Thomas Jefferson School Newsletter November 2024

Thomas Jefferson School

November 2024

To Our Thomas Jefferson School Families,

November was a short but eventful month! We concluded Marking Period one, took breaks for Teachers’ Convention and Thanksgiving, conducted parent conferences, participated in American Education Week, began winter sports, and engaged in academic and SEL activities to grow and learn.

Morris Hills High School Band and Choir students came to our gym to put on a performance of their Marching Band and Choir to show off what is possible for our students in the future. Seventh and eighth grade students were able to see the performances live, while the event was live streamed for others.

Our school conducted a security lockdown drill in conjunction with the Rockaway Borough Police Department and our Class III Officer Haigh. Staff showed a high level of professionalism and preparedness and students were extremely well behaved.

Brick Bash has been a family event series that we have been doing for the past four years and we are excited to bring this back! This is a great family night that promotes reading and STEM with a fun filled night of Lego challenges. We kicked this off on 11/21 and our next event is on 12/5 thanks to an RBEA Family And Schools Together (FAST) Grant!

American Education Week was celebrated in a number of ways at Thomas Jefferson School. Students wrote thank you notes to teachers, there was a family breakfast, our paraprofessionals were celebrated, and some of our students taught lessons to students at Lincoln School.

The Girls and Boys Basketball seasons have begun! The teams have finished preseason and are now in their second week of games. We wish them good luck this season!

Upcoming Events

Winter Concerts
December 3rd at 7:00 pm - Grades 6-8 Concert @ AOG
December 4th at 1:30 pm - Grades 4-5 Concert @ AOG
Students will be at AOG for a portion of the day before their concert for a practice session.
TJ Musical (Grades 6-8) Auditions after school starting December 11th.
On Thursday, December 12th, Morris Hills Regional School District will be visiting with our 8th graders. They will have a representative from each department that will give a presentation to students.
In addition, Ms. Dennison (school counselor) will provide the 2025-2026 Freshman course selection sheets for distribution to 8th grade students on the same day. Our 8th graders will then begin 9th grade scheduling with their school counselor in the following weeks.
Winter Break - There will be a FULL day of school on Friday, December 20th and school will not be in session until Thursday, January 2nd.

Thank you all for partnering with our school and staff to benefit each child! Please reach out with any questions.

Leon Samuels

Principal

Nurses Corner

Enjoy the Upcoming Holidays!

With the colder weather coming please remind your child to wear the appropriate outerwear to go out for recess.

Reminder to all parents if your child has Asthma I will need an Asthma Action Plan and Inhaler, if your child has any food allergies and needs an EpiPen I will need doctors orders and the EpiPen sent in with your child. If your child needs any tylenol, advil, motrin or any other over the counter medications I will need a doctor's order and the medication must be in an unopened bottle brought in by an adult. Any daily medications also need a doctor's note and the medication must be brought in by an adult. All forms can be found on the Rockaway Borough website under Thomas Jefferson - look on left side of page you will see Forms & Links - click there and this will bring you to the forms - scroll down and you will find the following:

EpiPen Permission Form

Asthma Action Plan

Medication Permission Form

These forms must be filled out by parents and the doctor and submitted with the medication to me.

If a student wants cough drops during the school day - I will need a parent note and cough drops need to be left in the nurse's office.

If a student is injured either at school or at home and needs crutches, a walking boot or slings for the upper extremities I will need a doctor's note and they must be cleared prior to returning to PE/recess or sports.

Remember breakfast is the most important meal of the day, please make sure your child eats breakfast prior to coming to school.

Last but not least if your child is not feeling well, please do not send them to school. If a child has a temperature of 100.0 they must be kept home for 24 hours and must be fever free for 24 hours. If your child vomits during the night they must be kept home for 24 hours with no vomiting.

If you need to reach me - the best way is email: lsavercool@rockboro.org or office # is 973-625-8603 x 305.

Thank you,

Mrs. Savercool

From Miss Selikoff....

https://students.arbitersports.com/programs/2024-2025-winter-2-clubs-volleyball-club-morning-movement

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLw9eR_FWYF4_8gWV9lUnwoB1GsLm-h8aflbniRs7_9dKUBA/viewform?usp=sf_link

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwNWTzCBzm1-Wo30w11a4dLxOghBZmzbU_Pob-PPFiT7iA2w/viewform?usp=sf_link

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCyncRAvCD7taJk1gmO6BlHafHV9vGOrdzto_8lmFpT6rAJA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Operation Holiday Wishes

Once again our Holiday Wishes program is in operation to help brighten the season. Please consider donating $1 for each wish (paper money preferred) which will go towards making the holiday wishes come true for some of our local community.

Our HSA has kindly offered to give a matching gift up to $500.

Cans were distributed to all classrooms and donations will be collected until December 6th.

Thank you!