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Cornelia F. Bradford School PS16 Newsletter
June 16th, 2021
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Welcome to a special CPA Newsletter-Fifth Grade Edition with sincere apologies for the delay in distributing this issue. Get ready to read all about the amazing things happening in fifth grade. This newsletter has been written, edited and organized by the PS16 Student Council.
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Our Fifth Graders have been working hard and continue to thrive since logging on to 'Zoom School' back in September. The school year is flying by and our students have been learning so much. Our Fifth Grade Teachers; Mrs. Monica DeStasio, Mrs. Monika Figueroa and Ms. Candace Nolan have certainly gone above and beyond and we cannot thank them enough for all of their hard work and dedication to our boys and girls. They have truly made the virtual experience educational and fun and we continue to be amazed by them.
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The CPA is proud to recognize our fifth grade representatives of the PS16 Student Council;
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Room 303 President - Barbara Ioffe
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Room 303 Vice President - Tomas Herrera
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Room 304 President - Tanmayee Hingmire
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Room 304 Vice President - Shyla Singal
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Our fifth grade student council representatives invited their classmates to submit articles for the newsletter. The articles could be anything the students wished to write about. Everything you will read in this newsletter has been written, edited and proudly shared by the students of fifth grade (10 and 11 year old's!!) The CPA Team are very excited that our students are able to use this newsletter to amplify their voices. It is an absolute honor to read their words and see how much effort they have put in to creating this newsletter. Thank you Mr. Sigler for encouraging our student council to get involved and be engaged.
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Thursday, June 10th, was a very exciting day for fifth grade student Paige as she acted as Principal for the Day. Her day started with announcements and monitoring the business of the school. Paige also led the required evacuation walk and was able to see first-hand the amount of work a Principal must monitor during the school day. She also enjoyed a tasty lunch as Principal and walked away with great memories!
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The CPA would like to thank our Principal, Mrs. Watkins-Williams, for graciously donating her time to our recent Silent Auction Fundraiser. Much appreciation to Paige's parents for participating in our fundraiser.
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Earlier this year the CPA announced a silent auction that included many things. Immediately two things caught my eye.
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1. Becoming the Principal of PS#16 for 1 day
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2. Becoming the Mayor of Jersey City for 1 day
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Sure enough I picked Number 2.
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I discussed it with my Dad and because he knew about the good cause behind the auction and my desire to become the Mayor for a day, he agreed right away. We came up with a plan to win the auction. It was to bid higher when only a few seconds were remaining. It worked! We decided that this will be my early Birthday gift. My Dad got contacted by the Mayor’s office. They were really excited to have me on board for a day and we decided that day to be the 25th of May, exactly 3 months before my actual Birthday.
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I was invited to 2 different events as the Honorary Mayor of Jersey City. The first location was “The Agnes” a brand new apartment building at 100 Water Street in Jersey City. I along with Mayor Fulop, had to do the ribbon cutting for the building. When I reached there I was super excited. Mayor Fulop came a little later and then my Dad introduced me to him. Mayor Fulop went over the agenda with me and asked me to say a few words. He also introduced me to a lot of important people that work for Jersey City. The owner of the building invited Mayor Fulop to do the ribbon cutting and say a few words and that is when he introduced me to the crowd and asked me to say a few words. I spoke about my vision for a greener Jersey City. After that we cut the ribbon to the building. The owner took us for the grand tour of the building, showed us all the amenities which also has its own library. We even saw a model apartment. After this the Mayor invited me to my office for the day at the City Hall.
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City Hall was also the location for the second event. We were celebrating one year anniversary for the Black Lives Matter Movement by hoisting a flag along with the American flag on the balcony for the City Hall. Mayor Fulop introduced me as the Mayor for the day to more important people attending the event and also asked me to say a few words again. I shared my knowledge of the rich black history and how I would like to be a combination of Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Barack Obama and of course my school Principal Mrs. Watkins Williams. We said a prayer to the flag and hoisted it and saluted for the national anthem.
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Later on the Mayor showed my office and various other chambers in the City Hall. I also got a chance to sit at my huge desk and Mayor Fulop stood behind me for a picture too. It was an amazing experience.
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But that is not all! In fact after leaving the City Hall, I made a little pit stop at the school. I met all of my teachers from all grades. I could tell from their face that they were as happy and proud of me as my parents were.
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That day I kept checking the news. Boy did I become famous. First of all Mayor Stephen Fulop posted about me on his Instagram account. Later I was on news on nj.com. Jersey Journal had an article about me. Various other Facebook accounts shared the events from the day. I was very happy that day!!!
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The CPA would like to thank Jersey City Mayor, Steve Fulop, for graciously donating his time to our recent Silent Auction Fundraiser. Much appreciation to Anay's parents for participating in our fundraiser.
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Almost exactly one year ago, the Covid-19 pandemic hit us. There was a drastic change in how we learnt to learn. We moved from in-person learning to online learning, which came with its share of challenges. Of course, we missed meeting our teachers and friends in school, and our lunchroom chatter and recess time as well. But keeping everyone safe was the priority. Through this pandemic, we have learnt one thing: We can do anything we set our minds to. Although this pandemic has affected our day-to-day lives in a drastic way, we have continued to move forward together with determination.
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Here’s a few things we did in the last one year. I hope just reading this shows that we tried our best during this unexpected situation.
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- Technology came to our rescue! There were initial hurdles, but we adjusted quickly to online resources like ZOOM and Google Meet. While it was new for everyone, we gave our best.
- We started a whole new session, new year, and new beginning in our new classrooms virtually. We were introduced to new teachers and some new classmates as well, through online learning, and still managed to make strong bonds.
- Continuing in our new classrooms, we worked together as a team to make the best of what we had. We celebrated various events and holidays throughout the year. Having activities for Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, and celebrating various cultures in holidays like Diwali and Chinese New Year could not have happened without teamwork and effort.
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be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
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or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
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you’re off to Great Places!
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Your mountain is waiting.
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Recently we have started writing our self recommendation letters. We have a lot of fun! We get to explore ourselves, our passions, things we didn’t know we could do! We have been doing our self recommendation letters for a while now. The teachers meet up with the students who are done with their letters and check them. Some are long, some are short and some need more adjectives. When teachers meet up with their students they check their letters and complete them or send them to add more work. All in all, doing self recommendations was fun. We got to get a peek at ourselves. Explore our personality and much more.
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The 5th graders took a fun and interesting virtual field trip in February… To where, you ask? We went to none other than the famous Ellis Island. The Isle of Hope as it is nicknamed was a major part of the immigration system in the U.S. The 5th graders “got to walk in the footsteps of the immigrants.” We learned about the long but rewarding process that immigrants had to go through to enter America. We virtually met some National Park Service Rangers who told us many interesting things about Ellis Island. We did some assignments about Ellis Island and learned about the rich history behind Ellis Island. It was truly a learning experience that I am sure we won’t forget.
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Some of my classmates said,“I liked visiting Ellis Island. It was a fun and interesting experience. I learned many things like how the youngest person to travel was also the first on January 1, 1892. Overall it was a fun way of learning new things.” Another said “On the field trip, it felt as if our class really was inside Ellis Island. We virtually visited the most important rooms and got to learn about the important history of each. I do hope we continue virtual field trips like this one, because it is a great way to learn more while staying safe!”
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While we miss in-person school, we really appreciate our teachers for making the best of the situation and taking us on this fun virtual trip to Ellis Island.
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We are blessed with great teachers for 5th grade at PS#16. Don’t let the title of this news article fool you! This was done as part of Math Project Assignment by me: Anay Verma in Room #304. Mrs Figueroa has a creative way of teaching math and gives us fun projects. These are either individual as this project was or could be a group project too. Some of the cool projects that we have done in the past include:
- Trip to anywhere in the US on a budget
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- Organizing a Pizza party for the class
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Similarly we have also done some projects for Social Studies and Science.
So, let's get back to this backpack project. We were assigned the dimensions of a kids backpack and we had to do our calculations and come up with the dimensions for a toddler backpack and a teen backpack. We were asked to either do a 3D model or even choose to do a drawing. I chose to make a 3D model and that ended up being a good family fun time over the weekend. It was really fun and appreciated by my teacher and all my classmates. Really! I actually got orders from my classmates.
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We were given a table that included the dimension of the kids backpack to which we had to add or subtract fractional dimensions to get the desired dimensions for the toddler and teen backpacks. Believe me! Math had never been so much fun before. Kids in lower grade, you are in for a treat in 5th grade.
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After going through the calculations I came up with my design and the backpack line up. For fun, I created an advertisement where anyone could buy these backpacks by calling me @ 1-800-ANAYBAGS or reaching me out at my email. I added an organization section for my backpacks which was one of the requirements in the project.
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Make sure to include all your work for the calculations to receive credit and make it as much fun as you can so it does not feel like work, instead it is fun for you and an inspiration for others.
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In February 303 celebrated the 100th day of school! Many activities were planned, such as fun games, videos, and activities. They lasted the whole morning and everybody can agree they were well prepared. The highlight of the activities was when Cornelia F. Bradford’s ghost appeared on Zoom! Ms. Bradford taught us all a little history about the school and herself. Everybody learned about how the school was founded, and how unique our school is. On top of that, everybody was dressed up as old people! The 100th day of school was really a memorable day for 303.
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We, the fifth graders have started a reading club since the beginning of this school year. All the members are having fun learning! Choosing an e-book by vote, setting up activities related to the genre, writing our own story especially with plot twists are some of the major highlights of the club. Recently, we read a mystery book and created a virtual escape-room-game going along with the theme! Currently, we are enjoying writing a story featuring an Evil Easter Bunny, and his plans to ruin the celebrations. But wait! Didn’t we say we like plot twists? Find out what happens soon!
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The Reading Club has been a great success so far. Our weekly meetings have helped us sharpen many skills- may it be reading, writing, or just opening up to the world around us! We will always continue to read in full swing, or perhaps in full spring!
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“May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck, brightened by a song in your heart and warmed by the smiles of the people you love.” -Irish Saying. A day full of green and four-leaf clovers. The day the leprechauns come to our world on a rainbow. If you haven’t already guessed, St. Patrick’s day has come and gone! In fifth grade, we had fun activities all day long. We all wore green from head to toe. Then we did kahoots and word unscrambles. We learned the origin and history of the day. About how St. Patrick was a slave. Then he went back to his home but wanted to help the people of Ireland. So then he went to the Irish people again and taught them about God. After that we had a would you rather that went something like this, “Would you rather have gold skin or green hair?” We wrote stories about where the leprechauns go and we were soon laughing our heads off. Being at home may have interrupted our original plans but it was a flawless day full of laughter and joy. And I hope you had a wonderful time as well.
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If your child will be absent from school you should email your child's teacher AND our school Community Aide. Ms. Claudia can be reached at croyster@jcboe.org
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The calendar for the 2020-21 school year can be found here.
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Thank you to everyone who participated in our CPA Executive Board Elections. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing President, Jessica Smith, for all her efforts this past year. It was not an easy year but Jessica did a fantastic job motivating the team to remain positive and continue to focus on our students, staff and parents. The CPA managed to achieve a lot this year, despite the circumstances, thanks to Jessica's leadership. We look forward to continuing the initiatives she began including the Silent Auction and the Read a thon.
The CPA Executive Team for 2021-22:
President - Leanne Kerr
1st Vice President - Shweta Bhatia
2nd Vice President - Jackie Cox
Secretary - Angela Park
Recording Secretary - Maeghan Robertson
Treasurer - Priya Rasquinha
Ass. Treasurer - Didi Roca
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Please support Concerned Parents Association of PS16, a 501(c)(3) organization, through your Amazon account. Login to Amazon Smile, link your account and select “CPA of Ps16 - Cornelia F Bradford” as your charitable organization. Through Amazon Smile, 0.5% of every purchase will be donated to CPA of PS16.
**UPDATE** You can now participate in Amazon Smile through the Amazon App on your phone! Update to the latest version of the Amazon Shopping app on your phone. Under 'Settings' tap on 'AmazonSmile" and follow the onscreen instructions.
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Boxtops for Education is online now! Download the Box Tops app, find your school as “Cornelia Bradford Elementary 16”. After you shop, simply scan your store receipts to find participating products.The app will automatically credit your school's Box Tops earnings online.
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Useful Links
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