Mr. Michael Citta, Principal Mrs. Mallory Kennedy, Supervisor

February-March, 2012

MARCH CALENDAR

5-9 Media Center Book Fair

6 Jump Rope for Heart-grade 4

21 4th Marking Period Begins

22,23 Spring Pictures

27 Ready, Set, Go Kindy Program (parents)

28 Parent Portal Opens for Report Cards

28 PTO Meeting 7:30PM

30 Talent Show 6:30-9:30PM - Int. East

Dear Parents and Guardians:

So far we have dodged winter's big blast, and we are

very thankful for that! Our students have been study-

ing hard and celebrating many events including, Black

History Month, Women in History Month, President's

Day and most recently Heart Health Awareness. Our

fifth grade students participated in our annual "Hoops

for Heart Day" on Valentine's day and again it was a

big success. The fourth grade students are "Jumping

for Hearts" during the first full week in March. It is

such a joy to see the pride our students and school

community take in their civic duties.

I am also very proud to announce our 2011-2012

Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Karen Husenica, first grade

teacher. This is a very special honor for Mrs. Husen-

ica especially because she gets this recognition from a

vote of her fellow teachers. Mrs. Husenica is most

deserving of this honor and we are very proud of her.

As we move closer to the end of the year, our stu-

dents remain hard at work in and out of the class-

room. Our staff will remain committed to our stu-

dents to ensure their future successes.

Mr. Michael Citta, Principal

Hooper Highlights

Introducing Hooper Avenue Elementary’s

Teacher of the Year 2012

Mrs. Husenica!

First grade teacher Mrs. Husenica has been

voted “Teacher of the Year” by her colleagues.

Mrs. Husenica grew up in Toms River and at-

tended Silver Bay Elementary, Hooper Avenue

Elementary, Intermediate East, and High School

East. She earned her B.A. from Albright College

and taught at West Dover elementary before

Hooper Avenue Elementary welcomed her to the

staff. Mrs. Husenica thinks that teaching first

grade is special because she gets to witness the

tremendous growth undergone by her students

throughout the year. First graders are fun to

teach because “they enjoy learning and get ex-

cited about everything!” She and her husband of

nine years live in Toms River and have three beau-

tiful children: Addison, 6 years old, Avery 5 years

old, and Clark, 1 year old. In her spare time, Mrs.

Husenica likes to study her genealogy, read,

watch baseball and hockey, do cross-stitch, and

spend time with her family.

These Star Students Had

Lunch With the Principal in January!

Sam Angelo

Michael Ardise

Luke Bedford

Alex Brooks

Emma Cartnick

Ryan Cole

Rachyl Concepcion

Jack Coward

Connor Deming

Thomas Doneman

Hailey Faulkner

Anthony Gartz

Ryan Gordon

Steven Howard

Alyssa Kelly

Colin Mackle

Owen Maley

Samantha McBean

Arianna McMahon

Gianna Morse

Thomas Peterson

Kyle Reinheimer

Sophia Romana

Isabella Romana

Joseph Roselli

Courtney Russell

Brooke Slomkowski

Brianna Tramutolo

Nicolette Troche

Matthew Van Houten

Christine Vincent

Mrs. Jubert and some of her first graders turned 100 years old on the hundredth day of school!

100th Day of School!

101st Day of School

Mrs. Siek’s first graders dressed as 101 Dalmatians and collected 101 items for the Ocean County Animal Shelter!

Guess Who Had Lunch With

Mr. Citta in February?

Ava Alfonso

Shane Alston

Jose Alvarado

Rebekah Bernardo

Danielle Bragen

Michael Brennan

Dominic Campanelli

Alyssa Caputo

Angelina Carlisle

Kristian Cruz

Angelina DeBellis

Antonio Donato

Meghan Donovan

Kellie Dougherty

Adrianna Goodwin

Danielle Klumpp

Michael Jacobus

Jillian Kane

Adam Kannheiser

Sierra Loutraris

Daniela Luna

Mia Mancino

Joseph Mezera

Jack Monticello

Kevin Rhodes

Rachel Romeo

Jake Rosenthal

Caitlin Russell

Ryan Schmitt

Aidan Vetter

Jessica Weintraub

Hooper Spelldown 2012

The annual Hooper Spelldown took place on January 26, 2012. Twenty-three classroom champs com-

peted through twenty-five rounds of words (a new school record!) to see who would win the first prize

trophy. Fourth grade contestants were: Paige Marini, Kevin Shaffery, Jerry Belardino, Maxwell

Snowden, Paul Fiorello, Emma Ryan, Riley McKeon, Kevin Rhodes, Austin Larice, Kylie Watson, Emily

Maire, Raisa Mangulabnan, and Anthony Chase. Fifth grade competitors were: Brian Towey, Brian Me-

drzykowski, Kevin O’Reilly, Ashlyn Yoskowitz, Matt DiCarlo, Jacqueline Keogh, Alyssa Caputo, Greg Mor-

ris, Kate Lozzi, and Patrick Keogh. Our finalists this year were Patrick Keogh and Raisa Mangulabnan.

Raisa correctly spelled the words “melancholy” and “pathos” to become the 2012 champion. Congratula-

tions to all of our classroom and school winners!

Ms. O’Hara’s AM kindergarten class celebrated Valentine’s Day by making and wearing

Caring Heart Hats.

Caring Kindergartners Major Hogan Visits 5th Graders at the Hoop

Mr. Hynoski’s students welcomed guest speaker

Major Hogan to their class for an informative

discussion of his duties and responsibilities. They

would like to thank him for sharing his time and

his story!

Book Fair Luau!

It’s a Reading Celebration! The annual Media Center Book Fair ran

from March 5th through March 9th,

2012. This year’s theme was “Book Fair Luau”. In

most cases, students visited the book fair during

their regular library or technology period. Inter-

ested parents shopped with their children during

their designated time. A large selection of inex-

pensive and grade-appropriate books to choose

from made it easy to for Hooper Huskies to be

“Big Kahuna Readers”! Our sincere thanks to all of

the parents who donated their time to help our

book fair run smoothly ~~ we couldn’t have done

it without you!

—Mrs. McCarthy & Mrs. Koerner, Library

Paralyzed Veterans of America

Poster & Essay Contest Par-

A number of Hooper first graders entered patriotic

posters into a contest sponsored by the Paralyzed

Veterans of America. Pictured above, they are:

Dana Blandino, Jamie Brandzel, Milani Cantelme,

Natalie Christie, Abigail Cole, Paige Dieckmann,

Meghan Donovan, Lauren Errion, Joseph Flores,

Adrianna Goodwin, Julianna Griffith, Samantha Im-

pens, Nicholas Italiano, Averi Krebs, Dylan Lanza,

Ryan Lorentzen, Owen Maley, Christopher Malland,

Brayden Martinez, Josephine McKenna, Shaelyn

Mezera, Grace Monetti, Cal Narvaez, Joseph Roselli,

Vincent Rossi, Alexa Safar, Juliana Saner, Paige

Seitz, Jake Verdon, and Joseph Watkins. Fifth

grade participants who wrote essays on the contri-

butions of veterans are: Vincent Bettencourt, Enrico

Bruno, Jack Coward, Brandon Coyle, Matthew Di-

Carlo, Brianna Esposito, Brigid Keogh, Elizabeth Ke-

ogh, Jacqueline Keogh, Ethan Leon, Sierra Loutraris,

Jenna Lozzi, Bianca Mastellone, Emily Prahl, Cathryn

Ritter, Alex Romero, Jeffrey Ross, Vincent Ro-

tondo, Jake Ryan, Matthew Scannicchio, and Tyler

Toth. Congratulations to fifth grader Jeff Ross and

first grader Jamie Brandzel for being named na-

tional finalists!!

National finalists Jamie Brandzel & Jeff Ross

January 2012

Grade 5~~ Alex Romero (1st place)

Jeff Ross (2nd place)

Caitlin Russell (3rd

place)

Grade 4~~ Courtney Pobol (1st

place)

Emma Ryan (2nd place)

Ian Ritchey (3rd place)

Grade 3~~ Erik Savage (1st place)

T.J. Scollan (2nd place)

John Tritto (3rd place)

February 2012

Grade 5~~ Jeff Ross (1st place)

Matthew Scannicchio,

Jacqueline Keogh (2nd

place)

Elizabeth Keogh (3rd

place)

Grade 4~~ Justin Lanza (1st place)

Kara McGuinness (2nd

place)

Isabella Romana (3rd

place)

Grade 3~~ Carli Christie (1st place)

Jillian Ferone (2nd

place)

Richard Riley, Jack

Brattan (3rd place)

Study Island Blue Ribbon Students Hooper Huskies have been practicing grade-level

academic concepts while preparing for the NJ

ASK test. The following students earned the

most blue ribbons in the past two months. Great

job!

Kindergarten Registration 2012 Toms River Regional Schools will offer online Kindergarten Registration for September

2012 from our website beginning February 13, 2012.

Children who will be age five (5) on or before October 1, 2012 are eligible to enter school in Septem-

ber 2012.

For a complete packet of registration requirements, time for registration and forms, please:

Visit our website at www.trschools.com

Stop by any elementary school or the Central Registration Office

Call us at 732-505-2600 and we’ll be glad to send it to you

In addition, all parents are invited to attend our “READY, SET, GO!” kindergarten readiness presen-

tation on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at the Hooper Avenue Elementary Gymnasium from 6:30-

7:30PM. Parents will participate in an informative discussion on the Kindergarten curriculum, sugges-

tions to help prepare a new kindergarten student for school, and other timely topics. This program is

for parents only; students are invited to attend their school’s summer orientation.

Ocean County Library, Toms River

March 2012 Toms River Branch

Wed, Mar. 7, 6:30PM: Boys’ Club. A library-wide

scavenger hunt for boys ages 8-12. Register.

Sun, Mar. 11, 2:30-4PM: Drop-In Craft and

Story Time. Presented by students of High

School South Spanish Honor Society. Children

with their families welcome.

Sat, Mar. 17, 2:00PM: Schoolhouse Rock Live.

The Emmy-winning 1970’s cartoon series comes to

life. Family program. Register.

Tues, Mar. 20, 6:30PM: Bonk! Expressive Drums

and Percussion for Kids. Interactive program

where kids create rhythms, learn about musical

dynamics, and create songs. Ages 4-12. Register.

Wed, Mar. 21, 6:30PM: Girls’ Club. A library-wide

scavenger hunt for girls ages 8-12. Register.

Thurs, Mar. 22, 6:30PM: Build It! Building fun

with Legos, Lincoln Logs, and more. Ages 6-9. Reg-

ister.

To register for programs, please visit our website @ www.theoceancountylibrary.org

or call 732-349-6200, option 6

Hoops 4 Heart All Hooper fifth graders participated in a fun,

educational, and worthwhile community service

project in February. Students collected money

from family and friends to sponsor them in a bas-

ketball shooting competition. At school. On Feb-

ruary 14th, amidst motivational signs and cheers

from their classmates, students attempted to

make foul shots. Classroom finalists moved on to

the last round, called the “Hot Shot Blitz”. In

this final round, players were awarded 1, 3, or 5

points per basket depending upon the location of

the shot. This year’s top shooters were Jacque-

line Keogh and Roger Folger. All proceeds go to

the American Heart Association. Thank you to all

who participated or contributed to this health-

minded event!

Artsonia Online Art Gallery

Visit www.artsonia.com to view more artwork!

Pop-Art Hearts

By Maxson, grade 1

Pop-Art Hearts

By Olivia, grade 1

Pop-Art Hearts

By Nicolette, grade 1

Op-Art

By Alexis, grade 5

Op-Art

By Kate, grade 5

Op-Art

By Dylan, grade 5

Image Completion

By Jerry, grade 4

Image Completion

By Kayla, grade 4

Image Completion

By Kaitlyn, grade 4