South Elementary Family Newsletter
Volume #7 March, 2021
Monthly Message from the Principal
Read Across America is always the first week of March. At South Elementary, our focus of the read aloud books will be on Kindness and Being You. This is a focus and source of celebration all year, but particularly right now during this difficult time in everyone's lives. Being kind allows us to connect with other people and build meaningful relationships. When someone is kind to us, we feel better connected and more willing to cooperate with them. When we do something nice for someone else, we cultivate trust and feel good about ourselves. As adults, there is one key way we can support this endeavor on a daily basis: Be a good role model and try to be nice to people you interact with throughout the day, basically be the behavior you want to see in your child. With both Daylight Savings and Spring coming soon, we will have more opportunities to spread positivity!
In keeping with being kind, one of our Somerset Berkley Regional High School seniors is collecting donations for the Emergency Room Nurses at Charlton Hospital. A flyer went home at the beginning of the week describing her project and what is needed. (Click HERE to see it.) We have a donation box in the foyer at South for any of the items students donate. Please consider donating to this worthy cause. This donations will be accepted a few weeks longer than the flyer states.....through Mid-End of March.
Steph Brown
508-324-3180
Important Dates
Read Across America-Literacy Spirit Week
Monday, March 1st-Cohort A-Wear Purple for our Guest Reader
Tuesday, March 2nd-Cohort A-Wear PJ's for our whole school mini Read-a-thon
Thursday, March 4st-Cohort B-Wear Purple for our Guest Reader
Friday, March 5th-Cohort B-Wear PJ's for our whole school mini Read-a-thon
Sunday, March 14th-Daylight Savings-Spring ahead one hour!
Tuesday, March 16th-PTO Meeting @ 6PM. Click HERE for the Zoom link.
First Day of Spring-March 20th!!
Spirit Week! Week of 3/22/21-"Dress to Impress" Theme!
Cohort A- Tuesday, March 23
Cohort B- Friday, March, 26
Wednesday, March 24th-NO SCHOOL-Spring Parent Teacher Conferences
Please sign up HERE if you haven't already done so. Thank you!
REMIND app
Please click on this link if you would like to be updated through text with information from me.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16AdsbT9Z9D69twSx_HR2Las2wQjKUf86/view?usp=sharing
A Little Peace of South.....Monthly Comfort
COMFORT CORNER
Hello South Families,
The struggle is real.
Take time daily to do something to take care of you so you can take care of those you love.
Try this for yourself or with the kids.
Additional resources available at:
Interested in ADHD and how it affects sleep, click on link below.
https://www.accelevents.com/e/mhsadhdsummit2021/portal/stage/92319
You can also reach me at South anytime via email at cecilia.huard@somersetschools.org
Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns or to request any help of any kind.
Shine on………………………...Ms H
[Mrs. Huard, School Adjustment Counselor]
Technology and Virtual Learning
June Mitchell will continue having Tech Tuesday @ South on the first Tuesday of the month. The link for the Signup is on the South website and the link above. This help can be either virtual (via Google Meet) or face to face, with a parent bringing the Chromebook to the school.
As stated in February, we’ve seen an upswing in the number of damaged Chromebooks; we are including a link (CLICK HERE) to help guide parents and students on care and maintenance of your school issued Chromebook. Please pay particular attention to the portion on cleaning your screen - never spray any liquid directly on the screen, and harsh cleaners such as Windex should never be used on a computer screen. At this point, we are extremely limited on our supply of replacement Chromebooks; we have a working list of students that need to have devices swapped out; due to the critically low number of replacements we have, the only ones we’re able to swap at this point are those that are not functional - either with broken screens or will not turn on. We understand that a growing number of students have CBs that have non-functional cameras, and ask that you continue to use these until we contact you regarding a swap. If students are using their own (or a family device) to access their schoolwork, please see the link below. We STRONGLY recommend using the Chrome browser to do schoolwork, and this link (CLICK HERE) will provide step-by-step instructions on how to connect your Chromebook to your school account.
June is available by email (june.mitchell@somersetschools.org) and by phone at 508-324-3180.
Chris is available by email (christopher.green@somersetschools.org) and by phone at 508-324-3160.
From Ms. Bertrand, Our School Nurse
Let's Stay Healthy!!
We have all been doing a great job trying to stay healthy during the pandemic by wearing our masks, washing our hands frequently, keeping a safe distance from each other, and staying home when we are sick!
Here are some other ways we can continue to stay healthy and be ready to learn everyday!
Be Active!
Make sure you take time to play and be active, especially outside! Moving and exercising every day helps: build strong muscles, improve your sleep, put you in a better mood, and reduce stress!
Try this: Pick a new activity every day and do for at least 60 minutes!
Make Healthy Food Choices!
It is important to start each day with a healthy breakfast and continue healthy foods for lunch and dinner. Healthy foods consist of vegetables, fruits, milk, grains, lean meats, and water.
Try this: Drink water instead of soda and other sugary drinks!
Get Plenty of Sleep! Your brain needs sleep so you can: pay attention and concentrate, solve problems and think of new ideas, remember what you learn, better control your behavior and emotions!
Try this: go to bed the same time every night, exercise during the day, don’t eat a big meal before bedtime, keep TV and electronics out of the bedroom, and do something relaxing, like reading a book or taking a bath before bedtime!
If your child is ill, please keep them home and email our school nurse, susan.bertrand@somersetschools.org
South PTO
- Join our PTO! Nominations for the 2021/2022 year are open!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14wNIlNKI1TFSqUVAA4fU_P-JN5GK4s8MShrwGLX7nag/edit?usp=sharing or click HERE for the PTO Nomination Form
- PTO Meeting - Tuesday, March 16 at 6pm.
Meeting Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82907330145?pwd=eUVVbDBlMUNKcFFROVVYUnN5ZnM5QT09
Meeting ID: 829 0733 0145
Passcode: crickets
- Spirit Week March 21 Dress to Impress
Cohort A - Tuesday, March 23
Cohort B - Friday, March 26
Full Remote - Send photos to somersetsouthelementarypto@gmail.com or our Facebook page
- 5th Grade Committee Meeting - Tuesday, March 23 at 6:30pm
Meeting Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89061209873?pwd=NTVkZS8wdXFYWDZGVG5vZkViVk9ldz09
Meeting ID: 890 6120 9873
Passcode: 5thgrade21
- Scholastic Online Spring Book Fair BUY 1 GET 1 FREE March 29 to April 2 More info coming soon!
- Box Tops for Education is completely paperless. Get the app and support our school
Parent Resources
Click HERE for a resource to support the learning of fractions at home for K-5 (words & activities)
Click HERE for read aloud books for March.
March Lunch Menu: please click HERE:
Click HERE for a list of the 5 Best Parenting Books
Click HERE for a 100's Chart to help count to 100, add, subtract, and notice number patterns.
Click HERE for an Alphabet Linking Chart to help your child match sounds and letters when writing/reading.
Food Services:
School meals (breakfast and lunch) are free for all students (in-school and virtual) up to age 21 for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. ***Effective January 4th 2021, all remote meals will be distributed at Somerset Middle School (1141 Brayton Ave Somerset MA 02726) Meals will be served on the right side of building on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 10 am-12 pm. If you are picking up meals you can pick up several days' meals at one time. If you aren't able to come yourself you can have someone come in your place to pick up the meals.
Please reach out to Jason Morency at morencyj@sbregional.org or 1-508-352-3172 with any questions regarding school lunches.
MA/COVID Travel Information: If you are planning on a family vacation or a visit out of the state, please review the Massachusetts Travel Order. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order.
Somerset Public Schools Handbook: SPS Health and Safety Handbook includes important information on face masks/covering (no neck gators or masks with vents, unless a doctor's note is sent in), travel restrictions (links in Parent Resources for Massachusetts Travel information), and keeping students home if students or their close contacts have COVID symptoms.
Somerset Public Schools, Revised Calendar: please click HERE
KINDERGARTEN
February
This past month we finished our unit on narrative writing where students drew and wrote about real stories from their lives. We are working on sentence conventions that will help students be able to read their own writing. Students continue to build their sight word knowledge as we introduced reading color words. Our current chapter in math focuses on the number 10. We have been learning how to order and compare numbers and make number pairs for 10. In science, we have enjoyed many hands-on activities that have allowed us to explore force and motion, such as building a ramp and constructing a swing. Finally, we enjoyed learning about groundhog’s day and making predictions about the weather. We will begin March by sending home a family project so be on the lookout for a lucky four leaf clover!
First Grade Greatness
First Grade Greatness
First Grade Greatness
GRADE ONE
Our first graders have done a wonderful job transitioning into logging in to live meetings during the school day. It is always so good to see them all together, even if a screen is keeping them apart. It is really great to see them interact! Thank you, again, ALL of you, for helping us keep the first graders engaged! Looking forward to spring!!!
Super in Second Grade
Super in Second Grade
Super in Second Grade
Super in Second Grade
Super in Second Grade
Super in Second Grade
GRADE TWO
It has been a Winter Wonderland! Our students have enjoyed the snow and playing with their friends building snow slides and snowmen!
In reading, we are working with informational texts. We have learned about John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) and pioneer life. We are learning about the unique text features that are found in informational books! In writing, we are creating our own informational texts on a topic that is of high interest and knowledge, or that we feel like we are an EXPERT! Math during this month will be focused on composing and decomposing 10 to help us with addition with regrouping. In science, we are continuing our study of properties of matter.
We are looking forward to speaking with you at conferences on March 24th!!
Third Grade Thinkers
Third Grade Thinkers
Third Grade Thinkers
GRADE THREE
Fabulous Fourth Grade
Fabulous Fourth Grade
Fabulous Fourth Grade
GRADE FOUR
Greetings from Fourth Grade,
Our fourth grade has been hard at work! We are learning about fractions in simplest form and equivalent fractions in math. In ELA, we are continuing our unit on expository stories including learning about the skeletal system. In writing, our animal infographic pieces are something all our students can be proud of! In social studies, we are continuing our journey through the 50 states and be sure to ask us about the songs we have been learning to help in memorizing our states and capitals!
GRADE FIVE
We can't believe it is already March next week! 5th grade has been so busy this month. In Writing, we are focusing on Informative Writing. The kids are enjoying getting really specific with ideas! In Math, we have moved onto fractions! We are starting off with adding and subtracting fractions, and looking at Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers, too. This chapter is so much fun!
In Science, we have been looking at Mixtures and Solutions, and focusing on Chemical and Physical Reactions. We have been combining some ELA and Social Studies by reading King George: What Was His Problem? The Whole Hilarious Story of the American Revolution. This book makes the Revolutionary War so much more interesting (and funny) for the kids!!