January Newsletter 2023

CHP Spelling Bee

CHP Spelling Bee

Cedar Hill Prep’s return from Winter Break was quite busy as students in grades 3 – 8 prepared for the annual Spelling Bee. The first stage of the competition involved the Classroom Bees. The two winners from each grade then advanced to the CHP school-wide Spelling Bee. The on-campus CHP community and participants’ parents gathered in the gym to support the contestants as they competed in our annual CHP Spelling Bee. The competition was quite impressive and lasted 14 rounds!

Advancing to the Championship Round were fourth grader, Yajur Subramaniam, and eighth grader, Narayan Lekhi. They went on to compete in five Championship Rounds until a winner was declared.

Congratulations to Narayan Lekhi (1st place winner) and Yajur Subramaniam (runner-up) for their amazing performances and sportsmanship! Narayan will advance to the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee with our very best wishes!

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International Academic Competitions

After the Spelling Bees, students in Grades 4 through 8 took the Online Regional Qualifying Exams for the International Geography Bee, National History Bee, and National Science Bee. Based upon their performance on these exams, approximately 89 Cedar Hill Prep students will move on to compete in the Regional Finals on March 11 th at Princeton University!

Congratulations to all the students who qualified to advance in the competitions!!!

New Year

Preschoolers jubilantly welcomed in the New Year upon returning to school! With party hats, blowers, and noise makers, the children pretended it was 10 seconds before midnight and counted down to the beginning of a great New Year. Celebrating again with our CHP family was the perfect way to start 2023!

Patterns

Our Preschoolers learned all about patterns this month.. The children learned that a pattern is something that repeats itself. Lining up crayons, singing songs, listening to stories, and dancing enhanced our preschoolers’ knowledge of how to make their own patterns. Here, the students are using “unfix cubes” to build their own AB pattern.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the third Monday in January, the Preschool class celebrated a great man. Our preschoolers learned all about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he stood for freedom, kindness, and peace for everyone. After our MLK lesson, the children created a happy-face collage using a variety of different colored papers to represent different skin tones. They also followed a number/color guide to create a beautiful peace sign. We honor Dr. MLK’s teachings on love by recognizing our students’ random acts of kindness with praise and certificates.

Winter Animals

One week in January the Preschoolers’ theme was winter animals. The children learned that there are animals that sleep all winter – a practice called hibernation. We read books that explained what the animals do to prepare for hibernation. Some gather their food and put it in their burrow while others bulk up and eat their food before hibernating. As a class project, we made our own” Bear’s Den.” Each student brought in their own stuffed animal and placed them in our classroom den. Shhhhh, make sure you’re quiet. We don’t want to wake them up before spring!

Pre-Kindergarten Learns About the Weather

Throughout the month of January, the Pre-Kindergarten class learned about the weather. We discussed the different types of weather we can expect during each season. We also learned a big word: meteorologist! We learned what a meteorologist does and why their job is so important. Each child was given their own weather chart to keep track of the weather for a week in January. While doing their weather chart, the children realized that we have not had any snow this winter, so we decided to make our own! What a fun lesson!

Pre-Kindergarten Celebrates Chinese New Year

On Friday, January 20th, our Pre-Kindergarten B class celebrated the Chinese New Year. The Mohns family gave our classroom red envelopes containing goodies and gold coins to celebrate the traditional custom of giving gifts during this celebration. The parents read a book to our students about the Chinese New Year that explained the significance of the holiday and also showed us the dragon dance. What a fun celebration!

Polar Bears

The Pre-Kindergarten class has started learning about the Arctic and the animals that live there. This month, we learned all about polar bears! The children loved learning about this animal. They were surprised to find out that a polar bear’s fur is not white. It is actually translucent! We discovered where they live, what they eat, and how they survive in such a cold environment. After learning all about this magnificent animal, the children enjoyed making a beautiful polar bear craft.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

The Pre-Kindergarten class did a show-and-tell on Martin Luther King, Jr. Each child had something different to show and talk about to celebrate Dr. King’s life. We all appreciated this creative way to learn about such a great man.

Chinese New Year in Kindergarten

Happy Chinese New Year! Both Kindergarten classes learned all about the Chinese New Year. Some of our Kindergarten parents who celebrate this beloved Chinese holiday came into school and shared stories, traditions, and a fun craft with the children. Our students learned that the holiday lasts for 15 days and that many families exchange gifts such as red envelopes containing money. So, as a gift, each of our Kindergarteners received their own red envelope! Other customs during the New Year celebrations include eating special dishes that symbolize prosperity and family unity, creating intricate Chinese dragons that are symbols of strength and bring good luck, doing a traditional dragon dance, and setting off fireworks! The Kindergarten students enjoyed creating dragon masks to celebrate this day.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS

Grades 1 and 2 Spelling Bee

First and Second Grade students cheered on the four finalists during the first and second grade Spelling Bee! The four finalists earned their spot after competing against their peers in a grade-level spelling competition. All students tried their best, and we are proud of how the Second Grade finalists, Nikhil and Milan, performed – as well as the good sportsmanship the participants received from audience members!

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Grade 3 Mystery Readers

On Friday January 6th, Third Graders were treated to a mystery reader in the morning. Saina’s mom came and read a short story from a wonderful collection called Lucky Dog: Twelve Tales of Rescued Dogs. The students were very invested in hearing about a sweet dog that would later be adopted by a loving family. This collection is full of heartwarming and hilarious stories about the Pawley Rescue Center where rescued dogs find their way into people’s hearts and homes. You’ll meet Foxtrot, a feisty Pomeranian who can’t bear the thought of leaving her best friend. And Beatrice, whose bark is definitely worse than her bite. And Pumpkin, one of the 101 Chihuahuas who turn life at the center upside down! Whether drooling, dueling, or just fooling around, these captivating canines will show you why a dog is a kid’s best friend! Thank you to Saina’s mom for entertaining us first thing on a Friday morning and also educating our students on how rewarding rescuing a dog can be.

On Friday, January 13th, Third Graders were treated to a mystery reader in the afternoon. Aarush’s mom came and read a book entitled Lunch From Home. In a classroom of sandwiches, four students particularly stand out with their homemade, culturally-specific lunches. But before they can dig in and enjoy their favorite foods, their lunches are spoiled by scrunched noses and disgusted reactions from their sandwich-eating classmates. The book follows each of the four students as they learn to cope with their first “lunch box moments” in this picture book that encourages empathy and inspires all readers to stand up for their food! Inspired by the “lunch box moments” of four acclaimed chefs, Ray Garcia, Preeti Mistry, Mina Park, and Niki Russ Federman, this heartwarming story reminds us that a person’s food is a reflection of self and an authentic celebration of culture. This story was extremely relevant to our students as they bring many different cultures through their lunches every day! In the end, this story was about accepting all cultures and appreciating them – which is something we strive to do every day at CHP! Thank you to Aarush’s mom for this gem of a story!

Third Graders welcomed their mystery reader with a drum roll on Friday, January 27th. Ayesha, Isra’s mom, read the book Our Diversity Makes Us Stronger by Elizabeth Cole. This book talks about a child who learns to accept himself and others as they are. This was a wonderful read! It helped the third graders learn about respecting all the differences that make us unique. With gorgeous colorful illustrations and rhyming text, it was a great way for kids to learn that being different is OK. Thank you, Ayesha, for coming to read to us!

Peaceful Demonstrations in Grade 3 Social Studies

On Tuesday January 10th, third graders took part in a peaceful demonstration. We have been learning about different types of government as well as the process of voting. The students pretended to attend a public meeting, speak their opinions, and create signs that voice those opinions. They also practiced voting on whether their community should use budgeted resources to start a STEM or Sports club. Students got to create posters and march in their respective groups, chanting their slogans to practice speaking out about their ideas!

Grade 3 Super Students

Every month, Third Grade students are selected as Super Students. They exhibit the qualities of exceptional behavior both inside 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 Super Students for the month of January were Siyana, Laila, Saina, and Geetha.

Siyana describes herself as a wonder writer and an amazing artist. She wishes she could fix Covid-19 and loves to draw and read.

Laila describes herself as a tremendous team player, an awesome athlete, and an amazing artist. She wishes she could fix pollution and she loves to draw in her spare time!

Saina describes herself as a mighty mathematician, a ravenous reader, and an amazing artist. She wishes she could fix water pollution and absolutely loves to read in her spare time!

Geetha describes herself as a wonder writer, a ravenous reader, a marvelous musician, an awesome athlete, and an amazing artist. She wishes wars did not happen and also loves to read in her spare time!

Grade 3 Martin Luther King, Jr. Bulletin Board

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin

Luther King,

Jr.

During the month of January, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, Third Grade students created hearts that illustrated their dreams for the world. Students thought about how the world could be a better place and the improvements that could be made. Some dreams included there being no more pollution, no more violence, and no more homelessness in the world. Children are extremely sensitive to the current issues we face as a nation, and we are looking forward to seeing all that they will accomplish in the future to make our world a better place!

Grade 3 Science

Students in Third Grade are learning about climate and seasons. They have learned that climate is the pattern of weather in a certain place over a long period of time. They’ve gathered data for the average monthly air temperature in Sacramento, California. And they’ve interpreted the data in the form of a bar graph which helped them learn that organizing gathered data in a bar graph makes it easier to see a pattern.

Congratulations Grade 4!

When we returned from Winter Break, Grade 4 students participated in the Grade 4 Spelling Bee. After over 1 hours, the winners were declared. Congratulations to Yajur Subramaniam and Isha Gupta for placing 1st & 2nd, respectively! Both students then advanced to the school-wide Spelling Bee for Grades 3 – 8. Congratulations to Yajur for placing second in the CHP Spelling Bee!

Grade 4 students then participated in the International Academic Competitions Online Regional Qualifying Exams for the International Geography Bee, National History Bee, and National Science Bee. Congratulations to ALL of the 4th graders for qualifying to participate in at least one of these Bees at the Regional Final Competitions on March 11th at Princeton University!

Lunar New Year Celebrations

4th Grade celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year and the Korean Lunar New Year. The students created holiday crafts and enjoyed learning about how different countries celebrate this Lunar New Year holiday. A very special thank you to Alex Peng for sharing his family’s Chinese New Year traditions…and to Alayna Han & Nehemiah Kim for their presentation about the Korean Lunar New Year celebration!

Language Arts / Social Studies

Grade 4 students have been reading stories that reflect the many ways we can have a positive impact upon those we interact with. Although some of these stories focus on the lives of those people whose names we are very familiar with, several stories have taught us that anyone, regardless of their age, can make a difference in the lives of others. In their writings, the 4th Graders have had a chance to reflect upon ways in which they have helped others. In Social Studies, Grade 4 has been learning about the early settlers in the Americas, their reasons for leaving their homelands, and the contributions they have made to American culture. The 4th Graders are already working on their Black American Living History Museum presentations. After the students selected the inventor/scientist they are interested in learning about, they have begun their research. We can’t wait to see the finished presentations on February 23rd!

Math / Science

Grade 4 students have completed the Unit on Fractions and are now learning about angles, perpendicular and parallel lines, and quadrilaterals. GEOMETRY, HERE WE COME! In Science, we made a bulletin board of pictures of many groups of invertebrates and discussed the different body systems, complete & incomplete metamorphosis, and the life cycle of animals.

Birthday Celebrations

This month, another Grade 4 student joined the double-digit birthday club! Congratulations to Aiden Nguyen on the occasion of his 10th birthday! Following Aiden’s birthday, Grade 4 students, their parents, and Mrs. Gadaleta surprised Mrs. Yurman on her birthday! Mrs. Yurman wants to thank everyone for their kindness and for making her birthday so special!

To our CHP Community….Grade 4 wishes all a joyous and peaceful New Year!!!

Grade 5 and 6 NJIN Trip

Grade 5 and 6 students went on a full-day trip to NJIN on January 10th. The farm is as beautiful in the winter months as it is in the summer. Being at the NJIN farm showed students how to develop the gift of curiosity. Students examined real bird nests, finding some nests still housed in trees. Students then hunted across the acreage for supplies to mimic the bird’s nests with their own creations. The horses encouraged even more curiosity as students learned how the feed for horses in these cold months differs from their diet during the abundant grazing season. After a communal lunch, the students returned to the cold outside and tried their hands at making bird nests from their supplies. They realized how much effort goes into this not-so-simple life necessity for our feathered friends. All in all, it was a day of seeking and hands-on learning that will be remembered for a long time to come!

Grade 7 and 8 NJIN Trip

The 7th and 8th Grade classes visited New Jersey Institute of Nature on January 18th. The day started off with a visit to the horses in which the students learned about the horse’s dietary habits. Next, the 7th and 8th graders focused on trees for their lesson. Ms. DiMuccio and Ms. Villafranca led a tree meditation followed by a writing activity in which the students wrote from the perspective of the tree. Ms. Lekhi and Mr. Deisher led an interdisciplinary lesson in which the 8th Grade students used geometry to calculate the height of a tree. Time was given after lunch for the students to explore the area in front of the farm.

Lastly, the 7th Grade students collected samples of lichen, moss, and fungus to take back to the classroom and look at under a microscope. This really added a lot of depth to their classroom study of symbiotic relationships.

We are happy to announce that, starting this year, CHP is offering the Future City competition as an elective for Grades 5-8! Future City is a regional to national competition organized by DiscoverE and is a Middle School STEM program designed to bring STEM to life for students.

This year, students were required to design a future city. Students’ cities had to provide one climate change mitigation, one climate change innovation, and a moving part within the model. Along with their city ideas, participants were required to build a model, write a 1500 word essay, create a project management schedule, and present their plan to a board of industry professionals.

CHP had four teams of students participate and they did an UNBELIEVABLE job! Many of our students were first-timers to the competition, up against seasoned Future City teams. Aside from one other school, we were the only school to be awarded two prizes!!

Congratulations to Aarnaa Desai, Motunrayo Odukoya, Narayan Lekhi, and Riya Dagli (Team Mi Aire Mi) who won 5th place! Congratulations to Mahadev Menon, Nitara Baruah, Rishabh Dagli, and Sahith Mangu (Team LiMere) who won the Special Award for Best Project Management Practices. Your futuristic elements (thirsty concrete; recharge wells; aquifer storage) were practical and ingenuitive. They are currently being explored at the industry level.

A HUGE thank you to all of our parents and teachers who supported our students and made this competition possible. Future City will be offered as a club during the Spring in preparation for next year’s competition. Be sure to sign up!

Grade 5 Advertises Life in the 13 Colonies

5th graders studied the 13 colonies and created posters to persuade others to move to their colony. They wrote slogans, sang jingles, and used creative advertising techniques to entice 7th Graders to choose their colony. This was such a fun and creative project!

Grade 6 Play Production

6th Graders studied the Olmecs, Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs this month. In order to understand what life was like in these tribes, they created mechanical dioramas. Each student chose a role: Director, Props, Script Writer, and Art/Scenery. We saw ancient dances, sports, rituals, artwork, and more! Bravo to the 6th Grade!

ART

Costume Designs

From December through January, students made sculptures of unique costumed mannequins using the design process of brainstorming original ideas, sketching out several ideas, drawing a finished image, and planning materials. The students constructed their mannequins of both found and mixed media materials and wrote their descriptive labels. The final project is now complete and on display at CHP!

Click Here to See Students’ Final Custom Designs

Outta Sight

“Outta Sight” pt. 1 explores what it feels like to make art with a vision disability. Students wore blindfolds while sculpting. They created smooth round forms, sharp-edged forms, and forms with holes, points, and crevices. They also came up with their own unique forms – all while never peeking. This was a beautiful exercise in understanding our different experiences within the same world.

Family Fun Night Game Making Room and The ElemMates®

On Family Fun Night on January, 27th the two art teachers, Mrs. Borkowski and Ms. Wallant organized a Game Making and Playing Room. The two teachers supplied art materials and guidance for the Family Fun Night guests to make their own games.

In addition to Chess and Uno, students had the chance to play Ms. Wallant’s creation, a game called ElemMates. The game is based on the periodic table of elements. It enables players’ characters to travel around Atom City, teaming up and strategizing to earn winning tokens. Everyone had so much fun!

Click Here to Check Out the ElmMates Game

WILDCATS SPORTS

Boys Basketball

The CHP boys’ basketball team played three games in the month of January. We had a home game against Darul Arquam which we won! Next, the scholar-athletes faced two tough opponents on the road. They played extremely well against Princeton Charter with a disappointing loss by one point at 38-39. Our second away game in January was a close 5-point loss to Winfield at 28-33. The boys’ team has two more games in February to finish out the season – let’s go Wildcats, you’ve got this!

CHP BOYS BASKETBALl Team

Girls Basketball

This month, the girls’ basketball team took on Greenbrook, Stuart Country Day School, Princeton Charter, and Winfield. The team continues to display great skill, resilience, and sportsmanship on the court. They are efficiently executing the man and zone defense systems as well as the offense that was implemented at the beginning of the season, scoring multiple goals and warding off the offense of the other teams.

The highlight of the month was the game against Stuart Country Day on January 19. We saw a culmination of talent, skill, and sportsmanship. The game ended with us having a 38 to 12 lead. What was more notable than the big win was the display of sportsmanship. After securing a 24 to zero lead, CHP stepped out of competition mode and into sportsmanship mode by relaxing our defense beyond the three point line, implementing 5 passes before shooting, and suspending defense altogether during the last minute of the game allowing Stuart 12 goals. Our players who were more skilled in the game encouraged Stuart’s players in the sport in the spirit of sportsmanship.

Basketball Schedule

Our Next PTO meeting will be on February 15th at 7:00pm. The meeting will be via Zoom and we will be discussing upcoming events. Be on the lookout for an email with details regarding the meeting.

Twelve Days of Kindness

This year, Coach Frankie and the CHP House Arbitrators have implemented a program called “Think Big.” This program will follow our previous program “Dream Big” which we successfully accomplished last year. During last year’s “Dream Big,” Coach Frankie and the Arbitrators successfully shared activities to allow the middle school to come together as a community and work collaboratively. This year’s ‘Think Big’ is intended to expand CHP students’ minds and explore new possibilities within our community. This year, we will go beyond and dive deeper into creating a whole K-8 school roster of activities to allow us to come together as one CHP community! Let’s THINK BIG!

We are starting out by focusing on “T” for promoting thankfulness and teamwork as well as “H” for promoting helpfulness. In order to highlight these themes, the school celebrated the “Twelve Days of Kindness” where, as a team, we created a 3-D Christmas tree with House colored light bulbs that held thankful and helpful messages. Under the tree, the Arbitrators created a “thankful box” with encouraging messages to be read during our Morning Meetings. The K-8 students enjoyed sharing their kind messages and they continued to engage in random acts of kindness throughout the year.

Students Pictured

Knelling: L-R Grade 7 Riya Dagli and Ayan Joshi

Standing L-R: Grade 8 Reina Fontaine, Rishabh Dagli, Shameek Parab, Coach Frankie, Grade 7 Sophia Lai

*Not pictured: Grade 8 Anaya Raju and Grade 7 Aarnaa Desai

Pizza with the Principal

On Friday, January 27th, our students enjoyed another Pizza with the Principal. This was a wonderful way to kick off the New Year as students got to reconnect with Principal Seeley, talk about their holidays, and share their goals for the coming year. Grades

Preschool - KIndergarten

Family Fun Night

Cedar Hill Prep School kicked off its 2022-2023 Family Fun Nights events on Friday, January 27th. There were crafts, games, and sports for all ages including basketball, badminton, hula hooping, jump roping, ping pong, board games, corn hole, art, game making, and dancing! Everyone had an amazing time! Thank you all for coming out to celebrate our community and the incredible families that make up our school family! Be sure to join us for our next Family Fun Night on Friday, March 24th!

Staff Birthdays

Join the Alumni

Instagram and Facebook Page

Stay connected and network with the CHP Community. You will receive invitations to events as well as 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!

Happy Birthday to Ruth Sulitzer, Sonia Ismail, Courtney Tierney, and Karen Yurman

who celebrated their birthdays in January!