Dear TES Families,
I hope this message finds you and your families well-rested after a wonderful Spring Break! I had the joy of spending the week driving south with my daughter for college visits. It was nice to spend time with her during the next step of her schooling journey.
Your children have made such great progress this year! We still have many wonderful opportunities for them to showcase their work. Please read on for all of their achievements and upcoming special events.
Lisa Moore
Principal
Please Support the TFAF at the Concerts
The Tewksbury Family Assistance Fund was started by the Tewksbury, NJ, PTA in 1993 in response to two local families who were suddenly in great need. The TFAF provides anonymous temporary assistance to people in financial need as a result of unemployment, major illness, divorce or other hardship. This assistance pays for the following types of expenses:
Housing
Utility Bills
Medical Expenses
Groceries
Thanks to your generosity, the TFAF has donated over $600,000 to local families in need since 1993. Contact the principals or nurses at each school to request assistance with complete confidentiality.
There will be a table at the concerts with information and refreshments for sale to support this vital organization. Donations will be welcome and 100% of your donations will go to help those in need.
Thank you!
Please note: The Last Day of School is now June 13th
Once again the teachers and PTA have worked together to create Supply Lists and you can order your student a Supply Pack before July 1st. Click on the blue box below to order PTA School Supply Packs. If you choose not to order a pack through the PTA, here are your lists:
If your child will be late to school or absent, please select ABSENT from the Plan Changes dropdown in Pick Up Patrol. If he or she will be late, indicate where they are and what time you anticipate arriving. A child is ABSENT until they get here. When you arrive late, the office staff will change his or her status to TARDY in Realtime and select the default in Pick Up Patrol unless you tell us otherwise.
If your child will not be attending school, indicate ABSENT and in the notes please provide a reason as to why. If you have a question about which absences are excused or not excused, please refer to the Student Handbook/Code of Conduct or contact Ms. Callahan: ecallahan@tewksburyschools.org.
From the Plan Changes dropdown, you can also indicate LEAVING EARLY if your child is being picked up before 3 PM on a regular day or 12:30 PM on an early dismissal day. Please note, we do not dismiss from the office between 3 and 3:20 on regularly scheduled days or 12:30 and 12:50 PM on early dismissal days.
Pick Up Patrol has easy to follow directions in both English and Spanish on their website, https://help.pickuppatrol.net/.
- Mrs. Callahan
Problem Solving in Pre-K
Preschool has been enjoying the April showers. Students have learned about weather and the water cycle. They have already noticed flowers peeking up through the ground, from all of the April showers we have had. Preschoolers have been specifically focused on learning to problem solve, when conflict arises. They have been encouraged to use taught skills in order to independently figure out how to work together, share, and solve friendship problems. We will continue to work on these skills the rest of the school year.
- Mrs. Kovalsky
Is That a Fact?
April has been an eventful and exciting month in our Kindergarten classrooms! To start, we began exploring opinion writing, learning the difference between a fact (something true) and an opinion (what someone thinks or feels). The children have enjoyed sharing their opinions on everything from favorite snacks to best playground games! In math, we focused on addition with numbers up to 10. Utilizing number stories, 10 frames, and hands-on manipulatives to make learning fun and interactive. As we wrapped up the month, we began to dip our toes into subtraction. The students are eager to take on this new challenge! In science, we launched our plant unit, experimenting with what plants need to grow and observing how they change under different conditions. Our young scientists are curious and full of great questions! In ELA, students are excited to continue bringing books home and building their fluency with newly learned digraphs and kindergarten sight words.
- Ms. Cresci, Mrs. DeStefano, Mrs. Perticari, Mrs. Wadler
Teamwork and Connection
This month, our students participated in a memorable TEF-sponsored Circus Residency and performance! It was a truly special experience where we learned, grew, and worked together as a community. Some of the key takeaways included taking risks, challenging ourselves, and embracing the power of teamwork. We are so proud of everyone’s efforts! A heartfelt thank you to the Tewksbury Education Foundation for bringing this incredible program to our school. It’s an experience our students will remember for a lifetime—one that fostered new friendships and strengthened our sense of community. Teamwork and connection continue to be at the heart of our classrooms.
In academics, we’ve been busy! In math, we’re working on addition and subtraction within 20, doubles facts, and solving word problems. In writing, students have been crafting personal narratives—our class is full of amazing stories waiting to be told! In social studies, we explored American symbols and are now learning about our community and why Tewksbury is such a special place to live.
- Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Hall, and Mrs. Saksa
Eggcellent Writing in Second Grade
April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate, the Second graders read, enjoyed, and wrote Free Verse and Haiku poetry throughout the end of March and the beginning of April. Our exploration of poetry finally culminated with a very successful poetry cafe in each classroom. The students shared their work with an enthralled audience of parents and grandparents. Each poet also chose a free verse poem to publish in this year’s second grade poetry anthology entitled “Eggcellent Poetry” which will be available for purchase soon.
-Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Bristow, Mrs. Nugent, Mr. Strange
Fractions, Spelling, Science and More
Third Graders have been busy learning about fractions of whole numbers (2/3 of 24) and their connection to multiplication and division. We combined reading and writing by crafting responses to our reading with text evidence and details from the text. We began our science unit on life cycles and traits of plants and animals. We continue to improve our spelling and vocabulary skills through learning about prefixes, suffixes and homophones. This past month we also had our field trip to MPAC to see Dot, Dot, Dot, a musical based on the book, The Dot. Third and fourth graders also enjoyed the Spring Fling. It was nice to see so many kids come together to celebrate the start of spring!
- Mrs. Emge, Mr. Frankoski, Mrs. Kouzis, and Mrs. Nichols
Hip Hopping in April
The month of April brought all of TES a fun and exciting Hip Hop assembly, sponsored by the Tewksbury Education Foundation, performed by Young Audiences. The Fourth Graders were fortunate to have private breakout sessions with the Hip Hop dancers where dancers demonstrated various steps and taught students how to put together a series of steps to form a dance. The fourth graders LOVED this residency as it had EVERYONE moving and dancing!
In the classroom students completed online practice tests for the upcoming NJSLA test in May. In addition to finishing up their Book Clubs, students also read paired texts and completed analysis of the texts using compare and contrast. In math, students completed a unit on perimeter and area and are now working on lines, angles and turns. It’s a busy time in the Fourth Grade!
- Mrs. DelGrande, Mrs. Forsythe, Mrs. Kinzel, Mrs. Picardo, Ms. Wade Taffera
Under the Sea
Underwater Art Lessons have been underway in all grade levels across TES! Each grade level is preparing for our Art Show on 5/22/25. All levels are creating a variety of art that will be framed and for sale on this date. This is a unique and special way to encourage the arts within your child and show how important it is to participate in a whole school creativity celebration.
Sometimes as parents, one may not have the opportunity to just embrace the moment, and frame the artwork that your child may create. This can make this process an easy and stress free process and look forward to seeing the gradual development from year to year.
*Please note that there is no pressure to purchase the framed artwork. All unpurchased artwork will be removed from the frames after the show and returned to the students.
Looking forward to turning the school into an underwater aquarium and hoping all students and staff will enjoy seeing the artists at TES.
- Mrs. Pecora
Let's Dance
This April, our PE classes have been combining for a fun and energetic dance unit! Students are learning basic dance movements, rhythms, and routines while also participating in a variety of dance-related games and activities that get everyone moving and smiling. It's been a great opportunity for students to express themselves, build confidence, and work together. The combined classes have also allowed for even more teamwork and cooperation, all while staying active and having fun!
Field day is right around the corner! As we approach the end of the year, we will be looking for some parent volunteers to help with the fun end of year festivities so be on the look out for a sign up coming soon!
- Mr. Wooby and Ms. Sconda
Ready for Research
It is never too young to learn research skills! In our Kindergarten classes, we have been reading fiction Spring-themed picture books and comparing them with related nonfiction books about local animals and nature. We are using these resources as a jumping off point into a discussion about information literacy. Our students in 1st and 2nd grade have been enjoying a lesson on folktales from around the world. Two of our books come from the podcast series, Circle Round. I recommend this fun, folktale podcast series for those looking for something to enjoy with kids on car rides or screen-free listening at home. We are finishing up our biography unit with students in grades 3rd and 4th. For this unit of study, the students sharpened their listening and note taking skills and had some terrific discussions. This month’s enrichment session was a literary delight! Students in grades 1st and 2nd created beautiful 3D models of scenes from their favorite books.
It is hard to believe that we are getting close to the end of the school year! Looking ahead to May, we could always use the support of families to help get our library books returned. All student library books are due back by Friday, May 23rd. Thank you!
- Ms. Rose-Mason
¡Tiempos felices en primavera!
Springtime in Spanish class is time to look beyond our community and learn about the wider world! Kindergarteners will learn a nursery rhyme from Colombia called "La Vaca Lola" and will play a playground game called "Mar y Tierra". First graders are starting animal vocabulary. We will see endangered animals from Colombia and dance to a fun song called "Animales Arriba, Animales Abajo" by the artist Basho & Friends. Second graders will list all of the countries that have Spanish as their official language. See if your second grader knows how many there are! Third graders finished up learning about transportation vocabulary and will soon be starting a food unit with a focus on Mexican food and drink. Fourth graders are also working with food vocabulary and will be creating a weekly school lunch menu and comparing it with school menus from schools in Spain. I love to take kids outside so hopefully May will bring some nice days for outdoor Spanish -- our younger grades especially love to practice colors with the parachute!
- Senora Obercian
Typing and Exploring
In Technology class our Kindergarten, First grade, and Second grade students piloted an online program called TypeTastic. The students enjoyed learning informal keyboarding skills using this new tool. TypeTastic helps students map the keyboard and supports the development of an understanding of the keyboard layout in a fun and easy way. Our Third and Fourth graders took an interactive virtual field trip behind the scenes at Amazon and they explored various careers in computer science. This was done through a Kahoot developed by Amazon Future Engineers program. Students were engaged and really enjoyed the experience. Ask them about future internship opportunities!
- Ms. Rinehart Havens
We Are READY!
April has been a busy and exciting month in music class! Our students have been singing, playing, and getting everything ready for our big Spring Concert on Friday, May 2nd. Kindergarten, First, and Second grade will hit the stage at 9:00 AM. Third and Fourth graders will follow with their performance at 9:45 AM — all in the TES gym! Everyone has been working hard and having lots of fun as we prepare to show off our talents. We can't wait to share the music with you, and we hope you’ll clap, cheer, and enjoy every moment of the concert!
Summertime Fun Concert
Grades K through 2
9:00 AM - Enter at the loading dock doors at 8:50 AM
Jukebox Time Machine Concert
Grades 3 and 4
9:45 AM - Enter at the loading dock doors after the earlier concert goers leave
- Mr. Shaffer
Spring is in the Air
Spring is often a time of increased friendship issues, especially among students in our older grades. Students are comfortable with their classmates and community and it becomes an appropriate time to explore new friendships and mix things up a bit. This appropriate happening can be bumpy for many students as they are trying to figure out where they fit in. You can help your children by reminding them that even good friendships have some ups and downs and the best way to find a friend is to be a friend. We encourage all students to be open to friendships with many different students and to look for commonality rather then differences. It is great to witness our students learning to weather these ups and downs and begin to develop a real sense of themselves and the actions they choose.
- Sheila Donovan, MSW
School Counselor
Maschio's Food Service
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