School District of the Chathams

Reorganization meeting immediately followed by regular Board of Education Meeting tonight at 7:30 PM in the CHS Auditorium. Meetings may be accessed on YouTube at https://www.chatham-nj.org/page/live-stream-video-of-boe-meetings.

Milton Avenue School rang in 2024! Welcome Back from Winter Break!

The 8th grade grade faculty student volleyball tournament returned today and was met with great enthusiasm! Eighth graders clinched the win after a hard fought tiebreaker!

Reminder tomorrow, December 22 is an early dismissal. Early dismissal times are posted on the website for each school. Enjoy the extended holiday break!

Chambers and Voices Choirs performed at the White House last Friday. A once in a lifetime opportunity for these students to perform holiday classics alongside of George Washington in the East Wing. The Chambers choir performs Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer here https://youtu.be/1eDHVgdkDj0. Students also had the opportunity to tour the White House and do a walking tour of Washington D.C.

Big announcement at the Board of Education Meeting tonight! There will now be an early dismissal next Friday, December 22. Happy Holidays!

Board of Education Meeting tonight at 7:30 PM at Chatham High School Performing Arts Center. Meeting will also be Love Streamed on YouTube.

We continue our focus on giving back to the community! MAS participated in The Great Pajama Bedtime Story Drive sponsored by Scholastic. For each pair of pajamas donated, Scholastic donates a new book to create a Bedtime Story set. MAS students donated 68 pairs of pajamas and Principal Crawford delivered them to Children's Special Hospital in Mountainside this morning. MAS is proud to encourage bedtime reading with this service project and is excited that their donations will be matched with 68 books! #SDOCgivesback #pajamaprogram

SBS focused on giving back to others the week before Thanksgiving. CHS media students interviewed students from each grade and created a video to share what this week means to the SBS community. Watch the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMqUTJHv7rI&t=30s. #teamSBS #SDOCgivesback

The Chatham Community Band, led by our Brian Conti the Chatham High School Director of Bands, will be performing at the Chatham High School Performing arts Center today, December 2 at 3:30 PM. Great opportunity to listen to some holiday music before you head into town for the Chatham Borough tree lighting tomorrow night.

Reminder Michael DiMaggio Blood Drive will be held on Sunday, December 3 in the Chatham High School Cafeteria from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. More information about this event can be found at https://5il.co/29376. Register for an appointment at www.redcrossblood.org and use sponsor code: Stay Strong Michael.

We are excited for LAF winter concert to once again anchor the Night of Music on December 8 from 5 PM -7:30 PM. Special performances by musical groups from CHS and CMS will also be featured. Performances will be held at Firehouse Plaza and throughout downtown. Night of Music will once again be sponsored by the Chatham Performing Arts Boosters in partnership with the Chatham Area Chamber of Commerce. Scan QR code for additional details.

Our CMS Staff members once again brought joy into many of our homes on Thanksgiving during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ms. Liatys piloted the Snow Crystals Balloon. CMS staff members had coveted balloon handler spots this year on the Pikachu balloon. Ms. Liatys has piloted balloons in the parad with her Dad for many years. We are grateful this has now become a CMS Thankgiving Day tradition also. #MacysParade #SDOC2023

Staff members participated in a Back to School Step Challenge! Washington Avenue was the overall challenge winner with Chatham Middle School coming in as a close second. Thanks to Toastique for partnering with us to provide a healthy lunch to WAS and breakfast to CMS. Staff members are currently participating in a Holiday Step Challenge. #SDOCwellness

Please read the Fall 2023 Student Services Newsletter for information on current programs and upcoming events. The newsletter is available at https://5il.co/29des.

CMS students held a food drive for the CUMC food pantry. Student council members delivered the food to the CUMC last week to give back to the community for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. #SDOC2023 #CUMC

We have been participating in this event for 10+ years thanks to the American Heart Association and the NY Jets. It originally started as a Chatham Middle School vs Summit Middle School competition event. Over the past few years it has transitioned into a Flag Football curriculum based unit in all 6th grade Physical Education classes with a culminating event held at the NY Jets Atlantic Health Training Facility in Florham Park. 12 middle schools participate in a 4 week Flag Football unit at their respective schools. At the end of the unit, 5 boys and 5 girls are selected to represent their schools at the event. On Tuesday November 14th, CMS played Flag Football against the other schools. It was another great year and experience for all of the students involved in both the PE classes and the event held in Florham Park.

Michael DiMaggio Blood Drive will be held on Sunday, December 3 in the Chatham High School Cafeteria from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. More information about this event can be found at https://5il.co/29376. Register for an appointment at www.redcrossblood.org and use sponsor code: Stay Strong Michael.

French 6 students applied their pronunciation and number skills in a creative way to make a Missy D music video. Students were divided into groups and tasked with writing a basic salutation conversation, creating visual French words, designing a dance, singing a solo or learning harmonies and mini choruses. All groups came together to perform and record Case Départ as a class project. Watch the video at https://youtu.be/bK9Vuazwl8A.

Before November break students at SBS were busy making Oobleck! Oobleck acts like a liquid when poured, but like a solid when there is force. This simple science experiment made with corn starch and water taught key science concepts and gave students the opportunity to observe how ingredients interact with each other in varying quantities. Students celebrated with Oobleck cheers when there mixture was both liquid and solid. #SDOCscience