Our School Departments

Pre-Kindergarten

We had a great start in September meeting new friends and seeing a few familiar faces too. The children have adjusted nicely to the Pre-K routine and being in a new school.  We would like to inform parents what a day in the life of a Pre-K student entails. As our day starts, the children are greeted and then head straight to his/her place on our carpet. We begin with putting away our belongings by ourselves. The children are learning to be responsible for his/her items by doing this daily procedure. Mr. Piccillo, our principal, begins the morning exercises that we participate in as well. The children take turns sharing news that is important to them. We all listen politely and raise hands when we want a turn. When share time is over it is breakfast time and brushing teeth time. If your child does not have a toothbrush in school please make sure you send one in soon. Greeting Time and Breakfast Time is next, and we sing songs, read books and play learning games. This is also a time for sharing and listening to each other. The children learn about new items in the room and how to use materials safely. When we move to Work Time, the children choose an area that he/she would like to explore. There are many activities to choose from including individual or group activities. Keep in mind that at the young age of 4, playing is working! The children are gathering information that they will forever use in their lives. We try to go outside daily for a structured game or some free-play. The children need this time to build strength and gross motor skills. So that your child plays safely, please make sure he/she is wearing sneakers daily. Clothing should be comfortable and easy for your child to handle. The school uniform should be worn daily. Lunch is next! The children are really hungry after all that work. We encourage healthy eating habits and model proper table manners daily. Story time before bed and then off to dream world for a little while. Nap time is our quiet time, with soothing music to relax the mind. After nap, the children engage in a small activity with music, drawing or reading. The children love making pictures for home and reading familiar stories to each other. Please remember to read daily and follow a structured routine at home. 

Kindergarten 

There are three Kindergarten classrooms at PS 33 Dr. Paul Rafalides School. The Kindergarten program is a full day program that starts at 8:45 and ends at 2:40. All Kindergarten classrooms are held in the outside trailers. Room eleven is instructed by Mrs. Bartosiewicz and her aide Mrs. DeFillippo. Room twelve is instructed by Mrs. Queenan and Mrs. Armstrong and their assistant Mrs. Anglero. Room sixteen is instructed by Mrs. Alonso and her assistant Mrs. Molina. All the Kindergarten teachers are highly qualified and trained in all the Kindergarten programs that are implemented in the classroom. During the Kindergarten year, students will be vigorously learning through many different programs. One part of our Literacy program is Guided Reading. We use books from Rigby during our Guided Reading and center time, where students work in small groups to develop reading skills. Another aspect of our literacy program is Breakthrough to Literacy. The Breakthrough program has students learning letters, words, and reading through the computer, Big Books, and small individual books. Big Books are read during Shared Reading time. We implement Making Meaning during our Read Aloud time, which is designed to emphasize students listening habits as well as comprehension. Our Phonics program is Pinnell and Fountas’ Phonics Lessons, where we work with letters, sounds, and words. “Handwriting Without Tears” is our handwriting program where students learn to write the letters through shapes and lines. Our Writing program is taught through interactive lessons where students share the pen with the teacher to collaborate and construct messages that are meaningful to them. After the interactive lessons students then write individually in journals. Then we have our Everyday Math program. We teach our math through structured lessons that are taught every day. Finally our Science, Social Studies and Health program is a curriculum created by the district through the Core Curriculum Standards. Each Kindergarten class also receives different Specials throughout the week. Our special teachers are Mr. Wang, Art; Mr. Kelly, Library; Mr. Paredes, Music; Mr. Perez, World Language; and Mrs. Hearns, Gym. Ms. Kritsas is an ESL teacher and she services the ELL students in each Kindergarten classroom. The Kindergarten school year is an intense learning experience for the students. Each Kindergarten teacher works hard all year to prepare their students for first grade. It is very helpful when parents and guardians review homework and read to their child every night.

First Grade

The 1st grade teachers at the Dr. Paul Rafalides Elementary School, Mrs. Agustin-Sotto, Ms. Jones, Mrs. Joseph, and Ms. Maldonado, along with their assistants, Miss Ford and Mrs. Habib, are very dedicated to our children’s education. We pride ourselves in using the very best instructional techniques possible. Our teachers are highly trained and are exceptional in providing differentiated instruction. Our primary goal is to prepare our students for upcoming grades and supply them with valuable life skills. The first grade curriculum consists of 3 major components:  Language Arts, Mathematics, and Interdisciplinary Studies (Science, Social Studies and Health).  In Language Arts, we follow the Balanced Blocks Curriculum.  This curriculum consists of four main blocks: 1) Reading Workshop which includes Shared Reading/Read Aloud and Independent Reading, 2) Guided Reading and Learning Centers, 3) Writing Workshop which includes Writing Mini-lessons and Independent Writing, and 4) Working With Words (phonics/decoding skills).  In Mathematics, we use the Everyday Mathematics curriculum.  This curriculum emphasizes the following skills and concepts: numeration, operations & computation, data & chance, geometry, measurement & reference frames, and patterns, functions & algebra.In Interdisciplinary Studies, we integrate Science and Social Studies through 4 major themes: Weather, Rainforests, Matter, and Organism Diversity.  For Health, we follow the Totally Awesome Health curriculum.

Second Grade

The 2nd grade teachers at the Dr. Paul Rafalides Elementary School, Miss Dounis, Mrs. Healy, Mrs. Jusino, Miss Kritsas, Mrs. Piotti, Mr. Pukel, and the assistants, Miss Ford and Mrs. Burgess are extremely dedicated to the students’ education. The teachers are highly trained and are exceptional in providing differentiated instruction.  They take pride in using the very best instructional techniques possible.  The primary goal is to prepare their students for the upcoming grades and to supply them the necessary life skills to help them succeed in their academic futures.  The curriculum consists of 3 major components:  Language Arts, Mathematics, and Interdisciplinary Studies (Science, Social Studies and Health).In Language Arts, we follow the Balanced Blocks Curriculum.  This curriculum consists of four main blocks: 1) Reading Workshop which includes Shared Reading/Read Aloud and Independent Reading, 2) Guided Reading and Learning Centers, 3) Writing Workshop which includes Independent Writing, and 4) Working With Words (phonics/decoding skills).  In Mathematics, we use the Everyday Mathematics curriculum.  This curriculum emphasizes the following skills and concepts: number and numerical operations, geometry and measurement, patterns and algebra, data analysis, probability, and discrete math, as well as the mathematical processes. In Interdisciplinary Studies, we integrate Science and Social Studies through 4 major themes: Location, Dinosaurs and Fossils, The Amazon Rainforest, and Resources and Life Cycles.  For Health, we follow the Totally Awesome Health curriculum.  Technology is integrated within the entire curriculum.

Third Grade

The third grade consists of three self-contained classes. Our teachers in third grade are Mrs. Tafur in room 8, Ms. Cavera in room 10, and Mrs. Magliaro and Miss Soriero in room 9.

The third grade students are participating in a new math program called LL Teach. This program is a fun and exciting way to learn because it uses many hands on manipulatives to teach students the fundamentals of math. The skills that they will learn this year are adding and subtracting three digit numbers.  Also, in the third grade we master our multiplication facts, learn basic division facts and learn about geometric shapes.

In Language Arts we follow the 4 balanced blocks of literacy. The 4 blocks consist of guided reading, shared reading, shared writing and independent writing. Our students also continue to participate in 100 Book Challenge. Third graders read for 15 minutes independently at school and for 30 minutes at home. There are four different writing genres that we teach during the school year. These include personal narratives, informational reports, persuasive essays and poetry.

Our Science and Social Studies curriculum is an integrated Think Block curriculum. In our Think Block Curriculum, our students use the computer lab to research many different topics.  Our students learn about communities, studying rocks, weather, the environment, and the economy.

The third grade teachers are working hard to prepare their students for the NJ ASK Test that will take place in May. Many of our students participate in the Extended Day Program. The program takes place after school every Monday and Tuesday. The students practice reading comprehension, writing picture prompts and solving open-ended math problems. The program prepares our students to improve their test scores on the NJ ASK.

Fourth Grade

Our fourth grade teachers are Mr. Kenny, Mrs. Nieto, Mrs. Kobasa and Ms. Severino.  Fourth graders at the Dr. Paul Rafalides Elementary School have a busy year.  The student’s classes are broken down into 3 major blocks:  Language Arts/Literacy, Math, and THINK (Science & Social Studies).  We are also very busy getting ready for the NJASK4 which is in May this year. Our Language Arts/Literacy program consists of many components and uses many different resources.  The reading portion consists of guided reading, shared reading and independent reading times.  The writing portion consists of guided writing, independent writing and mini-lessons to work on skills.  We also work on vocabulary, phonics and spelling skills. Our math program is Communicator Math.  The children participate in active 90 minute lessons each day.  A wide range of math skills are taught during each lesson.  The children strengthen their mental math skills daily.  They work in a Resource for Active Learning book that focuses on specific math skills like place value, measuring, or division.  Our THINK program is an integrated science and social studies curriculum.  The theme for the school year is “Time, Continuity and Change”.   We focus on one central theme each marking period and use many resources to teach the children the concepts and ideas that go along with that theme.  The theme for the first marking period is Systems.  We learn all about the systems of the human body and the U.S. Government.  The theme for the second marking period is Connections.  We learn all about animals and their habitats.  We also learn about Colonial times in America and the Revolutionary War and the Abolitionist movement.  The theme for the third marking period is Discovery.  We learn all about the Solar System and inventors, especially inventors from New Jersey.  The theme for the fourth marking period is Transformations.  We learn all about the changes that have happened in New Jersey from the time of the Lenape to now.  We also learn about the structure and properties of matter and energy. Throughout the year, lessons/activities embedded in our curriculum provide skills, specific format, and terminology that reflect standardized testing format so as to help prepare the children for the NJASK4.  Some of the children will also participate in Extended Day classes, which further provide remediation and/or reinforcement in areas of deficiency as indicated following an analysis, by both the data team and the fourth grade staff, of all available data.  Our primary objective is to help our children achieve the best possible results in the NJASK 4 as well as to help them prepare for the 5th grade and ultimately the 21st century workforce.