MHS/WES Newsletter
Thursday, March 21, 2019
News from the Principal
Report Cards
Report cards went home today in your child's backpack. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions.
School Improvement Council Survey
The MHS/WES School Improvement Council would like to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to complete the paper survey included with your child's report card, or use the online link below. The responses from this survey will be used to develop our school improvement plan for next year.
PTO News
CONGRATULATIONS to the top 3 classrooms from the Glow Run!
Mrs. Courtemanche, Miss Spuria and Ms. Rebholz!!
SAVE THE DATES: It was voted at last night’s PTO meeting that we will work with Boosterthon again next year for another Glow Run/Fun Run. The dates will be 10/21 - 10/30.
Please be on the lookout for an email asking you to donate items for gift baskets that the PTO will be putting together for the raffle at the AshWest Community Benefit Hockey Game. This year’s Benefit on April 6th will honor our own Ella DiCienzo from Meetinghouse School!
Important School Dates:
- March 21: Report Cards going home
- March 27: 4th Grade Learner's Showcase 5:30-6:15 & 6:30-7:15
- April 4: 5th Grade Learner's Showcase
- April 9: 2nd Grade Learner's Showcase 6:00-6:30 & 6:45-7:15
- April 5: MHS Kindergarten Orientation, Session 1 @ 9:30 a.m. (parents only)
- April 6: Ash-West Benefit Hockey Game @ Cushing Academy
- April 15-19: No School-April Vacation
- April 30: Mhs Kindergarten Orientation, Session 2 @ 9:30 a.m.
- May 30: Mhs Kindergarten Orientation, Session 3 2 9:30 a.m.
MCAS Testing Dates
Grade 3
ELA Session 1 - April 23
ELA Session 2 - April 24
Math Session 1 - May 9
Math Session 2 - May 10
Grade 4
ELA Session 1 - April 25
ELA Session 2 - April 26
Math Session 1 - May 7
Math Session 2 - May 8
Grade 5
ELA Session 1 - April 10
ELA Session 2 - April 11
Math Session 1 - May 1
Math Session 2 - May 2
Science Session 1 - May 14
Science Session 2 - May 15
News From Ms. Creonte
Grades K-1: Grades K and 1 are just finishing up their cup stacking unit! Cup stacking helps to improve hand-eye coordination, reaction time, speed, concentration as well as fine motor skills. Students first learned with 3 and 6 cups how to build a tower and then break it down. This type of activity also helps students get used to using both hands. Students have also been working together in a relay style to build cup stacking pyramids. They have been doing such an awesome job! In order for their pyramid to not fall down, students must be in control and take their time when placing the cup onto the stack. We are soon moving on to skipping and ball handling skills! I am so proud of how far students have come this year!
Grades 2-5: The week before the PACER Test students worked at a variety of fitness stations to help get them prepared. These stations included the agility ladder, lunges, planks, jump roping as well as sit ups. We talked about what muscles were being targeted and how these stations can help us with our PACER Test. I am SO proud of how hard students worked to try and beat their fall scores. I had some students double their scores as well as triple their scores. It was truly INSPIRING to watch. They did not give up and cheered on all their classmates throughout the whole thing! We even had Mrs. Kilmartin participate in the test!!!!!! We are now currently working on cup stacking and will soon be moving on to balancing/gymnastics.
Grade 1 News
We are looking forward to attending the Annual Community Hockey Benefit on Saturday, April 6th at 2:30 at Iorio Arena, Cushing Academy. This year’s event will benefit the family of Ella DiCienzo, one of our very own first grade students! Limited Edition shirts for Ella are only available for sale online until March 24th. $5 of every purchase will be donated to Ella's family on the day of the benefit. Thank you to everyone who is already purchased “Ella Gear”. The first grade teachers already have their Ella Gear and will be wearing it to school soon! We are excited to see everyone else wearing their Ella Gear around school and at the game too! Tickets for the game can be purchased at WES, MHS and Vincent’s. Please use the link below to purchase Ella Gear: https://mhswes.itemorder.com/sale
Some Important Upcoming Events:
March 28th- Wear your Ella Gear OR rainbow/pink
Student Council will be selling rainbow Ella bracelets for $1. All proceeds will be donated to Ella’s family on the day of the benefit
April 4th- Wear your Ella Gear Day and Rally Parade
April 6th- Benefit 5K Fun Run 9 AM- Briggs School
18th Annual AshWest Community Benefit Hockey Game 2:30- Cushing Academy
Ms. Banning - Creation Celebration
Creation Celebration Wednesday, May 15 6:00-8:00 (Only grades 2-5 this year)
I am looking for volunteers to help with Creation Celebration preparations and the night of the show.
Donations needed for the Art Rooms: socks (new or used, washed), paper towel tubes, tin foil
Fourth Grade News!!
This year fourth grade will participate in a “Learner’s Showcase”, featuring Rube Goldberg machines. These inventions are a series of simple machines that work together to transfer energy from one object to another resulting in the completion of a simple task, such as ringing a bell (rubegoldberg.com). This will be an opportunity for families to witness the creative engineering process. On March 27th, students will share their designs and explain how energy has been transferred from start to finish.
In preparation for building our Rube Goldberg machines, students have been completing a variety of science experiments focusing on energy. These experiments involved building rubber band race cars, roller coasters, and marble ramps!
Thank you for sending in any recyclable items. As students continue to build their Rube Goldberg machines over the next few days, we encourage them to bring in any items that will help them build their machine.
Young Children’s Festival – March 30th-Free Admission!!
Young children and their families are invited to the 21st annual Young Children’s Festival on Saturday, March 30th from 8:30-11:00 a.m. This will be held at the J.R. Briggs School, 96 Williams Road, Ashburnham. Come for this free event with kids’ activities and crafts, including games, face painting and performances by the Dance Center, and Flying Irish Dancers. This event is sponsored by the Ashburnham-Westminster Community Engagement Program and is held in conjunction with the Easter Bunny Breakfast sponsored by the Friends of Briggs PTA. For more information contact jharrison@awrsd.org or call 978-874-0163.