The TES Times March

This month was overflowing with activities and special days. We started the month celebrating the love of reading with Read Across America Week where the PTA hosted a very successful book fair and Dr. Shouffler served as a mystery reader. Our Spring clubs are in full swing. Several grade levels celebrated learning with their capstone projects. Students have enjoyed field trips to the police department, Liberty Science Center, and Raritan Valley Community College. On top of all of that, our fourth graders successfully hatched five chicks and we even had a visit from the Tooth Fairy! Please read on for more information on all things TES!

Wishing you and your families a wonderful Spring Break.

Warmly,

Lisa Moore

Principal

Thank you to the Robertson Family for turning the haybale into a GIANT leprechaun's hat! Thanks to Charlie (Grade 3) and Tyler (Grade 1) and their parents, Sheri and Brett.

District Calendar 2025-2026 Updated

and

District Calendar 2026-2027

Tell your neighbors!

April 2 - Early Dismissal for Spring Recess

April 3 through 10 - Spring Recess

April 13 - School Closed to Students for Teacher Professional Development

We are happy to announce our fifth session of Enrichment classes. These are once per week during recess and are offered by our special area teachers. Sessions start April 20th and last for four weeks. Just sign up for one! Check out the new programs available.

Preschool is having a ball! We began our ball unit and are exploring concepts and developing skills across the content areas. There has been an increase in science concepts as we explore force and motion. Large motor skills, as well as, focus and attention skills are another area of development in this unit. We are finishing our letter of the week introduction to letter-sounds this month. Next up we will work on the correct letter formations of upper case letters.

Save the Date: Mother's Day Luncheon May 8

Featured below: These are our interpretations of what our hands might look like using x-rays!

- Ms. Amanda, Ms. Mary & Ms. Laurie

March has been such a magical and busy month in Kindergarten! We had a blast celebrating Read Across America and diving into the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss. Our “Seuss-abration” was extra special with a surprise visit from the Cat in the Hat—what a fun and memorable moment! The weather kept us guessing all month long, too, with some days bundling up in bitter cold and others feeling like spring, wearing shorts and t-shirts! One of our biggest highlights was our very first field trip to the Tewksbury Rescue Squad and Police Department. Students had an amazing time being fingerprinted, learning the basics of CPR, and exploring the inside of a real ambulance. It was a day full of excitement, learning, and lots of curious questions!

In the classroom, our Kinders have been working so hard and making incredible progress! We wrapped up our “How-To” writing unit and loved sharing our step-by-step books. Our reading skills are truly taking off, and it’s so exciting to watch their confidence grow each day. In math, we’ve been building our number knowledge all the way to 100 and are beginning to explore addition—such big milestones! We also learned all about community helpers and why they are so important in our everyday lives. March has been full of growth, fun, and learning, and we are so proud of all our Kindergarten superstars!

Featured below: Learning about the Rescue Squad and the Police Department.

We have had such an exciting and busy month in First Grade! One of the highlights was a special visit from John Miller, who brought the amazing Interactive Moon Experiment right to our classroom. This experience was made possible by the Tewksbury Education Foundation (TEF). We are so grateful for all that they do for our school community! We also had an exciting field trip to the RVCC Planetarium! Students enjoyed learning about the night sky, including how to spot constellations and planets. We even watched a fun and educational show!

In the classroom, we kicked off our week-long celebration of Read Across America. We focused on continuing our reading and looking at author mentors for our writing. Also, we are recognizing books in a series. Exploring books by the same author helps students build confidence and excitement for reading, encouraging them to continue reading independently or with family at home. In writing, we wrapped up our Information Writing unit with our final project, All About the Moon! These special “All About” books will be coming home soon. Each one was carefully created, and the students are incredibly proud of their hard work. Writing Workshop has truly become a favorite part of our mornings, and we are so proud of the students’ enthusiasm, topic choices, and ability to work through the writing process.

We finished the month with our Capstone Project: Solarbration! We are so proud! Thank you to all the guests who came to listen and learn. It was a great showcase of their learning through performing their Reader’s Theater, singing songs, and sharing books and projects. We hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for your continued support, we are having so much fun learning together!

Second Grade kicked off March with the school wide Read Across America events! We read books with partners, in our dens, shared our favorites, and some of us even got to play with “Oobleck” at the after school Suessabration! It was a great way to share our love of reading. Second Graders continue to be busy with their Flat Stanley project. Each classroom is getting postcards from all over the world. With each post card, students learn some facts about that place, and use globes, maps, or Google Earth to find where it is located. Our thanks to all our families’ relatives and friends who are participating in this project. Getting these postcards is a highlight of the day!

We have also been doing some research on a special website called “Pebble Go!” Each Second Grader has chosen an American symbol to read and learn more about. They are then taking what they learned and adding it to a poster which will be shared with the rest of the class. This process helps the students not only learn about the significance of these American treasures, but also how to take information from one source and apply it to another!

Lastly, Second Graders are also hard at work preparing for their April Capstone Project -- a Poetry Cafe on April 16th. We can’t wait to share what we have learned with our families! So, here’s to our own version of March Madness!!

Save the Date: April 16th - The Poetry Cafe

9:00 AM - Mrs. Bristow's and Mrs. Saksa's Classes

10:30 AM - Mr. Strange's Class

Featured below: Two of our students are ready with the American symbol projects!

Third Grade is on the move! Both our science and social studies units involved movement. In science we experimented with balanced and unbalanced forces, gravity and magnets. The students cleverly found uses for magnets to push and pull things. In social studies we looked at movement through the lens of immigration. The vocabulary words push and pull took on a whole new meaning as we studied the factors that pushed people from their homeland and pulled them to America, especially during the big waves of immigration during the Industrial Period. Learning about Ellis Island and the journey to America is fascinating to both the students and teachers! Additionally, we had our Capstone Project Publishing Party for our informational writing unit. The third grade teachers appreciate you celebrating these wonderful writers with us!

Featured below: Parent, Gregory Baker, explained the importance of math in his construction business at the 3rd Grade Family Math Night.

What didn’t the Fourth Grade do in March?! Wow! What a busy month it has been. The month started with a special visit from Mr. Pope, a fourth grade parent, who talked about his career in aviation.That week we also celebrated Read Across America with several special activities, including mystery guest readers at lunch, the PTA’s Scholastic Book Fair, and Breakfast and Books. Next we had the Science Fair where every fourth grader had the opportunity to present their month-long research to family, friends, and students. March would not be complete without dressing like a leprechaun, wearing your favorite team jersey, or a Den Day to boost school spirit. Even with all of these great activities, the students’ favorite for the month was the incubating and hatching of five eggs. Students were able to visit/hold the hatchlings as they watched them grow! After such a busy month, the fourth grade is looking forward to a much anticipated spring break!

Featured on the right is a picture of a student with a chick and Mrs. Barnes. Below are pictures of the Science Fair.

Fourth Grade students were visited by Steve Pope, pilot and aviation consultant. Mr. Pope, father of Alex Pope, explained his job to the students who eagerly asked about flying. Mr. Pope is the third parent to come to Fourth Grade this year to share information about their jobs. Thank you, Mr. Pope!

It has been a busy and exciting time in the art room, filled with creativity, color, and a little bit of clay craziness! Our First through Third Graders have been hard at work finishing up their clay projects. From shaping to detailing, students have shown great patience and craftsmanship throughout the process. Now comes one of the most exciting parts—glazing! Students will begin exploring creative glazing techniques and color choices. Projects will be thoughtfully planned based on our glaze inventory, encouraging students to make artistic decisions while learning about the finishing process that brings their clay creations to life.

In Preschool, we are wrapping up our Alphabet Art unit. We read “Larry the Line” by Cassie Stephens and used it as inspiration to explore different types of lines. Students especially loved creating zigzag lines to mimic Larry’s snake-like movements! We also worked with Model Magic, coloring it with markers and strengthening our fine motor skills as we shaped and formed the letter Z. It has been wonderful to see their creativity and growth!

Our Kindergarten artists are diving into the world of color by learning about the color wheel. Students are painting and exploring how primary colors mix together to create secondary colors. This hands-on experience is helping them build a strong foundation in color theory while having fun experimenting with paint.

Meanwhile, our 4th graders are taking their creativity in a digital direction! They are currently working on a Moving Up Day T-shirt Contest using Canva on their Chromebooks. Students are exploring graphic design by experimenting with fonts, images, and layout choices. Their designs reflect thoughtful ideas about growing up in Tewksbury, and it’s exciting to see their creativity come to life in a new medium.

There is so much to be proud of across all grade levels. Thank you for supporting your young artists as they continue to explore, create, and grow!

- Mrs. Pecora

In March, our Physical Education classes have been focusing on cooperation and teamwork through a variety of fun and engaging activities. Students are working together in group challenges and games that encourage communication, problem-solving, and supporting one another. Our goal is to help students build strong social skills while staying active and learning the importance of teamwork.

- Ms. Sconda and Mr. Neuhs

We kicked off March with Read Across America Week, our school-wide celebration of books and reading! It was wonderful to see our students and families so excited about reading! Our younger students in grades Kindergarten through second have been learning about the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. The Geisel Award winners are fun, engaging books that are perfect for beginner readers. As we move into Spring (finally!), we have been comparing fiction and nonfiction/informational texts related to Spring and nature (such as the emergence of hungry bears and birds). Our students in third and fourth grade have been diving deeper into a study of traditional literature. For this part of our traditional literature unit, we have been focusing on fairy tales, mythology, and tall tales. The students have been making great connections and generating terrific discussion. While these classic stories are old (in some cases ancient), they still resonate with the students.

Featured on the right: Our TES Library Media Center has books to inspire students to get out and explore the beautiful nature around us!

-Ms. Rose-Mason

It's been cold outside but we keep warm in Spanish class by dancing to our songs, doing jumping jacks as we count as high as we can, and learning about cozy subjects like houses, animals, and clothing!

Kindergarten has been enjoying a fun song about animals: "Animales Arriba, Animales Abajo" by Basho & Friends, and learning the names of some of their favorite animals. First and second grades are acting out a dramatic story of a child whose dog runs off at the park: "¿Dónde Está Mi Perro?" Third grade is learning about homes, our own as well as houses around the world, learning the names of rooms in the house in Spanish, with a catchy tune from Rockalingua: check out the accompanying games and crafts on the website! Fourth grade continues their clothing unit by exploring clothes of kids around the Spanish-speaking world, and will soon create a skit taking place in a clothing store.

Featured below: Fourth graders have been corresponding with 10 year-olds in Spain. We recently recieved pen pal letters to Fourth graders from their pals in Madrid.

- Senora Obercian

In Technology class, we’ve been busy creating, designing, and building across all grade levels! Kindergarten and Grade 1 students explored engineering concepts using Keva Planks, where they practiced designing and building structures while developing problem-solving skills. Grade 2 students recently completed their “All About Me” presentations using Google Slides. They are now continuing to build their keyboarding skills by practicing typing on the QWERTY keyboard. Grades 3 and 4 students have been working in Tinkercad to design bubble wands and keychains. They are bringing their digital designs to life through 3D printing, learning about the design process from idea to finished product. It’s been exciting to see students think creatively and apply technology in hands-on ways!

Featured above: Bubble wands printed!

- Ms. Rinehart Havens

March has been an exciting and busy month in the music room! All of our students have been working very hard to prepare for the Spring Concerts. They have been learning their songs, practicing their parts, and showing great focus during rehearsals. It has been wonderful to see how much they are enjoying the music, and there is a lot of excitement building as we get closer to performance time!

In addition to concert preparation, all classes have been participating in a fun Michael Jackson song bracket. Students have been listening, comparing, and voting on some of his most popular songs. Some of the favorites that made a big impression were “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal,” and “Beat It.” The friendly competition has been a great way to build listening skills while having fun with music history.

We are so proud of all the hard work our students are putting in and can’t wait to share their performances with you soon. It’s going to be a fantastic concert!

Spring Concerts May 15th

Grades K to 2 - 9:00 AM

Grades 3 & 4 - 9:45 AM

- Mr. Shaffer

Throughout the school year , you may have noticed you receive some notices for different benefit drives. In the Fall we collected pajamas and we just finished a food drive, creating birthday bags for the food pantry. What you may not be aware of is that each of our fourth grade classes choose and organize one of these activities. It is a great opportunity for our students to both demonstrate leadership and put their classroom/academic skills into real world work. The students are responsible for writing the school letter, visiting classrooms, making posters and then organizing the collections. It's always special when we make the final donation and they are able to see the real world results of their efforts. Thanks to all families who support their causes and to our fourth grade students for their hard work. Be on the look out for one last project.

- Sheila Donovan, School Counselor

TES smiles were shining on March 19. 😁 PreK and kindergarten students took part in the engaging Tooth Fairy Tales program led by Board of Health Nurse and Registered Dental Hygienist, Ms. Amanda Norman and her Assistant, Ms. Francia Wright. The interactive format—featuring storytelling, hands-on brushing and flossing practice, and a fun healthy food game—kept students fully involved and excited to learn. Staff shared that students truly walked away with meaningful skills and enthusiasm for caring for their teeth. Each child also received tools to continue healthy habits at home. A big thank you to Ms. Norman, Ms. Wright and the Hunterdon County Board of Health for this fun and impactful experience!

Spring allergies will soon be upon us as trees and flowers begin to bloom. If your child experiences seasonal allergies, consider starting prescribed or over-the-counter allergy medications early, as directed by your healthcare provider, to help prevent symptoms before they begin. Simple steps like having children wash their hands and face after outdoor play, changing clothes, and keeping windows closed during high pollen days can also help reduce exposure.

REMINDER: The Tewksbury Family Assistance Fund (TFAF) is a local nonprofit, founded in 1993, providing temporary financial help to residents facing hardship from unemployment, illness, divorce, or unexpected events. If you or someone you know needs support, contact a school nurse: Nancy Morogiello (TES) 908-832-2594 ext. 2011 or Sara Medenilla (OTS) 908-439-2010 ext. 4235. All requests are confidential. 100% of funds go back to our community. Truly... Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

Featured below: The Tooth Fairy instructing children on dental care.

- Nancy Morogiello, School Nurse

Read Across America was a great week of books, reading and school spirit! As a school we raised over $5,200 and the kids read over 15,700 minutes, wow! Thank you to everyone who donated and participated in the Read-A-Thon fundraiser and to our Book Fair volunteers and shoppers!

*A special congratulations to FIRST GRADE who read the most at 4,323 minutes... you won a pizza party!

We are also happy to announce that we will be offering PTA Supply kits once again for the 2026-2027 school year.

From April 29 through May 1, the First Grade will experience a TEF-sponsored residency that integrates science, reading, writing, and language arts skills. This is a new residency called Nature Kelly. As a naturalist and educator, Kelly Martin will lead children through an outdoor learning experience that gives them hands-on, discovery-based activities to spark curiosity and enrich knowledge of the outdoors. They will learn how plants and animals help each other, explore how plants disperse seeds, and have an indepth look at how plants grow and pollinate.

Step back in time to do like the Romans do. Join us for a night of dancing, cocktails, tapas-style food, and ancient fun. Basket auction and live auction including student-made items are back! All funds raised will support TEF-sponsored TES and OTS enrichment programs. Accessories and costumes encouraged. Tickets available at by clicking on the invitation below.

Maschio's Food Services, Inc. is the contracted lunch provider at TES. See the following links for more information about the lunch service provided by Maschio's as well as PaySchools, our point of sale service system. You can find their menu on our school website at the following link:

https://tewksburyschools.nutrislice.com/menu/tewksbury-elementary/lunch