North Scituate Elementary School
April 2022 Newsletter
A Note from Mrs.Soccio
Beginning the week of April 4th, students in grades 3, 4, and 5 will take an on-line test of mathematics and English Language Arts proficiency called The Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS). RICAS is aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Students in grade 5 will also take the Rhode Island Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA). Teachers and students have been working hard and are prepared!
Visit https://www.ride.ri.gov/InstructionAssessment/Assessment/ResourcesforFamilies.aspx for more information.
We have transitioned back to all students eating in the cafeteria. The students are very excited. This has prompted us to review our expectations in the cafeteria with students. I would appreciate your support in reiterating our rules at home with your child. Our rules are; use your inside voice, no yelling, stay in your seat, be kind & respectful, and food stays on the table.
It will soon be time to begin planning for the 2022-2023 school year! We will be discussing classroom placement, and the faculty, staff and I will spend time considering each student's strengths and needs. The focus will be on ensuring balanced classrooms that are conducive to an optimal teaching and learning environment. Academic performance, learning styles, social and emotional growth, and a variety of other factors will be considered. If there are any special considerations about your child that you would like to make sure we take into account throughout this process, please do so in writing no later than May 1st. Due to fluctuating enrollment, classroom consolidation and/or additions, placement adjustments may occur prior to the start of school.
Please reach out with questions or concerns at any time.
Kaitlin Soccio, Principal
Surveyworks- Thank you!
Thanks to all families who completed our annual Surveyworks! In total we had 135 responses (!) which is a 77% response rate! Way to go! Thank you for your feedback. Once the results are released, our School Improvement Team will use the data to inform our School Improvement Plan.
Congratulations to our Surveyworks raffle winners:
First Grade: Casey D.
Second Grade: Mason P.
Third Grade: Olivia V.
Fifth Grade: Liliene K.
We enjoyed lunch from Expressos with a friend.
Mobile Ed's Earth Dome Visits
Students were given a presentation outside as well as inside the balloon. They will see and better understand the scale of concepts such as continents, time zones, latitude, longitude, and more! Even major cities in comparison to the total earth will be recognized. This was such a treat and a great experience for us all!
Student Council Creations
Scituate Kindergarten Registration 2022-2023
- Children who will be five years old by September 1, 2022 are eligible to attend kindergarten in September 2022. The Scituate School Department requires registration for Kindergarten in Scituate.
- Parents of children scheduled to attend kindergarten this fall will receive a registration packet in the mail. If you do not receive one, you should contact the school of attendance so that a registration packet can be sent to you.
- Please mail or return the completed packet to your child's home school by Monday, May 2, 2022.
Clayville School:
3 George Washington Highway, Clayville
Phone: 647-4115
Hope School:
391 North Road, Hope
Phone: 821-3651
North Scituate School:
46 Institute Lane, North Scituate
Phone: 647-4110
If you have a question regarding which school your child will attend based on your address, please contact the Scituate School Department at 401-647-4100. Be advised that the Scituate School Department reserves the right to selectively redistrict your child to another Scituate elementary school based on class size issues. In most years this involves a relatively small number of students.
Choose Love Movement for Schools- SEL Curriculum
Students in Prek-5 are fully immersed in the Choose Love curriculum! Students participate in a weekly lesson rooted in one of the four units: Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Compassion in Action; all part of the Choose Love Formula. This month students will learn about hope.
The Choose Love calendar is below and was sent home with all students. It is our hope that this learning and small steps you can take daily is helpful for our North Scituate families to complete at home.
Positive Office Referrals
WHAT IS STEAM? A QUICK GUIDE FOR PARENTS!
You may have heard the term STEM or STEAM recently as part of your child's education. We're finding that many parents are feeling lost about what STEAM is and how they can help as education moves quickly in a new direction of maker-spaces, coding, and electronics in the classroom. This is a quick intro on what STEAM is for parents who want to stay up to date.
WHAT IS STEM OR STEAM?
Kind of like the subject area language arts, STEM is a mix of interrelated subjects that are taught together in an integrated way. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math. KitHub and some other STEM initiatives are pioneering the term STEAM, which adds an 'A' to the acronym for art.
There is a lot of research suggesting that integrating these subjects, especially adding a creative component with art, is beneficial for students and makes sense for the way kids learn. STEAM lessons are usually hands-on and exploratory (your might hear your child's teacher using the term inquiry-based). STEAM education prepares students for the real world, where professionals often use multiple disciplines (an engineer might also use a lot of math or a programmer might find creative approaches helpful to solving a problem.)
You might be hearing a lot more about STEAM because it's becoming increasingly important that schools and communities catch up to educating modern students. Most school districts in the US don't have a set curriculum for coding. Many schools don't have enough technology resources to fully integrate technology into education. For what some schools may lack, you might be able to find other resources in you community to help your child practice STEAM learning.
WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR IN MY KID'S SCHOOL?
Ask your child's teacher about hands-on STEAM lessons or school activities. Some schools integrate STEAM in the classroom and other schools have clubs or fairs to encourage school-wide excitement. Make sure you find out about any after school or summer school programs that your school has partnerships with as well. The school librarian is usually a great resource to find out about school maker-spaces or technology initiatives.
WHAT RESOURCES CAN I FIND IN MY COMMUNITY?
Community maker-spaces have been popping up in cities all over the world. A maker-space is an area that holds events or sometimes rents out space or equipment to make all kinds of projects. Lots of maker-spaces have things like 3D printers, laser cutting machines, and woodworking tools. They might charge a membership fee or one-time fee, and sometimes they are free! Maker-spaces are a great resource for STEAM learning.
There are lots of government, business, and community sponsored STEM initiatives as well. You can find online inspiration and resources for school and home.
HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME?
The best way to prepare students for STEAM learning is to start young and make it interesting to them. Provide a variety of experiences that your child enjoys, like going to science museums, making STEAM kits, reading STEAM books, and going to maker-spaces.
(Source: https://kithub.cc/2016/03/steam-quick-guide-parents/)
GRADE LEVEL CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS
Kindergarten: Kubo Robot
Last trimester, the kindergarten class learned about rhythm with the Drum’s Alive program. We also explored coding on a website called code.org.
Starting this trimester, students are taking what they learned from code.org and will start building their own code with puzzle blocks to navigate their robot from one place on a map to another. We are so excited to learn more about Kubo the Robot!
Grade 2 STEAM
Grade 3 STEAM
Last trimester, third graders were working with an educational application on the school tablets called Bloxels! Bloxels uses pixels and coding to help students develop their own video game! Third graders designed their character, enemies, background, and power ups.
This trimester, third grade is learning about a robot called Sphero. Sphero is a sphere shaped robot that connects to an ipad to allow users to code movements, lights, and animations on the robot. We are currently working in groups to code our sphero robots to navigate the perimeter of their 1 meter long square grid.
Grade 3
Grade 4 STEAM
Grade 4
ART with Ms. Davis
Happenings & Events
News from Northwest Special Education Region
The Special Education Local Advisory Committee (SELAC) meeting will hold it's final meeting of the school year on May 17, 2022.
All meetings are being held at the Ponaganset Middle School building in Room 150. The rear entrance to the building is used for this event. Parking is available behind the building. The address is 7 Rustic Hill Rd, Glocester, RI. Anyone wishing to attend needs to call 401-647-4106.
Scituate School Committee
PTO Update
Important Dates
April 8th: Tai Chai Assembly
April 14th: Spring Picture Day
April 15th: Good Friday- No School
April 18th-22nd: Spring Recess- No School
April 29th: Girl Choice Event @ Alpine Country Club
May 1st: Boys Choice Event @ Dave & Busters
May 5th: Gr. 5 Trip to STEM Program @ Fenway
May 6th: Tie Dye Day!
May 11th: DL Day Students/ PD Day Staff
May 23rd-27th: Spring Book Fair
May 26th: Arts Night 6:00-7:30pm
May 30th: Memorial Day- No School
June 8th: Grade 1 Trip Audubon Society
June 13th: Field Day (raindate 6/14)
June 15th: Kindergarten Celebration
June 16th: Grade 5 Celebration
June 17th: Kona Ice
June 17th: Grade 4 Trip to Pequot Museum, Grade 2 Trip to the Zoo
June 20th: Last Day of School
North Scituate Elementary School
Email: kaitlin.soccio@scituateschoolri.net
Website: https://nses.scituateschoolsri.net/
Location: 46 Institute Lane, Scituate, RI, USA
Phone: 401-647-4110
Twitter: @NScituateSchool