Elysian Charter School Newsletter

 

June 16, 2008

Vol. 3, Issue 38

 

www.ecsnj.org

www.friendsofelysian.org

 

 

 

As the school year comes to a close, I hope that you found your year here at Elysian both satisfying and productive.  On Friday evening, Graduation ceremonies for our Fifth graduating class took place. Diane Murray, our guest speaker, best summed it up. You can read her speech here, in this issue of our Newsletter.

 

Thank-you to everyone, staff, parents, students, relatives, and friends, for helping to make our community vibrant and inclusive, for moving us towards ever higher student achievement, and for supporting a culture of sharing, learning, and celebrating.

 

To those who are leaving us this June:  our graduates, Jessica, Pam, Chris and Sam, we will miss you.  Your send-off has been glorious.  We will think of you often, and hope you'll come back and visit.  to all, have a wonderful summer!

 

Sincerely,

 

Carol      

 

 

 

 

Dear Elysian Community,

 

I have truly enjoyed working with all of the students, teachers, and families here for the past 3+ years!  It has been a great privilege to teach art at Elysian and watching each student’s creativity blossom and come to life!

 

Leaving Elysian was a very tough decision, over the past few years you have become my second family.  I will miss you all dearly and I promise to stay in touch. 

 

As many of you know, I’m very excited to be getting married this summer and live abroad with my new husband. We look forward to traveling and experiencing the cultures of the world.

 

I wish everyone a fabulous, creative summer!

 

Fondly,

 

Jessica

 

 

P.S.  A huge THANK YOU to Cathy King who so generously fired and glazed all of the clay sculptures Elysian students created during their art class.  Thank you, too, to first grade parents Maureen Melnick and Vicky Duerdan for volunteering their time in the artroom.

 

 

 

Diane Murray's Graduation Speech is on the next page!

 

On Friday, June 13th, Elysian's graduating class of 2008, Elysian Staff, families and friends were priveledged to hear Diane's address:

 

Commencement speeches are supposed to give advice to the graduates.  When Melissa asked me to give a speech tonight, I had a hard time at first thinking of what advice I should give you all.  When many of you were in my 6^th grade and/or my 3^rd grade class, I know I gave you lots of advice:  keep your hands to yourself, serious answers only, you can’t sit where someone else is already sitting, etc.

 

However, this is an important night, so I thought I would get some advice help from some of the most open-minded and forward-thinking members of the Elysian community:  the kindergarteners.  If you have ever spoken to a 5-year-old, you will know that they are always ready to help, without hesitation.  Here is what the kindergarteners thought you should know;

·         Wear a hat when you graduate.

·         Get ready for a lot of work.

·         Don’t walk on the tracks where the train goes.

·         Choose a career.

·         Know how to sing

·         You will have lots and lots of homework.

·         Don’t get in trouble because you are too big for that.

·         Have fun.

·         What is 100 + 100?

 

While I was digesting this advice, I was asked by some of you to find pictures of the 8^th graders from years past.  I looked

at my curriculum notebook from 2003,

when some of you were in my 3^rd grade class and was delighted to find that I had many pictures.  As so often happens when I look at old pictures, I was surprised by how much I had forgotten:  how little you all used to look, how you used to like to run businesses, do origami, and other memories.  I was so grateful to have all these pictures, many of which you will see tonight in the slide show. 

 

This led me to my one piece of advice that I would like to leave you with tonight.  Take pictures.  If you don’t have a camera, write it down.  You have so many incredible experiences ahead of you and even more experiences that will seem ordinary while you are having them.  Keeping a tangible memory of these times will bring you joy and insight one day, and you too will be surprised at how much you would have forgotten were it not for the photograph, the journal entry, the poem, or whatever you choose as your method of remember -ing.  You never know when an every --day moment will seem significant later.

 

This year we lost two members of our community.  When Carlton Candler, a former teacher here at Elysian, passed away in January, many of us searched for photographs of him.  We wanted to look at him again ourselves and also to show people who didn’t know him just a little bit about what he was like.  Now Carlton was someone I saw at work every day for several years, but we didn’t celebrate many special occasions together, so I hardly had any photos of him.  The one that I found was really a photo of my infant daughter, taken at a staff meeting.  Carlton is sitting behind her, smiling at her as she models a hat he has just made her out of a napkin.  This was a small moment in time, but somehow it captured an important part of Carlton’s spirit and I was so grateful to have it.

 

While looking through my curriculum notebook, I unexpectedly found a photo of Lydia Becker, our founding director.  This was taken one day when my class decided to hold a spa in our room, as part of their interest in business and earning money. In the picture,

she is sitting across from one of the 3^rd grade students who is giving Lydia a manicure.  Again, this was not a big event, but another small moment.  But it reminded me of Lydia’s unwavering and unquestioning support for any project that students thought was important and how she modeled this child-centered philosophy for all of us who worked with her.  When I shared this picture with other staff who knew Lydia, some people copied it and hung it up because we really don’t have a lot of pictures of her, and we are grateful to have this one.

 

So, as you graduates prepare to leave Elysian tonight, know that we will remember what was special about you and delight in all of your new accomplishments.  We will picture you taller, developing your interests, trying new things, keeping your hands to yourselves, staying off of the train tracks, choosing a career, not getting into trouble because you ARE too big for that, and having fun.  We hope your memories of your time at Elysian, whether it was 9 years or only 2, are mostly happy ones and that you will come visit and tell us your stories. 

 

Personally, I have so many memories of you covered in flour or paint, crawling on the floor, or running in the park, that it might be hard for me to remember how you look tonight:  so fancy and mature.  So, if you will permit me to take a quick picture. 

 

Thank you and good luck to all of you.

 

 

 

The Annual picnic was a huge success!

The PTSO would like to thank the many volunteers who helped make our last event  the best ever! We would also like to recognize Dan Sexton and Pascale Nijhof for their hard work on the PTSO Team. We look forward to next years events with our new members Chad Carpentar and Lyn Dexheimer. Everyone have a great summer and see you at the first PTSO meeting Sept. 9, 2008 at 6:30 sharp!!! The PTSO Team

 

 

 

 

Monday, June 16

·         Half day of school, 12;30 PM

       dismissal.  After School Program   

       available.

·         SPORTS AWARDS Dinner! 5 PM, St.

       Matthew's Trinity Church. 

·         Board of Trustees Meeting, Rue  

       Building, 7PM

Tuesday, June 17

·         Half day of school, 12:30 PM

       dismissal.  After School Program

       available.

Wednesday, June 18

·         Half day of school, 12:30 PM

       dismissal.  There is no After School

       Program today.

·         Last day of school.  Parents who are at

       dismissal MAY pick up their child's

       report card.  All  report cards NOT       PICKED UP will be mailed.

Reminder: please return your 2008-9 packet of forms!

 

 

Armstrong Baby Grand Piano - approximately 50 years old, in good
condition and has been tuned. Best offer will be accepted. Please call
Norma at (201) 863-1088 in the evenings.

 

 

 

IT'S YEARBOOK TIME!

Elysian Charter School 2007-2008 Yearbook  --  $25.00

The Yearbook will arrive during the summer.  Families will be notified via phone, e-mail, and snail mail.  There will be 60 pages of full-color photographs from all grades (K-8), including school activities, classroom activities, and field trips, etc...We must wait for the books to arrive because we got far more photographs than we intended, and right up to today, some changes are still being made.  We are, however, very happy and excited with the anticipated final product.

 

 

 

Yearbooks are on sale to the entire Elysian Community.  Please return the form, below, to John Mercado in the RUE office (with your payment).  We will accept orders until July 1.  Checks should be made payable to "Elysian Charter School".  Cash payments and/or money orders are also  acceptable.  Thank you for your understanding and support.

Sincerely,

John Mercado

School Yearbook Advisor

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -   -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -   -  -  -  - 

ELYSIAN CHARTER YEARBOOK ORDER FORM

# of yearbooks:  _____  @ $25.00    Total included:  $________________________

Name of student: _________________________________________________________

                                                                                    (PRINT)

Name of parent(s) or guardian: ____________________________________________

                                                                                                (PRINT)

Summer Day Phone:  (               )_________________________________

Summer Evening Phone (         )_________________________________

Email: ________________________________________________________

Summer mailing address:      ___________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

__________________________________