2 Parsons Street

Northampton, Massachusetts 01060

413-587-1460 (phone) 413-587-1484 (fax)

Beth N. Choquette, Principal bchoquette@northamtpon-k12.us

Elizabeth Peterson, Administrative Assistant epeterson@northampton-k12.us

Nicole Soutra, Senior Clerk nsoutra@northampton-k12.us

Nora DeJasu, Head Teacher ndejasu@northampton-k12.us

Would you like this news letter translated? Here are the steps to have it translated:

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.

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.

Good evening. It's hard to believe that this is the last Principal's Weekly. Of course, I will keep you updated throughout the summer as we get more information regarding re-opening plans. Last night Dr. Provost presented 10 possible scenarios for re-opening. Please see his slideshow presentation below. None of these are ideal, I know we'd all like things to go back to normal as soon as possible. If you have feedback that you would like to share regarding the scenarios, please email Dr. Provost or the school committee.

Monday will be the last day to pick up student belongings if you have not already. After Monday, we will be getting rid of student belongings. Due to the amount of cleaning and sanitizing that will need to take place over the summer, we will not be able to hang on to personal items.

Teachers will have report cards and class lists completed on the 16th and then they will be mailed out by the end of next week. Teachers spent a great deal of time placing students based off of your input and from what they know about your children as learners. I know that being in a class with their friends is important and we do our best to make sure students have friends in their assigned rooms. These may not be their best friends or friends that they were hoping to be with, there are reasons why teachers place students together or not together, and with a certain teacher. Please trust their professional judgement as they spend all day with your children and know what learning environment will ensure their success and growth both academically and socially. Thank you for understanding and respecting the decisions of our teachers.

The remote learning link will stay up all summer for you to use with your children if you wish. Please be advised that it will not be updated over the summer but the resources and links will still be there for you to use.

I'd like to thank all of our caregivers for everything you have done throughout the year, but especially over these past few months. This has not been easy and I hope you all know how grateful we are for your support. Your children mean the world to us and it saddens all of us at BSS not to be able to wave good-bye on Monday. Even tough these past few months have been a challenge, I couldn't imagine working through such a difficult time with any other group of teachers and staff. Their dedication and what they did to become more proficient with technology and remote learning was truly amazing. We all grew during this time, we all persevered, and we all gained a deeper understanding of what it really means to take care of each other during a time that we have not experienced before.

I hope that you all have a wonderful summer, you deserve time away from remote learning and screens. Make the best of it, enjoy the outdoors, be well, and stay healthy. I long for the day when we can all be together again. Take care, and please, don't hesitate to reach out to me anytime throughout the summer.

Thank you for all that you do!

Love,

Principal Choquette

We had a wonderful virtual 5th grade promotion ceremony on Thursday. Thank you to all of our 5th grade caregivers for all that you have done for BSS over the years. We are going to miss you all. 5th graders, you are amazing! Remember to stay true to who you are and never give up on your hopes and dreams and never stop fighting the injustices in this world. You are the future, you have the power to change the world. Love you all!

RE-OPENING SCENARIOS

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P_CZOGheKeAOc6yuyepzkT1zO43UYqiw/view.

Three-and-a-half minute video about the plans here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9ndQeL9zI&feature=youtu.be.

The PTO will be handing out the new t-shirts in front of the entrance to the office on Monday, June 15th from 3-5 p.m. They are free to every BSS child from K through fifth grade. So please stop by Monday to get your free BSS teacher with are new logo!

If folks can't make it, please email kelseyaflynn@gmail.com.

Finish Strong!
There's still time to sign up for Finish Strong: A Science and Art Opening. In fact, your child has until 8 p.m. this Sunday, June 14 to decide to join the now 20-plus artists and researchers who will be sharing their work on Monday, the official last day of the school.

If you haven't seen it in earlier emails, Finish Strong is a chance for your BSS student to create an art or science project that will be viewed/experienced from a distance outside of your home. A map of the projects is provided on the BSSPTO.org site.

On June 15, a self-guided tour will happen of all the projects throughout the BSS neighborhood and across the city (following proper social distancing guidelines, mask-wearing, etc.)

If your student is up for creating some art or a science project to be part of the Finish Strong tour, fill out this form by Sunday, 8 p.m.

Great News! We received another NEF grant to offer an 8 week summer session of Zoom Improv! Since the 1 month pilot was successful with the 1st-5th graders in Northampton, we are expanding it to include the JFK students. The children were happy to see their friends and do something silly and fun! The 4 NHS alum will continue to help with the teaching and all have been CORI’d.
No previous experience is necessary!
Kate Cardoso is helping me with this project. She has set up the registration through survey monkey to make it easy for parents/guardians to sign their children up. We have also had it translated into Spanish. The classes are 45-50 minutes long on Zoom once a week from the week of June 15th through the week of August 10th.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Please reach out with any questions.

Heidi Haas 413-626-5840

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/zoomimprovsummerenglish

The Northampton Public Schools is conducting a community needs survey. We ask that you please take the time to fill out the survey so we can assess the needs of our families. The results will help guide us in supporting you and your needs as we move forward. Thank you.

Northampton Community Needs Survey/Encuesta de Necesidades Comunitarias de NPS

To access the survey for Northampton Community Needs, please click THIS LINK.

To access this in SPANISH, click THIS LINK.

Many folks have reached out asking for some resources to help talk with their children about race. Here are few that have been shared with me.

https://www.gse.upenn.edu/news/talking-children-after-racial-incidents

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/24/716700866/talking-race-with-young-children

EmbraceRace
At EmbraceRace, we identify, organize – and, as needed, create – the tools, resources, discussion spaces, and networks we need to meet 4 goals:

• Nurture resilience in children of color
• Nurture inclusive, empathetic children of all stripes
• Raise kids who think critically about racial inequity
• Support a movement of kid and adult racial justice advocates for all children

Sankofa Read Aloud Series
From the YouTube channel creator's description: As an educator and a mother in my community, I believe that is is vital that African American children are able to see themselves within the beautiful stories that they read. At Sankofa Read Aloud your child will encounter a variety of short stories written for them by amazing authors. It is my mission to be a resource for teachers and parents in the online learning community as well as the classroom. I look forward to being a part of your village, "It is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind!" New stories are added every day!

Please take a look at the brochures below on some parenting support programs being offered through the NPS CPPI grant. The programs are ideal for parents/caregivers of children ages 3 through 9.

The teachers and I have received emails regarding struggles with log-ins, accessing specific programs, etc. If you are having problems, please start with the "How-To Resource for Families" below from Mr. Cantler. If you continue to have problems after trying his suggestions, please reach out to the classroom teacher and they will put you in touch with Mr. Cantler. He is available to help and happy to do so.

Here a resource to help families with how-tos.

It has English and Spanish PDFs & videos for things like:

-how to log into a chromebook at home

-how to get to Lexia

-how to to get to Google Classroom

Letter from Elementary Principals: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N1K4ghiiQ9DXRjls5sPaWNjaRHohcdHW/

Remote Learning Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11QIJ6IGTZmxOD6XM6sX55UgAYRX3WwqfcEWvRJeNMN4/

Letter for Families of Special Education Students: https://docs.google.com/document/d/114urNiRILULVAIY43MveHCIdnkWBZrUR1nyTGc7UYz0/edit?usp=sharing