Each class has been practicing songs to share at the Arts Night. Although it is not required to perform with the class that evening, we are encouraging all students to participate. We feel it is important to be supportive of classmates and have a large enough group so individuals don't feel like they are doing solos. This also supports practice of C.A.R.E.S. (cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control). Students have been practicing as a class and sound really great!

Before and after care will be closed the last week of school June 20 -22. Please have your bill paid by June 21, 2023 at the latest! Thank you.

We have several opportunities for community members to share their thoughts and ask their questions about the MTRSD Sustainability Study PHASE I report. We’ve posted the Sustainability Study Report and supporting documentation on our website and you can access the information by clicking here.

Community Member Dates and Times. Click on the time for the google meet link.

6/5 9:00-10:00

6:00-7:00

6/7 5:00-6:00

Town Officials Date and Time

6/7 6:00-7:00

We are excited to share this first step in our sustainability work in preparation of our Phase II work. We hope to see you at one of our virtual town halls.

The fourth grade at Sanderson Academy, in coordination with Principal Liebowitz, is hosting a pet supply drive for the remainder of the school year. Your donations will be distributed to various local shelters and rescue organizations in need. Any food or supplies are welcome. Shelters are most in need of unopened wet/dry pet food and treats, bath-size towels, cat litter, new or gently used leashes/collars/harnesses, and toys. You can also donate various cleaning and office supplies or larger items like crates. Each item donated helps shelters stretch their dollars and help more animals and their owners. Thank you in advance for your generosity and support.

Friday, May 26 - Ed Pop the Magician at 2:00

Monday, May 29 - No School

Wednesday, May 31 - Fifth Grade to Wilder Homestead

Wednesday, May 31 - Second Grade to Farm

Friday, June 2 - Sanderson Arts Night starting at 6:00

Link to Sanderson Academy calendar.

We have had a few cases of strep throat! We have also had some stomach viruses. If your child is unwell please keep them home and check in with me for guidance- thank you!!

To continue the focus on mental health in May I wanted to write about social media and screen use in children and adolescents. There are many perks and benefits that come with our new world of social media and internet availability such as connection, research/information availability and creativity- but there are also many negative aspects that we need to be aware of and limit for our children’s best emotional and physical health.

Social media and screen use can have negative effects on sleep, diet/weight (due to both inactivity and ads targeted to kids of unhealthy foods) and mental health to name a few. Anxiety, depression and low self esteem are some of the negative effects that can result from too much social media and screen time in children and especially in adolescents. Online bullying and access to inappropriate content are some other negative aspects. Sleep can be greatly affected if children have screens (phone, tablet, ipad) in the bedroom, it significantly disrupts the sleep hormones, the blue light that is emitted restricts the production of melatonin and disrupts the circadian rhythm making it harder to fall asleep and wake up in the morning. Sleep is so important for overall health and especially for growing children. Our world has changed significantly with the addition of social media and access to the internet, eliminating these things is not necessarily practical, but we can be mindful about usage and create rules in the home that can best support our children.

See the below articles about the effects of social media and screen usage on children.

~https://childmind.org/awareness-campaigns/childrens-mental-health-report/2017-childrens-mental-health-report/smartphones-social-media/

~https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9407706/

~https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/23/surgeon-general-issues-new-advisory-about-effects-social-media-use-has-youth-mental-health.html

We love watching our baby chicks! We have 5 babies and love to watch them cuddle with each other, drink water, eat their food, and run around and peck things. Our most favorite was having an opportunity to hold them before they went home with Ms. Katie! They are so cute!

This week we are also busy with trips to the vernal pool to get fresh water for our tadpoles. We have 6 in our classroom then decided to bring 3 back early. They are growing so quickly, and started to develop their back legs. We love watching them swim and hide, and can’t wait for them to turn into frogs!

We have finished our alphabet journals, drawing a picture for every letter and practicing how to write them. Now we are starting a new journal for numbers! We drew one balloon for our first letter “one”. Our plants have grown very well under their grow lights and are ready to go into the garden. It’s a busy time in the garden these days! We recently worked with our third-grade buddies, pulling weeds and making the garden look spiffy. The time flew by and the garden looks great!

New in our play centers: our science center now features ocean artifacts—shells, crab shells and claws, shark egg casings, and more! The drama area (pretend play) is now set up for a visit to the beach! And the art center now features trace-and-build your own dragon or unicorn art sets. Outside, the soccer field is now filled with dandelion seeds and the kids said, “We can make so many wishes!” We also went to the Far Far Woods to collect fresh water for the tadpoles and visited the Close Woods to climb trees.

2nd grade has been busy learning about pollinators. This week we have been learning about seed dispersal. We learned that seeds can be dispersed by water, wind, animals, and self. We have been looking at different seeds and their physical attributes to determine how it travels. We have been reading From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons to learn more about plant life cycles and seeds.

We also started our new math unit this week. We will be ending the school year learning about shapes and shape attributes. We have been making and talking about different shapes like scalene triangles and isosceles triangles. We have also learned a new workplace game called Last Shape in Wins. Students work together to fill in a hexagon using other shapes like triangles, rhombus, trapezoids and small hexagons. Whoever fills the shape in last wins!

Next Wednesday, we will be taking a field trip to Porter Farm. Please make sure your child is wearing comfortable shoes, and clothes that you are okay with getting dirty. They will be outside most of the day as well. We are also getting ready for our field trip to the Butterfly Conservatory. If your child has not brought in their permission slip yet, please make sure you send it in as soon as possible.

Third graders did a great job getting work done on our Community Service experience last Friday. We joined other volunteers in helping clean up the park at Ashfield Lake. We raked and shoveled driveway rocks that had been pushed into the lawn by the snowplow back into the driveway. We also weeded and mulched around some of the plantings. Kids worked together moving heavy items and getting the jobs done. We also enjoyed our hillside lunch up above the beach and were even serenaded by a Baltimore Oriole.

This week we finished the MCAS as well. To celebrate their completion, we removed the popcorn kernels from the cobs that have been drying in our classroom since last fall. We then put those kernels into the popcorn popper and watched the magic of heat-inspired expansion. It made for a yummy treat at the end of a long MCAS session. We also put corn into the Three Sisters Garden by transplanting our starts as well as directly planting new seeds. This way next year’s third graders will be able to enjoy the same harvest and celebration that we did!

In science this week, we learned about weathering, the process when solid rocks break into smaller pieces. This can happen when plant roots grow into cracks or when freezing water expands in small cracks, exerting tremendous force on the rock, causing it to break into pieces. Students also investigated how tumbling rocks can wear down and break apart by shaking sugar cubes. We solved the mystery, “Will a mountain last forever?” You can support this week’s learning by taking a walk with your child around where you live. Together you can point out and discuss examples of weathering like cracks in the sidewalk, potholes in the street, or bricks that have started to chip away. Here’s another idea: to demonstrate how frozen water expands (key to ice wedging), you could try filling a glass bottle or jar completely full of water, closing it really tight, and putting it in the freezer overnight. It’s likely that the glass will burst, so use a glass container that you don’t care about and put it in a bag so the pieces don’t scatter. Be safe! We also learned about landslides and how a steep slope plus rain can cause broken rocks to tumble and cause real damage. Your child brainstormed solutions for preventing landslides, keeping people safe, and protecting property. We solved the mystery, “How can you survive a landslide?”

Here are some photos from our Sugar Shaker experiment. Find a fourth grader to tell you about what is happening in these pictures.

Fifth grade had an AMAZING week at Keewaydin. Students explored various topics from water power, to glaciers, to wetlands. They hiked along a penstock, got into a swamp and lagoon, hiked to a view to see how glaciers carved the land, and so very much more. Students participated in a mock town meeting, did night walk activities, and created and performed skits at the closing campfire. They worked together to keep their cabin clean, do jobs around the camp, and learn in their study groups. They kept track of waste at meals and learned about what goes into getting the food to the table in front of them. So much learning and growing happened last week.

We are looking for some parent volunteers to help with 2 projects. Students are painting the Buddy Bench on the playground and it needs to be repaired, sanded, and primed. We need a few adults and power tools. Depending on availability of volunteers we can schedule after school on a Friday or a Saturday for a couple of hours.

We also need volunteers to help prepare and hang art for the upcoming art show. Contact Carolyn Hawthorne if you are available to help. chawthorne@mtrsd.org.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming Arts Night! Please feel free to stop into the Library to read student poetry on our “Poet-Tree,” browse through the stacks, or just take a load off in a quiet(er) space. I will be running 2 different fundraisers in support of the library: a 50/50 raffle and I will also be selling book plates in case you missed your chance a few weeks ago. See you soon!

Sanderson Academy will be hosting an arts night coming up on June 2! Your student(s) will be singing music in a chorus with their peers on the stage as part of the concert portion of the evening. When it comes to singing in a chorus- the more the merrier! Students should feel free to dress up if they’d like, but it is not required. They should be in the gym/audience area ready to be called up on stage by 6:30pm. Come to the arts night with your student(s) to see all of the hard work they’ve been doing in their music and art classes!

A big “congratulations” to our band students who participated in the Band Together concert at Mohawk this week. It was a marvelous concert and the Sanderson Band played so well! They were wonderful representatives of our school. Thank you to our band students for all of your hard work and good cheer. And thanks to our music families for all they do to support these young musicians.

Our next performance will be on Arts Night (June 2). We hope to see you there!

We are looking for volunteers to help set up for arts night on Friday June 2nd, between 3-6pm. Also, if you have any time earlier in the week (5/30 - 6/1), Ms Carolyn would love some help making signs and hanging art in the hallways. Please email me at chawthorrne@mtrsd.org to let me know if you can help.

Please call the school if you are interested in volunteering. Thank you!

The impact of a Girls on the Run volunteer coach is as boundless as it is beautiful. Girls on the Run inspires life-changing transformations in girls when they need it most, and this is in large part thanks to our amazing coaches. Check out this video!

As a coach, you will also reap countless benefits, including deepening your leadership skills, finding joy in helping others, learning new perspectives – just to name a few!

Girls on the Run coaches are:

• Trained to lead small teams (15 girls and 3 coaches) through engaging lessons that build confidence, inspire healthy habits and foster meaningful connections
• Not required to be runners or athletes
• Fully prepared and supported by GOTR
• Available for practice x2 week for 90 minutes for the 10 week season. Mid Sept-Mid Nov. Days of practice decided by the coaching team.
• Compassionate and empowering leaders who want to support the next generation of change-makers.

Our coaches bring our evidence-based curriculum to life and are at the heart of what makes Girls on the Run one of a kind. At every practice, their encouragement inspires girls to activate and reach their limitless potential. See what girls from Western Mass said about GOTR last season.

Remember:

• We provide coaches with all the training and supplies necessary, so prior experience is not required!
• You do NOT need to be a runner.
• Lead the way for more girls in your community and watch your own life transform.

If you have any questions about our program, its impact or volunteering, please contact us. Ready to get started as a coach? Click here!

With gratitude,

Coleen

Coleen Ryan (she/her/hers)

coleen.ryan@girlsontherun.org

Program Manager

Girls on the Run Western Ma

16 Center St, Suite 318, Northampton, MA 01060

(P) 413-374-3436

www.girlsontherunwesternma.org