Friday Flash
September 29th, 2023
Notes from the Principal's Office
As I prepare the Friday Flash every week looking at the pictures that teachers and staff share with me, I often wonder why I didn't have an early education experience similar to what our students have. I look back on my elementary career and remember the annual trip to Tunbridge Fair and much beyond that it was working my way through the colors of the Spectrum Math book rainbow, math problems on a chalkboard (Yes, a chalkboard!) and reading books about a dog named Pug. Occasionally, we wrote a rambling story about a movie we saw or a video game we played. I'm not saying my education was bad or didn't help me get where I am today, I'm just stating that the NES experience is very different from how many of us experienced school. At our school there are more opportunities for hands on learning, thinking outside of the box and embracing learning outside of the traditional classroom setting. I'll admit there are many times each week that I wish I could leave my multitude of emails and meetings behind and join our students in the classroom; making fossils at forest school, doing counting collections with beads and tiles or reading about a boy who must risk is life and livelihood to save a whale. I'm lucky that each week the staff and students in this building share their stories and experiences with me, making me feel like I'm learning right along with them. And hope through this newsletter and our classroom newsletters you are learning right along with us too.
Please consider joining us Tuesday October 17th at 1:30 for the official opening of our forest school and a land blessing by Chief Paul Bunnell of the Ko'sek Band of Abenaki. For more information please contact the school.
Wishing You Well,
~Loretta
Important Dates
October 5th: Farm & Field Day 12:00-2:00
October 6th: No School OESU Inservice Day
October 9th: No School Indigenous Peoples Day
October 13th: Tucker Mountain All School Hike
October 13th: FoNES Farm Raiser Event
October 17th: NES Outdoor Classroom Opening & Land Blessing 1:30pm
October 18th: Community Coffee 9:00-10:00 in the Library (Topic Facilities Updates)
October 26th: BES Addams Family performance 12:00pm
Newbury Elementary Seeks Building Based Sub (Everyday) & Para Educator for the 23-24 School Year Contact the Main Office if Interested
Positivity Project Focus October 2nd-October 6th: Perspective
Dear Families,
This week our school community will be focusing on the character strength of Perspective. Perspective means you appreciate when people see things in different ways. You have the ability to understand the world from multiple points of view.
Perspective is also referred to as wisdom and is distinct from intelligence. People with this strength are sought out for advice because they see the big picture and can make sense of the world’s complexity. This strength of perspective gives individuals the ability to see to the heart of difficult matters and achieve clarity. Most importantly, they are honest and behave in an ethically consistent manner.
Perspective helps an individual make sense of the world. It provides clarity on what matters and what does not. Being able to see things from multiple angles helps individuals remain calm and learn from mistakes; they are typically highly self-aware. Reflecting on their own feelings, thoughts, and motives helps them understand and empathize with other people. These individuals are strong listeners and ask great questions. Individuals with the strength of perspective help their group get through difficult or uncertain circumstances because they’re poised and can identify opportunities for success.
To practice and encourage the character strength of perspective with your child, please visit the Positivity Project’s P2 for Families (password: P2), where together you will watch a video, read a quote, and talk about the answers to three questions.
Have a wonderful week!
How can a team or group take advantage of their multiple perspectives?
Pictures from Around the School
Monkeys
Bears
Owls & Otters
Notes from Mrs. MacMillan
The Art classes have celebrated International Dot day which was on September 15th, and the younger students learned the song as well. Kindergarten has been creating art in different stations getting familiar with the art room and supplies. First and second graders read The day the crayons quit, and The Day the crayons came home and drew themselves as crayons. They also mixed warm and cool colors. Third through fifth grade have been working on various color wheels, mixing the secondary colors from the primary colors. The sixth graders created unique color wheels and mixed tertiary colors.
In Forest school the students have been fortunate to enjoy the beautiful weather and our new buildings. Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade have been learning about extreme weather; droughts and hurricanes. The 3rd and 4th graders have been doing scavenger hunts and creating fossils in clay. The 5th and 6th graders have been working on team building exercises and learning about history and civilizations.
Sea Turtles
Bovines Canoe Trip
Staff Spotlight
Sim Cook: Building Operations Supervisor
Dear All,
As you already know, there are many wonderful things that folks are doing in our schools. And, as we are schools loosely connected by geography as opposed to sharing a common history or community, my hope is that we will be deliberate – internally and externally – in celebrating our dedicated OESU family. In doing so, I hope that we can promote common practices that are of benefit to all. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, that our organization encourages and embraces situational leadership as a means of fostering enduring systems that grow organically from individual initiative, skill, and innovative thinking in a way that serves as a model for us all.
An example of this “may the best idea win” mentality has taken place at Newbury Elementary School as, after much frustration, investigation, planning, paperwork, board presentations, and good old-fashioned stick-to-it-ness, a vision has become a reality. If you don’t know, Newbury Elementary School had antiquated boilers that, for years, did not adequately heat the building. Thankfully, the school has a building supervisor, Sim Cook, who treats the building as if it was his home – caring deeply both about the structure and the people who inhabit it. Just like Ralphie’s dad in A Christmas Story, Sim fought a good fight with the ancient boilers but it was a battle that could not be won – age and neglect conspired against him.
Not one to back down from seemingly insurmountable odds, Sim set out to find a way to replace the dying, highly inefficient oil boilers with new, super high-efficiency, sustainable heating. It was a fantastic idea and made all the sense in the world; however, it was also a $250,000 idea which was potentially dead in the water given all of the other competing needs the aging building had. But over two years, through ups and down, fits and starts, and many setbacks, Sim persevered. And, his perseverance was rewarded. Through smarts and dogged determination, Sim found a way: researching, applying for, and being granted three different Vermont energy efficiency grants totalling…You guessed it: about $250,000.
But government grants – being the funny things they are – required more work to be done, more hoops to jump through. Sim, with the strong support and collaboration of Loretta Cruz, the Newbury Elementary School principal, dotted all the “i’s” and crossed all the “t’s” necessary to finalize the funding. Next, (with the help of Bob Ratel, facilities manager) he secured the contractors and set a work schedule that would allow for completion by the fall. And it has happened. Newbury now has two brand new wood pellet boilers (if you’re into boilers, they are really nice looking) that are just about ready to fire up for, as Ned Stark once said, “Winter is coming.”
These boilers will save the district money, heat the school more effectively, and make the building more comfortable. And, quite amazingly, this project did not expand any local funds. A well deserved kudos to Sim for having a vision of something better and for seeing it through to completion. Newbury Elementary School and our supervisory union are better thanks to folks like him.
At any and all times, please be sure to recognize and share the many great people and things that are happening in our schools. I will do my best to do so as well.
Thank you for all that you do for our kids and communities and I hope that your school year is off to a wonderful start.
Randy
Friends of Newbury Elementary School
Principal Loretta Cruz
Email: loretta.cruz@oesu.org
Website: https://www.nesvt.org/
Location: 214 Pulaski Street, Newbury, VT, USA
Phone: 802-866-5621
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newburyelementaryVT