Project Cicero truck arrives

Despite the snow, student and parent volunteers arrived this afternoon to begin sorting books donated from 15 local schools. The 24' truck was filled by the first 11 schools, and it will return to collect from the other 4 later this afternoon. In addition, over 5,000 books were donated from the Elisabeth Morrow community. The event, benefitting teachers and students from Englewood and Newark, occurs at 1:00 Saturday afternoon

EMS Students Excel at Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

A few of the Art winners with Ms. Coll Nicolaou at the
reception at Montclair State University

With so much attention given to testing, scores and academic performance 

these days, it's important to recognize achievement in creativity once in a while. For over 90 years, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have been celebrating the imaginative minds of middle and high school students on both regional and national levels.

Our Gold and Silver Key Winners (a few missing)

For a school like Elisabeth Morrow, a school that fosters creativity within the curriculum, these awards are looked upon as an exciting milestone in the academic year for our students. This year, these EMS students achieved the following at the Regional level:

Sarah Abrahamsen (Hackensack, NJ)

1 Gold Key for Personal Essay/Memoir, 2 Silver Keys for Photography

Christine Anagnos (Haworth, NJ)

1 Silver Key for Poetry

Ava Chiocco (Closter, NJ)

1 Honorable Mention for Poetry

Noah Crooks (Bloomfield, NJ)

1 Silver Key for Science Fiction/Fantasy

Erika Herman (Teaneck, NJ)

2 Gold Keys and 1 Silver Key for Photography,

1 Silver Key for Flash Fiction, and 3 Honorable Mentions for Personal Essay/Memoir, Humor, Poetry (respectively)

Madeleine Kachikian (Hoboken, NJ)

3 Gold Keys for Photography

Elena Latinsky-Ortiz (Bergenfield, NJ)

Maxine Musto's Gold Key Winning Sculpture

1 Honorable Mention for Poetry

Mariah Leontopoulou-Cochran (Oradell, NJ)

1 Honorable Mention for Poetry

Christian Maloney (Hackensack, NJ)

1 Gold Key for Poetry, 1 Silver Key for Dramatic Script,

1 Honorable Mention for Flash Fiction

Tara McConville (Demarest, NJ)

2 Honorable Mentions for Poetry

Maxine Musto (Bogota, NJ)

1 Gold Key for Sculpture and 1 Honorable Mention for Photography

Alexander Philliou (Haworth, NJ)

1 Honorable Mention for Poetry

Nikki Quinn (Cliffside Park, NJ)

2 Honorable Mentions for Photography and Painting (respectively)

Isabel Riedel (Tenafly, NJ)

1 Honorable Mention for Poetry

Daniel Schwartz (Tenafly, NJ)

1 Gold Key for Photography

Overall, the January regional judging saw EMS with 54 entries in the Art category (4 sculpture, 2 fashion, 2 digital art, 2 painting and 44 photography--a category that allows multiple submissions per student). EMS submitted 27 entries in the Writing category (3 memoir, 1 science fiction, 1 humor, 1 dramatic script, 2 flash fiction, 1 short story, and 18 poetry entries--a category, again, that allows multiple entries). At the regional competition, our students went up against student submissions from New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Ms. Lisa Coll Nicolaou, EMS teacher, who annually coordinates the EMS Scholastic entries, also noted that a number of young alums were also successful on the regional level: Eva Gurian '11 (Academy of Holy Angels), Josh Kurtz '09 (Dwight-Engelwood), Carolina Zuluaga '11 (Academy of Holy Angels), Phoebe Mattana '10 (Dwight-Engelwood), Sofia Joseph '10 (Dwight-Englewood), Alina Sodano '09 (Bergen Academies), Samantha Kirsch '10 (Bergen Academies), and Bryan Rubin '10 (Dwight-Englewood) were among the high school award recipients from New Jersey Schools. EMS also had two known alumni winners from New York, Emily Gruber'11 (Trinity) and Benny Kesslen '10 (Riverdale).

Gold and Silver Key Winners represent the top 15% of all entries received in a particular category for that region. Gold Key Winners are then moved forward for the national-level competition and winners are announced on March 15 with the National Medalists awarded at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in June.

Appletree: Our Minecraft Curriculum Featured at Annual NAIS C...

Appletree: Our Minecraft Curriculum Featured at Annual NAIS C...: by Aaron Cooper,  Head of School —  Last week, a contingent from The Elisabeth Morrow School traveled to Philadelphia ...READ ON at Appletree Online.

The Fifth Grade Dissects Sharks

The fifth grade science classes are dissecting sharks this week. Despite some initial squeamishness, the students demonstrated in intimate detail how well they know the shark's anatomy. One of the groups even found three unborn sharks and an undigested fish. All in the name of science!

Morrow House Students Participate In Teen Leadership Conference at the JCC

On Friday, March 1, 7th and 8th grade students that serve on the Student Council joined students from other local middle schools for the first middle school focussed Teen Leadership Conference at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades.  In this picture, EMS students and Mrs. Ehrlich are accompanied by  Englewood Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle.  

A Community That Plays Together Stays Together!

Families, friends and faculty joined this morning to play together. The happy faces, conversation and special memories speak for themselves.

Celebrating 100 Days!

Kindergarten students have been learning  the concept of place value as they diligently counted the days of school in anticipation of the 100th day of school. In celebration, the children participated in a variety of activities including; reading 100th Day stories, sharing collections of 100 objects, playing Race to 100, stringing 100 Cheerios, measuring how much they grew in 100 days, and assembling bags of trail mix containing 100 yummy treats! 

Aaron Cooper presenting at NAIS Conference This Weekend

EMS Head of School Aaron Cooper is presenting at two workshops and one round table discussion during the annual NAIS Conference in Philadelphia this weekend. Two collaborative presentations will center around the insights of first-year school leaders, while at the round table he will join EMS technology teacher Marianne Malmstrom in discussing the educational relevance of MMOG's within 21st Century curricula.

Family Stories Fondly Remembered

Every year, the second graders get together with members of their family to learn their family story. The students carefully write the stories down and when all are finished, the children present their collaborations to the group.

This morning I happened to catch the tail-end of the presentations in Mrs. Keller's class and posted this photo to our Facebook account.  I wanted to share with you the following comment to that post:

Maria C Raccuia Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face more than remembering my little Desiree (now 35!) and the wonderful memories and friendships Elisabeth Morrow helped create for both of us ... PRICELESS ....

It's a nice reminder for our teachers that your dedication, commitment and sincerity; leaves a fond impression on our students and parents, long after the leave EMS.

EMS Tradition: 2nd Graders Write Stories with Their Families

Over breakfast this morning, the children and families in Mrs. Holden's second grade joined together to write family stories. Each of the children were first given an outline to use as a way of organizing ideas. Next, the families sat together and drafted their stories, "the messy copy."  The children then presented their rough drafts to the group. Later, they will have time to go through the editing process with peers, the classroom teacher, and at home before publishing their stories. Today's special breakfast was a great opportunity for parents, students, and teachers to all take part in the writing process in an engaging, meaningful and personal way.