Dear Hooper Families,

As the season of "thanks" and "giving" is upon us, Hooper Avenue has a lot to be thankful for. In the wake of the devastation that affected so many of us, we are surely thankful that all of our Hooper Family are safe. Together, like families do, we will stand tall together and be there for each other and especially our students on this bumpy and ever so changing road to recovery. Our staff remains committed to providing their students with the love, understanding, and education that they expect and deserve. The students are doing wonderfully since their return from the "Dark Ages" and academics are returning to form. As the seasons change, so does the weather… I ask that you please send your child to school dressed appropriately for the elements complete with their outdoor gear, as recess will continue to be an important part of the students’ routine.

Communication will continue to be the key to success for our students. Since the canceling of parent-teacher conferences has happened, please know that if you need to meet with your child's teacher you may contact the main office and we can set up either a phone conference or a time that would work for both your and the teacher to talk.

As I wish all of you a Safe and Happy Holiday Season, know that you all have:

OUR THOUGHTS, OUR HEARTS, and OUR HUGS!

Mr. Citta, Principal

Hooper Highlights Mr. Michael Citta, Principal

Mrs. Mallory Kennedy, Supervisor

November, 2012

NOVEMBER CALENDAR

20 First Grade Thanksgiving Fun Day

21 Parent Portal Open for Report Cards

22,23 School Closed– Happy Thanksgiving

28 Lunch With the Principal

Red Ribbon Week As part of our commitment to encourage students

to engage in a healthy lifestyle, Hooper once

again celebrated Red Ribbon Week during the

week of October 22nd. Red Ribbon Week, begun

in 1986, is a national campaign to make students

aware of the dangers of alcohol, drugs, and

violence and the importance of making healthy

choices. Students observed various themes

throughout the week to remind them to make

positive decisions for themselves and others.

Ms. O’Hara’s AM students “shade out drugs”.

Students “put a cap on drugs”.

Ms. O’Hara’s PM students proudly

display their red ribbons.

Say “BOO” to drugs!

Mrs. Donovan’s class won Mrs. Simone’s challenge

to see which third graders could be the fastest

to name musical staff notes. Each student in the

class was awarded a slide whistle.

Third Graders Know Their Notes

Hooper Huskies and King Arthur

Flour Company Help Those in Need

A representative from the King Arthur Flour

Company of Burlington, Vermont did a bread

baking demonstration for our fourth and fifth

grade classes, enlisting the aid of two fifth grade

helpers, Logan Protonentis and Esmeralda

Barajas. All assembly attendees were provided

with the ingredients to make two loaves of bread

at home. They were to keep one loaf for their

family and bring the other loaf back to school.

The returned loaves were distributed to the

Paula Brown Soup Kitchen and Hearty Helpings.

Ms. Huyler’s class joined a campaign to save the pumpkins this fall by “disguising” them so that

they would not be carved into jack-o-lanterns.

Students had fun while showing their creativity!

Save the Pumpkins

Sports Writer at the Hoop Gregg Lerner, former sports writer for

the Newark Star Ledger currently working as a

writer for MSG Varsity, recently visited the 5th

grade classes to speak about his career as a

writer and to offer ideas to the students about

writing. He talked about adding descriptive words

and how you should strive to set your writing

apart from others. The students enjoyed

listening to Mr. Lerner and many said they would

like to be a writer when they grow up.

Students Sail for Studyisland Third, fourth, and fifth grade classes have

set sail and are racing to see who can be the first

to reach Study Island. Class sailboats are posted

on the “ocean” en route to the island based upon

class performance (the total number of questions

answered correctly within the past month).

Excitement builds as classes track their progress

compared to others in the school. Mrs. Casselli’s

class sailboat earned top honors for September

led by Jake Norosavage. First place for October

went to Mrs. Mackle’s class, led by Brandon

Feigin.

Students can log on to www.studyisland.com at

home to earn more points for their class!

These Lucky Students Had

Lunch With the Principal in October

Madison Banasiak

Daniel Brooksbank

Antonio Cipolla

Jamie Crewe

Samantha Dent

Kayla DeSousa

Paige Dieckmann

Antonio Donato

Sarah Drago

Katelyn Duff

Kristina Greiner

Katrien Huttemann

Julia Iovine

Cierra Jacobsen

Ryan Luty

Emily Maire

Lauren Moroney

Margaret Morse

Jack Pesso

Allison Piccola

Jessica Pollaro

Logan Protonentis

Devon Roberts

Joseph Roselli

Amanda Rossi

Brett Tepperman

Lauren Towey

Camila Urbina-Taveras

Mark Ussery

Nicholas Walano

Ryen Zagacki

Ocean County Library Corner Toms River Branch Library Programs

November, 2012

Mon, Nov. 12, 2-4:00PM: Make a Poppy. Drop-in

craft to celebrate our heroes. Children and

their families welcome.

Wed, Nov. 14, 6:30PM: Girls Club. Pizza party!

Fun, games, and food. Girls ages 8-12. Register.

Tues, Nov. 27, 6:30PM: Family Movie Night.

Children and their families are invited to watch

the family-friendly film Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. Register.

Wed, Nov. 28, 4:30PM: Ruff Readers. Read to

our therapy dogs. Ages 6-12. Register.

Register @ www.theoceancountylibrary.org

or call 732-349-6200, option 6

Parent-Teacher Conferences

… have been canceled due to the unanticipated weather events of early November.

Please contact the main office if you would like to discuss student academic progress with

your child’s teacher.

The character trait for November is

RESPONSIBILITY.

Mrs. Mackle’s Students Create “Foldables” What are foldables?

Fourth graders in C-28 made informative flip

cards on animal structure and function. Five

categories of animals were represented: fish,

amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. When a

card is flipped up, a picture of an animal from

that category can be viewed, as well as three to

five scientific facts about that type of animal.

Students now have a handy reference for learning

about animals!

Mrs. Jubert's class has adopted a tadpole! Our

new friend, Pumpkin, is already beginning his

metamorphosis. Pumpkin has begun to grow tiny

legs. We are all excited to watch Pumpkin change

a little each day.

First Graders Observe Metamorphosis

Two students observe Pumpkin up close with magnifying glasses.

On October 11th, we planted popcorn seeds with

Mrs. Duffield in celebration of National Popcorn

Day. We are watching them sprout though our

garden windows. We are also keeping a science

journal and recording all the physical changes the

seed is taking. We are also learning how the

popcorn seeds pop into popcorn and making a

popcorn munch to eat at our Halloween party.

Science Fun With Mrs. Narvaez

Artsonia Update To all our Artsonia artists, friends,

families and fans: we have good news again this

year!! Hooper Elementary was ranked 5th in New

Jersey and 38th in the United States among all

other schools!! We could not have done this

without ALL of your support. We have had

86,000 visits to our site and 11,000 works of

art to view.

This year we have made a goal to reach 100,000

visitors. So we will need your help!! Continue

leaving messages for our artists! Visit often!! Join

fan clubs and write lots of artist statements!!

Thank you for all your support!!!! I know we can

reach our goal!!

~~ Mrs. D’Elia

Mexican Bark Painting By Austin, grade 5

Oil Pastel Owl By Jasmyn, grade 3

School will be closed on Thursday,

November 22nd and Friday, November 23rd

for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Kindergarten Pups Romp Through the Hooper Pumpkin Patch

Thank you to the Hooper Avenue Elementary PTO for helping to make pumpkins magically appear on the front lawn of our school! The annual tradition continued as each kindergartner was able to choose a special pumpkin to bring home.