December Newsletter 2021

CEDAR HILL PREPARATORY SCHOOL

December Newsletter

CHP Holiday Sing On Thursday, December 16th, 2021 CHP hosted its annual Holiday Sing event, featuring the melodious stylings of Ms. Florence Lombardo’s Preschool through 3rd grade singers and Mr. Ryan Bridge’s 4th through 8th grade vocalists.

Read full article on page 11 of newsletter. www.cedarhillprep.com | 1

Garden State Debate Tournament Victory CHP’s debate team, under the guidance of Mrs. Nan Menon, took part in their first debate of the 2021-22 Garden State Debate League season. The team worked diligently in preparation and brought their very best rhetorical skills to the competition. For their efforts, CHP’s Debate Team took home multiple victories.

CHP was tied for 1st place in total wins and took 2nd place in total percentage points. Other wins for CHP included 2nd Place for Sophia Lai, Nitara Baruath, and Jwala Rajnikanth. Their victory was the first time a 6th grade team won 3-0 and ranked in the top 10 teams. 4th Place wins were brought home by two different teams of 8th graders. The first team included Tea Florencio, Aarna Rao, and Aarushi Gupta, while Sarah Karlekar, Suhani Davda, and Nina Barnes made up the second. In 5th Place were 7th graders Anaya Raju, Ananya Mehta, and Rashmika Majumdar.

The top speakers in the tournament included Jwala Rajnikanth in 3rd Place, Sophia Lai in 5th Place, Tea Florencio also in 5th Place, and Sarah Karlekar in 6th Place. The Top Speaker schoolwide was won by Jwala Rajnikanth.

Congratulations to all of the winners on a job well done. Best of luck as the season rolls on!

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PRESCHOOL - KINDERGARTEN NEWS Preschool Chanukah Preschoolers at Cedar Hill Prep School learned about Chanukah, the festival of lights. The holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games, and gifts. During the week, the children learned about the menorah, where candles are lit for 8 nights. They also learned about a game played with a spinning top, called a dreidel. But the best part of learning about Chanukah was making and eating the delicious, golden, potato latkes with apple sauce.

Yum! Yum!

Preschool Kwanzaa Kwanzaa is a seven day festival that celebrates African-American culture and history. During Kwanzaa, a special candleholder called a kinara is used. It holds seven candles: three red ones on the left, and three green ones on the right, with a black candle in the center. Each night during Kwanzaa a candle is lit. Our preschool class learned a little about this holiday by reading stories and coloring a paper candle using the Kwanzaa colors.

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Gingerbread Houses Our preschool classes celebrated the last couple days of school before our holiday break by making their own personalized gingerbread houses. Using milk cartons, frosting, graham crackers, and candy, the children used their imagination to create wonderful gingerbread houses. The looks on their faces and excitement in their voices were precious as they excitedly completed this activity. Some of the candies just happened to fall right into their mouths when the teachers turned their heads!!! Too cute!!

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PRESCHOOL - KINDERGARTEN NEWS Pre-Kindergarten Celebrates the Holidays The Pre-Kindergarten class has been learning all about the different holidays that are celebrated in December.

We read stories about Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. We noticed these three holidays are similar in the fact that they are all celebrated with beautiful lights, as well as special gatherings with our families.

In honor of these holidays, the children made a Kinara, dreidels, and a jolly Santa!

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Pre-Kindergarten Holiday Party The Pre-Kindergarten class celebrated the upcoming holiday with a class party! Throughout the month of December, we have been learning about the different holidays that are celebrated this month. We read stories about Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

We decorated our hallway to represent each of these holidays. On the last day of school before winter break, the children made edible Christmas trees. They loved every bite!

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St. Lucia Day Celebrating holidays around the world continues in Kindergarten! The Kindergarten children took another magic carpet ride for St. Lucia Day and visited Sweden and Norway! St. Lucia makes the darkness disappear (Lucia means light). The St. Lucia Day Festival marks the beginning of the Christmas season.

She wears a white dress with a red sash and a crown of candles. She wakes the family at dawn and serves them breakfast. The children colored and cut out candles and leaves and wore their crowns proudly.

They wrote in their passports and colored a picture of St. Lucia too!! The children drank chocolate milk and ate cinnamon danish and graham crackers.

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PRESCHOOL - KINDERGARTEN NEWS St. Nicholas Day in Kindergarten Through our imaginations, the Kindergarten children took their second Magic Carpet Ride of the holiday season to Germany and Turkey to see how children there celebrate St. Nicholas Day! It was exciting to envision!! We saw children place their polished shoes outside of their classrooms in hopes that St. Nicholas would visit with gifts of candy and toys. We wrote about this exciting journey in our Kindergarten passports! Our Cedar Hill Prep Kindergarten students celebrated St. Nicholas Day by placing their own shoes in the hallway in hopes that St. Nicholas would visit them as well. There was so much excitement when the children discovered candy and toys in their shoes and nobody had coal. We read Wake Up Santa Claus! This was a very happy day for all!!!

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Magic Carpet Ride As a class, our imaginary magic carpet rides allow us to explore cultural ideas that we might not typically encounter. This month we learned all about two different holidays through our magic carpet journeys.

Kwanzaa Magic Carpet Ride We took a Magic Carpet Ride all over New Jersey to see the celebration of Kwanzaa!!! We saw the culture and traditions in celebration of African-American people. There were families celebrating the harvest festival together and honoring their ancestors. The celebration takes place over a week. One candle was lit for each day, representing each of the seven principles. We saw a candleholder called a kinara that had 3 red candles which represent their struggle, a black candle in the middle which represents the African-American people, and 3 green candles that represent hope. On the last day, there were gifts. We wrote and illustrated it in our passports. We each made a kinara of our own!!!

Christmas Magic Carpet Ride This time our imaginary Magic Carpet Ride took us to Italy, the North Pole, and the U.S.A. to see Christmas. In Italy, we saw Christmas carolers singing traditional songs around the neighborhood.

Families ate pasta, roasts, and sweet bread. At the North Pole, we saw Santa’s elves packing gifts and Santa delivering all the gifts on his sleigh!!! In the U.S.A. we saw bright lights on Christmas trees and people celebrating with gifts and joy. We wrote about this in our passports. We beautifully decorated our mistletoe.

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS Grade 1 Polar Express Our First graders enjoyed listening to The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. As a culminating activity, our pajama wearing students lined up their chairs as if they were riding on a train. They handed over their tickets, drank hot chocolate, and ate popcorn as they helped to retell the story. We ended our activity by singing our holiday songs.

Our Wish for Peace in Grade 1 First graders wrote a wish for peace in our world.

They chose the word peace written in different languages. We enjoyed sharing our wishes with each other.

Grade 2 Spreads Holiday Cheer!

2nd graders spread holiday cheer by sharing a “bright wish” for the season. Each child wrote a heartfelt wish that they had for the holiday season.

Common themes included spreading kindness and joy to all, as well as wishing for a healthy new year.

As a fun way to start the holiday break, the children enjoyed wearing pajamas and having a Flashlight Reading Day. The children enjoyed reading a book using a flashlight and discussing their favorite stories. We ended the day with delicious hot chocolate and a movie! Cheers to 2022!

Grade 2 Celebrates Chanukah Chanukah was celebrated by 2nd grade students by playing the dreidel game. They learned that the letters on the dreidel represent a Hebrew acronym that, in translation, references the great miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days in ancient times.

The class was happy to learn the significance of this game played with a spinning top.

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS Service Learning in Grade 3 Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, on Tuesday, November 23rd, third graders participated in a service learning project. Joey’s Little Angels is a nonprofit organization that helps sick children and their families. After suffering through the loss of their own child Joey, to Hurler’s Syndrome, James and Nicole Angiolino created this organization to benefit children seeking medical treatment and their families. During the holiday season, they hold a toy drive, and with the support of their volunteers, consisting mostly of middle and high school students, they have donated over 12,000 toys nationwide! The donations have been made to Duke University Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, RWJ New Brunswick, Capital Health, Boston Children’s, Rutgers Cancer Institute, St. Christopher’s Philadelphia, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and many more. Third graders created holiday cards to give to these sick children currently staying in the hospitals. These cards will hopefully bring a smile to their faces during the holiday season.

Grade 3 Mystery Readers Continue In December In December, Third grade continued their tradition of welcoming mystery readers to share surprise stories with our class!

Our first mystery reader of the month was... Alayna’s mom, Ms. SoRi Park. She read the book A Royal Ride: Catherine the Great’s Great Invention by Kristen Fulton. It is a story about Catherine, who is the Queen of Russia, and how she ended up inventing a roller coaster. She loves the cold weather of her country and enjoys riding a sled on snowy mountains. As the weather becomes warm, however, snow melts, and she ponders how she will continue to be able to enjoy thrilling rides. The third graders were very excited to hear the story and applauded Alayna’s mom for her animated reading.

Third grade also welcomed the last mystery reader for the year 2021. It was... Yajur’s mom, Swetha Visesh, who read the book, June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus by Suzanne Buckingham Slade. June Almeida loved learning about science and nature. An excellent student, she was especially interested in biology and won the top science prize at her school. Creative and observant, June noticed details that others often missed. When June was 34 years old, she discovered the first human coronavirus. Her groundbreaking work continues to help researchers today in the fight against illnesses caused by viruses, including COVID-19. The students loved Ms. Swetha’s animated reading, and gave her a big round of applause. www.cedarhillprep.com | 7

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS Super Students Every month, third grade students are selected as Super Students. They exhibit the qualities of exceptional behavior in and outside of the classroom.

They complete a poster that showcases who they are, including their “super student power” and what they would do to make the world a better place. The students take this honor very seriously and are able to showcase their artistic talent through this activity.

The following are our Super Students for the month of December: Alayna - Alayna describes herself as an awesome artist and a rad reader! She wants to make the world a better place by getting rid of pollution, helping take care of wildlife, making everyone happy, creating a lost kids’ shelter, and creating safe homes for everyone!

Kyle - Kyle describes himself as an amazing athlete and tip-top team player. He would like to make the world a better place by recycling! This is great for our Earth.

Grade 4 Ushers in the Holiday Season and Winter!

After Trimester Exam week, Grade 4 students ushered in winter and the holiday season as they created holiday gifts for their families and contributed gifts for various children through the Holiday Giving Tree.

Our Grade 4 Holiday Party/Pajama Day was especially cozy as we enjoyed hot chocolate and snacks in snuggly pjs. By evening, everyone’s wardrobe changed as the children dressed in their finest for the Holiday Winter Concert. This busy day was a wonderful way to round out the end to 2021!

We are thankful to all who contribute to keeping our community healthy… and wish you all a safe, healthy and happy New Year!

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MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS Congratulations to 5th Grade Student Demi!

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS

The Hillsborough Dukes Pee Wee Cheerleading team, starring CHP’s own Demi R. (5B) took to the mat in Universal Studios Florida on Monday, December 6, 2021, to compete in the Pop Warner National Cheerleading and Dance Championship. Demi and her Dukes teammates proved unstoppable while executing their tumbling and stunts. Once the judges’ scores were tallied, the Hillsborough Dukes were crowned the National Champions!

Congratulations to Demi and her team on their excellent achievement.

AROUND THE SCHOOL CHP Shows Vendors Holiday Appreciation!

On Tuesday, December 22nd, CHP School Principal Donald Seeley and bookkeeper Donna Pizappi handdelivered 20 gifts to CHP vendors on behalf of the school. Each vendor’s gift, consisting of a square wooden tray filled with tasty snacks, was handmade

by Mr. Seeley and Ms. Donna as part of their side woodworking business DnD Dècor.

The vendors were all thrilled with the gifts and absolutely loved the personal touch of having them hand-delivered. It was a great way to kick off the holidays and to remind our extended CHP community how much they mean to CHP!

Lunch with the Principal CHP students closed the year out with Mr. Seeley over a couple cheese slices for December’s Pizza with the Principal! Every month each homeroom nominates a student for this distinction. The students are excited to get some casual time with the principal, and it’s always a highlight of Mr. Seeley’s month!

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AROUND THE SCHOOL CHP NJ-SBDC Award CHP’s founder Nan Menon is delighted to be honored on behalf of Cedar Hill Prep School by Elayne P. McClaine, the Regional Director for Middlesex County of the New Jersey Small Business Development Center at Rutgers University.

Ms. McClaine had the following to share about Nan and her school, “Cedar Hill has been a client with us since 2014. The school has grown and shown evidence of success through various NJ-SBDC and Small Business Administration programs. Cedar Hill was selected for this year among all our clients because Nandini Menon has exhibited the most exemplary strategies for growth, expansion and profitability compared to our other clients. During the course of counseling her through various opportunities, we have noted that she has achieved worldwide recognition in education and development for today’s youth.”

TV Asia Interviews Nan Our very own Nan Menon, founder of CHP, is being featured on the popular TV Asia weekend program Sundays with Seema, hosted by cultural journalist Seema Kumar.

Watch the Interview

Kids Kitchen Merry Christmas from Kids Kitchen. On Dec. 15 we made the last of our 8 recipe course. We began with “Strawberry Mice” in October and ended with “Frosty the Marshmallow Snowman” on Dec 15. We had a deliciously fun-filled journey exploring recipes like “Spider Cupcakes,” “Gummy Worm Dirt Cups,” “Ritz Cracker Flowers,” and “Candy Jewelry.” We look forward to continuing the fun and exploration in Kids Kitchen Club, 2022.

For registration, email Ms. Yollia at ycameron@cedarhillprep.com.

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AROUND THE SCHOOL Holiday Sing

On Thursday, December 16th, 2021 CHP hosted its annual Holiday Sing event, featuring the melodious stylings of Ms. Florence Lombardo’s Preschool through 3rd grade singers and Mr. Ryan Bridge’s 4th through 8th grade vocalists.

The Preschool to Kindergarten group’s performance included a piano solo by Ishana Vasanthan on “Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” in addition to other snow themed selections. 1st through 3rd graders sang about both Hanukkah and Christmas, while Yajur Subramaniam and Quinton Ngo each had a piano solo. Math teacher Mr. Martin then broke up the proceedings with a solo vocal rendition of “My Grown Up Christmas List.” This was followed by all of the lower school singers coming back together to join in song.

The 4th through 8th graders then took to the stage for a festive run through a number of yuletide anthems. Highlights included a piano duet during “Frosty the Snowman” by Tori Rott and Meghana Indupuru, featured soloist Nina Barnes on “This Little Light of Mine,” and a version of “Jingle Bells” in both English and Hindi with Shameek Parab playing the twin hand drums known as a tabla and a featured duet from Aariana Shah and Pragnya Banigallapati.

The winners of Mr. Bridge’s music tech competition also made their presentations during this portion of the event. Having researched different music technology, the students in the competition each created something original with their chosen software and then shared this creation with their peers along with an explanation of the software they chose. The best project and presentation distinctions were awarded to Daniel Yuh and Margaret Kim of 8B, as well as Narayan Lekhi, Mahadev Menon, and Anaya Raju of 7A. The Holiday Sing event was a great success and a perfect way to bring our first trimester of the 2021-2022 school year to a close prior to CHP’s winter break! Click Here to Watch Performance

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SPECIALS Belkys Cari Cerasa The Cedar Hill Prep family has lost one of our own. On November 23rd, Belkys Cari Cerasa lost her battle with cancer. Cari was the Middle School Spanish World Language teacher. She joined the CHP family in September of 2016. She was instrumental in putting together the Nation Spanish Honor Society at the school. Our hearts are broken and we shall cherish her memories. May her soul rest in peace.

Answer to Cancer In honor of their former Spanish teacher, Sra. Cari Cerasa, three 8th grade students and their families hosted a table, “Answer for Cancer” at the CHP Holiday Bazaar, where they sold personalized Christmas ornaments and gift sets. They also ran a bake sale for middle school students. Both of these entirely student-led and organized initiatives were a huge success, and all proceeds were donated to the American Cancer Society.

DRAMA Christmas Projects 2021 In lower school drama we transformed the classroom into a temporary film studio! The students learned how to count down before the camera rolls and the importance while filming of making sure we remain “all quiet on set.” They were all thrilled to have their moment on camera, regaling us with the adventures of Pete the Cat and some festive caroling to send us off into the holiday season.

Click Here to Watch We are Santa’s Elves Click Here to Watch Pete the Cat 12 | December Newsletter

SPECIALS

ART

Abstract Using Organic Brush Strokes Students in Grade 2 created complementary colored Abstract compositions. First, using organic brush strokes, students applied red, black, and white tempera paint all over a white sheet of paper. Next, after the paint dried, students cut apart the picture. Lastly, the students rearranged the pieces and glued them onto a sheet of green paper.

Grades 3 - 8 Art Holiday Sculptures In all of the 3rd - 8th grade art classes, students prepared for the holiday season by making decorations of their own. They used wire and beads to create original tree ornaments. The students twisted gold and silver wires and threaded beads to make holiday tree decorations. This project was a great way for everyone to get into the festive spirit!

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CHP International NASAO Art Contest 2022 CHP Students in Grades 3 - 8 entered The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) Art Contest.

Each student used their inspiration about flying to design their ideas for a Perfect Aircraft. They used pen, markers, and paint to create their work. Then their work was submitted to the contest. Good luck to all the CHP artists!!!

Click to See Artwork

WILDCATS SPORTS Wildcats Basketball Our Wildcats Basketball Teams have taken the court for a few games this season before heading into Winter Break! Our Boys Team lost two tough games to Princeton Academy and Metuchen Christian but then earned two hard fought victories against Wilberforce and Wardlaw- Hartridge. The Boys hustled and showed a lot of teamwork so far! Our Girls Team came up short against Wilberforce in their first game of the season but then rebounded nicely with wins over Stuart and Metuchen Christian! The girls have worked hard and shown much improvement already! We look forward to seeing both teams back in action soon! Go Wildcats!

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Our next PTO Meeting is January 12, 2022.

The meeting will be via Zoom and we will be discussing upcoming events and fundraisers.

Be on the lookout for an email with details regarding the meeting.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all there.

Holiday Bazaar CHP rang in the festivities at the Holiday Bazaar this month. Filled with yuletide decorations and handmade crafts, the event was an opportunity for seasonal spirit and school spirit to come together.

Students and their families were excited at the unique retail options made available through the school. This was a nice way for the community to engage on campus in the name of goodwill around the various holidays toward the end of the year.

Coat Drive The CHP PTO took in more than 250 winter coats of all sizes, in support of Franklin’s Grace Resource Center which provides much needed services to those people less privileged within the Somerset area. The generous response and outpouring of support were indicative of the way that CHP’s extended community gives back to the local community at large.

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Join Today

Toy Drive During the Holiday Season, CHP House Leaders and Assistant Leaders, together with the PTO, helped organize a community service opportunity to share with those children who are less fortunate. CHP students and families from all grades, Pre-K through 8th Grade, brought in new, wrapped toys for 121 children at a daycare in Plainfield, NJ, coming from low-income families. It was a collective and collaborative effort by the entire CHP community, which culminated with the middle school students gift-wrapping and ultimately organizing and hand-delivering all 121 toys. Due to COVID restrictions, our students could not personally interact or give the children their toys, but some did have the opportunity to sing and cheer for a handful of them. In planning for this initiative, our student leadership delved deep into ProjectBased Learning, and by visiting and seeing the joy in the children, felt empathy. It is through these social-emotional experiences that our students develop character and are nurtured with social leadership skills. Kudos to the PTO and House Leadership for seeing it through!

CEDAR HILL PREP SPORTSWEAR All proceeds help support CHP PTO

Order Apparel

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Support CHP Chess Club

Join the Alumni Instagram and Facebook Page

Stay connected and network with the CHP Community.

You will receive invitations to events and the latest CHP and academic news. This will also allow us to share news and acknowledge all your achievements.

Be Part of the Alumni Community Today! Join and share with family and friends to follow and like!

On Wednesday, January 26th dinner needn’t be a Queen’s Gambit! Help support the CHP Chess Club at Chipotle in Bound Brook! Between the hours of 4:00 and 8:00, a portion of each sale will be donated to the Chess Club to cover the chess tournament costs of registration and membership fees. Mention CHP Chess, show the flyer below, or use the code provided to place a mobile order in order to contribute to our chess experts’ tournament enrollment!

Staff Birthdays Happy Birthday to Scott Homiak, Nandini Menon, Yollia Cameron, and Florence Lombardo who celebrated their birthdays in December.

Hope they enjoyed their birthdays!

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