Lafayette Mills School February Highlights

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

Random Acts of Kindness Week

The purpose of Random Acts of Kindness Week was to reinforce to students the meaning behind each of the six pillars of character – caring, trustworthiness, fairness, citizenship, respect, and responsibility through school-wide and classroom-based activities. These activities aimed to further enhance the culture of our school through a proactive, positive approach to teaching students how to be better people and by instilling in students ways to consistently and continuously show good character traits. Highlights from this character education celebration included a bulletin board contest to help further promote a positive school culture, school spirit days, the presentation of “Words of Wisdom” by surprise staff readers, and language-arts integrated character education lessons.

Disability Awareness Assemby – Grade 4

On Friday, February 15, 2013, students from the Schroth School in Ocean, NJ along with their teacher, school nurse, and instructional assistants visited Lafayette Mills School to help our students understand how despite severe physical and mental limitations, students with severe disabilities share similar interests with them. The purpose was to also teach our students about various disabilities and how children or young adults with disabilities are full of ability.

Lifetouch Group Picture Day for Extra-Curricular Activities

On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, representatives from Lifetouch photographed group pictures of each extra-curricular activity. The photographs will appear in the annual Lafayette Mill yearbook which is to be distributed in June.

Disability Awareness Assembly – Grades 3 and 5

On Thursday, February 21, 2013, a representative of MOCEAN visited Lafayette Mills to help our students understand the abilities a person with cerebral palsy can possess. The presenter, Stan Soden, has visited our school over the past twelve years. Thank you to Mrs. Pepchinski for arranging and constructing a schedule for the program.

Movie Night – Grades 1 and 2 PTA Movie Night

Movie Night, sponsored by the PTA, was held on Friday, February 15th for Grades 1 and 2. About one hundred and twenty students came to the Lafayette Mills Dining Room, which was set up like a movie theater, to watch the movie, Hotel Transylvania, and to enjoy some snacks with their friends.

Emergency Management Update Meeting

On Thursday, February 21, 2013, a whole staff meeting was held to review emergency procedures and to update staff on any revisions that may have been made to the current plan. Update meetings are held also to address any questions staff members may have regarding the plan, and they also serve the purpose of assisting the Emergency Management Committee to continuously make the plan better.

Read Across America Week

February 25th through March 1st was an exciting time at Lafayette Mills as students engaged in a variety of activities in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday and to celebrate Read Across American week.    Some highlights from the week included the following activities:

• Reading Train – Students and staff gathered in the hallway to celebrate reading. Students seated themselves throughout the hallway and engaged in silent, sustained reading for ten minutes.
• The Cat in the Hat visited classes.
• Reading Parade – the first grade students read books, created posters, and presented their books to the school during a first grade parade.
• Board Member Dorothy Porcaro read to the students in 2nd, 3th, 4th, and 5th grade classes.
• Grandparents Day for first grade was held on Thursday, February 28th.