We are looking forward to meeting you at Kindergarten Orientation on May 30th! In the meantime, please click HERE to join our email list to receive information about events and programs at South Mountain!

The counts are in!  Thank you for clipping and helping your school reach its goal with Box tops!  Our next and final collection for this school year  will be Tuesday, May 22nd. The winning class will be awarded a pizza party and it has been close~ so keep on clipping! Every one box top makes a difference!! Please contact me if you have any questions at Smaebert@aol.com. Thanks for your participation!

BOX TOPS ACCUMULATED (TOTAL TO DATE)
Ms. O’Halloran 1335
Mr. Jones 1176
Mrs. Murray 1109
Mrs. Dorton 1071
Mrs. Devomecourt 931
Mrs. Lewis-Rebimbas 855
Mrs. Maier 795
Mrs. Bucich 725
Mrs. E. Esposito 592
Mrs. Masters 586
Mrs. Shaeffer-Gelo 555
Mrs. Paisner 535
Mrs. Murphy 509
Team W 471
Mrs. Conyers 460
Mrs. Timpson 455
Mrs. Appenzoller 423
Mrs. Simon 421
Mrs. Heumann 381
Mrs. Juhlin 379
Mrs. Pomeranc 370
Mrs. J. Esposito 309
Mr. Cahn 306
Mrs. Magnani 305
Mrs. Buonocore 242
Ms. Gutkin 169
Ms. Henderson 162

Grand total to date 15868
This includes 244 donated from Rotary Club

SUPERSTARS ROCK!!!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We invite you to participate in an online satisfaction survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/somsd2012

Your input on the quality of education the district provides to your students and your experiences with the district will be invaluable as we plan for the future.  Everyone taking this survey is completely anonymous, and we encourage you to answer questions carefully and honestly.

If you have more than one child attending school, please complete one survey for each child.  When you complete your first responses, click on the link to begin again.  The survey will run through Thursday, May 24, 2012.

Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts.

School District of South Orange and Maplewood

Notification of Revised School Calendar for May 2012

Barring an unexpected emergency, the following schools will be CLOSED on Friday, May 25, 2012:

• Maplewood Middle School
• South Orange Middle School
• Clinton Elementary School
• Jefferson Elementary School
• Seth Boyden Elementary School
• South Mountain School (Main Building only)
• Tuscan Elementary School

The following schools will be IN SESSION on Friday, May 25, 2012:

• Columbia High School
• Marshall Elementary School
• South Mountain Annex (Main Building will be closed)

Note:  Friday May 25, 2012, is the scheduled give back day for schools that did not use the three allotted emergency school closing days.  All district schools were closed for two days this year (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1).  However, Columbia High School, Marshall and South Mountain Annex were each closed a third day, and therefore will be in session on May 25.  All other schools will be closed on May 25, unless there is an emergency closing between now and then.

SEPAC MEETING

Tuesday, May 29th
7:30-9:00 pm
District Meeting Room
525 Academy Street
Maplewood

SEPAC stands for Special Education Parent Advisory Committee. Special Education Parent Advisory Groups are required for all school districts in New Jersey. The purpose of these groups is to provide opportunities for parents and community members to offer input to their district’s special education programs.

New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:14-­‐1.2(h) states that: Each board of education shall ensure that a special education parent advisory group is in place in the district to provide input to the district on issues concerning students with disabilities.

Anyone with student or students with learning needs or anyone with a student or students eligible for or receiving services under an IEP or 504 plan is welcome to attend. The SEPAC will work with the Director of  Special Education and other district staff.

Questions? Contact Sharon Huetz, Sharon@tuscanroad.com

Conversations on Race: Growing Through Our Discomfort

Join the Community Coalition on Race for a community diaologues on the real world challengers and benefits of intentional integration.

Wednesday, May 30th
7:30 pm
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
432 Scotland Road
South Orange

Free and open to the public.

For questions or to pre-register go to www.twotowns.org or call 973-761-6116

District-wide robotics meeting on Thursday, May 31, at 7PM at Columbia High School Cafeteria.

Students of all ages, who are interested in robotics should attend the district wide meeting about the robotics program. The CHS robots will be in action and kids can try to drive them. Two robots putt golf balls!

There are three divisions of robotics teams in the district–elementary, middle school and high school.  Students work together in their division to design a robot and have it accomplish tasks. As the students move to the high school, the requirements are stricter as to teamwork, responsibilities and, of course, time commitment.   All district teams should bring their robots and projects to the meeting.  We hope to have representatives from US FIRST, the robotics organization with thousands of teams including a number from our district.  Robotics clubs can be organized at the meeting and existing clubs can recruit new members.

The District is on track to start a robotics course in the fall of 2013. It may be available as independent study by the spring of 2012-13 school year.

The CHS team has accomplished in its first 2 years: NJ State Champions (2011); 2nd place alliance, World Championships in St. Louis (2011), Pennsylvania State Champions (2012), semi-finalist in NJ and NY Metro NYC divisions (2012).

Parents, please encourage your children to be part of a dynamic program and be prepared for the world they will live where cars are robots, where manufacturing is done by robots, and where many routine tasks in their lifetimes will be done by robots.

Any questions, please contact Mr. Tumolillo at atumolil@somsd.k12.nj.us.

Support Great Teachers and Great Teaching in Our Schools

Give the gift that gives back! Send a thank you note or a note of appreciation to a special teacher or librarian. For a donation of a minimum of $5.00 each, the Achieve Foundation will print your personal messages on beautiful cards and deliver them to the recipients. Every dollar donated supports the Achieve Foundation’s Teacher Grants. For more information visit: achievefoundation.org/honor-your-teacher or call 973-762-3758 to place your order by June 1.

Annex Families are invited to the Annex sing-a-long on June 4th at 8:15 am. This will take place in the Cafeteria. This year there will also be a display of the students’ art work in the halls so that you can enjoy their wonderful art. There are also some very wonderful murals inspired by Jackson Pollack! Annex students will also have their 3D art on display in the big school on May 24. So look out for this in the gym!

Join Math Supervisor Kim Beane, Math Specialist Katie Costello, and teachers from each elementary school for a special advance preview of Math in Focus (a Singapore Math program). Math in Focus will be implemented in grades K-2 in Fall 2012, and in grades 3-5 in Fall 2013.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 7:30pm – 8:30pm at Tuscan Elementary School