THE SCHOOL BELL
Williston Schools /November 5, 2021
A Message from the Administration
Social Emotional Skills
By Jacqueline Parks
In these stressful times, schools are seeing an increase in the need to explicitly teach Social Emotional Skills (SEL). But what exactly does this mean? According to CASEL, the leading organization for the research and advancement of social and emotional competencies, SEL can be defined as:
“The process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
To break it down further, SEL skills include:
Self-awareness
Self-management
Decision making
Relationship skills
Social awareness
The middle school advisory program is set-up to help teach and support the development of each area. For the months of November and December, our focus is on self-management. Self-management is the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations---effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself (the ability to set and work toward personal and academic goals).
We start this work by teaching the definition of the SEL area. Students then begin to identify life situations that connect to it. Part of the instruction includes the brain research that speaks to how these skills are being developed up until people are in their mid-20’s. Goal setting is another great way to help students set an intention about what they want to improve upon. For example, during my advisory this week, some students expressed that handling their emotions and not overreacting when losing at a game is hard for them. We play lots of games in advisory and we can actually practice losing a game and finding a strategy that works.
The bottom line is that SEL skills are found in every aspect of our lives and teaching about them is essential to growing these skills. Teachers weave instruction related to SEL into the curriculum each and every day with the goal of students developing into well-rounded individuals.
COVID-19 Vaccines Now Available for 5-11 Year-Olds
Children between the ages of 5-11 can now receive a COVID vaccine. These will be available at local pharmacies, in school-based clinics, and at pediatric offices. You can go to any school-based clinic, if that is your preference, even if it is not your own school.
The Vermont Department of Health selects the sites for school-based clinics. Though we have signed up to be a site, we were not selected for the first round. We will keep CVSD families informed if and when that changes.
From the Vermont Department of Health:
Parents & caregivers can now make an appointment for kids 5 to 11 to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine! Visit healthvermont.gov/KidsVaccine or call 855-722-7878. Appointments are available for clinics in communities and schools. Thank you for protecting your child against COVID-19.
New! Vaccine Q&A next week!
Please see this flyer for information about upcoming conversations about the vaccine, including question and answer sessions with Vermont pediatricians. Dr. Leah Costello, CVSD parent and pediatrician, will be the host on Monday, November 8. There are offerings on other dates as well. Here's a link to the Vermont chapter of the American Pediatric Association's website with more information.
Internet Connectivity for Families
We are excited to announce that CVSD has been awarded a federal grant that provides assistance for Internet connectivity for families that qualify for the free and reduced-price meals program.
If your child is eligible for free or reduced-price meals, you are eligible for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF Program). The Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) is a program that will help schools and libraries provide the tools and services their communities need for remote learning during the COVID-19 emergency period. It is designed to help students who currently lack the necessary Internet access that they may need to connect to classrooms. It is funded through June 2022. The first step is to identify needs and determine which providers can best serve students based on where they live. If your child qualifies for the free and reduced meal program, please complete the survey at this link. We will work with eligible local providers to determine the best match for each situation. Once we receive information back from the providers, we will contact families to let them know what options are available and will assist them in getting the service set up.
If you have any questions about the program, please send a note to CVSDECFProgram@cvsdvt.org . If you have questions about your student’s eligibility for the Free and Reduced Meal program, email Stephanie Hulburt at shurlburt@cvsdvt.org
Test-To-Stay: Getting the Process Started
We are thrilled to announce the COVID Test to Stay program is up and running. Families and caregivers who are interested in having their child(ren) participate in Test to Stay need to provide consent and register their child(ren). This is for unvaccinated students.
Please read the information in this letter to learn more about the 2-step process and more about the program overall.
If you plan to register your child(ren), please do so as soon as possible.
Recently there was a virtual Town Hall with Vermont medical professionals and a representative from the Agency of Education to help inform the public about the Test to Stay program. They answered questions from families that were submitted before and during the Town Hall about the program. It is very informative and hopefully will answer your questions as well. Click here to view recorded Town Hall.
FAP Needs Council Members
Williston Families As Partners (FAP) NEEDS COUNCIL MEMBERS! In order to continue to provide support to our schools a council is required to assemble. Please contact willistonfap@cvsdvt.orgif interested!
Williston's FAP, "PTA" organization, provides a forum for parents, administrators, faculty, staff, and community members to actively discuss activities, events, and programs in the WIlliston schools. The participation of faculty, staff, and administration differentiates our FAP from a typical PTA/PTO and helps further promote our children's health, well-being, and educational success. FAP also serves as the fundraising arm of the Williston schools.
Volunteers are needed in all areas! Please fill out this form if interested in helping!
CLD Student Center
The CLD Student Center (C = Culturally, L = Linguistically, and D = Diverse) is a new addition to the English Learner (EL) program at WCS. It is a space where students with multicultural and multilingual backgrounds can celebrate their cultural and linguistic diversity, connect with each other, and help increase awareness and appreciation within the WCS community of other cultures and languages. This might be in the form of creating art, writing poetry, researching a culture or language of interest, or creating a cookbook of recipes from their home cultures, among many other options.
The CLD Student Center also serves as a resource for upper middle school students (grades 7 - 8) who need extra content and writing support, or just a quiet place to work. Parents of our EL students who need extra support in communication and technology use (e.g. learning how to use Google apps, schedule a parent/teacher conference, access links to different documents, etc.) can take advantage of the Center through training opportunities.
ABS Art News
In our Allen Brook Art Studio, Kindergarten artists have been primarily exploring shapes and warm and cool colors. They have drawn and painted flowers, drawn large colored dots with chalk pastels and traced and colored shapes that were “doing something” for example, tilting, sliding, teetering etc.
Grades one and two have observed and drawn or painted sunflowers, celebrated International Dot Day by drawing very imaginative Lands of the Dazzling Dots, and just recently have completed colorful fall tree images.
WCS Mosaic Art News
So far this semester, Ms. Parker’s and Ms. Cyr’s classes have had their first of two art rotations. Some of their projects have included Favorite Sandwich collages, 3D form studies and clay coil pots.
Does your child love to find fun facts?
PebbleGo is a database specifically geared toward the needs of K-3 learners. It helps your child learn foundational research skills plus provides critical early-reader support like audio voice overs and text highlighting. The easy navigation makes it inviting for students to discover new information. And you can feel comfortable knowing that they are exploring an ad-free website bursting with resources to help your child learn fun facts they will be so proud to share.
PebbleGo can be accessed from school, home, or on the go— anywhere on any device with an internet connection.
To access our ABS school subscription, go to www.PebbleGo.com and login with...
username: allenbrook
password: school
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR QUARANTINING STUDENTS
We are pleased to announce that starting the week of 10/4, the Williston Schools will offer optional daily learning opportunities for students who are quarantining without their class and teacher. On each school day there will be two types of learning opportunities that can be accessed by students: “Meets” with teachers and learning menus. The activities completed during the “Meets” and through the learning menus will not directly connect to the lessons happening at school, but they will allow students to access productive and engaging grade appropriate learning opportunities.
This slide deck contains more information about these opportunities including the “Meet” schedule and links to math, science, and literacy activities:
The Craft Show is Back - Volunteers Needed!
Please help us staff volunteer 1 or 2-hour shifts at the FAP Fall Craft Show on November 6th. Volunteers are needed for set-up on Friday evening November 5th and during the event on Saturday November 6th. Find more information and available shifts on the sign-up link: signup.com/go/vDRgjyp or contact Karen and Paula at wsdcraftshow@cvsdvt.org. Thank you for helping with this important school fundraiser!
WCS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Student Group
Working Towards Justice in our Community
We must take action to create an equitable community. By doing this we are changing perspectives and recognizing biases. To make a safe and inclusive, educated community, we need to raise awareness of the differences among us. We need to raise our student voices to address structural racism and achieve social justice.
Welcome to the WCS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Student Group. Students in 5-8 grade and teacher facilitators meet each Tuesday at lunchtime to discuss past, present and future goals for the group. We have been brainstorming a new name for the group, and hoping to launch the new rebranded name for the DEI group. In addition, we are exploring art as activism, excited about the potential of a group art installation in our school. More to come! All 5th - 8th Graders are invited! Open enrollment, so come any time!
Curriculum Nights and Parent-Teacher Conferences
We are making some changes to the format for curriculum nights and parent / teacher conferences this year. Please note these changes below.
Curriculum Nights:
The school will not be hosting live curriculum nights this year.
In place of this, teams will prepare a slide presentation (or packet) for parents. These will contain the information that is typically presented at in-person curriculum nights and will be sent home to families anytime between now and the end of October.
Teams will provide opportunities for parents / caregivers to ask any questions they may have, either in a virtual office hours format, or at parent-teacher conferences.
Parent Conferences:
Virtual Parent-Teacher conferences will be offered by all teachers / teams between Oct 8 and the Thanksgiving break and will be in touch with information about how to sign up.
Families may request an in-person conference if there are circumstances that will make a virtual conference difficult.
Are you getting all the correct school communications?
Welcome to the CVSD IT Help Desk Portal
Williston readers soar!
In September, 2,389 books were checked out from the WCS library...that's over 113 books each day school was open!
WCS students also checked out 646 books on our digital ebook & audiobook app, Sora, in September. That was the 2nd highest school checkout total in Vermont!! If you haven't tried Sora yet, have a look! It's our incredible library of ebooks and digital audiobooks for students.
It's the perfect online reading partner to the wonderful collection of books & audiobooks in our school library.
Access Sora here https://soraapp.com/library/vssdcvt (school Google login)
or through the WCS Library website https://www.wcslibrary.org/
If you have any questions, contact librarian Ellen Arapakos at earapakos@cvsdvt.org
Happy reading!
Your WCS and ABS Libraries:
ABS - Reminder for Safe Drop Off & Pick Up
Pre K-2
It has been reported to administration from some parents that they are concerned about our arrival and dismissal procedures. As a reminder it is very important to stay in your vehicles during arrival and dismissal. It appears that many parents stop, get out of their car, talk to teachers or other parents, and stand around to visit. Some vehicles are being left unattended so parents can walk their child into school. This creates a line of cars backing up as other parents wait for a spot to pull up to. We have also seen some families not using the designated lane for your child's house as a means to get through the line faster. Please adhere to the procedures we have created and do your best to pick up and drop your child off in a timely and efficient manner. Thank you!
For K teachers only:
When dropping your child off in the K lane please be sure to pull up to the curbside to drop your child off as opposed to parking your vehicle as if you are in a parking spot. This helps with the overall flow and avoids having vehicles having to back up which causes congestion and traffic jams. Thank you!
We appreciate all you can do to follow these guidelines to ensure a safe and smooth transition in and out of school!
Please refer to this map for the correct location to drop off/pick up your student:
Return to School Following Illness COVID-19 Information for Families
Mask Reminder: Please remember to send a few masks to school daily with students. We thank you for your support.
Family Resources
Resources to keep accessible:
- First Call - 488-7777: phone support, crisis intervention, assessment and referrals
- In Crisis: 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) (National Hopeline Network: USA)
- 1-800-273-TALK (8255) (National Suicide Prevention Lifelife: USA)
- Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 (24 hours a day, seven days a week)
- Outright Vermont - support for LGBTQ+ community
- UVM Breathe In Breath Out - How to deal with stress due to COVID-19
- Vermont 211 -Vermont database of resources and services
Four Winds
Nature's News Newsletters
Slides Presentations (ch)
Lesson 1: Leaf-Eaters
Lesson 2: Life in the Dirt
Williston Four Winds Program
Contact Us: wsdfourwinds@cvsdvt.org
FAP Information
We are looking for volunteers in all areas, our council, house representatives, and event volunteers! Please fill out this form if interested in helping!
https://forms.gle/AvVx1EHUGWWAikWn9
School Nutrition Program
Parenting Resource
If you have a child who is experiencing anxiety, depression or other social and emotional challenges, Amy will be on hand to offer her support and guidance and be armed with useful resources in the community if you need/want them. For more information, click here.
You can pop in for a quick question or to chat through a situation. Amy would love to try to help! Here is the link to join: http://meet.google.com/nfm-tovh-bjz
Upcoming Events
Saturday, Nov. 6 - Craft Fair at WCS, 9am - 4 pm
Monday, Nov. 8 - Vaccine Q & A, 7-8 pm (zoom meeting)
Thursday, Nov. 11 - Spark Session 2 starts, 3-4:30 pm
Nov. 22-26 - No School (Thanksgiving break)
CVSD School Board
CVSD's COVID Recovery Plan
Learn more about CVSD's Strategic Response Plan and provide feedback at this link.
DAML Programs
Click here to access the DAML web site listing of events.
Click here for Youth Programming and upcoming events
Recreation & Parks Offerings
Community Events
More Links, More information
Williston Schools
Email: wsschoolbell@cvsdvt.org
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org
Location: 195 Central School Drive, Williston
Phone: (802) 878-2762
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Williston-School-District-1483758238612170/timeline/
Twitter: @wsdvt