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 | THE HARTSHORN HAPPENINGS
PTO Monthly Newsletter: Issue 4, December 15, 2017 | |
 | | 12/16 Caring Kids Annual Holiday Gift Drive
12/22 Early Dismissal
12/25 - 1/1 Schools Closed - Winter Recess
1/11 School-Wide Concert
1/16 General PTO Meeting
2/8 & 2/9 HFactor
2/19 - 2/23 Schools Closed - Midwinter Recess
3/10 Hartshorn Science Expo
4/9 - 4/13 Schools Closed - Spring Recess |
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| “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.†– Ferris Bueller
Dear Hartshorn Parents,
We know that this is an extremely busy time of year! However, it is important to take a moment to take it all in and appreciate what a wonderful community Hartshorn School has created. Before Thanksgiving, we held our annual Bridges event to help the homeless. At the beginning of December, everyone helped fundraise for the PTO by purchasing books at our Book Fair. Due to your generosity, many teachers received book donations from their wish lists. The Community Outreach Committee completed the Embrace a Foster Child Gift Drive with the help of our dedicated class moms and Hartshorn Families! Ladies night out was a huge success and so much fun! Tomorrow, Caring Kids will hold their gift-wrapping party at Hartshorn to help out the children at the NJ Regional Day School in Newark. H Factor is underway! We know that the Hartshorn students have many talents and we can’t wait to see them all on stage! Also, it is not too late to buy General Store items as holiday gifts and to bring in your Box Tops for our Box Top Challenge. If you are purchasing gifts on Amazon Smile, please choose “Hartshorn School PTO†as your charity of choice. It doesn’t cost you anything and directly benefits the PTO (and your children). When we get back from break, we will jump back into school at full speed. Hartshorn's School-Wide Concert will take place on January 11, 2018 this school year. Our 10:00 AM performance is for K-2 Families, and our 1:30 PM performance is for 3-4 Families. The snow date for the concert will be Friday, January 12, 2018. Be on the lookout for sign ups for ASE registration, Pizza Lunch & Half Day Pretzels for the second half of the year. We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday and a very Happy New Year! Loren and Tamara PTO Co-Presidents |
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CARING KIDS ANNUAL HOLIDAY GIFT DRIVE Caring Kids is proud to announce our 7th annual holiday gift drive and celebration. Once again, we have partnered with New Jersey Regional Day School in Newark. Every child in the school has significant special needs. Additionally, many of the families are dealing with significant financial hardships and food insecurity. Caring Kids is reaching out to our community to once again bring the joy of the season to so many children and families in need. If you would like to sponsor a child and provide them with gifts for the holidays, please email Sharon Cohen at sharonmcohen2@gmail.com. We are also collecting Shoprite and Walmart gift cards to help the families with basic necessities. And save the date for our holiday party. On Saturday, December 16th, from 12-2pm, you may bring the gifts to Hartshorn School for a festive gift wrapping, card making, chocolate treat dipping celebration. Please help Caring Kids spread our message of changing the world, one kid at a time, by sponsoring a child in need. SCHOOL-WIDE CONCERT Hartshorn's School-Wide Concert will take place on January 11, 2018 this school year. Our 10:00 AM performance is for K-2 Families, and our 1:30 PM performance is for 3-4 Families. The snow date for the concert will be Friday, January 12, 2018.
GENERAL PTO MEETING
Mark your calendars! The next General PTO Meeting is Tuesday, January 16th at 9:15am in the MPR. Please join us and share your questions, ideas, and volunteerism!
HFACTOR H Factor is coming! This year it will be on Thursday Feb. 8 and Friday Feb. 9. Save the Dates November 29th or 30th - Previews
January 3rd or 4th - Rehearsals
January 17th or 18th - Rehearsals
January 24th or 25th - Rehearsals
January 31st or February 1st - Tech Rehearsals
February 5th or 6th - Dress Rehearsals
February 8th or 9th – Show (Monday February 12th – Snow date)
Sign up at www.hartshornpto.membershiptoolkit.com from October 27th through November 27th 2017 Look for an e-blast soon with all other relevant information.
Questions? Email Shilpa Vaswani Kamat, Rohini Vira & Emily Chase Weinstein at hartshornhfactor@gmail.com. If you want to be more involved and help one of our H-Factor committees, please contact one of the chairs.
HARTSHORN SCIENCE EXPO The Science Expo Committee is recruiting parent volunteers to make this year’s science expo a success! The Science Expo is a one-day event which is a cross between the Science Olympiad and a hands-on science museum with grade-specific activities. At last year’s event, students took part in fun challenges and there were demonstrations involving Drones, Robots and Coding. This year’s expo is scheduled for Saturday, March 10, 2018. There will be a minimal number of meetings as we understand that you have busy lives inside and outside the home. The only requirement is enthusiasm – no scientific expertise is necessary! If you have any questions or would like to volunteer your time for the Science Expo, please email Chairs Marni Kelman, Liby Cielo and Elsa Thomas at Hartshornscienceexpo@gmail.com |
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BODIES IN MOTION Bodies in Motion is a structured before school exercise and activity program run by Mrs. McGowan and Mrs. Richardson, our Special Education Instructors. It is a free service open to all students from Kindergarten through 4th grade. Classes run from 7:50-8:25 am on select Mondays (see below). Sign up is weekly. Sign up with Mrs. Kapur at varianny.kapur@gmail.com by the Sunday night before each session to reserve a spot. Select Monday mornings from 7:50-8:25AM Dec 18, Jan 8, 22, 29, Feb 5, 12, Mar 5, 12, 19, 26, Apr 2, 23, 30, May 7, 14, 21
BATTLE OF THE BOOKS Students will be provided with the books and they will be placed on teams. Each week, students will work on team-building activities and share their knowledge of the books they have read. The culmination of the program is "battle" of their knowledge of the books. Be on the lookout for sign-up information from Mrs. Small and Mrs. Mustion! Open to all 3rd and 4th graders. Tuesday mornings 8:00 am-8:30 am Session one:
Battle of the Books Competition: Monday, Nov. 20th 3:15-4:00 Session two: February 27, March 6,13, 20, 27, April 3
Battle of the Books Competition: Wednesday, April 4th 3:15-4:00
TAKE CHARGE Mrs. Reisler, our Basic Skills Instructor, works with students to develop organizational skills, time management, and study skills for students grades 3-4. Space is limited! Each student will be enrolled for one session with an option for a second session based on availability and need. Sign up through Mrs. Kapur at varianny.kapur@gmail.com Next 5-week session is on select Tuesdays from 3:00-3:55 Session 2: Jan 23, 30, Feb 6, 13, 27
KARATE Karate Club is back is a free club open to all Hartshorn students in Kindergarten through 4th Grade taught by me. Students will be taught Chito-Ryu Karate. Characterized by blocks, kicks, punches and strikes, Chito-Ryu is designed to instill confidence and self-discipline while preparing the mind and body to defend against aggressive behavior or assault. Classes meet on select Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 4:30-5:15 pm in the Hartshorn gym for all participants, and 5:15-5:45 for more advanced students. Schedule until January is as follows: Dec 15, Jan 4, 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 30 If you're interested in joining the club or would like more information, email Mrs. Kapur at varianny.kapur@gmail.com
MENTORING Selected high school students are coached and come to Hartshorn to help build strong social skills and improve academic performance with students in need. Under the guidance of high school teacher, Susan Dewoski, and Hartshorn teacher, Mrs. Mary Jane Reisler, the students develop self-confidence while forming a bond with a mentoring student. Space is limited. If interested, please contact Mrs. Mary Jane Reisler directly at maryjane.reisler@millburn.org Wednesdays 3:00-3:45 - Dec 20, Jan 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Feb 7, 14, Mar 7, 21, 28
CHESS TEAM The Top 14 chess players from our school-wide qualifying tournament held on October 6th will participate in the NJ C.H.E.S.S. League, a consortium of local schools that play in tournaments throughout the year. Team matches will be on the following Wednesdays (dates subject to change) after school.
1/10/18 Away –Lincoln-Hubbard 4/4/18Away -Glenwood 1/17/18Away -Chatham Day School5/2/18 Home-Deerfield CHANGE AGENTS Students make a difference! Our current group will continue work from last year and then a new group will be offered the opportunity to become involved mid- year. A notice will be sent then. Open to all grades. Space is limited – 12 students. Here are our focus areas: Environmental Awareness – the students will work with Mr. Frattini on being environmentally conscientious. The groups will discuss recycling, beautification of the grounds and community, conservation, and ways to be healthy. Ethics In Action –the students will discuss issues, create scenarios commonly encountered at the elementary school level and role-play these. Our Power of One theme and our steps to conflict resolution will be infused into the skits. These skits will be created, written and performed by students for students. Random Acts of Kindness- the students will be engaged in making the world a better place through anonymous, random acts of kindness.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Mrs. Jill Canastra A retired guidance counselor from Millburn Middle School, Mrs. Canastra volunteers each week and will serve as a resource for students, teachers, and parents. I worked with Mrs. Canastra at the middle school and she is top-notch! Mrs. Canastra is also former elementary school teacher. Her experiences as a mother and grandmother coupled with her professional experiences make her a perfect match for us. We’re extremely fortunate to have a knowledgeable, willing and personable professional! Mrs. Emily Coughlin Our school psychologists who help facilitate lunch bunches and assist with implementing the 4 steps to conflict resolution and our character initiatives. Mrs. Coughlin will also be assisting with implementing character education and conflict resolution lessons in classrooms and into practice! Mrs. Mary Jane Reisler Hartshorn’s “Strategies Intervention†instructor is a master teacher. She is involved in Mentoring, our Take Charge program and our character initiatives. At times, Mrs. Reisler, Mrs. Canastra, Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Coughlin and/or I may invite students to meet, have an recess game in the gym, or have a lunch-bunch in order for us to discuss our character initiatives, to work on skills necessary for successful conflict resolutions, or to just bring together a group of friends. This is completely voluntary and not punitive in any way, nor are students obligated to participate. This approach has students invested in "doing the right thing" since they are involved in the conversation about our school and the development of the ideas. All this falls under our school wide theme of The Power of One. THREE EASY WAYS TO HELP HARTSHORN EARN MONEY
If everyone can do these few things we can earn money to enhance the education of our children at Hartshorn School!
These are some very easy ways to really help our school! Please take a few minutes to register your cards, go to Amazon Smile and cut BoxTops!
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| COMMUNITY OUTREACH HARTSHORN HAS A BIG HEART! This Holiday season, we are grateful to you, Hartshorn families, who have supported our community outreach efforts so generously this year! Thank you for your incredible generosity in our “Embrace a Child†holiday outreach project. With your help, the Hartshorn community provided holidays gifts -- including toys, clothes, winter coats and accessories and luggage -- for 188 children currently in foster care in Essex County. Each of our homerooms “embraced†a child in this effort, and we thank all of the class parents and who shopped on behalf of those children. Thanks to our teachers, as well, who took time to explain the importance of the project and who made time in the school day for “wrapping parties,†so the children could participate more fully in the spirit of giving. We continue to try to make this effort a heartwarming experience for you, parents, as well as make happy holidays for children in need. If you have suggestions how we might improve next year, please let us know. We welcome your feedback. We wish you all a very happy holiday season and look forward to working together again -- to use our power for good -- in the new year. Please contact Community Outreach co-chairs, Elizabeth Dooley (eadooley25@gmail.com), Kristi Gerstel (kristigerstel@gmail.com) or Sherri Sparaga (sherrisparaga@gmail.com) with any comments or questions.
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HARTSHORN TEACHERS COLLABORATE FOR EMBRACE A CHILD
This year, 28 Hartshorn teachers collaborated to donate to three children through Embrace a Child. Pictured are the gifts the teachers bought for these three young children, along with 18 of the teachers who contributed them. Due to the teacher’s efforts, three children will have a much brighter holiday season! 
Pictured: 1st Row (Left to Right) - Mrs. Cisko, Mrs. Hume, Mrs. Small, Ms. Renehan, Ms. Jacobs, Mrs. McGowan, Mrs. Barnhard. 2nd Row (Left to Right) - Ms. Geddis, Ms. Jackson, Mrs. Esposito, Mrs. Mustion, Mrs. O’Leary, Mrs. Smalley, Mrs. Lanzo, Mrs. McGuire, Mrs. Stonberg, Ms. Blake, Ms. Benedetto Teachers NOT pictured who took part in this charity: Ms. Panarelli, Ms.Davies, Mrs. Bean, Mrs. Blitz, Mr. Yee, Mrs. Haberman, Mrs. Dubnow, Mrs. Reisler, Mrs. Richardson, Ms. Sullivan
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 | | CHESS NEWS At New Jersey k-12 grade chess championship, Collin Du and Ryan Zhu formed a Hartshorn chess team and earned a 3rd place in the first grade competition. Both the first and second place teams had more than 4 players. Collin and Ryan are very excited and would like to share the news with you. In addition, Ryan got the 1st place and Collin got the 10th place in the 1st grade competition. |
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 | | HARTSHORN'S KINDERGARTEN GIRL SCOUT TROOP
On December 3rd, Troop #22430 marched in the Snowflake Parade. Every girl in the grade has signed up for the troop, and is looking forward to a meaningful experience with the development of strong friendships and character. |
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ASSEMBLIES
November- 4th grade, Lenape Lifeways  
The 4th graders learned all about Life as a Lenape through an interactive hands-on presentation. The program introduced students to the Lenape culture, focusing on daily rituals which followed the rhythm of nature’s cycles. The program consisted of a slide presentation, stories and many touchable objects and artifacts, including authentic clothing, tools, musical instruments, artwork and games. November – 4th grade, Franklin Institute program on Electricity 4th graders learned all about the mysteries of electricity through an interesting presentation from the Franklin Institute. Exploring static and current electricity were on topic, as well as watching electricity travel through the air to power fluorescent light bulbs—turning students into a human “circuit.†Scientific concepts of static and current electricity, electrons, and magnetism were presented. November – 1st grade, Prismatic Magic  
The 1st graders were mesmerized with an exciting musical and laser assembly to celebrate America’s spirit of innovation, discovery and exploration. The American Pride Laser Spectacular by Prismatic Magic was an educational laser show reminding the children that our freedom is earned through the sacrifices made by generations of Americans. November – Kindergarten, Music of the Earth  
The Kindergarten students experienced Ancient cultures come alive through the sounds of exotic instruments from around the world. This interactive assembly introduced the children to giant drums, crystal singing bowls, Australian didgeridoos, Chinese gongs, Native American flutes and deer-hoof rattles, Aztec wind whistle, Scottish Bagpipes and much more! Students learned songs, were able to see and feel instruments up close, and were able to write and draw about their experiences with the music. |
| LAST MONTH IN PICTURES
THANKSGIVING ASSEMBLY | |
| Thank You To Our Volunteers: Every year we are able to bring you a wide array of programs because of all the behind the scenes work that our volunteers put in to make each event successful. In this section we attempt to acknowledge and thank volunteers who have worked actively in the past month. Besides these names, there are many others who have given their time and energy to making our school better. We thank you all. Bridges chairs: Paula Pastore, Berylin Bosselman and committee Ladies night out chairs: Melanie Rosenbaum, Emily Jaffe and Stephanie Weinstein Outreach chairs: Kristi Gerstel, Elizabeth Dooley, Sherri Sparaga and committee ASE Chairs: Shweta Tunk, Marni Kelman, Feisal Alibhai and Kristi Gerstel General store chairs: Ali Seeger, Kristina Bunch and Sue Motroni Book fair: Amanda Fiverson, Emily Schonbraun, Sara Singer, Barrie Leibowitz and the entire committee Publicity: Emily Chase Weinstein |
|  THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF MILLBURN AND SHORT HILLSSAVE THESE DATES!!!
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2018 – MILLBURN SCHOOLS ROCK
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2018 – MILLBURN FILM FEST
The Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills wishes you and your family a wonderful holiday! Please think of the Education Foundation when you are making your end of year donations. We know there are many worthwhile organizations out there…but we truly believe there is no better investment than our children's education. We appreciate all your support but know there is still so much more that we can accomplish for our schools! The Ed Foundation qualifies for corporate matching gifts, so you can make an even greater positive impact for our schools with a matching gift from your company! Thousands of businesses in NY/NJ actively participate in this program. Our community is fortunate to have so many parents working at these corporations. Please reach out to your Human Resources Department for the very simple information they will need to match your contribution. The following is just a tiny sample of companies that are participants in matching gifts: American ExpressBank of AmericaBarclays Citigroup ChubbDisney Deutsche BankFidelityGeneral Electric Goldman SachsIBMJP Morgan Chase MellonMerckMet Life Morgan StanleyNew York LifeNovartis PfizerPrudential PSE&G Time Warner United Health GroupViacom VerizonWells FargoXerox DOUBLE the impact you will make by making a donation and reaching out to your company for the matching gift TODAY! Please click on this link to fund our children’s dreams! Thank you! http://efmsh.mybigcommerce.com/membership/ Happy Holidays from the Ed Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills
MILLBURN-SHORT HILLS LACROSSE CLUB Spring 2018 registration for the Millburn-Short Hills Lacrosse Club is now open at www.mshlax.org for Grades 1 through 8. For Grades 2 - 8, if your son has not played before or has grown and needs a new uniform, orders must be placed through Thompson's Sporting Goods in Summit, NJ. Ordering will open in early December and will close on February 15th. Orders placed after February 15th, 2018 may not arrive in time for first games. A reminder email will go out in early December when uniform ordering is open. If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan Justice at jonathanfjustice@gmail.com.
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