KEY DATES
COMMUNITY EVENTS
ISLAND HEIGHTS SEA DEVIL TIMES
The IHGS will be holding its annual Student Art Show! Come join us on Wednesday, April 3rd, from 5-7 p.m. in our school gym and see our students' hard work.
Save The Date The Island Heights Grade School will be holding its Annual STEAM Fair on Wednesday, March 27th from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Activities will happen throughout our building and is open to the public. Please come in and see our students' wonderful work!
Term: Winter | Issue 17| Date: February 2019
If you wish to volunteer for this event, please contact Mrs. Smutz at esmutz@islandheights.k12.nj.us
If you wish to volunteer for this event, please contact our PTO President, Melissa Wudzki at melissawudzki@gmail.com or Barbara Parisi at bparisi@islandheights.k12.nj.us.
March 4th-8th, Monday-Friday: Read Across America March 13th, Wednesday: BOE Meeting; 6:15 p.m. March 15th, Friday: 1:00 Dismissal March 21st, Thursday: Strategic Planning Meeting; 6:00 p.m., Gym March 27th, Wednesday: STEAM Fair; 6-8:00 p.m.
BE PRESENT It's important for you, as a parent or carer, to be present while your children are online. This will give you a greater understanding of what they are doing on their devices, as well as providing you with the opportunity to discuss, support and stop certain activities that your child may be involved in. As your child gets older and spends more time online, it's also importatnt to recognize any changes in your child's behavior. TALK REGULARLY WITH YOUR CHILD As well as monitoring your child's activity, it's important for you discuss it with them too. Not only will this give you an understanding of their online actions, but those honest and frequent conversations will encourage your child to feel confident to discuss issues and concerns they may have related to the online world. DEVICE SETTINGS & PARENTAL CONTROLS Ensure that you set up parental controls for your devices at home. This will help to restrict the types of content that your child can view, as well as help you to monitor their activity. In addition to this, it's vital that you are aware of your device and account settings to ensure your child's utmost safety. For example, on YouTube you can turn off "suggested auto-play" on videos to stop your child from watching content that they have not directly selected. PEER PRESSURE Trends and viral challenges can be tempting for your children to take part in no matter how dangerous or scary they seem. Make sure you talk to your child about how they shouldn't succumb to peer pressure and do anything they are not comfortable with, online or offline. If they are unsure, encourage them to talk to you or another trusted adult. REAL OR HOAX? As a parent it is natural to feel worried about certain things you see online that may be harmful to your child. However, not everything you see online is true. Check the validity of the source and be mindful of what you share as it may only raise more worry. REPORT & BLOCK You can't always rely on parental controls to block distressing or harmful material. People find ways around a platform algorithm in order to share and promote this type of material. Due to this, we advise that you flag and report any material you deem to be inappropriate or harmful as soon as you come across it. You should also block the account/content to prevent your child from viewing it. Also encourage your child to record/screenshot any content they feel could be malicious to provide evidence in order to escalate the issue to the appropriate channels. FURTHER SUPPORT Please feel free to speak to Mrs. Zermane, our Guidance Counselor at (732) 929-1222, if you have any concerns regarding your child's online activity or malicious content that could affect them. If your child sees something disturbing, it is important that they know where to go to seek help and who their trusted adults are.
ONLINE SAFETY
STEAM TANK
PROJECT TEAM
STEAM Tank provides New Jersey students with the opportunity to think like entrepreneurs and design whatever they can dream using the fields of STEAM. In STEAM Tank, students create innovative products and solutions to real-world problems, which they enter into a competition. Finalists compete and present their product before a judging panel of entrepreneurs and business leaders. IHGS is proud to announce that out of over 600 entries, a team of our 4th grade students (Laina, Ava, and Theresa) have been selected to compete at the regional tournament being held at Camp Evans on Saturday, March 16th. These students designed a "Stress Catcher" that aims to provide school-aged children with ways to cope with stress. They are working hard to prepare for the regional competition by doing additional research, talking to professionals in related fields, working on making their product more sustainable and environmentally friendly, and practicing giving a timed presentation. This is the first time that students from IHGS have been selected to compete in STEAM Tank. We wish these students the best of luck and can't wait to cheer them on in March!
We have added to our Project Team Assembly! To celebrate our students earning new bracelets, staff members have been asked to write why they have nominated one of their students to receive a bracelet for the month. This short paragraph is shared at the assembly, letting the nominated student know what action got them their new bracelet and showing other students what they can do to earn that character bracelet. We love hearing all the great things our students have done throughout the month and cannot wait to hear more!
STRATEGIC PLANNING
HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS
March is here and we are preparing for an extremely busy spring here in the Island Heights Grade School. In celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday we will once again plan a very busy week with Reading Across America events for our students. Our students take tremendous pride in their love for reading and this is a week, March 4th-8th that they will all enjoy in celebrating Reading! The district will also be kicking off our Strategic Planning Process on March 21st when we will be taking an in-depth look at our school by identifying our many strengths and looking at some areas to be addressed over the next 3-5 years. In order for the process to be successful, we are encouraging input from our community to participate in the three (3) planning meetings to be held on March 21st, April 11th and May 16th at 6:00 pm in the evening. If you are interested in joining us please call the office (732-929-1222) and schedule your participation. We look forward to a great month ahead and a very busy spring here at IHGS!!
SUPERINTENDENT'S CORNER
If you are interested in participating....
Meeting Dates: Thursdays 6:00 p.m. March 21st April 11th May 16th Please contact: Lil Brendel lbrendel@islandheights.k12.nj.us Beth Smutz esmutz@islandheights.k12.nj.us or call the Front Office: (732) 8929-1222
THEATER WEEK
The Island Heights Grade School PTO held their 4th Annual THEATERWEEK, run by Taubenslag Productions. The company comes to our school and puts on a full-scale theatrical production. All students from first to sixth grades participated. THEATERWEEK has been presented in schools across the country since 1988. It is designed to build students’ confidence. Their motto is, “When you try your best-you can do anything.” The program offers an outstanding opportunity for all children to participate in a production that is energetic and full of life while building their individual self-esteem. THEATERWEEK also provides students with great appreciation for the performing arts. This year we had approximately 60% participation rate and the kids had a great time. This year's performance was “The Legend of Bully Jo.” We hope you all enjoyed the performance.
