September Newsletter 2021

CEDAR HILL PREPARATORY SCHOOL

September Newsletter

Students Return In-Person for the 2021-2022 School Year!

On Thursday, September 9th, Cedar Hill Prep School once again opened its doors to the student population to mark the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. Our campus came to life with the excited voices and reunited faces of our returning students, as well as faces that are brand new to our community. Our first day back was a great success and we can’t wait to share all the things we accomplish as a school in the months to come.

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Welcome Picnic Cedar Hill Prep opened its campus to the parents of our students and the families of our staff in order to celebrate the return of our annual in-person Welcome Picnic. The Welcome Picnic was an event for the entire CHP community to come together, get to know one another, and enjoy some great fun, food and games.

CHP’s usually health conscious catering options were replaced for the day by cotton candy, snow cone, and popcorn machines as the campus and classrooms were transformed into temporary carnival attractions for the duration of the event.

Parents had the opportunity to meet CHP’s newest teachers and discover what each of them brings to the school that enables our educational village to prosper. Staff were able to advertise the various after school clubs that are offered by many of CHP’s teachers during extracurricular hours. This includes such past favorites as D & D Decor Club, Reading & Writing Club, and Art Club. Among the new clubs open to students this year are Kids Kitchen and the Lil’ Cats Sports Programs.

Entertainment was provided by the CHP staff as they danced in unison to the sound of the international dance hit “Jerusalema.” Additionally, members of the Rhythmic Arts Dance and Music Center performed a choreographed routine to the delight of the gathered families.

A fun filled and memorable day was had by all. The faculty at CHP were overjoyed at the willingness of our extended community to join us for such an important occasion at our school.

Click Here to See More Images Click Here to See the Jerusalema Dance

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PRESCHOOL - KINDERGARTEN NEWS

Welcome to Preschool

Apples Galore

We welcomed our new group of preschool students for the new school year. With hesitation in their eyes and backpacks stuffed with supplies, we were ready for a wonderful preschool year. Each consecutive day of school brought more smiles, friendships, sharing, playing, and laughter. We all are happy to come to school to play and learn with our new friends.

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Apple season is upon us! The children in preschool had a sample tasting of red, green, and yellow apples. Each child then decided which apple was their favorite. Tasting apples turned into using our creativity to make torn paper apples, apple men, and apple stamping.

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Washing Away Our Germs Our preschool students learned how and why we wash our hands with soap during a fun science experiment. The children observed that we can make germs disappear with a little bit of soap. Pepper was scattered in a small bowl of water. The floating pepper represented the germs, like the germs on our hands. When the soap was placed on the children’s fingers and dipped into the water, the pepper (germs) quickly scattered to the edge of the bowl away from the soap. The children learned that by washing their hands with soap and water, the germs will disappear.

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Preschool World of Color Our week in preschool was all about colors. Each day the children wore specific colors to school. Everyone, even the teachers, participated in wearing blue, white, green, red, and black on the designated day. The children experimented and learned that mixing paint colors is so magical!! As the class chanted, “magic, magic,” the new colors were revealed. We also went on a Color Hunt outside. To our surprise, we found every color that we were looking for. Some of the things we found were flowers, grass, leaves, pipe cleaner, and a ribbon.

The children had a great time hunting for these colorful objects.

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PRESCHOOL - KINDERGARTEN NEWS Pre-Kindergarten All About Apples

The Pre-Kindergarten class loved learning all about apples. We learned the different parts of an apple and talked about the different colors an apple can be. After our discussion, we had an apple tasting. The students loved it and kept asking for more! We learned that our class likes red apples the best. Click Here to See More Images

Pre-Kindergarten: Number 0 The children were very excited to start learning about our first number of the week, zero. We decided to have some fun by practicing writing the number 0 on our classroom table with washable markers! The students did a great job and loved it, since writing on tables is not something we would usually do in class.

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Johnny Appleseed

The Kindergarten children learned all about a real boy named Johnny Appleseed. He lived over 200 years ago. He loved eating apples, planting apple seeds, and growing apple trees!! He left behind thousands and thousands of apple trees all across America. Because of him people always had fresh fruit to eat and the land grew more beautiful! The Kindergarten children made a pot to wear as a hat just like Johnny Appleseed. In celebration, we ate apples, drank apple cider and ate apple donuts!!! Click Here to See More Images 4 | September Newsletter

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS Responsive Classroom Activities in First Grade Our first graders have enjoyed the beginning of the 2021-22 school year! In September, we work to build relationships with our first graders to ensure they feel respected, valued, and seen for who they are. Building those relationships helps them build community within the classroom and with each other, which is extremely important. We also try to draw on their prior knowledge in order to contribute to group discussions, which provides an anchor to learning. Our students are encouraged to listen effectively. As teachers, we provide 6 weeks of training in listening skills. Our students are given opportunities to share their feelings, beliefs, values, and perspectives, and we teach them to receive and embrace this information, while still honoring the differences of their classmates. We provide activities and learning opportunities that allow students to practice and develop into our classroom family. Click Here to See More Images

Second Grade First Day of School Second grade ushered in a new school year by spending some time outdoors getting to know their classmates. Everyone was excited to see friends, old and new. We took pictures to commemorate the beginning of the year.

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Third Grade 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.

This month our Super Students were Dallas and Aydin.

Dallas said that his super student powers included being an honorable helper and an amazing athlete. He wishes that he could cure cancer in order to make the world a better place.

Aydin said that his super student powers included being a stunning scientist and a rad reader. He wishes that he could help those less fortunate in the world.

Great job third graders!

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS Fourth Grade Welcomes the 2021-2022 School Year!

In Grade 4, the new school year has been bustling with enthusiasm and activity! For many of the 4th graders, this is the first time they have been on campus since the 2019-2020 school year. As the students settled into their new classes, they have begun to adapt to their new grade and realize how much they can accomplish each day! They have been putting forth a tremendous effort! We are excited to welcome three new students and their families to our Grade 4 community: Mahesh Kethineni, Avya Kumar, and Zeni Morian.

September has also been a busy month for birthdays as Grade 4 celebrated the birthdays of Zia Sharif on Sept. 13 followed by both Anish Dharmavaram and Nico Garofalo on Sept. 19th! What a wonderful way to begin the new school year! Grade 4 wishes all a great 2021-2022 school year!

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Fourth Grade Honors the Memory of 9-11 Grade 4 students were quite moved by the story, This Very Tree…A Story of 9/11, Resilience and Regrowth. Through much discussion, they understood that although this was a tragic day, the survival of this one tree provided a symbol of hope for all.

This inspired the students to reflect upon, and then write about, their individual feelings of hope. The results are inspirational to read as our 4th graders expressed their individual hopes… for a good life; that the pandemic will end and there will be cures for COVID and other diseases; that people with “negative grades” will become better at studying; to become a famous author who inspires others; to help those in need; for homelessness and world hunger to end; that people will stop polluting and begin to conserve energy so the Earth will be healthy; to be on the CHP Debate Team; to get good grades so they can become successful in their careers. Such moving reflections indicate that we can look forward to a very prolific year in Grade 4! Click Here to See More Images

Morning Assembly with Mr. Seeley At 8:45 each morning, Grades 3 and 4 meet with Mr. Seeley for Morning Assembly. The meetings are usually quite lively as Mr. Seeley provides the students with CHP updates that include upcoming CHP events, birthdays, relevant national events, and our athletic teams’ schedules and progress. The students then take center stage to report on Current Events and share inspirational quotes that they find meaningful. Each assembly ends with the Pledge of Allegiance, which is led by students whose birthdays fall on that day. Grades 3 and 4 look forward to starting each day with Mr. Seeley!

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MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS Fifth Grade Scientist Mrs. Galiano’s grade 5 science students kicked off the year with their first of many experiments in the classroom lab. These young scientists took their knowledge of cells to the deep level of DNA. They spent their time skillfully extracting DNA from strawberries.

Making extraction liquids, using beakers and test tubes, and ultimately layering ice-cold isopropanol alcohol on top of their liquid strawberry solution to pull the DNA out was the business of the day. Students observed the DNA strands carefully and reflected on the applications of extracting DNA in the areas of agriculture and medicine. They are off to a great start and are so enthusiastic to be able to do experiments with their classmates once again.

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Seventh and Eighth Grade Math Mission During their second day back in school, the 7th and 8th grade students in Mrs. Lekhi’s Math classes were given a mission to save the Principal from being abducted by Aliens!

From decoding Alien script using logic, to solving several Math problems, one lock at a time, they worked together and unlocked the codes and eventually saved Mr. Seeley! The students are happy to be back and learning together in person.

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Eighth Grade Students Recognized by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Cedar Hill Prep is extremely proud to announce the academic distinction bestowed upon CHP middle school student Sriram Banigallapati, who was the recent recipient of High Honors

by The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, known as CTY, for his scores on the School and College Ability Test. Sriram exemplifies the accomplishments of our student body at CHP. Click Here to Read More

Cedar Hill Prep would like to announce with great pride that our middle school student Sarah Karlekar has been the recent recipient of High Honors by The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, known as CTY. Congratulations to Sarah and her family from the entire CHP community!

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Welcome Back CHP Community!!

It was so great to see everyone at the Welcome Back Picnic. Our First PTO Meeting is October 13, 2021.

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

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

If you have not signed up and wish to join one of the PTO Committees, please sign up using the link below.

CHP 2021-2022 Committee Sign Up Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all there.

Last year the PTO had started an initiative where we let our CHP Parents showcase their businesses.

We are happy to announce that we will be bringing that back again.

If you would like to be a part of this initiative please sign up below. Thank you.

Thank you for your continued support!!

Join Today

Use CHP’s PTO enrollment code: 78AL185371236 to Join Today!

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SAVE THE DATE

UNIFORM SWAP

Thank you to all who donated uniforms to the PTO. Below is a link to order your uniform. We will be raffling a gift card from Lands End on our first meeting 10/13!

CEDAR HILL PREP SPORTSWEAR All proceeds help support CHP PTO

Order Apparel

Reserve Your Uniform www.cedarhillprep.com | 9

AROUND THE SCHOOL Teacher In-Service As CHP teachers prepared for the 2021-2022 school year, they attended Teacher In-Service workshops focused on professional development. The development sessions included multifaceted teacher training and an ice breaking exercise centered around non-verbal communication, as well as a review of the school’s safety precautions and protocols around the pandemic. The faculty came away from our In-Service days invigorated and fully informed on the many aspects of our return to in-person learning.

We greatly anticipate all the excitement and accomplishments of the year as we begin our Fall trimester of 2021.

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House System Ceremony The staff and students at Cedar Hill Prep wasted no time this year getting down to the all important business of assigning new students and teachers to the school’s House System. Led

by Principal Don Seeley in full monarch regalia, the ceremony saw new members of the CHP family appointed, by way of drawing names from a hat, to one of the four Houses: Cherokee Bears, Lenape Owls, Ramapo Falcons, and Shawnee Beavers.

The school cheered on each new House member as they ran through a human tunnel of high fives and applause, made by their housemates in celebration of each new addition to the respective Houses. Later in the day, the newly bolstered House rosters convened for the first House meeting of the year to discuss upcoming planned House events, not the least of which will be next month’s House leader elections. This inaugural House System event for the current school year was another big success. Students were able to practice teamwork, acceptance, and encouragement while the whole school took part in the bonding exercise of House assignments. Even though the House System divides the school into four quarters the camaraderie that is forged within that system brings us together as one unified school. Click Here to See More Images

Franklin Reporter & Advocate at CHP Back to School Night

The Franklin Reporter & Advocate speak with Principal Don Seeley at Back to School Night to discuss his reflections on last year and the year ahead at Cedar Hill Prep School.

Click Here to Watch Interview 10 | September Newsletter

Lunch with the Principal

Principal Don Seeley sits down for pizza with this year’s first group of students nominated by their homeroom teachers to enjoy this special distinction. Each month a different student in each homeroom will be rewarded with lunch with the Principal! Click Here to See Larger Image

SPECIALS

Spanish class starts the school year with success. Middle School Spanish students tested their vocabulary skills in our indoor and outdoor Spanish Vocabulary Tournament, which incorporated dominos into the challenge, adding a component of physics to the linguistic competition. The students also checked out the online resources available to them this year in order to better facilitate their engagement with the material.

Click Here to See More Images Motu was declared the winner of the Spanish 4 Squares game and crowned with a sombrero. Students recited a Spanish sentence or word as they each caught the ball. Motu was the winner of the game after giving the most sentences and words.

The students had a great time showcasing their bilingual skills while getting some physical exercise.

ART Students in the lower school created personalized art folders featuring a self-portrait. Whether working on the porch or in the classroom, our little artists learned how to blend colors in order to achieve skin tones and hair color.

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DRAMA Students with a flair for the dramatic throughout CHP have gotten into the acting spirit in Drama Class with the school’s new theatre instructors Miss Mary Blair Duncan and Mr. Scott Homiak. The younger students have been learning about both creation and performance in the theater through their work on story structure and articulation.They have also been practicing being good audience members and helping each other tell stories based on their real life experiences.

In the older students’ classes they began the year with a project showcasing theatrical disguise and the notion of taking on another identity. Each student decorated a papier mache mask, using acrylic paint pens, in a style that was unique to their interests and personal aesthetic. Then they chose a stage name in conjunction with the faces they had created. From there the students dove into performance based activities, such as confidence building ice breaking games and enacting scripts aloud in small groups and as a solo monologue.

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WILDCATS SPORTS

CHP Tennis Team

CHP Soccer Team

Pep Rally On Wednesday, September 22nd, the Cedar Hill Prep community gathered in the gymnasium for a pep rally in support of the school’s Tennis and Soccer Wildcats teams. The rally kicked off with “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones as the students clapped along to the music before Principal Seeley revealed that this was the same song his high school wrestling team used to walk out to. He then opened up the gym for a visit from a surprise guest, CHP’s mascot Chip the Wildcat. Chip had the kids cheering and laughing to his dance moves and physical comedy.

Coach Francavilla addressed the crowd and introduced the members of the tennis team one by one, as they entered the gym cheered on by a chorus of hoots and hollers from their peers. This was followed by Coach Tierney’s introduction of the Soccer team. The gym erupted with applause for each member of the team. The applause culminated with a round of clapping and stomping along to Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” The students filed out a grade at a time, still dancing, with big smiles on all their faces. There was no question that school spirit and student morale are very high as we move into this new year at CHP. Click Here to See More Images 12 | September Newsletter

First Soccer Game Our CHP Wildcats Co-ed Soccer Team kicked off on Wednesday, September 22nd with their First game of the season against Winfield! The Wildcats hustled throughout and clawed their way to a 2-2 tie! Jayden scored an early goal to give us a 1-0 lead, but Winfield scored two of their own as the game went on. Deep into the Second half, Shameek scored to earn the tie! It was an exciting way to start the season! Go Wildcats!

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CHP Wildcats vs Princeton Charter School Our CHP Wildcats played an amazing game against Princeton Charter School on Wednesday, September 29th and came up with a 4-4 tie. Jayden had 2 goals to lead the way, with Shameek and Aidan adding one each. Avi had a great game in goal! The Wildcats showed toughness and teamwork throughout!

Click Here to See More Images Click Here to See Soccer Schedule Click Here to See Tennis Schedule

Lil’ Cats Sports Club Lil’ Cats is off to a great start! Over the past few weeks, our children have gone through drills for Soccer, Basketball, and Football! The kids are enjoying learning the fundamentals of each sport and will gain more skills as the classes go on!

Click Here to See More Images Click Here to See Lil’ Cats Sports Schedule

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Staff Birthdays Happy Birthday to Sangeeta Lekhi and Lori DeVito, who celebrated their birthdays in September.

Hope they enjoyed their birthdays!

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