The Hiawatha Buzz!
April 30th, 2022
Growing hearts and minds for a better today and tomorrow: every day, every way, every one.
Principal's Message
Dear families,
Our first in person Green Mountain Sing was a success! The students were an amazing interactive audience. We went over whole school expectations for assemblies, sang some songs led by Mr. Evans and Ms. Krikorian, and Mrs Hultgren's second grade class led us with singing and movements to This Land is Your Land.
I hope everyone enjoys the sunny weekend!
Take care,
Katherine
News from the Learning Center
You may have noticed that your child is bringing home more books from the learning center lately. We recently increased the number of books each grade level can borrow. There was a lot of excitement when I made this announcement! I’m happy to say most of the students are taking full advantage of borrowing extra books.
Right now in the library, I am working on my final book order for the year. You might wonder how librarians decide which books to purchase for their school libraries. I read many reviews in periodicals such as School Library Journal, Kids Indie Next List, and Kirkus Reviews. Vermont also has a very active librarian list-serv where professionals suggest or ask for recommendations based on topic and/or genre. One of my favorite resources to use for book recommendations is OUR STUDENTS! Nothing makes me happier than a student sharing their excitement about a new favorite book or series. I am constantly writing down new titles and reading reviews to find books to enhance our collection.
Finally, Hiawatha students voted for their favorite Red Clover book this week. I will be sharing the results during our all-school meeting next week. Which book will win?
SEL update from Mrs. Weston
Hello Families
Our current schoolwide SEL theme is social problem solving. In this work, students are learning to recognize social problems between people, and use strategies to solve them. We are learning that conflict is a part of life, and that all people have conflicts big and small. Students will be learning the critical conflict resolution skills of regulation, communication, compromise and making amends. Below are our grade level learning targets in this work.
Kindergarten:
Identifying social problems
Practicing regulation to support solving
Apologizing, sharing and taking turns as problem solving strategies
1st Grade:
Speaking about social problems respectfully
Dealing with accidental problems
Identifying your wants and needs in problem solving
Learning how to make amends
2nd Grade:
Taking blame out of describing problems
Generating multiple solutions to problems
Choosing solutions best for various parties
Practicing making amends
3rd Grade
Practice a structured approach to problem solving
Identify wants and needs of all parties to a problem
Balance wants and needs of all parties to solve a problem
Dance Residency Update!
As most of you know, we are working with dance artist in residence Karen Amirault for 8 days starting in a few weeks. We’re very excited. We have updated our weather plans. If it is raining on the day of our performances (Thursday, June 2nd) we will not be postponing to Monday the 6th. Instead, we will move our performances inside the school gym and stage on Thursday, June 2nd.
Residency dates: May 23rd through June 2nd. All students PreK through grade 3 will be working with Karen Amirault to develop a dance within the jazz genre.
Performances on Thursday, June 2nd. Performances will be 1:00-2:30 pm and 6:15-7:15 pm. This will happen outside in a tent if weather is good, inside the school gym if weather is bad. All families and interested community members are invited to the performances. Please save the date. More details to come.
"The Importance of Representation in Media” Workshop
Join the #EWSD and Akshata Nayak, Founder of Little Patakha and Nutritionist at Alternative Roots Wellness Center, as she leads this workshop geared toward caregivers about "The Importance of Representation in Media" on April 28 from 5-6 p.m. on Zoom.
Representation can be defined as the ways in which societal aspects such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, and social issues are introduced and made visible. We know that diverse representation is critical in informing how young children build their perspectives on their own ethnic-racial group, gender identity, socioeconomic status, etc. as well as that of others.
Register to attend the workshop here: https://tinyurl.com/mediawkshp.
Supporting Homeschool Families and Independent Schools in Understanding Special Education
Register for the virtual session here.
“The Sum of Us” Community Book Talk
Voices for Inclusion in Essex and Westford (VIEW) & Phoenix Books will hold a virtual, community conversation about the book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together,” by Heather McGhee on May 4 from 7-8 PM.
To register, go to tinyurl.com/viewbooktalk. Questions can be directed to Michelle Teegarden at mteegarden@essex.org.
No bus running dates...
May 4th - No GREEN/BLUE bus
May 5th - No RED bus
May 11th - No RED bus
May 12th - No GREEN/BLUE bus
May 19th - No RED bus
May 23rd - No GREEN/BLUE bus
May 31st - No RED bus
June 1st - No GREEN/BLUE bus
June 8th - No RED bus
June 10th - No GREEN/BLUE bus
*** You can see this list on our website's home page too!***
Hiawatha Elementary School
Email: mmurphyertle@ewsd.org
Website: www.EWSD.org/HIA
Location: 30 Hiawatha Avenue, Essex Junction, VT, USA
Phone: 802-878-1384