Happy Friday SRES Families!
A huge thank you to Vermont Academy for inviting us to join them for their Earth Day celebration Thursday afternoon! As you can see in the photos within this newsletter, our students had a terrific time. Ask your student what they learned at the river table or if they powered the smoothie machine!
Our 4th grade class did a terrific job leading our All School Meeting this morning. We learned about their Wax Museum project and the person they chose to research, and they taught a new activity-Gone Camping! Ask your student how to play (HINT: walk, campfire, tent, s'more)!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! On Friday, April 28th, Cliff Sunflower will be here to share his knowledge about honey bees! Following an all-school presentation, there will be workshops with stations that need volunteer support.
- 8:25-9:10: Presentation (household family members are welcome!)
- 9:10-3pm: Volunteers (looking for 6) are needed
- PLEASE contact me by Wednesday, April 26th if you are able to volunteer (we will need you to complete a Consent for Release of Registry Information form).
Important dates:
- April 25th: Relocation drill (we will walk to one of our relocation sites as part of our required safety drills)
- Weeks of May 8th and 15th: VT CAP (new VT State assessment) for 3rd/4th grade
- May 10th: Early Release
- SAVE THE DATE: May 25th...BOOK BINGO! (an evening Title I family engagement event)
Have a lovely weekend!
Your partner in education,
Laura Hazard
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LAST DAY OF SCHOOL CORRECTION
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Spring/Summer P-EBT Information
Vermont will be issuing a final round of Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) benefits for Summer 2023. All students at our school qualify for a Summer P-EBT benefit of $120 per student. This is because of the way that we are offering free school meals to all students this year.
The benefit will be sent to the head of household and mailing address that we have on file for your student. If you have moved or need to update the head of household, please let us know by Wednesday, May 10th. To make changes, please contact:
Sara Wunderle - sara.wunderle@wnesu.com - 802-869-2637
These benefits will be sent out by mid-August. If your student missed school for a COVID-related reason between February 2023 and May 11, 2023, you will receive benefits for those days at the same time.
Please see Frequently‐Asked Questions (FAQs) About School Pandemic EBT (P‐EBT) for more information. If you need to request a new card or have more questions about P-EBT, visit https://dcf.vermont.gov/esd/P-EBT or call 1‐800‐479‐6151, option 7.
Dear Saxtons River After-School Program Households,
Due to unforeseen circumstances, there will be no bus for the After-School Program(ASP) at SRES for the remainder of the school year. We understand this may be a burden for some of our families and may impact some students' ability to attend. The ASP bus will not run beginning Monday, April 24. As a result, ASP families will need to arrange a pick-up option at the school.
We will be extending pick-up time from 4:45 pm to 5:00 pm to accommodate those pick-ups.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you are an After-School Program family impacted by transportation change, please contact Tina White (tina.white@wnesu.com, the SRES ASP Site Coordinator) to confirm your family’s pick-up arrangements for 4/24 to the end of the school year.
If you have any ASP questions or concerns please contact Sarah Doran (Sarah.Doran@wnesu.com , the WNESU Director of After-School Programs. )
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Illnesses
Your child should stay home when:
- They have a fever
- They are vomiting
- They have diarrhea
- They have COVID-19
- Temperature is 100.4 or higher
- Vomiting within the last 24 hours
- Diarrhea within the last 24 hours
- When they test positive
Your child can return when:
- They are fever free for 24 hours without the use of a fever reducer.
- They are free from vomiting for at least 24 hours.
- They are free from diarrhea for at least 24 hours.
- They have completed a 5 day quarantine and they are fever free for 24 hours and symptoms have improved.
Free Dental Day
FREE DENTAL DAY
May 12, 2023
8:00-3:00 pm
Bowman Dental is offering free dental services. Please visit their website for more information!
Our week back from vacation has been a busy one! We have been working on finishing our Frog Unit and moving on to our Plant Unit.
In Math we are working on subtraction. Kindergarteners have been working on identifying whole and part in a subtraction equation. They have also been learning names of 3D shapes and identifying them.
In ELA we have been continuing our Reading Groups. It is wonderful to see how these Kindergarteners have grown as readers! We are also working on a writing project. They have enjoyed working on writing and coming up with their own sentences.
Before break we got to watch out our window as a tree company took down trees on the bank by the school. The entire class watched as the crew worked.
Please remember water bottles with the weather beginning to warm up, it will be important that they have water at their tables.
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☆ Reading: During Reader’s Workshop time we have been reading poetry books, such as “Mud” by Mary Lyn Ray and “Puddles” by Jonathan London, to celebrate National Poetry Month. We discussed how the words in the poem can make us use our senses or feelings to visualize what is happening in the poem.
☆ Fundations: In Fundations time, we have been learning about vowel-consonant-e patterns. We have been learning how when we see “silent e” or “magic e” at the end of the word it makes the vowel say their name. (e.g. lake, spoke, bike). Ask your first grade to spy magic e words in their reading and writing!
☆ Math: The first graders have been working on decomposing numbers within 100 to begin our adding and subtracting two-digit numbers with place value. We made 100 bead number strings, explored with ten frames and base 10 blocks how to build 2-digit numbers within 100. We learned new games during our math menu time such as “Race to the Top: How Many Tens?”, “Drop It Sticks”, and “Adding Tens” to help us practice these skills.
☆ Writing: Students have been continuing to work on opinion writing. We wrote about the topic “Which is your favorite season?” and worked on sharing our opinion as a topic statement and stating at least three reasons to support our opinion. Next we will be working on adding a conclusion to our opinion writing pieces.
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Math: The third graders have begun to study fractions. They have learned that fractions are a part of a whole. To learn this skill, they created “Pizzas” from paper plates to find out what ½, ¼, and ⅛ look like in relation to the whole plate.
Reading: The third graders have continued to study R-controlled vowel sounds and how vowel sounds change when followed by the letter “R.” They have also started to practice how to take standardized tests.
Writing: The third grade students continued to work on their fantasy stories. They worked with partners to practice their peer editing skills.
Social Studies: The students have started a unit learning how Native Americans migrated to where they are today. After studying migration, the third graders will focus on the Abenaki past and present.
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The Scholastic Book Fair returns to Saxtons River Elementary School in one month! Students get very excited about the yearly book fair each year. There will be a special family night for shopping at the book fair on Thursday 5/25/23, with other fun family literacy activities and prizes that night. Stay tuned for more details!
Want to learn about setting up an e-wallet for easy book fair payment?
Click here to visit the homepage for the fair:
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/saxtonsriverelemschool1
You can also scan this free UR code with your phone to view books that will be available, as well as other information:
https://www.qr-code-generator.com/
Feel free to reach out to me with any Book Fair (or library!) questions! 📖 📚
In other library news:
During the visit to Vermont Academy on Thursday 4/20 to celebrate Earth Day, most SRES classes saw beautiful fairy houses on the campus. Today I read a follow up book called Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane to continue the magic. The epilogue included ideas for children to build fairy houses, and we had great discussions about natural materials on the SRES playground the students could use if they wanted to build their own.
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First Grade
We are creating a mixed media lion using our drawing, painting, and collage skills! We read the book In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer. After reading our book we began this project by drawing the lion and lambs face to use for next class!
These artists began reading the book, The Fantastic Jungles of Henry Rousseau by Michelle Markel to learn about the life of Henry Rousseau. We learned how he was a self-taught painter from France who started painting at the age of 40. Inspired by his artistic life and style, we are creating our own fantastic jungles! We began by painting shades and tints of green for our jungles and are now working on drawing animals to live within our jungle!
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SRES ASP DANCE CLUB PERFORMANCE
Israel Cavanagh, was brought on to work at Saxtons River Elementary Schools After School Programs to work with ASP students on a musical theater dance. Over the past six weeks the SRES ASP students have had fun learning and practicing foundational jazz dance steps which consist of passe, grand battements, chasse, ball changes, pivot turns, kick ball changes, chaine turns, jazz squares, pas de bourree, ponies, step drags, and pique turns.
SRES ASP students will perform Through The Looking Glass, by the original Broadway cast of Wonderland. Performances will take place on Thursday, April 27th at 2:45 pm (for the SRES students & teachers) and 4:30 pm (for the SRES ASP families and friends) at the multipurpose room at Saxtons River Elementary School.
Israel Cavanagh is a dance teacher with seven years of experience teaching a variety of styles of dance to all ages at Green Mountain Camp for Girls, with World Under Wonder Theater, and in various public schools in Vermont and Massachusetts. She has also choreographed work for community projects including Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens (2016), and Beauty and the Beast (2019). In addition, Israel has a total of twenty five years of technical dance training, having performed in numerous shows at Bridgewater State University while earning a Bachelor's degree in dance education, before taking a break to intern with the Walt Disney Company at their Florida theme park and pursue auditions with the company. Israel specializes in tap and jazz styles, including both theater and street jazz, and regularly spends her time reading about new research and techniques in dance regarding teaching practices and stylistic trends. When not dancing, Israel can be found reading or crafting with UV resin.
SAXTONS RIVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
