TIGER TOWN NEWSLETTER

• 4/15 & 4/16: Scholastic Book Fair
• 4/15-4/17: Single Session School Day (dismissal at 12:45pm)/Bagel-To-Go lunch offered
• 4/17: District Orchestra Concert
• 4/19: International Day
• 4/19: Spirit Day! Wear your country's colors or gear.
• 4/20: May Day prep on CAS grounds

Reminder: Please do not park in the handicap spaces unless you have a placard. Thank you!

• 4/24: Assembly ~ Bike Safety
• 4/25: Take your child to work day
• 4/30: Fourth Grade Wax Museum
• 5/4: May Day at CAS
• 5/6 - 5/10: Say “Thanks” to our staff, it's Teacher Appreciation Week!

*Scroll down to Quick Links to access the full 23/24 Calendar or CLICK HERE

International Day is next Friday, April 19!! Calling all international families to share your culture with our CAS students. We're still looking for countries to represent! If interested, please email Verena at casinternationalday@gmail.com. We Need Your Help!

Don’t forget, if you purchased the “Be Happy in Your Own Shell” t-shirts from the CBI fundraiser, help CAS celebrate diversity and inclusivity by wearing it every Wednesday in April (4/17 and 4/24)!!

PLUS, April 22 - April 26 is CAS Inclusion Week to support Autism Acceptance Month. See flyer below for details.

Spend the morning outdoors with your CAS family on 2024 May Day! Let’s show our pride for our incredible school grounds by preparing it for the year to come. Volunteers are needed for two fun outdoor events.

Preparation of the school grounds April 20, 10am-12pm. We will be pruning, weeding, raking and edging. No green thumb required, there will be helpful volunteers to guide you.

May Day - May 4th, 9am - 12pm ~ stop over anytime! We need your help to simply spread mulch and to weed flower beds.

Sign up with your family! Your team! Your club! Your community group! What if you can’t come but have tools to lend? There is a spot on the sign up form for you too! Questions? MayDayCAS@gmail.com

Your child should have brought home a detailed Flyer and Scholastic Book Brochure this week. The Book Brochure is just a sampling of some of the books that may be available at our Book Fair - we'll have a huge selection of books to choose from in-person!

Be sure to:

• Confirm what day your child's classroom is shopping
• Use the Book Brochure to do some preliminary book browsing with your child
• Set up an eWallet if that's the payment method your child will be using! (Go to our CAS Book Fair Homepage to set one up).
• OR, be prepared to send your child in with Cash on their shopping day

Get ready to have some family fun Under the Sea at our annual school festival on Friday, May 17th, from 3:15-6:30pm. There will be food, music, games, prizes, inflatables, and a dunk tank!

Our Lost and Found is growing! The committee has been maintaining it once or twice a month, tagging new items with dates. Any items that have been in the Lost & Found for longer than three months will be donated on April 19, 2024. Please check the Lost & Found during parent teacher conferences!

Battle of the Books is an optional, friendly reading competition! Participants will pick any 4 of the 7 books from a list provided and read them on your own time. The books will be located in Mrs. Burke's classroom and in the Library. Two weeks before the battle, you will be placed on a team with other students. On Battle Day, you will come to the gym to compete with your team. The last team standing will be THE BATTLE CHAMPIONS and will receive a special personalized reading trophy along with other surprises!

Important Dates:

• Sign Up closes May 14th
• Book Distribution has begun!
• Battle teams posted: May 24th
• Battle Competition: June 6th ~ in the CAS Gym at 1:15pm

Dear CAS Learning Community:

Each year, we as a learning community stop and reflect on the amazing educators we have at CAS! Beginning today we are accepting nominations from parents, staff, and community members for the next CAS Teacher of the Year and CAS Educational Services Professional of the Year.

The positions listed below are considered Educational Services Professionals by the New Jersey Department of Education:

• Anti-Bullying Specialist
• Athletic Trainer
• Mathematics Specialist / Mathematics Coach
• Basic Skills Teacher
• Paraprofessional - Teacher Assistants (Instructional only)
• Behavior Specialist
• Reading Specialist / Reading Coach
• Cooperative Education Coordinator / Hazardous Occupations
• School Nurse
• School Occupational Therapist
• Director of School Counseling Services / Child Study Team
• School Physical Therapist
• School Social Worker
• Educational Interpreter (Cued Speech, Transliteration, Oral Interpreting, Sign Language Interpreting)
• Speech-Language Specialist
• Student Assistant Coordinator
• Technology Coach
• Guidance / School Counselor
• Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant
• Library Media Specialist

Please consider submitting nominations to honor our wonderful CAS professionals. The deadline to submit nominations for both recognitions is no later than Friday, April 19, 2024.

Please complete this Google Form to submit your nominations for both categories. Please submit at maximum only one nomination for Teacher of the Year and one nomination for Educational Support Professional of the Year categories (a maximum of 2 nominations per person). Both entries can be submitted on the same Google Form. When submitting a nomination, please elaborate with a detailed rationale as to why this individual should be selected.

Educators of the Year will be formally announced on Thursday, May 9, 2024. We look forward to reading your nominations and celebrating the hard work and dedication of our elementary educators.

As we prepare for the second half of this school year, we are looking ahead at open roles for September. Please email caspto@gmail.com to volunteer for these open positions!

May Day (4/20 and/or 5/4)

Bring the family outside and beautify our school! Two opportunities ~ On April 20th from 10-12pm, we will be prepping the grounds by pruning, weeding, raking and edging. May Day is May 4th from 9-12pm ~ We need your help to simply spread mulch and to weed flower beds. If you can’t be there, perhaps we can borrow your tools! May Day Help!

Spring Lunch Duty

Calling Parent Volunteers to help with Lunch Duty this Spring. Two volunteers are requested daily to help students with opening lunch items, keeping lunch lines moving and making sure students follow cafeteria rules. This is a fun and easy way of experiencing your child in their school habitat. Click here to sign up

Webmaster(s)

Official role begins fall 2024, but shadowing current member is recommended**. The webmaster/s work with the PTO presidents closely to modify the PTO’s website and Square content continuously in order to provide the most current and up to date information. The webmaster is responsible for: Website Design & Management; Square Registration creation and management. Experience with Square preferred, but not required.

PTO Vice Presidents (two positions)

Grab a friend for some teamwork! This position consists of “shadowing” the 2024-2025 presidents for one year, followed by the co-presidency positions for the 2025-206 school year. During the first year, the Vice Presidents will assist the Presidents in a variety of activities, such as managing emails, scheduling events, organizing volunteers, overseeing the budget of events, fulfilling teacher requests, after-school enrichment, teacher appreciation, and more.

This is the thirteenth year Madison has received this distinction! Out of 14,000 eligible districts, Madison joins 975 districts across the country in receiving the prestigious award in 2024. The complete list of districts can be found here:

The Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. Districts that have been recognized by the NAMM Foundation are often held up as models for other educators looking to boost their own music education programs. This couldn't be more true of the program we have in Madison.

On behalf of the music teachers, thank you for your ongoing support of the arts and the amazing band, chorus, orchestra, and theatre programs at each district school.

This week, Coach Marty will be starting the Spring ’24 Chess Program. All sessions will run from 4:45pm to 6:00pm and I have moved the Advanced Beginners from Mondays to Fridays. Chess continues to work very well online (perhaps better than in person in many ways) and offers safety and scheduling flexibility (regarding times and playing level) to the students and myself.

I have broken the online Spring ’24 Chess programs into two groups, Newcomers/Beginners and Advanced Beginners, that will each meet once a week for 10 weeks starting week of April 8th. If you are not sure which session would be right for you, just let me know, and I will advise you. If you would like to take a class, but the day/time doesn’t work for you, please let me know and I will see if I can set up another session at a different day/time.

Newcomers/Beginners

For players who don't know anything about chess and for those beginners who know how to play a little, but want to learn what they should do to be a better chess player. Learn the rules of this great centuries' old game and get started playing and having FUN! Get a quick overview of how to win a chess match -- not just the checkmating of your opponent, but how to get to that point. Online Zoom lecture and worksheet puzzle sessions and class chess play with www.lichess.org internet accounts will be used to teach you.

Schedule:

10 sessions on Wednesdays from 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm starting on April 10th and continuing on April 17, 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; and Jun 5 and 12.

Advanced Beginners

For players who know the rules of chess and have either taken a beginner's course or have played sufficiently to have some idea of what they are trying to do and how to do it. Now it's time to use your knowledge to beat your parents, friends, and schoolmates at the game, as well as prepare for tournament Chess play. Course topics will include checkmating positions; basic opening ideas and chess tactics; and more advanced tactics and Chess strategies. Zoom online lecture and worksheet puzzle sessions and class chess play using accounts on www.lichess.org will be used to help you become a better player. You will also learn about the active environment of kid's tournament chess, as well as the numerous resources that are available to help you learn and play the game.

Schedule:

10 sessions on Fridays from 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm starting on April 12th and continuing on April 19, 26; May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; and June 7, and 14.

The cost for each once a week, ten session program is $250 (the same per session cost as previously). Each class is limited to 8 students and acceptance is on a first come, first served basis. If you would like to reserve a spot in any of these programs, please email me and I will confirm your admittance into the program. You may then pay for the program via a check payable to Jersey Chess mailed to Jersey Chess, 91 Fox Hollow Rd., Sparta, NJ 07871 or digitally via Zelle (to account 973-729-9433) or digitally via venmo to Martin-Sobin (but be sure to mark it as payment between friends, so no fees are taken out of it). For any student taking the program who is new to my online sessions, I will arrange a free 75 minute private one on one online Zoom session at a mutually convenient time before the program begins, to make sure the student knows how the internet details work.

If you are interested, please email or text me. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

I am still continuing to give one hour or hour and 15 minutes online one on one private lessons and if you are interested, please contact me to arrange mutually convenient dates/times and costs.

The Department of Visual and Performing Arts is excited to announce the details for the upcoming 2024 Summer Arts Program. All classes will be given at Madison Junior School and will be held between 9:00 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., Monday-Friday. Our program will include instrumental music, musical theater classes, chorus, and art! See registration and class details here

Registration is OPEN for the 2024 MEF Pickleball Tournament on Saturday, June 1, 2024. Register individually or with a partner for a fast-paced, fundraising day of round-robin style play.

These events WILL sell out. Learn more and register HERE.

The Madison Special Education Parent Advisory Group represents parents of children with disabilities who are eligible for or receiving services under an IEP or 504 plan. To join and receive meeting information, please register via our directory at www.madisonsepag.com"

The 2024 Meeting Date Are As Follows:

• June 12th

More details can be found on the SEPAG website Meetings page.