Focus at Forbes
http://torringtonforbes.ss16.sharpschool.com/
Important Upcoming Dates
11/23-11/27 - Thanksgiving Break
12/8 - Picture Retake Day
12/9 - Pajama Day Fundraiser (see below)
12/15 - Early Release (PLC)
12/16 - Nutcracker Field Trip
12/22 - Early Release
12/23-1/2 - Winter Break
1/16 - MLK Day (No School)
1/19 - Early Release (PLC)
Fantastic Fall
November 22, 2022
Dear Forbes Elementary Students and Families,
Its been a great fall here at Forbes. Our students are learning and growing so much each day. We have a great team that really gets the best out of each child and I know that they want to see your child be ready for the journey ahead. I hope that you and your family are able to enjoy the upcoming holidays and rest and spend time together. Our time together is often the most important pieces of what we do.
Parent Conferences
It was so great seeing all of our families that were able to come on our student-led conferences this past week. I hope that you were able to feel the passion that your child's teachers have for their success this year and beyond. Over 300 conferences occurred and most of them were facilitated by our students. It is great as a parent and as a teacher to see our kiddos take the lead and ownership of their learning.
Picture Retake Day
We will be doing picture retakes on December 8th.
Nutcracker Field Trip
We are excited that we have received a grant for the district to be able to go watch the Nutcracker at the Warner next month. Please make sure that you have turned in those field trip permission slips if you would like your child to be part of that experience.
Pajama Day for CMC
We are very proud to be participating in a pajama day here at Forbes to help raise awareness for childhood cancer. On December 9th we will be asking students to join us in their pajamas and donate $1 to support the fight against childhood cancer. Here is a link to our donation page if you are like me and do not carry cash too often ;)
https://give.connecticutchildrens.org/fundraiser/4277971
Food Drive
Great job by our student leadership team and thank you to our amazing community that was able to raise over 1600 items and $200 for our local community food bank.
Veteran's Day Assembly
We are proud of our school’s recent Veteran’s Day assembly. The Forbes community was able to honor and pay their respect to our community’s Veterans in some great displays of appreciation. I am thankful for Ms. McCreesh, Ms. Bettua and Mr. Bator’s help especially in getting this project off the ground, but it was truly a team effort and every class was able to help from Pre-K to 5th.
School-wide Bullying Programs
We are thankful for the recent school-wide bullying programs that we have had. One was from an outside educator and the other was from members of our local police department. We wanted to remind students the importance of their words and how those pieces can have larger consequences, even when we think we may be joking around. We have seen a noticeable uptick in inappropriate language and misconduct on social media outlets. Students were reminded yesterday that they are younger than the age guidelines for apps like Snapchat and TikTok. As a fellow parent, I know how time consuming it can be to monitor, but trust me when I say that the more that you are the better it will be. There is a lot of inappropriate content out there and kids 9, 10, 11 and 12 are too young to be seeing much of it. If you ever need help in understanding how to see the messages that your kids are having or things that they are seeing, I am always happy to sit down with you and show you some of the tricks I have learned.
Attendance Information
Ok so below is my original message about attendance...I realize that it is important to keep kids home when they are sick. Currently we are at almost 20% of Forbes as on pace to be chronically absent. Our goal as a building and as a district is to be at 8% or less.
Reminder - It is super important for kids to be at school as much as possible. We have been working hard over the past 2 years to get back on track with students academic needs, but need students here to ensure they are getting exactly what they need. We sent home reminder cards this week, that will hopefully allow us to both be tracking our students attendance, so we are on the same page. Per state guidelines students are chronically absent when they pass 18 days of missed time.
Warmly,
Michael Clyne
Work in our classes the next few weeks
- Grade 4
- Reading - Nonfiction reading
- Writing - Opinion Writing
- Math - Multiplication and beginning Division
- Grade 5
- Reading - Nonfiction reading and Poetry
- Writing – Opinion Writing
- Math - Volume
About Us
Email: mclyne@torrington.org
Website: http://torringtonforbes.ss16.sharpschool.com/
Location: 500 Migeon Avenue, Torrington, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 489-2500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Forbes-School-101488034868626/
Twitter: @mikeclyne07