THE SCHOOL BELL
Williston Schools /April 10, 2019
The many points of a picture
by Sarah Crum, Director of Student Services
As a family, we always had a puzzle going. It lived on the floor in the corner of the living room. How more pieces didn’t get sucked up by the vacuum or eaten by the dog, I will never know. I loved working on the puzzle, looking for all the tiny details that would come together into some larger image. The few pieces that would inevitably disappear left little holes in the overall image. If we stood back, we could appreciate the way the whole composition came together, blurring the image together where there were missing details. I had a similar experience the first time I walked into a museum that featured artists of pointillism, which Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary defines as “a style of painting in which a picture is formed from small dots of color”. As I learned about the technique, I found myself walking back and forth to the artwork, zooming in and zooming out, amazed by the artist’s ability to conceptualize a complete image by making hundreds, no thousands, of individual dots. Up close I was focused on each individual dot, but from far away I could see the beautiful image they were all a part of.
I feel the same way about all the different types of assessment we use in school to help us complete the picture of each individual learner. Assessment serves many purposes in schools: it helps us adjust instruction, identify strengths and needs, evaluate our practices, plan activities, and define next steps. Equally important, assessments of all kinds become the individual dots that create the image of who we are. These are reflected in relationship building as students move from one teacher to the next, forming new friendships in a class, learning to speak in front of classmates, improving skills from the start of a new unit to the end, practicing that same skill until it is finally owned, and taking school wide and standardized tests. It can be easy to dismiss the assessments that don’t reflect results we had hoped for, don’t match our learning style, or don’t assess the things we individually value. But no one is made up of just one dot.
The fact of the matter is that every dot matters. Each dot in and of itself will never tell us the whole picture. But if we are truly focused on planning instruction to maximize student learning, we need the most complete picture we can have for each and every individual. We don’t want anyone’s picture to be missing pieces swallowed up by the vacuum. And while we won’t ever rely on one piece over another to tell a child’s story, we want the most comprehensive image possible.
Substance Use & Prevention Forum
April 10
6-8:30 pm
Williston Central School
The Town of Williston is hosting a substance use and prevention forum with a focus on our community's youth. This will be the first in what is hoped to be an ongoing dialogue about the brain chemistry of addiction and strategies for prevention. Please sign up here:
Williston Community Substance Use and Prevention Forum
The forum will include the latest data from Christine Johnson, the Executive Director of the Chittenden County Opioid Alliance, new educational videos, break out group discussions and a facilitated full group discussion.
Dinner Provided: Come at 6 PM for a free meal and to network with members of our community before the main program starts at 6:30 PM.
Child Care Available: Please reserve ahead of time by contacting Erik Wells at ewells@willistonvt.org or 876-1168.
Sponsored By: The Town of Williston, Champlain Valley School District, Williston/Richmond Rotary Club, Chittenden County Opioid Alliance and the Williston Observer
Placement Input
Input deadline is Friday, April 12 for Kindergarten & grade 2; deadline for grade 4 is April 19.
More information and links to the input forms are available from the following:
Information for Kindergarten families
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
We have been hard at work carefully creating beautiful baskets with all of your amazing donations!
The 19th Annual Big Basket Raffle & Silent Auction is THIS Saturday!
Saturday, April 13th at Williston Central School in the Cafeteria. Doors open at 6pm!
We have over 60 themed baskets being raffled off containing hundreds of items brought in by families and donated by area businesses, along with 25 Silent Auction items.
Our baskets have been wrapped with care, but we could still use some help with set up, food donations, and event specific tasks. Please go to this link:
and sign up!
We hope to see you on Saturday! And don’t forget to bring non-perishable items to the Basket Raffle for the Williston Community Food Shelf; those who do will receive up to 5 free raffle tickets!!!
FAP Speaker Series Presents Appreciative Parenting
Wednesday, April 17th from 6:30-8pm
WCS Communy Room
This is a date change from April 9th, same time.
Intro to Appreciative Parenting
Join us for this interactive session where we will begin to explore your personal character strengths and how you can leverage them as a parent. We will also discuss key questions to help identify and develop your child’s individual strengths and help you both have a conversation worth having.
Shelly Masson Bio: Shelly is currently part of the faculty of practice at the David Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College and also teaches in the Positive Organizational Development certificate program. She has been working with the concepts of Appreciative Inquiry and Parenting for the past 7 years.
Nicole Morris Bio: Nicole has been a faculty member at the Stiller School of Business at Champlain College, teaching in disciplines of accounting and management, for the last decade. Nicole holds a Appreciative Inquiry Certificate in Positive Business and Society Change from Case Western University and has taught Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry.
“Dining for a Cause” at Grazers
Thursday, April 18th, Open to Close
Grazers Restaurant in Maple Tree Place is generously donating 10% of all sales (including take-out) towards the WCS student trip to Washington, D.C.
This end of year trip provides an educational opportunity outside the traditional school environment and complements our academic curriculum. Please help support our students!
SPARK Enrichment After School ~ Session 5
The 5th session of Spark Enrichment, an after-school applied learning program for students in grades 5-8, takes place from May 2nd - 30th. These small group classes will be facilitated by school faculty and staff. Please access the link to the sign-up form below by April 29th. You will be able to rank your choices for better placement!! More info
Facts about Vaping
Have you ever wondered…What is the big deal about Vaping?
Have you ever thought... It could be worse, my kid isn’t smoking cigarettes.
Well, here a few cold hard facts about vaping. Vapes are not safe. Vape clouds contain as many as 31 chemicals, many of them toxic. Here is a list of some of them…
Acetone
a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid and is the simplest and smallest ketone. Acetone is miscible with water and serves as an important solvent in its own right, typically for cleaning purposes in laboratories.
Arsenic
Rat poison
Chlorobenzene
is used in the manufacture of other organic chemicals, dyestuffs and insecticides. It is also used a solvent for adhesives, drugs, rubber, paints and dry cleaning, and as a fiber-swelling agent in textile processing.
Crotonaldehyde
highly flammable and produces toxic vapors at room temperature.
Formaldehyde
- a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that is used in building materials and to produce many household products as well as preservation of dead bodies.
Naphthalene
a white, volatile, solid polycyclic hydrocarbon with a strong odor, used to make moth balls.
The most popular brand with kids is called the JUUL. It looks like a flash drive. It is small and easy to conceal and very potent. A 3% JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes! Because these devices are still quite ‘new’ many of the long term health consequences of their use still is unknown. Many people think these devices produce a ‘water vapor’; this is not true. These devices actually create aerosols that often contain harmful chemicals and ultrafine particles that are inhaled into the lungs and into the environment. Recent studies show that vaping is associated with the use of other tobacco products.
If you need more information or if you are concerned that your student may be using or at risk for vape use, please contact your SAP at Williston Central School: Kelly Fitzpatrick, kfitzpatrick@cvsdvt.org
Upcoming Concerts
Stage Band at CVSD Jazz Fest - Monday, 5/13 at &:00 pm at CVU
(6:00 call for 8th graders, 6:30 call for 6th-7th graders)
Grades 5 and 6- Wed, 5/22 at 5:30 pm (5:00 call)
Grades 7 and 8- Wed, 5/22 at 7:15 pm (6:45 call)
Beginner Band Thursday, 6/6 at 6 pm (5:30 call)
Williston Awarded $1,000
Job Opportunity
Allen Brook School is seeking an energetic, child-centered adult to assist with supervision to our elementary students during lunch and recess. Candidates will work as part of a team, provide positive reinforcement and redirection, and follow established protocols.Monday through Friday 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM when school is in session.
Interested candidates should submit an application or contact Cindy Pavlik, cpavlik@cvsdvt.org, 871-6203.
Kids Heart Challenge - NEW!
The Jump Rope for Heart has changed. There is no longer a Jump Rope for Heart Event. There is a new event called Kids Heart Challenge. This event is similar in Fundraising. This is an event to support the American Heart Association. We will be piloting this event this year at Allen Brook School with the first and second graders. The purpose of this event is to teach children about their own heart health while helping raise money to help others who have heart or stroke issues. The money raised goes to research, education and support for people dealing with cardiovascular issues. The event will take place during the regular PE time for all students. If all students combined raise $7,500, both Mr. King and Ms. Porter will take a pie to the face. If the students raise over $10,000 Ms. Porter will dye her hair purple. There will be additional heart healthy activities leading up to the May 2nd and May 3rd Kids Heart Challenge Day.
If you would like your child to participate in the fundraising to support the American Heart Association they will need to bring back this permission slip. Once your child has turned in the permission slip he/she will be given a collection envelope. Once they receive their envelope they may begin collecting. There is also information on how to create an online account. The online account is a secure account just for your child through the American Heart Association. People can donate through the online account with a credit card. This has worked well in the past. If you do the online donation we will need a printed copy of the summary page.
Clothing Donations Needed
Please donate clean unwanted clothing. A collection box is located in the WCS front lobby. Donations will be used to make blankets for COTS as a part of Swift House Sustainability Action Project. Any clothing that is not used for blankets will be donated to COTS..
Any questions, please contact Debbie Donnelly @ ddonnelly@cvsdvt.org
Thank you, Samantha, Jasmine, Mitchell, Grace, Allison, Sally
DAML Art Show
Congratulations to the following Allen Brook and Williston Central School students who have art on exhibit at Dorothy Alling Memorial Library through the month of April:
8th Grade Challenge
Mobile App
Download the WSD App and get notifications for groups, sports teams, 3-4 Chorus, etc. to keep informed.
Open App, tap on the 3 horizontal bars in the top right and select Notifications. Tap on the group boxes for those you want.
Families as Partners
Tuesday Early Dismissal
Dismissal at ABS is 1:35 pm.
Dismissal at WCS is 1:55 pm.
The Tuesday schedule for morning Preschool is 8:00 to 10:15 am. Afternoon preschool is 11:15 am to 1:30 pm.
Four Winds Nature News
School Lunch Menus
Please make payment checks out to 'CVSD - ABS' or 'CVSD-WCS'
Monthly Fitness Fun
More Links, More information
Upcoming Events
Thurs. April 11 / FAP / WCS Community Rm / 8-10 am
Sat. April 13 / Big Basket Raffle & Fun Night / WCS / 6-8 pm
Tues. April 16 / CVSD School Board Mtg. / CVUHS rm. 160 / 6 pm
Wed. April 17 / Synergy Family Event / 5:30 - 7 pm
Tues. April 17 / FAP Speaker Series / WCS Community Rm. / 6:30 - 8 pm
Thurs. April 18 / Horizon Reading Restaurant / 6 - 8 pm
April 22-26 NO SCHOOL
Fri. May 3 / School Dance / WCS / 6:30-8:30 pm
Thurs. May 9 / FAP Mtg. / WCS Community Rm / 8-10 am
Upcoming Events on the School Web CalendarDAML Programs
Click here to access the DAML web site listing of events.
Recreation & Parks Offerings
Community Events
Williston Schools
Email: cpavlik@cvsdvt.org
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org
Location: 195 Central School Drive, Williston
Phone: (802) 878-2762
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Williston-School-District-1483758238612170/timeline/
Twitter: @wsdvt
Dorothy Alling Library Show
Congratulations to the following Allen Brook and Williston Central School students who have art on exhibit at Dorothy Alling Memorial Library through the month of April: