MHS/WES Newsletter
November 15, 2019
News from the Principal
I'm Not Scared, I'm Prepared by Julia Cook
Next week, Mrs. Ayles, our school resource officers, and myself are traveling around to all of our classrooms to read the picture book, I'm Not Scared, I'm Prepared by Julia Cook. The purpose of reading this book to all students is to review our safety protocols and empower students with knowledge. As a district, we do follow the ALICE protocol (A -Alert, L - Lock Down, I Inform, C - Counter, E - Evacuate). At the elementary level, we are not discussing countering. Our intention is to simply review the steps we would take in an emergency, we are NOT discussing the types of emergencies that can occur.
We want our students to always be aware of their surroundings and to look towards their teachers or other trusted adults if they are unsure of what to do in any situation. Here are the key elements that we will focus on:
- We already do a lot of things to keep ourselves safe, such as fire drills.
- Stop, Look, and Listen - Always be aware of your surroundings. Do you know where the exit doors are located?
- If we had a fire drill or needed to evacuated the building, where do we go?
- What do you do if you become separated from your class?
We are currently working to coordinate a parent information night with our school resource officers on school safety drills. We will send that information out as soon as we have confirmed dates and times. In the meantime, I am planning to give a brief update at our next PTO meeting on November 20th at 6:30 p.m. in the WES library.
School Improvement Council
Our school improvement council members are here to help. They are a wonderful resource of information and can be your voice during our meetings. Feel free to reach out to any of our members to present ideas or to address any concerns.
Teachers:
Parents:
Emmy Niinimaki
Community Member:
Our School Improvement Council meets once a month and our meetings are open to the public. Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 5th at 4:15 p.m. in the WES principal's office.
Important Dates to Remember
- November 20~PTO Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the WES Library
- November 21~1/2 day of school
- November 22~A Night for Excellence 6:30-10:00 p.m. at the Colonial Hotel
- November 27~1/2 day~All Schools~Thanksgiving Holiday
- November 28 & 29~No School~Thanksgiving
- December 5~School Improvement Council Meeting at 4:15 p.m.
- December 23-January 1~No School~December Vacation
- January 2~Classes Resume
- Jan. 6th ~ Math-A-thon Kick-off
Jan. 17th ~ Math-A-thon Permission slips due
Feb. 14th ~ Math-A-thon Donations/prize sheets due
News from Assistant Principal Ayles
Happy November! The Thanksgiving holiday is right around the corner and we have so many things to be thankful for. I am thankful to be a part of the Meetinghouse and Westminster Elementary School community.
Before coming to MHS/WES this year, I was an elementary teacher in Harvard, MA. Being in the elementary classroom where students are learning and experiencing new things everyday is what I love. From the classroom, deciding to move into school administration was easy because I also enjoy working with teachers, staff and parents. My motivation for this work comes from the passion that we all have to make each school day successful for students.
My husband Steve and I live in Lunenburg with our 3 children. Jillian, 16, is a junior in high school, Caroline, 12, is in 7th grade and Nate, 11, is in 5th grade. We also have two dogs and six chickens! Our family is busy with lots of activities! We go to dance events, soccer, and basketball games. This Thanksgiving we look forward to visiting with our family and friends, some of whom we don’t get to see very often. We are grateful for many things!
My new job as assistant principal at Meetinghouse and Westminster has been a dream come true! The students, staff, teachers, and parents have made me feel very welcomed. I enjoy my daily interactions with students and learning all there is to know about our schools.
This Thanksgiving, let’s all try to have a “gratitude attitude”! Let’s be thankful for what we have! One of my favorite books about gratitude and generosity is Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts. It is a story about the dilemma of wanting something that someone else has or getting what you really need. Here is a link to the book overview and some questions to talk about after reading. Enjoy!
Kindergarten News
Jackets, Hats & Mittens, Oh My! One of our science standards is learning how to prepare for the weather. We’re asking parents and guardians to help your children come to school prepared for the cold weather. Recess is healthier and a lot more fun in the cold temperatures when children wear hats, mittens, and warm jackets. If your children wear boots to school, please remember to have them bring shoes/sneakers to wear in school.
In class, our kindergartners have been busy exploring a wide variety of concepts! For example, they’re learning about letter-sound associations, handwriting, rhyming words, and the difference between a letter, a word, and a sentence. They’re increasing their knowledge of number sense, two dimensional shapes, and both addition and subtraction.
With Thanksgiving approaching, all of our kindergartners will join together as we learn about the meaning of Thanksgiving through a variety of activities including our always popular relay races. Also, our kindergarten staff would like parents and guardians of our students to know how grateful we are for you! We thank you for your kindness, support, and generosity. We wish all of you a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving!
4th Grade News
As the holiday season approaches, the fourth graders are focused on what they are thankful for. Each student created a personalized feather, filled with a variety of images that represent everything they are thankful for. In addition to the feathers, the students wrote a thoughtful three paragraph essay that explained their reasoning. Prior to Thanksgiving break, each student will have a chance to share their writing piece to the class.
Keeping with the holiday spirit, throughout December, students will be completing a variety of activities focused on the spirit of giving back to the local community. It is our hope that the students will learn that just as much pleasure can be obtained by giving rather than receiving. Happy Holidays!
Gym News from Ms. Creonte
Grades K-1: Students have been working hard on underhand throwing, overhand throwing as well as catching! We have been doing lots of practice and playing lots of activities involving these skills. Everyone has been doing a great job with this! To help us remember the steps involved in a skill we come up with a saying and say it out loud as we perform the skill. For example when working on underhand throwing we say out loud together “Tick, Tock, Step and Rock!” I always love seeing and hearing students saying this on their own and adjusting the steps of the skill as needed. I have been very impressed! We talk a lot about how sometimes learning a new skill can be a bit of challenge, but the more we practice, the better we will get at it. After Thanksgiving break we will be working on cup stacking. Cup stacking helps with focus, concentration, agility, as well as hand-eye coordination. Throughout the year, we continue to ALWAYS practice how to move safely in the gym.
Grades 2-5: The gym has been a busy place for grades 2-5. All students are working very hard to help move their class baseball by being kind, helpful, a good sport, wearing sneakers and by following directions. Grades 2-5 have finished their first PACER Test of the year. For those who are not familiar with the PACER Test, it is also known as the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run. It is a way to track a student’s progress throughout the year/s. Before each PACER Test we discuss what can be done in school and outside of school to help improve our scores, and overall endurance. Examples include drink lots of water, eat healthy, get a good sleep, run around at recess, play a sport, go swimming, dance, or perform different exercises. It also helps students understand how to pace themselves, by going slower in the beginning then increasing their speed as time goes on. I was very IMPRESSED with how motivated students were. Not only this but classmates were cheering other classmates on to succeed. It was truly amazing to watch. We are currently finishing up our football unit, which includes throwing and catching a foam football at various distances, as well as working on offense and defense. For 2nd grade we are focusing on throwing and catching a ball at various distances. After Thanksgiving we will be starting our basketball unit.
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
Thanks to the generosity of the PTO, we have installed a Little Free Library next to the Meetinghouse School playground. Little Free Libraries are a global phenomenon. The small book exchanges number more than 75,000 around the world in 85 countries-from Iceland to Tasmania to Pakistan. Now our new Little Free Library at MHS and WES will join the movement to share books, bring people together and create communities of readers.
What is a Little Free Library?
A Little Free Library is a free book exchange.
How Does This Library Work?
This Little Free Library offers a way to share good things to read—favorite books from your childhood or books you would recommend to friends; books that teach, intrigue and engage you. All of us can help by keeping this collection stocked with good reading material.
Whose Library is this?
It belongs to everybody—neighbors, friends, and people we don’t even know yet. Anyone can use it. That’s why we want to take care of it.
Take a book. If you see something you’d like to read, take it. You don’t have to give a book at the same time as you take one.
Share a book. After you’ve read it, share it in any Little Free Library book-sharing box, bring it back here, or pass it on to a friend. Be a friend of all libraries, big and small. Share books whenever you can.
Each class will be introduced to the Little Free Library during their scheduled library time with Mrs. Divoll. Please feel free to frequently stop by our Little Free Library with your family to take or a share a book. If you have any questions, please contact Caron Goodwin at cgoodwin@awrsd.org.
Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity through neighborhood book-sharing boxes