Principal's Weekly
Dr. Beth N. Choquette
Bridge Street School
2 Parsons Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
413-587-1460 (phone) 413-587-1474 (fax)
Dr. Beth N. Choquette, Principal bchoquette@northamtpon-k12.us
Elizabeth Peterson, Administrative Assistant epeterson@northampton-k12.us
Jordan Celino, Secretary jcelino@northampton-k12.us
Nora DeJasu, Head Teacher ndejasu@northampton-k12.us
Translation of the Principal's Weekly
At the top of the weekly email, there's a link that reads "View it in your browser," click that and it takes you to the post on a webpage.
Scroll to the bottom where there's a black menu bar and pick the option that says "Translate."
Select the language you would like it translated in and it will then translate it on the webpage.
Traducción del semanario del director
Le gustaría traducir esta carta de noticias? Aquí están los pasos para traducirlo:
En la parte superior del correo electrónico semanal, hay un enlace que dice "Verlo en su navegador", haga clic en eso y lo llevará a la publicación en una página web.
Desplázate hacia la parte inferior donde hay una barra de menú negra y elige la opción que dice "Traducir".
Seleccione el idioma en el que desea traducirlo y luego lo traducirá en la página web.
A Message from Principal Choquette
Good evening, I hope this finds you well and that you all had a nice weekend. My youngest son was finally able to go to college in-person, he left yesterday. It was hard saying good-bye to him, but I know how excited he was to go. He is a freshman and had to spend his first semester remotely. The transition to college is hard enough, doing it remotely was a challenge. This past year has been hard for kids of all ages, I just hope they come out of all of this stronger and more resilient.
We are ready to go for in-person hybrid learning tomorrow. All Prek-5 students who chose in-person learning will return tomorrow if they attend on the A days and Thursday if they attend on the B days. All students must wear their mask on the bus and in school. Please make sure you have read the hybrid logistics as well as watched the return to school video. Students should bring a water bottle and dress appropriately for the weather as they will be outside for two recesses (after lunch and during what would be their specials time-they do not have specials while in-person, only during remote days).
Please remember that M-Th this week are all half days with dismissal being at 12:20 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Students who attend on Wednesdays will dismiss at 11:30 every Wednesday. Students are not permitted to remain on the playground unsupervised after school. Please make note of where your child's grade enters and exits the building. Any student arriving after 8:50 a.m. must enter through the main door. Caregivers are not permitted to enter the building and office staff is not permitted to have any physical contact with caregivers. If you need to drop something off, please put it in the drop-box outside of the office. This is to keep everyone safe. Thank you for doing your part.
Finally, there is an updated family-student daily checklist. ALL students and families need to do this checklist prior to coming to school in the mornings. Students should not come to school if they have any of the symptoms.
I am so very excited to have the kids back tomorrow. I've missed them so much. Hearing their voices and laughter throughout the building is something I've been looking forward to for a while now.
If you have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Wishing you all good health and please stay safe.
Have a good night.
Caregiver/Teacher Conferences January 22nd, 25th-28th, 2021; No School Teacher Work Day January 29, 2021
January 27th: half-day for ALL students 11:30 dismissal
January 29th: No School-Teacher Work Day
Ms. Lilly's Art Corner
I would like to offer time for families to meet with me during the half days of
conferences. If you would like to meet with me please email me your request with your
available times, child’s name and teacher’s name to: blilly@northampton-k12.us
I look forward to meeting with you.
Respectfully,
Ms. Lilly
Important Information from Nurse Jessica
Update on the Flu Vaccine Mandate
Winter Benchmark Assessments
Important: If you are fully remote and have not signed-up for a time to come in and take the benchmark assessments, please do so asap. Contact your classroom teacher if you have not received the link to sign-up. We are hoping to have assessments completed by the end of the day on Friday.
Social Justice Corner
From REAL (Racial Equity & Learning)
REAL (Racial Equity & Learning) has been working with the JFK Students of Color Alliance (SOCA) and Joseph Krupczynski, an architect/designer with expertise in public exhibition/installations that inspire community conversations around identity, to build an interactive digital exhibition in spring 2021 drawing from stories shared by people about their experiences with race, racism, and whiteness in NPS. Why? Because REAL wants to support conversations about what people are experiencing in our district with regard to these essential topics, as an important step toward creating an anti-racist school district.
Wondering what we mean by story? We mean experiences, observations, thoughts, and visions; tellings of resistance, racism, whiteness, and solidarity... We continue to receive stories--some a single sentence, others much longer--from students, teachers, staff, parents/caregivers, and others with a connection to the district. If you’d like, check out some examples.
We invite you to share your own story using our secure form. We treat everything submitted to us with respect and care, and we will never share a person’s story unless they give us permission to do so.
Reach out to Deborah Keisch with any questions.
REAL Resource Directory
Resource for Caregivers-Hand Hold
Please take a moment to watch this wonderful video as a resource to help you in caring for the mental health and emotional well-being of your children.
Tutoring Resource
I'm hoping that you can help spread the word that Homework House is offering FREE virtual tutoring for children in grades 1-6 by appointment after school. This program is open to all children regardless of school district or household income. Tutoring is provided by trained HH volunteers and sessions are 45 minutes long. Our volunteer tutors are primarily UMASS, Smith and Mt. Holyoke students. For those of you who might have contacts, we are also interested in partnering with schools outside of Holyoke to place our volunteer tutors in classrooms during the remote/hybrid school day. I've attached a flyer about the after school program that has the contact infor mation for my Program Director. I am happy to answer any questions about our virtual programs. Thanks, Virginia
67 So. Mt. Holyoke
Return to School Video
If you have not had a chance to watch our video for the return to school, you can see it here at this link: https://youtu.be/KA-9Kr4PtH8 To translate the video into a different language, please follow these steps.
How to Translate Video
Step One: Click on the video link below.
Step Two: Turn Closed Caption icon on at the bottom right side of video (it looks like a small box with the letters CC in it.)
Step Three: Click on Settings icon at the bottom right side of video (it looks like a little wheel).
Step Four: Select Subtitle language and play video.