Dear Fernwood Families,

The past week at Fernwood has been characterized by an impressive level of student engagement and school spirit. It is always a priority for our administration to foster an environment where academic curiosity and community-building go hand-in-hand, and our recent schoolwide activities have been a testament to that mission.

🕵️‍♂️ Collaborative Problem-Solving: The Fernwood Clue Game

Our Fernwood Clue game was a big success. It was wonderful to see students from every grade level channeling their inner detectives, scrutinizing evidence, and debating theories in the hallways.

Beyond the fun of the game, it was a fantastic way to encourage teamwork and deductive reasoning. Watching our staff lean into their "suspect" personas made the experience even more memorable.

📚 Prioritizing Literacy: The Book Fair

Following the excitement of the mystery, our Book Fair provided a wonderful opportunity to reinforce our commitment to literacy. Access to diverse reading materials is a cornerstone of academic success, and seeing our students take such an active interest in selecting their own literature is incredibly encouraging.

We aim to cultivate a culture where reading is viewed as a lifelong pursuit, and the success of this fair demonstrates that our students are eager to embrace that challenge.

Thank you for your continued partnership in your child’s education and for supporting the programs that make Fernwood a place of growth and achievement.

Sincerely,

Frank Locantora

Principal

*Updated as of 3/15/26

FMS 8th grader, Quinne van Hest represented Fernwood at the NJSBA’s Annual 8th Grade Dialogue. Students from across Atlantic County shared their ideas on improving our middle schools and shaping the future! Congratulations, Quinne!

Ms. Fil's Social Studies class is currently learning about Ancient India and different types of irrigation systems. Since the land was so hot and dry, people in Ancient India had to figure out a way to save water for their crops. Student were given 3 options of irrigation systems to choose from: the lever system, the pulley system, and canals. They worked very diligently and their hard work resulted in working irrigation systems.

Mrs. Mosetti’s students had some old-school fun during our Pi Week celebration! Throughout the week, students participated in different math challenges and competed against each other to earn the top team score. It was a great week filled with teamwork and lots of math spirit. I am so proud of all of my classes not only for participating in the activities, but also for doing things throughout the week to help our Fernwood / EHT community, while also embracing math and having some fun together.

A special shout out to the students who participated in the Pi Eating Contest: Giovanny Lobo, Daniel Sear, Milly Gresham, Brynn Kriegner, Jacob Arreguin, Jayce Ballard, Blake Young, Steven Snell, Davianna Lam, Bridget Zanes, Dylan Kane, Alexa Jones, Julian Robles, Jules Orlov, and Ben Inkoom.

Another special shout out to Jefferson Rivera for memorizing over 250 digits of Pi — an incredible accomplishment!

Thank you as well to the staff members who joined in on the fun: Ms. McLaughlin, Ms. Nolan, Mr. Rupp, Mr. Lare, Ms. Clisham, Ms. Douglas, Ms. Oguntuase, and Ms. Sutley. We appreciate you helping make Pi Week such a fun and memorable experience for our students!

This week our students played our school-wide Fernwood clue game! Each morning and afternoon students were given clues to figure out the mystery by the end of the week. Each day prizes are given leading up to the grand prize for one student and one staff member on Friday!

Last week, Ms. Altomare, Ms. Fil, and Mrs. Swift’s Convocation classes came together for one GIANT game of Trasketball. Each student showed incredible sportsmanship and had an awesome time competing against one another. Our Wingmen even took a spot on the bracket. The current reigning champion is Peyton Hurley from Ms. Altomare’s class! 

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