AT THE NIGHT MARKET ALPINE • CLOSTER • CRESSKILL • DEMAREST • ENGLEWOOD • ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS • HARRINGTON PARK HAWORTH • NORTHVALE • NORWOOD • OLD TAPPAN • ROCKLEIGH • TENAFLY ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS
BACK WHERE IT BEGAN
Young musicians return to North Cliff school to share the joy of music
The young musicians from Solis and Luna Arts did not have to travel far to find an audience that mattered. They simply returned to where many of their own stories began. On May 27, a group of 40 student volunteers brought a therapeutic music program to North Cliff Elementary School, performing for Pre-K and kindergarten through second-grade students in the same school where many of the performers once sat as children. For the musicians, the performance was more than a concert. It was a reminder that the talents they developed as students could become a way to serve their own community. The program featured pianists, woodwind players, and string instrumentalists performing a mix of familiar favorites, including songs from Disney and “KPop Demon Hunters,” along with classics such as “Hey Jude” and “Canʼt Take My Eyes Off You.” But the younger students were not expected to sit quietly and watch. They were encouraged to become part of the experience — singing along, dancing, cheering, and sharing in the excitement of live music.
See MUSIC page 104
Palisade Avenue is the center of a summer celebration as the Englewood Night Market returns for a third rollicking year
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AUGUST 2026
DAD’S APP ADDS UP FOR KIDS
NORWOOD
A Norwood father factors into teaching platform how young students recall info
A
BY JOHN SNYDER EDITOR@THEPRESSGROUP.NET
N O R W O O D software developer has turned a tool he created for his daughter into an online practice system aimed at children who understand math concepts but still hesitate over basic facts. Yoan Ante developed Math Builders after noticing that a completed worksheet or passing score did not necessarily show whether a child could recall individual facts automatically. “A child can get through a page and still pause on 7 x 8 every time it comes up,” Ante tells Northern Valley Press. The app is designed primarily for parents of children in second through fifth grade who can follow the lesson but struggle to retrieve addition, subtraction, multiplication or division
facts quickly enough to work concentrate practice on the facts confidently through longer prob- causing the most difficulty rather than repeatedly reviewing lems. Rather than provide a full material a child has already masmathematics curriculum, Math tered. “A completed worksheet Builders offers practice sessions lasting about two to five minutes and an automatic math fact are not the same thing,” he said. before or after school. The program also provides Ante describes the product as a “short fluency layer” parents with a color-coded fluintended to supplement class- ency map showing which facts room instruction, homeschool- have been mastered, which are ing programs or other math cur- due for review and which remain slow or frequently missed. ricula. The app records both Progress screens estimate how whether an answer is correct and much of a selected fact pack has how quickly it is recalled. Its been completed and how much scheduling system then deter- focused practice remains. For children, the practice mines which facts should move forward, remain under review or interface includes streaks, levels, return sooner for additional characters and themed virtual Yoan Ante and his daughter, Zoe, at home in Norwood. Ante’s Math Builders is built on the idea that “Many kids do better when practice is short, predictable, and winnable. Math Builders uses streaks, unlockable worlds, and friendly characters to make it easier to come back tomorrow, but the biggest design choice is keeping sessions short enough that they do not feel like a second homework block.” Courtesy photo. practice. Facts answered accurately and quickly appear less often, while missed or slower facts return at spaced intervals. Ante said the approach is intended to
environments intended to make the short sessions more engaging without turning them into lengthy homework blocks. Ante said keeping the rou-
See APP page 114
VALLEY LOSES A FRIEND AND PIONEER Helena Caycedo Bretherton built a career in architecture, devoted two decades to volunteer emergency medical service
Helena Caycedo Bretherton, a former Harrington Park resident who built a pioneering career in architecture and devoted two decades to volunteer emergency medical service, died June 9. She was 92. Born April 30, 1934, in Bogotá, Colombia, to Alfonso and Magdalena Caycedo, Bretherton earned a degree in architectural delineation from the School of Architecture Delineation in Bogotá before continuing her studies at the New York School of Interior Design. She immigrated to the United States in 1961 and became a U.S. citizen in 1968. Bretherton began her architectural career with Gene G. Miele Architect before joining Copeland, Novak & Israel, where she met her future husband, George C. Bretherton Jr. The couple
See VALLEY page 214
HAWORTH ROCKS IT
B ck in time...
Memorial Field comes alive with an evening of music, community, and local talent during the borough’s annual Midsummer Night’s Jam.
An 1880s view of the Demarest Railroad Station reveals a surprising landmark on the hill behind it: a grand hotel.
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