Bergen County Living

Barbara Weismann

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Theater, Concerts, and Entertainment in Bergen County New Jersey

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
by Barbara Weismann
Bergen County has the advantage of being just a short hop across the George Washington Bridge from New York City’s attractions which includ world class theater and entertainment. But did you know that there are wonderful shows and concerts here as well? 
 
The Bergen PAC (Bergen Performing Arts Center), located right in downtown Englewood, is where you will enjoy live performances - everything from the New Jersey Symphony to international stars. PAC performances have included Ray Charles, Pink Floyd, Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, the Beach Boys and comedians Don Rickles, Bil Cosby and Wanda Sykes just to name a few.
Begen PAC is extremely popular - world class entertainment that's easy to get to; you don't have to drive to Manhattan and pay the exorbitant parking fees of NYC garages.  Plus it's so convenient for a full night out. 
Many people take advantage of the many excellent restaurants in downtown Englewood and then take in the show at Bergen PAC.  When the weather allows, Englewood has a downtown that is filled with people during the evening enjoying dinners, cappucino or just walking up and down Palisade Avenue looking at all the shops.
 
Bergen County also has many local theater companies including the Garage Theater Group in residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University and very popular community theater groups such as the Bergen County Players and The Player's Guild of Leonia. We even have our own opera company - The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera.   
 
There's another performing arts center that you can take advantage of  as well; Ramapo College has the Berrie Center for the Performing Arts. This theater is situated on a beautiful campus and is host to quite a variety of plays, concerts, lectures.  Located in the northern end of Bergen County, it's convenient for both northern Bergen County residents and folks from Rockland County, NY too.  
As you can see, theater and the performing arts are very important to people in Bergen County.

Cresskill's Wonderful Computerized Testing

Monday, February 04, 2008
by Barbara Weismann
Last fall, the Cresskill school district started a new type of assessment testing for students. Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is an online assessment tool which measures a student’s ability and also tracks their performance. An advantage of this system is that it is highly individualized, takes up less class time, and provides detailed information in real time so you don't have to wait for several months which is normally the case with performance testing results. Teachers can see instant results that are very detailed about an individual student’s strengths and weaknesses. Parents can log on to an interactive portal and learn how their children are doing and follow through with strategies to support their children.
 
Focusing on students in grades 1 through 10, test results have children working on areas that the tests showed were weak, and on challenging, above grade level projects where the tests indicated they are advanced or have a special aptitude. For example, students in fourth grade who need to work on problem solving and reading comprehension can focus on those specific skills rather than taking basic remediation course and students who are adept at problem solving can move forward to higher level material.  Being able to target teaching to student needs improves their academic experience and helps them to achieve more. 
 
MAP software is designed by the Northwest Evaluation Association, a non profit organization that provides testing materials to 3,000 school districts. 

New Jersey Diners Just Got Famous on Food Network!

Thursday, January 24, 2008
by Barbara Weismann
A while ago, I wrote about my love for the old fashioned hearty cooking at New Jersey’s diners. I asked for some suggestions for favorites. 
 
New Jersey is home to many classic diners – those places that are built of chrome and look like railroad cars. Among them, the Bendix diner in Hasbrouck Heights is famous. And devotees of White Manna Hamburgers in Hackensack will be happy to know that their favorite restaurant will be featured on the January 28 episode of Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The show will also feature the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton. 
 
Many people who like diner cuisine go to local restaurants that feature the hearty food and 24 hour breakfast menu, but look more like traditional restaurants, or like marble countered palaces. Some started out in the 1940s with classic diner design, and expanded.  Among the local diners and diner type restaurants ,readers of this blog have a few favorites:
 
The Royal Cliffs Restaurant, Englewood Cliffs
Louies Charcoal Pit, Teaneck
Matthew’s Colonial Diner, Bergenfield and Waldwick
Jackson Hole, Englewood
Tenafly Diner, Tenafly
 
You can find a directory of diners across America here

Get Ready for a Beautiful Springtime Backyard!!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Barbara Weismann
One of the joys of owning a home is being able to plant a garden and enjoy the yard. January may not seem like the time to focus on this, but can be a time of preparing for all the greenery which comes to life in the springtime. I remember a time when people loved to pour over the beautiful catalogs from nurseries for bulbs and spring plants. Today’s homeowners have much more available to them!
 
Many homeowners enjoy the variety of wild birds in our area. You can increase the number of beautiful visitors to your yard, as well as improve the landscaping and conserve soil, by following the guidelines in a free publication from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Site.  Here you will find tip sheets on a variety of topics which can be downloaded. If you ever were interested in building a pond, controlling pests, planting trees, or old fashioned composting and soil nutrients, these informative guides will give you a good start for planning how to enjoy your yard for many years to come. 
 
Being “green” can be fun, especially in your own back yard! 

The Best School Information in New Jersey

Friday, January 11, 2008
by Barbara Weismann
School information is always important in making a decision about buying a home. Schools are such a vital part of community life. When a family looks to buy a house, they know that they are not only making an investment in real estate, but in education as well. 
 
The New Jersey Department of Education has published a Report Card for all school districts with comparison data from 2004-2006. This is updated every year. When you consider buying a home in a town, you can look up the information about schools. You can see information about class sizes, teacher/student ratios, test scores, percentage of students who graduate and go to two or four year colleges. You can also view data about per pupil expenditures, sources of funding for school districts, what languages are spoken by students at home, and credentials of the faculty. 
 
This is a great tool for deciding what location fits your family, and I highly recommend that you use it. You will see that many of the school districts in Bergen County are consistently performing well. 

Latest School District to Teach Chinese

Friday, December 21, 2007
by Barbara Weismann
Recently I wrote about Cresskill’s new teacher of Chinese, part of a cooperation between American school districts, the College Board, and the government of China. It appears that the idea of teaching Chinese as a second language is catching on here in Bergen County.
 
Saddle River is the latest district to implement a course in Mandarin Chinese for students. As in Cresskill, students are starting young, Pre-K thorough Grade 2. The reason is that this is the age when students are more likely to learn and retain a new language, as opposed to later years. 
 
Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. Ridgewood High School has offered a course in Mandarin for 20 years. This was originally set up with grant money at a time when no one else was paying attention to the languages that would be important in the 21st century. 

Tenafly High School's 21st Century Library

Tuesday, December 04, 2007
by Barbara Weismann

Tenafly High School has a media center in the school library which is absolutely spectacular.  The Lawlor Library Media Center has over 22,000 volumes, an electronic reference center, and an academic theater for projection.  What is absolutely unique is the professional television studio which has been integrated into the library on the main floor.  The media center is available during the day and after school for students, teachers, and classes. 

 

This is such a leap into the future that even Mr. Spock of Star Trek has made some commentary about the use of media libraries in educating students for 21st century careers. 

 

The center is over 10,000 square feet, a comfortable space for students to initiate creative projects, or perform research with state of the art materials.  Donations of equipment are always welcome. 

 

A schedule for television programs on the high school’s in house CCTV system is here. And a video orientation to the library can be found with a link to live feeds when available. 

Adopting a Pet

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
by Barbara Weismann

If you love animals as I do, you will want to know about the animal shelters in Bergen County.  There is nothing like adopting an animal from a shelter, and making a friend for life. 

 

The largest animal shelter in Bergen County is the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro.  This is a county run shelter, and they have the animal control contract for 51 towns in Bergen County.  They have lots of services for animal lovers, including spay and neuter, dog training, and a rabies clinic. The respond to calls for distressed, sick or trapped wildlife, and loan traps for catching feral cats.  Some feral kittens will be adopted out if they are healthy enough – and they are spayed and neutered right away. 

 

FOCAS is a local humane society which sponsors adoptions through local pet stores, animal hospitals, and other businesses.  They are part of the network of local shelters found at www.petfinder.org.  Just type in a search for local shelters in New Jersey, and you will find many opportunities to adopt a dog, cat, or sometimes a rabbit or other domesticated animal.  FOCAS is a 501 (c) (3) organization, like many of the other private shelters featured at petfinder.

 

The only No Kill animal shelter in New Jersey is the non profit Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge in Oakland.  Animals who find refuge there can come for an open ended stay until the right home is found for them.  They will only put down an animal that is severely sick or injured.  They sometimes take animals from other shelters – and not just from New Jersey – they have received animals from other states as well.  This is a great shelter for animal rehabilitation.

 

The largest No-Kill animal shelter is The North Shore Animal League, in Port Washington, NY.  Recently, they rescued 132 dogs from a puppy mill in Virginia that was shut down after a five month investigation by the Humane Society.   My boxer Samantha is from a puppy mill.  When she was originally purchased from a pet store by a young man who was not ready for the responsibilities of caring for a dog, she had a kennel cough and was seriously underweight.  These animals are so stressed, and although purebred, are given very little in the way of a good start in life.  North Shore will be posting the adoptable purebred dogs on their website within a day or two.

Cresskill's new teacher of Mandarin Chinese

Thursday, November 01, 2007
by Barbara Weismann

Here’s a neat idea for teaching language and cultural exchange with meaning – Guest teachers from other countries.   And that is just what the College Board is helping Cresskill do!

 

The College Board partners with the Government of China to sponsor a program for guest teachers and Cresskill is one of 42 school districts across the USA which participate.  The Chinese Government pays the teacher’s salary, and all the district pays for is housing, administration, and local transportation. 

 

In Cresskill, the guest teacher from China for the next two years is Mrs. Li Cheng.  She will teach Mandarin Chinese to all second graders and some seventh graders. She will also work with the district to develop the Mandarin Chinese curriculum.  Mrs. Cheng was selected from over three thousand applicants for 64 teaching positions in the United States.  She holds a BA and an MA in English Language and Literature, and is an experienced teacher.  Welcome Mrs. Cheng!

Gourmet Food

Thursday, August 16, 2007
by Barbara Weismann

Oh how we love to eat here in Bergen County and with a kaleidoscope of cultures, we have a simply amazing choice of restaurants, specialty food stores, wine shops, cheese shops, fish markets and more.

Do you prefer organic food? We have 3 organic food supermarkets by Whole Foods, 2 Trader Joe's and 2 Fairways (a local supermarket owned by the same family for generations). Want to pick up some fresh fish or sushi but you’re too late for the fish market? Not to worry - our regular supermarkets have both.

How about fruit and vegetables? You’ll find fresh produce stores throughout Bergen County. And, of course, there are delicious bakeries with a coffee bar nearby. Speaking of coffee, we have 20 Starbucks coffee shops too.

As for restaurants, here’s just a sampling of the diversity you’ll find - Argentinean, Armenian, Cajun, Creole, Caribbean, Chinese, Columbian, Cuban, French, German, Greek, Indian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Pakistani, Philippino, Spanish, Thai, Southwest Tex Mex, Turkish, Vietnamese as well as steak houses galore.

And there’s that particular New Jersey treasure, the diner. In fact, diners are so special and so unique to this area that I’m doing a segment just on diners. If you’re local, how about sending me your favorites and a bit about why you love them?