MHS WES Newsletter
Thursday, November 15, 2018
News from the Principal
Veteran’s Day - Special Guest
On Friday, November 9th, we had the honor of spending the day with one of our local veterans, Stan Skamarycz. Stan is a WWII and Korean War veteran. He was also the Westminster Postmaster for 27 years. He spent about 10-15 minutes in each classroom in grades 2, 3, and 5. He also visited kindergarten and first grade students in their pods. He will be back soon to meet with our 4th graders and Mrs. Quinn’s 5th grade class.
Thank you to all of our Veterans for their sacrifices, bravery, and dedication to our country.
A Night of Excellence
This Friday night, November 16th, the Ashburnham Westminster Foundation for Academic Excellence will be hosting A NIGHT OF EXCELLENCE. This annual event will be taking place at the Colonial Hotel from 6:30 - 10:00 p.m. It is always a fun night for parents, teachers, and administrators! I hope to see you there!
Library Buddy Bench
A special thank you goes out to Dave Lantry and his students at Oakmont High School. Our beautiful library buddy benches have arrived for each school. They were built using materials from the pirate ship used in Oakmont’s Peter Pan musical. They are truly “magical”.
“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure” – George Edward Woodberry
News from Ms. Creonte ~ Gym
Kindergarten and 1st: 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 kicking, trapping and dribbling a ball. Throughout the year, we 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 up their soccer unit, as well as 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, and 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.
I hope everyone has a fantastic
Thanksgiving break !!!
Kindergarten News from: Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Burke, Mrs. Fowke, Mrs. Foster and Ms. Spuria
Brrrrr! Winter Is On Its Way! The days are getting cooler and that means our kindergarten students need to come to school dressed for the weather! Our kindergartners go out in the morning and after lunch. It is important that they come to school dressed in layers, an extra sweatshirt or jacket in their backpacks is helpful too! Now that the cooler weather is here, please have your child practice dressing for winter at home. Your child should be able to put on their own jacket/coat, zip their jacket/coat, put on their own gloves/mittens and hat. We appreciate your help with this!
Next week our Kindergarten students will be taking part in a Thanksgiving feast. We will be sharing breads with one another and participating in relay races. We look forward to a fun time with one another!
The Kindergarten team would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
“All men of action are dreamers” – James Huneker
Upcoming dates
4th Grade Update
Last Friday, the fourth grade embarked on our annual field trip to the Boston Science Museum. Thank you to the PTO for generously helping us make this trip possible! It was a wonderful day of exploration!
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 are writing a three paragraph essay about their thankful feathers. Prior to Thanksgiving break, each student will have a chance to share their writing piece to the class.
Mitten and Hat Drive
Mini Book Fair from 11/26 and ending 12/1
Holiday Workshop 12/1
PTO Happenings!
We are tying something new this year and running two Book Fairs. The “regular” Book Fair will be in the spring but we’re holding a “mini” Book Fair starting 11/26 and ending 12/1. Perfect for Holiday shopping. More details will be coming home.
We are also getting ready for our Annual Holiday Craft Workshop. This will be held on 12/1 with grade appropriate crafts, a Holiday Card Making table and hot chocolate and munchkins. The signup sheet will be coming home very soon so be on the look out.
December 1st (12/1) will be a big day for the PTO at the WES cafeteria. As you’ve read above, it will be the Craft Workshop, we will have our last day of the “mini” Book Fair setup outside of the cafeteria and we will have a bin available for the last day of the Hat & Mitten Drive. Please mark your calendars.
One more Save the Date...the PTO and Young at Heart will be hosting an Adult Yoga Night on 12/14. Young at Heart will generously donated 80% of the proceeds back to us. It will be the perfect time to de-stress! More information to come.