamers that they do in Japan. Students did an amazing job learning about and creating the Koinobori!

Poetry - Haiku

Students are celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by exploring and learning about how to write a Haiku Poem that originated back in Japan. After gaining the knowledge about the poem’s structure and seeing examples of how the poem is made and what rules to follow to successfully write Haiku, students began writing their own. This is a great practice for identifying the syllables and brushing up on the math skills. Students used 3 different strategies to identify and separate the syllables in the words which they were putting on the paper: clapping, hand under the chin, and tapping with the fingers. Students did an amazing job!

Summer - Summer Bucket List

With the Summer season around the corner, students are exploring and learning about the summer season. After the group discussions and readings, students will be working on the interactive Summer Bucket Project where they will be completing tasks and writing stories. Time to get ready for Summer!

Second Grade

Passport To The World - South America

The Geographers in Second Grade continue their journey around the world. They are currently wrapping up their trip in South America. They are finishing up working on the Lap Book About South America. Way to go, Geographers!

Passport To The World - Asia

The Geographers in Second Grade are taking a flight to visit the continent of Asia. It is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Geographers are exploring and gaining knowledge about Asian culture. Students are wrapping up conducting research about three countries of their choice from a list of 17 countries. To successfully complete the activity, students use books on Get Epic! to find necessary information to fill out the Research Page about the countries. They began working on the Mini Country Report where they use one country and do a deeper research about it. Students are enthusiastic to learn about the new countries while celebrating the Asian Pacific Islander Month!

Passport To The World - Europe

The Geographers in Second Grade are about to travel to a continent of Europe. Throughout their trip students will be exploring Europe through the read aloud, readings, Get Epic!, pictures and educational videos to better capture the European culture, traditions, lifestyle, and history. As a culminating activity, students will put together a Book About Europe by creating a lap book. Students have begun working enthusiastically to complete the project!

Passport To The World - Europe - Venice, Italy Virtual Live Tour

The Geographers in Second Grade are traveling to a continent of Europe FOR REAL! They got an amazing opportunity to virtually visit Venice, Italy Live. With the help from my Italian friend, Ms. Elina, we were able to visit St. Mark Square, spot some gondolas, gain knowledge about the history of Venice and get fun facts about the ‘city on water’. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to see one of the most famous places in Europe in real time!

Third

STEAM Tank Challenge, Finals, and Awards Ceremony

Big Congratulations to the two groups that have advanced into the finals!!! They are working on further improving their presentations as well as an idea by applying the comments made by the judges from the previous round in a form of a checklist. Future Engineers are working enthusiastically to prepare for the final round of presentations!

The two groups finalists are working diligently and enthusiastically to further improve their invention/product. They are following a checklist to keep them organized and get ready for the next round of presentations in front of the judges. Way to go Koalas!!!

Students had a great time attending the Virtual STEAM Tank Awards Ceremony! We celebrated everyone who took part in the STEAM Tank challenge this year. It was a great experience and opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of every team that took part in the challenge and received recognition for their innovative ideas and efforts!

Fourth

Mock Trial - Field Trip to the Law Fair Center

4th Grade students had a great trip to the New Jersey Law Fair Center where they got to serve as a jury. They were involved in the following tasks: listening to the criminal case about perjury and civil case about a skydiving accident, making a verdict by voting on the decision, having a Foreperson come up to the stage to announce the final decision of the jury from each class and asking the judge questions at the end of the event. It was a great opportunity for students to see the Mock Trial in real action and draw connections between the classroom experience and an experience at the Law Fair!

Global Pen Pals

The Global Pals in Fourth Grade continue working on their projects and holding communications with the Global Pen Plans! Global Pen Pals is an online program where they get to connect with students from around the world and learn about different cultures, life styles, traditions and more. This week, they will start a new topic and pick a project to work on while using digital citizenship skills and gaining knowledge about a new topic. The fun adventure continues!

Marketing

Future Marketers in the Third Grade are starting a marketing unit. They will be using their STEAM Tank presentations and prototypes to create an advertising video for their product/invention. They will gain understanding about the marketing process, then brainstorm ideas for the video and lastly create a script which will feature as well as advertise their product/invention for people to want to buy it. This is a great opportunity for students to experience the importance of the marketing process.

Fifth

Model UN - Frayer Model Vocabulary

Future Environmentalists and Sustainable Development Leaders have officially transitioned into a new job. They have become Delegates and Diplomates! Upon undertaking a ‘new job opportunity’, students have been learning about Model United Nations, what is it, how to, the purpose of it, and write their own Position Paper as a culminating project of the school year.

Students have been using a Frayer Model and Public Speaking Strategies to learn the important key vocabulary words to prepare them for the simulation of the Model UN and the writing of the position paper.

K-2

What an amazing fourth quarter and amazing year and an amazing year we had in music class. The students had a great time learning so much about music and all the tenets that make up the art form.

The kindergarten grade level has been learning about the notes, rests, and note values that are used in western music. From whole notes and rests to 16th notes and rests, the students learned all about the basics of learning how to read music. They also started their journey on learning how to read music on the treble clef. In the first grade, the students have learned all of the notes and rests values by using the “music math” activity. Along with note values, the students have mastered reading note placement on the treble clef. These music theory concepts are the building blocks for what is to come next school year. The second grade is doing advanced “Music Math” and having fun with their music equations. Yes, music is based on time and how it relates to mathematical equations and the kids are having a great time learning this concept. They have also mastered note placement on the treble and bass clefs. All the instruments in the modern day orchestra use these clefs and memorizing these note placements will facilitate performance on the various instruments they will be able to play in the fourth grade.

3-5

Third grade is in the process of learning all of the techniques that are used when playing the recorder. The students learned the proper fingerings for various notes on the treble clef. They have also mastered note placement on the treble and bass clefs and note values, which included dotted note values. The fourth grade has mastered note placement on the treble clef, bass clef, and ledger lines. Knowledge of ledger line note placement has opened their eyes to new instruments that have pitch ranges beyond the two common clefs. They have also started their music history units. The first unit has been the Baroque period of music. Within this unit, the students identified music theory concepts that were common during the time period, famous composers, and the most common instruments used during this time period. During the fourth quarter, fifth grade has spent the majority of their music class time, focusing on music history units. They started with the Baroque period, moved onto the classical period, and are now learning about the Romantic period. Understanding the history of music is extremely important when it comes to understanding the musical concepts and structure of the music that they listen to everyday.

Lastly, all grade levels are having a great time singing various songs. The 3rd through 5th grade had their District Spring concert and rocked the house. The Connors Band performed “Thank You for Letting Be Myself Again” and the audience went wild. The Connors Choir sang, “Always Love” and “Something Just like This”. The applause was deafening! Singing and learning how to play various instuments is such an important element to music education and it brings joy and happiness to their daily lives here at Thomas G. Connors Elementary School!

During the 4th marking period in Mandarin class, grade k-1 students started the unit of fruit and leisure activities. They did an activity involving fruits based on the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Grade 2-3 reviewed the unit of fruit and sports. They enhanced the contents by writing a self introduction weekly. They also enjoy the activity of fruit survey where they ask their classmates what their favorite fruit is. Grade 4-5 students started the unit of food. They learned the vocabulary of Chinese and American breakfast. They wrote a dialog of ordering food in a Chinese restaurant and presented the dialog as a waiter and a customer.

For culture and celebrations, we covered Ramadan in April, Asian and Jewish American heritage for May, Chinese Dragon Boat Festival and Father’s Day in June. For Ramadan, students of all grades were presented a slideshow about Ramadan, class discussions were followed after that. For Asian American heritage, students researched about Japanese American Internment during World War II. For Jewish heritage, students created a slideshow about a famous Jewish figure who made outstanding contributions to the world. For the Dragon Boat Festival, grade k-1 students learned the origin and colored the images of the dragon boat racing and food called zong zi. Lastly, for Father’s Day, grade 2-5 students wrote a poem in honor of their fathers. Grade k-1 issued a certificate to their super dads.

Our last marking period of art consisted of individual projects, themed pictures, and creating our art portfolio! Everyone was able to take home a folder of their art from previous marking periods. Before we taped it up to go home, students were able to work back into projects they felt needed a little more creativity. They were able to see their growth as artists throughout the year and understand the importance of creating a portfolio - to show a variety of art knowledge and skill.

This final marking period was a busy one in the gym. We focused on our team sports unit and had so much fun! Students had objectives in our volleyball unit of learning the basic skills of serving, bumping, and setting (our older students even worked on some spikes.) K-1 students focused on the skills of the game while 2-5 students learned how to apply the skills into strategy. We finished off the year with kickball where students first learned the basic skills of kicking and fielding and then applied those skills to our school's favorite game; kickbasketball. This was such an awesome year for our students and I appreciate the opportunity to watch them grow each day in PE. I'm so proud to be an educator at this school and I can't wait for next year in the gym! Have a great summer.

Here are a few suggestions on how to help keep your child's school skills sharp this summer!

• Set up a daily reading routine at home where your child is both reading independently and reading aloud with an adult. This is a great time to practice reading fluency, as well as reading comprehension.
• Vist the Hoboken Library
• Pick a novel for the whole family to read together
• Have your child read to younger siblings
• Read a novel that has been made into a movie and watch the movie once you have finished the book. It is always fun to compare the two!
• Have your child keep a journal about the book they are reading
• Practice math facts!
  
• XtraMath is a great online math fluency tool
• Make flash cards for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts
• Introduce a different fact family each week
• Infuse math into your everyday life
• Have you child skip count when on a walk
• Have your child count the money and change when at the store
• Practice telling time and how much time it takes you to get places

Most of all, have fun and enjoy the time with your family!

Mrs. Goodwin