Rolling Hills Primary School

Dear Rolling Hills Parents and Guardians:

Welcome to March! With the new month, we will end the second trimester and begin the third trimester of the 2023-2024 school year. It's difficult to believe that almost two-thirds of the school year is nearly behind us. March will bring us another busy month, followed by our long-awaited Spring Break!

• February was a very busy at Rolling Hills Primary School! Two of our teachers welcomed new additions to their families:
• congratulations to the Vrabel family, who welcomed Izabella Phoenix Vrabel on February 5th!
• congratulations also to the DiNunzio family, who welcomed Lily Jane DiNunzio on February 21st!

• We would like to thank the Rolling Hills SCA for the fantastic Snowball Dances! The second and third grade attendees--and their guests--enjoyed a joy-filled evening, replete with music in a lovely decorated gym. The students also enjoyed their Smecils and the special treat they received for Leap Year Day! Thank you, Rolling Hills SCA!

• Many thanks to Mrs. Gallant, who once again arranged a visit from Thrive Orthodontics so students could learn about proper dental health. We appreciate Dr. Akkaway and his team for the information and the wonderful dental supplies!

• Finally, we would like to thank Ms. Stokes for creating our Kindness Week activity and wanted to congratulate all of the students who participated and won prizes for showing kindness.

We would greatly appreciate your assistance with the following:

• Please be sure that your contact information--especially all of the phone numbers listed in Genesis to be used in an emergency--are kept up-to-date and accurate.

• If you are driving your child to school, please plan to arrive at Rolling Hills between 9:00 and 9:10 AM. Students arriving after 9:15 AM will be marked "tardy". When you arrive at the school, please follow the directives of the staff members who are outside assisting with this process. There is no need to park your car for morning drop-off, just drive up to the front door and your child may depart from your vehicle. If you could have your child ready to exit from the passenger side, that would provide a safer procedure for all students.

• If you are picking up your child from school, please visit Genesis and then follow the procedure below before noon on the day of the pick up. If you arrive to pick up your child without informing the school office, it delays dismissal for the entire school. If your child is picked up each day, there is no need to follow this procedure daily, as they will be listed on the Daily Pickup List. Thank you very much for your help!

• When you pick up your child, you will need to park and walk to the front door of the school, where there will be a spreadsheet to sign out your child. Students will be called for pick-up dismissal at approximately 3:30 PM. We would sincerely ask your patience and understanding in waiting until that time for your child to be dismissed from if you are picking them up from school. Please avoid all early pick-ups unless there is an emergency, as it is very disruptive to the dismissal process.

• Thank you for your assistance. Your cooperation will ensure that everyone receives quality instruction--from bell to bell!

• We will continue to focus on the importance of regular attendance as we move into the final trimester of the 2023-2024 school year. Please take some time to review the flyer listed below and encourage your child to be in school each and every day--unless they are ill. Thank you!

• A "LOST AND FOUND" table is located outside the nurse's office. If your child is missing any items, please have them stop by the table sometime during the day to retrieve their lost belongings.

Although I strongly encourage you to reach out directly to your child's teacher(s) first regarding any issues pertaining to instruction or classroom routines, please be assured that I remain committed to every students' educational experience and encourage you to reach out to me if I may be of assistance throughout the school year.

Thank you for your dedication to your child's education and your anticipated cooperation.

With sincere appreciation,

Pauline F. Anderson, Principal

March 2nd through 6th

is the "Official" Read Across America Week

March 4th through March 8th

READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK at Rolling Hills

March 4th through April 12th

SUSSEX COUNTY MINERS READING CLUB - Parent/Guardian Letter

SUSSEX COUNTY MINERS READING LOG - Calendar

Monday, March 4th

Author Visit - The Reflection in Me by Marc Colagiovanni

Wednesday, March 6th

UMAC SCA Event - 3:30-4:45 PM - all-purpose room

Thursday, March 7th

Mentoring Activity - 3:30-4:30 PM

Sunday, March 10th

Daylight Savings Time Begins - “Spring Ahead” clocks at 2:00 AM

Monday, March 11th

No School for Students

TEACHER IN-SERVICE DAY

Wednesday, March 13th

Trimester 2 Ends

SCA Meeting - 9:30 AM - Principal’s Office or via Zoom

UMAC SCA Event - 3:30-4:45 PM - all-purpose room

Thursday, March 14th

Trimester 3 Begins

Math Night - 6:00-7:00 PM - all-purpose room

Board of Education Work Session - 7:00 p.m. - Lounsberry Hollow School -

approve tentative budget for county office

Tuesday, March 19th

Spring Begins

Genesis Portal Closes for Teachers

Thursday, March 21st

Math Night - 6:00-7:00 PM - snow date

Board of Education Public Meeting - 7:00 PM - Lounsberry Hollow Middle School

Monday, March 25th

Scholastic Book Fair

Genesis Parent Portal Opens to View Report Cards - 4:00 PM

Tuesday, March 26th

Scholastic Book Fair

Someone Special Day for Third Grade Guests

SCA's Someone Special Day Evening Event - “Paint with Me”

Wednesday, March 27th

Scholastic Book Fair

Someone Special Day for Second Grade Guests

Thursday, March 28th

Scholastic Book Fair

Friday, March 29th

Good Friday - Schools/Offices Closed

Spring Break

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A LOOK AHEAD…

Monday, April 8th

School Reopens following Spring Break

Wednesday, April 24th

Music is a Treat 2024 Spring Concerts

Tuesday, July 30th

ROLLING HILLS BALLGAME AT SKYLANDS STADIUM!

• We are excited to announce that we will once again be hosting Special Someone Day

at Rolling Hills Primary School this year!

Formerly known as "Grandparents' Day", each student may invite up to 2 guests for their visit.

Here are some of the guidelines for the day:

• Our third graders will welcome visitors on Tuesday, March 26th.

• Mrs. Fisher's class, Mrs. Hintzen's class and Mrs. Pappas's classes will also welcome their visitors on Tuesday, March 26th.

• Our second graders will welcome visitors on Wednesday, March 27th.

• Please complete this survey in order to pre-register each Special Someone on or before Wednesday, March 20th; each student is limited to 2 visitors.

• All visitors must be pre-registered, since classroom space is limited.

• Visitors may only attend on the date that is assigned to your student's grade level/class.

• Visitors must bring and share a valid form of identification.

• Students are expected to remain in school for the full day; students who are signed out prior to 1:15 p.m. will be marked absent for the full day.

• To ensure the privacy of every student and staff member, no photographs may be taken by our visitors during visitation; teachers will take photos that can be shared.

• Every visitor will be given a numbered card when they sign in. Throughout the visitation period, numbers will be announced via the intercom inviting our visitors and students to visit the Scholastic Book Fair and/or have professional photographs taken by School Craft Photographers.

• All visitors must remain in their student's classes unless shopping at the book fair or getting their photograph taken professionally.

• We look forward to welcoming our special visitors to Rolling Hills Primary School!

...will be shared with you each month. They truly bring messages of hope and are replete with exceptional ideas to enrich your life--and the lives of those around you! Be sure to take a moment to review and/or print them out for your use throughout the month.

Mindful March's calendar reminds us to "pause, breathe and notice, so we can respond more mindfully".

Ms. Alexa Stokes continues the very popular Caring Kids program at Rolling Hills Primary School, which allows students to be nominated by staff members and/or their own peers when they demonstrate kindness. The students who are nominated each week are announced via the intercom on Fridays during the morning announcements.

Students also receive a "Caring Kids" certificate to take home.

This month's Caring Kids are:

February Caring Kids

Announced on February 2nd

Penelope Carrion

Caelyn Mackwell

Mason McDonnell

Announced on February 9th

Miguel Matos Aracena

Abbie Canal

CJ DiGirolamo

Zachary Hill

Luke Kapusta

Weston Kapusta

Ethan Kouroupakis

Hayleigh Locke Kaiden Miller

Rylee Petrucci Mia Rose

Jordan Shotten Elizabeth Tierney

Raymond VanWalleghem

Announced on February 16th

Omar Abdallah

Braelyn Cushman

Harley Fruit

Roan Hall

Daria Stasovska

Ella Staudinger

Ethan Wagoner

Olivia Whang

Hannah Yeager

Announced on February 23rd

Manuel Beltre

Ivy Feinsinger

Weston Kapusta

Ben Petreins

Rey Sandoval

Payton Shirhall

Mishan Torres Laureano

Footprints for Life is sponsored by the Center for Prevention & Counseling and is implemented by two program facilitators over a six-week period. This classroom-based primary prevention program is researched-based and designed to build developmental assets and teach skills through the use of puppets. Rolling Hills Primary School’s second grade students are participating in this program on Fridays and are separated into two groups, with each group receiving six 45-minute lessons from January through May 2024.

Our students follow the story of a children’s soccer team as the animal characters experience real-life situations. The Footprints for Life program offers many opportunities to practice new skills they have learned in a fun and open way. Topics covered in the program include: “I” messages, feelings conflict resolution, decision making, tobacco and other drugs, coping methods and inclusion.

The 2024 Kids Heart Challenge, sponsored by the American Heart Association,

was a great success thanks to everyone at Rolling Hills.

We raised over $5,000.00 to help educate people regarding a heart healthy lifestyle.

We would like to thank all of our families that participated this year.

Your effort and willingness to help will have an impact on other families in need.

Thank you again to everyone that participated!!

This class had a great time on Valentine's Day passing out valentines cards to our friends, playing bingo, and making a craft for someone special!

A special thank you to Oliver and Kaia's mom who were there to help us during our celebration!

These students love our math adventure days when we get to work in groups

and apply the skills we have learned hands on!

The class enjoyed counting coins to figure out possible combinations to make the price on the tag

in order to purchase an item.

We love being surprised by our mystery readers every Friday for fun Friday!

Thank you so much to Keeva, Caden, Natalie, and Maisie's parents coming in to treat us to a special

Read Aloud during this month!

Attached are pictures of the biography cubes the students made in honor of Black History month.

The students focused on unsung heroes of history.

Men and women who persevered and made significant contributions in shaping our world.

Their resilience, courage, and determination serve as inspirations for us all.

Some of those presented were:

Hiram Rhodes Revels (U.S. Senator),

James McCune Smith (Physician),

Thurgood Marshall (Supreme Court Justice),

Mary W. Jackson (Mathematician and aerospace engineer),

Guion Bluford (Astronaut),

Phillis Wheatley (Author),

Robert Blake (Soldier),

Bessie Coleman (Pilot),

Fred Jones (Inventor),

Katherine Johnson (Scientist),

Mae C. Jemison (Astronaut),

Dorothy Height (Women's Rights),

Gwendolyn Brooks (Writer),

Gordon Parks (Photographer),

Jane Bolin (Attorney and Judge),

and Ruby Bridges (Brown vs. Board of Education)

Mrs. Reinhardt's Class was lucky to have a Mystery Reader and a Mystery Scientist come in this month!

Our Mystery Reader read some great books, including The Bad Seed and The Good Egg.

Our Mystery Scientist turned us into Mad Scientists with special crowns that her own students made for us. Then she gave us a STEM challenge where the kids had to design a sturdy house for the little pig.

We even tested our designs by having the Big Bad Wolf (a hairdryer) try to blow our houses down!

What fun activities!

For Valentine's Day, Mrs. Reinhardt's class practiced measuring with a ruler.

We measured different types of candy that taped around the room.

This month Mrs. Reinhardt's class completed book reports about a Book We Love.

We shared our reports and books with the class in small groups.

January 31st was Halfway Day. Mrs. Reinhardt's class celebrated by reading 1/2 a story

and predicting the 2nd half of the story.

We also created new animals by taking 1/2 of one animal and combining it with 1/2 of another

and writing all about it.

Then we learned about symmetry and fractions and practiced doubling and halving our numbers.

On Groundhog's Day we practiced our math skills around the room with a Groundhog Scoot.

We measured, counted coins, and added 2-digit numbers with and without regrouping.

Mrs. Reinhardt's class spent their Leap Day learning all about the history of Leap Day

and why we have a Leap Day.

We made a time capsule that will be opened in 4 years on the next Leap Day.

We worked in centers for both Language Arts and Math doing many different and fun learning activities that had to do with Leap Day.

What an exciting day!

Miss Owens and Mrs. Pritchett’s Class celebrated

the 100th Day of school with an afternoon filled with

100-item-themed STEM activities.

Miss Owens and Mrs. Pritchett’s Class celebrated Valentine’s Day with a very special writing project. The students had the opportunity to write anonymous messages to each of their classmates.

There were lots of big smiles and "warm fuzzies" when the students read all of the lovely things

that their friends thought about them.

Here are some photos from the 100th day of school and Wear Your Favorite Sports Team Day.

Here are some pictures of our Valentine’s Day Math Escape Room Challenge.

During Math we made a line plot with the distances our frogs leaped.

For Science to practice with pushes and pulls we did a catapult STEM and launched our frogs. 🙂

Here are some February photos from Mrs. Monschauer and Mrs. DiNunzio:

Students enjoy some fresh air at recess.
On Bright Colors Day, two girls ended up twinning!
Our Valentine's Party was exciting, but even more fun

was giving Mrs. DiNunzio a surprise Baby Shower.

Her daughter Lily was born a few days after the shower!

Leap Year Day Activities were also lots of fun!

Rolling Hills Primary School's SCA board members for 2023-2024:

President - Ericka Petrucci

Vice President - Christina Schreiner

Treasurer - Kristin Connington

Corresponding Secretary - Josie Osorio

Recording Secretary - Christine DeBonte

Let's continue to work together for the benefit of our students and families!

Gertrude Hawk Orders may be picked up on March 11th, March 12th and March 13th,

from 4:00 - 6:30 PM at the Walnut Ridge Board of Education door.

Thank you for your orders!

We officially began the second half of the school year on Friday, January 31st!

Our wonderful Rolling Hills SCA is busily preparing for our end-of-the-school-year activities, and they would like you to order your child's t-shirt by clicking on this link. The t-shirts will be provided free of charge for every students and will be available for the upcoming class trips and field days.

Please be assured of my continued support and appreciation for all you do to send your children to school prepared and ready to learn! When the school and home work together, students thrive!

Never hesitate to reach out to me if you ever have questions and/or concerns. No concern is insignificant if it is causing you or your child anxiety or disrupting the quality of your family time.

Thank you for the privilege of working with your children,

Pauline F. Anderson

Email: panderson@vtsd.com
Website: www.vtsd.com
Location: Rolling Hills Primary School, Sammis Road, Vernon Township, NJ, USA
Phone: (973) 764-2784