Clark Mills School October and November Highlights

The following highlights are submitted by Irene Policastro, the Secretary to Superintendent John J. Marciante of the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District.

Week of Respect

During the week of October 1st -5th, the staff and students celebrated the Week of Respect. Several school-wide activities took place. Some examples include students “Dressing for Respect.” For example, on Monday, staff and students wore sweatpants or sweatshirts because “Being Respectful is NO SWEAT!” In addition, Mrs. Cavanagh, our school counselor, met with each class and read and discussed the book, One. Each class wrote letters about respect as well. Finally, the students did other activities in the classroom to celebrate the Week of Respect. What a great week for all!

School Violence Awareness Week

School Safety Week was held from October 15th– October 19th. In order to celebrate the week, classroom teachers reviewed the various school safety drills with their students. The students also participated in a fire drill and mock evacuation. Lessons concerning the appropriate methods for handling conflict and bullying were presented through classroom activities. The 5th grade students also attended an assembly on cyber bullying and internet safety, presented by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Additionally, the students wrote thank you letters to a variety of staff members thanking them for keeping them safe at CM. We are proud of the programs we have adopted at our school and proud of the excellent manner in which our students conduct themselves on a daily basis.

Thank you, PTA

The PTA held its annual Walk-A-Thon on October 12, 2012. The students wore school colors during the PTA Walk-A- Thon as a way to celebrate our school spirit. Spike, the school mascot, made an appearance at the Walk-A-Thon and encouraged the students to show school spirit. The students and staff had a great time dancing to popular line dances. Mrs. Seery and Mrs. Kleschinsky were our staff DJ’s and did a fantastic job! A very big thank you to the PTA and parent volunteers for making this event one the students will always remember!
A big thank you goes out to the Clark Mills PTA for supporting our anti-bullying program by sponsoring the assembly, Power of One. This interactive program reinforced ways to deal with bullying. Some staff and student volunteers had the opportunity to be actors and actresses on stage and participate in role play activities. What an enjoyable and educational program!

Haunted Gym

The Haunted Gym at Clark Mills School was a complete success! Many thanks to Candace Douglas and Louise Byrnes, our two physical education teachers, for planning and implementing this exciting and fun filled week for our students.

All of our children absolutely loved participating in the Halloween-inspired activity centers that were placed throughout the gym. The stations included: Ghostbusters station (ring toss), Frankenstein’s Lab (fine motor skills), the Bat Cave (spatial awareness and dance), Runaway Train (agility & balance), Bug Bizarre (underhand tossing), DDR (dance), Spider Tic Tac Toe (reasoning skills), Shooting Eyeballs ( basketball) and Soccer Ghoul (kicking). What a phenomenal activity to showcase just how enjoyable learning can be!

American Education Week

Clark Mills School celebrated American Education Week by inviting our parents into the classrooms and providing them with a firsthand view of the educational process at work. The teachers enjoyed showing the parents how our students “Step Up to Learning at Clark Mills School” each day. The feedback that we received from our many visitors was extremely positive.