Family Newsletter - 4-28-25

• We will be administering the ELA State CBT Test on Tuesday, April 29th and Wednesday, April 30th.  Ensure that your child is prepared, gets a good night's sleep and arrives to school on time. All students are to report to their testing room by 7:50am.
• Please make sure to review the calendar of upcoming events at the bottom of this email. As we move into May, the next two months are going to move very quickly.
• Just a reminder that we will be holding end of year Virtual Parent Conferences on May 8th from 4:30 – 7:30pm. Please make sure to schedule parent conferences via Jupiter or Google classroom with your child's teachers.
• A huge shout out to Ms. Richman and Mr. Solino, for entering their students in the “Create a Watershed Superhero” poster contest, sponsored by the NYWEA and NYSDEC. This year, they received hundreds of posters from students in 23 schools across NYS. Only 14 finalists were selected to be featured in the 2026 New York State Water Environmental Association Calendar. I am so excited to announce that FOUR of the 14 posters selected were created by I.S. 281 students!!! Congratulations to I.S 281 students! – we are so proud of you, especially in knowing that your talents will be highlighted and showcased on such a broad scale! (see attached posters)
• We celebrated and appreciated our Administrative Professionals on Wednesday for all the many hats they wear and responsibilities they hold in their day-to-day jobs. We thank Ms. Martin, Ms. Chung, Ms. Messina, Ms. DiMatteo and Mr. Boychuk for all the support they provide in and out of the classroom for our Cavallaro staff, students and families each and every day. They are the hub of our building and the strongest and most collaborative office staff I've ever seen, serving as the face of Cav to any visitor who enters our building. Their invaluable work is greatly appreciated.
• We held a very successful NJHS Arista induction ceremony last Thursday. 45 - 7th and 8th graders were newly inducted, and 17 - 8th graders were honored as 2nd year inductees, exhibiting the qualities of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Citizenship and Character. A special thank you to Ms. Zambri, who did an exceptional job with the certificates and decorations, as well as to all those who assisted in preparation for the evening’s ceremony. Special recognition to Ms. Gerber, our Arista Advisor, for the invaluable work she does managing our NJHS program throughout the year, reviewing and approving all applications, as well as ensuring that our students’ achievements are celebrated and families are honored with such a prestigious event. In addition, a student received the Noor Qudsi award, with Ms. Mohassib speaking eloquently as to what an honor it was to receive this award in Noor’s memory. We also celebrated the many accomplishments of Dr. Maria Jeffrey, who was selected as our Honorary Inductee. Ms. Wiederhold did a beautiful job honoring and speaking to the value that Dr. Jeffrey has added to the staff and students of Cavallaro throughout her 25 years here as an educational leader.  Special thanks to our PTA who purchased and assembled a delicious post-ceremonial celebration for our students and families in the cafeteria.
• One of our 8th grade teams made the Virtual Enterprise VE-JV Business Pitch Competition National Championships!!! They developed Pristine Filtration, offering advanced water filtration with electrochemical activation. It removes 99.9% of contaminants and retains essential minerals. Their mission statement is “To pasteurize the world's water with quality and passion”. 
  The finals will take place on May 13th, we wish them the best of luck and are so very proud of their accomplishments.
• District 21 is pleased to present their D21 April 2025 Newsletter using the following link  

Academic Vocabulary Word of the Week: 

4/28/2025 – Design, debate

Spanish: Diseño, debate

Chinese: 設計、辯論

Russian: Дизайн, обсуждение

Urdu: ڈیزائن، بحث

Social Emotional Focus Week 31:

6th Grade – Compassion: Discuss the role of compassion in various scenarios; celebrate the learning and practice of compassion

7th Grade – Determination: Express understanding of determination creatively; reflect on and present learning about determination

8th Grade – Individuality: Express understanding of individuality in the workplace; reflect on the importance of individuality