Author, Illustrator Highlight Central's 'Book-a-Palooza'

Last week's events aimed at getting students excited about reading.

Learning to read is one thing; learning to read between the lines is another—which is what author David Adler got students at Central School's Young Author's Day thinking about, Friday. Adler, and illustrator Judith Natelli McLaughlin, of Millburn, visited the school to cap the week-long "Book-a-Palooza," which also included a book fair and book giva-aways, in addition to classroom lessons. Adler, author of more than 200 books, including the popular Cam Jansen mystery series, spoke to the students about where he gets his ideas for his books. Adler said many times, the events in his books are taken from his own life experiences—which he said many authors also do, offering students an insight into writing as well as reading. Many of Adler's …

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Plan to Visit Central School's Annual Yard Sale

Bargains galore—plus a bake sale benefitting the American Cancer Society.

Photos: Can You Guess Who I Am?

Students spend a day in character for Central School's Biography Day.

After completing research on a favorite historical figure, Central School students attended school Friday in character, dressed as their favorite leader, writer, sports figure or scientist. The students even stayed in character as others tried to guess the figure they might be portraying—can you guess who the students selected as their historical inspiration?

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Central Students Celebrate Pi

Although 3.14 isn't until next week, the school marks "Pi Day."

In terms of mathematical concepts, the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter is pretty straight forward—not too hard for fourth-graders to grasp. Central School REACH instructor Jill Zimmer sees lots of valuable concepts in introducing students the mathematical magic that happens—as well as the Greek letter pi used to represent the non-ending series of numbers. "It's the concept of infinity that's so intriguing," she said Friday, during the school's "Pi Day" for fourth-grade classes. Pi Day is marked with several activities aimed at introducing these ideas to the young students, first with a video introduction to where the pi comes from, followed by a hands-on experiment calculating it by measuring a hula-hoop. Zimmer pointed …

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Students' Fire Department Patch Designs Earn Recognition

Warren Fire Department picks top entries in design contest.

With nearly 100 entries to sort through in a patch designing contest for Warren grader-schoolers launched in conjunction with Fire Prevention Week, Fire Department Chief Mike LoSapio said judging wasn't too easy. "We asked kids what they thought when they heard the word 'fire'," he said. "We had some really great entries." The judges included firefighters CJ Young (Mt. Horeb firehouse), Andrew Fitch (Mt. Bethel), Willie Mobus (Washington Valley firehouse) and Brennen Gaiser (Community firehouse) selected nine winners from the entries, picking one from each grade submitting entries. Friday, Young and Chief LoSapio visited Angelo L. Tomaso and Central schools to present the winners with an art kit, a certificate featuring each student's …

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VIDEO: Central School Field Day Takes Lessons Outside

Kids enjoy games mixed with a little geography.

Central School held its annual Field Day Friday, with outdoor games mixing a little geography with fun challenges.

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School Projects On Track and (Mostly) Under Budget

Warren schools have an unprecedented number of projects underway at once. So far, it's working out well.

Following an update on the status of the different projects underway at Warren schools this summer at Monday's board of education meeting, Business Administrator Patricia Leonhardt said she's never seen a district undertake so much at once.  She also noted the projects are proceeding on schedule, and for the most part, under budget. The presentation by Tyler Tripelhorn, the distirct's supervisor of buildings and grounds, gave board members a look at the bathrooms being rebuilt at Woodland School and the middle school, the paving work undertaken at Mt. Horeb and Woodland schools, and the solar panels being installed on the roofs at Angelo L. Tomaso School and WMS. Tribelhorn also discussed the work done to restore the Home Arts room at WMS…

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Central's Margot Haldeman Tapped for Excellence Award [VIDEO]

Nominated by a staff member—who is also a former student's parent.

Warren Township school principals attended Monday's board of education meeting to salute the special teachers in each school, with the presentations of the district's annual Excellence in Education awards. Each principal provided an explanation of why these teachers were chosen, often reading from a nomination by a student or colleague, or in the case of Central School award winner Margot Haldeman, a colleague who is also the parent of a former student.

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VIDEO: A Little Fanfare, Please

Central School's Valerie Fund Walkathon gets a lift from the Shabazz High School Marching Band

Warren Township Schools are pitching in Friday, to help the Valerie Fund with walkathons and other fundraising activities. Central School planned an event to cap the school's fundraising by calling on some special guests: the members of the M.X. Shabazz High School Marching Band. The band performed a cadence to warm the crowd up, before parent Beth Richmond, acting as emcee, revealed the school's fundraising total for the fund and gave some honors to students and teachers "who went above and beyond." Stay with the video to the end to see the total the school raised.  

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Local Photographer Steve Byland Sets Central School Workshops

Students to get hands-on training to highlight school's "Everyone is an Artist" theme.

Steve Byland, a nature photographer and Warren resident, will enlighten the children of Central School on the Art of Photography on March 26. As part of Central School's ongoing theme, "Everyone is an Artist," Byland will provide hands-on workshops for each class—from kindergartners to fifth-graders--reviewing the history of photography, providing advice on placing the subject matter in a shot to add interest, and then giving each student an opportunity to practice these newly-learned skills by taking their own photo with a digital camera. The students' photos will be printed out and each class will vote on the best photo taken from each classroom—to reaffirm the tips and techniques taught by Byland. Although Mr. Byland has a soft-spot for…

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