Dear Members of the Leeds Elementary School Community,

Today is Giving Tuesday! This time of year, your Leeds PTO runs a program called "PTO Gives" where staff throughout the school community request supplies and materials to support our students and staff.

Last year, in the unique environment of new COVID regulations, this program provided such materials as:

• Sensory materials for Pre-K and K classrooms like Kinetic sand, playdoh, and individual bins for each student
• Chapter books for our second grade learners
• Specialized books and art materials for social emotional support
• A microwave and coffee maker for our beloved staff who work so hard
• Bookmarks and headsets for our library
• Binoculars for nature observation for our fifth grade learners
• And much, much more!

Your special Giving Tuesday donation today can support this unique program and help fill our school's wishes this year!

You can donate online here, or send a check to Leeds PTO c/o the school at 20 Florence Road, Leeds, MA 01053.

Together, we make our school community a special place to BEE!

Warm wishes,
Jean, Liz, Meghan and Jenna

Leeds PTO Executive Board

November, 2021

Dear Northampton Public Schools Elementary Caregivers,

Over the past few years, Northampton Public Schools teachers, administrators, specialists, and coaches have been working collaboratively on updating our report cards to reflect the changes to learning standards that periodically occur within the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum Standards. The current curriculum frameworks can be found here: https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html

Our intent with updating the report card has been to create reporting systems for caregivers and their children to assess how students are meeting academic goals/content standards instruction and support students in a timely manner. In the updating of standards, we also focused on adopting a growth mindset towards student development and proficiency.

Please see the letters below for more detailed information.

Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating! The next meeting of the Leeds Equity & Inclusion Committee will take place (virtually) on Wednesday, December 8, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. New folks are always welcome and encouraged to join! Please reach out to leedsequityandinclusioncomm@gmail.com for the meeting link, to join our email listserv, or with your questions/ideas. We plan to meet the second Wednesday of every month throughout the year. E&I participation is always completely flexible - you can choose to commit to as much or as little as you’d like!

This week we’re sharing a few resources related to the winter holiday season:

• Check out A Racial Justice Guide to the Winter Holiday Season for Educators and Families from the Center for Racial Justice and Education for lots of links and resources. Need to double-check when holidays are celebrated throughout the year? This interfaith calendar includes major religious holidays and festivals for 2021 and 2022.

• Looking for kids’ books that depict a variety of holidays and traditions? Try searching the Diverse Book Finder’s collection by holiday name, or use filters to explore books by religion, ethnicity, race/culture, setting, and more. And don’t forget that our local CWMARS library system gives access to books from libraries across Central and Western Mass, delivered to your preferred local library.

• One more idea: join the Buy BIPOC 413 Facebook group and check out a local directory to find holiday gifts while supporting BIPOC-owned businesses and makers!

Thanks for reading, and please be in touch with any questions!

Newsletter Link

Register for First Aid or Parents & Professionals Workshops

with Laura at lfrogameni@northampton-k12.us

• Our November & December sign ups are now closed. If you need assistance, please contact our coordinator, Gabrielle Hollender.

• Payments: Pay Online (preferred) or make checks payable to "City of Northampton"
  

  *Note: UniPay seems to have an aversion to Visa cards... so please try another card for payment

• Please be sure to choose the dates you need for after school care. We have a limited number of staff and may not always be able to accommodate drop ins.

• Late Bird - 2:10-5:15 (Please send your child with a snack from home.)

LEAP

Gabrielle will begin looking for enrichment program instructors for courses that will run on Mondays and Fridays beginning in January. If you or you know someone who would like to be a LEAP instructor, please reach out to Gabrielle with more information. (ghollender@northampton-k12.us)

Online payments are accepted for Early Bird/Late Bird and the LEAP program.

Online payment instructions: I know some of you had difficulty with our online payment system, so we have created a document with instructions. Here is the link.

BEHAVIOR POLICY: All staff and students will adhere to the Northampton Code of Conduct found at http://www.northamptonschools.org/project/code-of-conduct/

• 11/30 Lift Off Learning begins again
  

• 11/30 Covid Testing

• 12/7 Covid Testing

• 12/8 Early Dismissal @11:30 - Teacher Work Day

• 12/8 Leeds Equity and Inclusion Committee meeting @6:30

• 12/14 Covid Testing

• 12/15 Picture Retake Day

• 12/17 Report Cards and progress reports for grades 1-5 go home
  

• 12/21 Leeds School Council meeting @6:15

• 12/23 - 12/31 Holiday Break

• 1/3/2022 - School Resumes

• 1/6 - No School in observance of Three Kings Day

Click here for the School online calendar.