Staying Connected
January 24, 2024
Important Dates
1/26 Report cards emailed home
1/27 PTO Thunderbirds Game
2/7 PTO Meeting 5:30pm at Woodland School
2/9 PTO Barnes and Noble Night at the Holyoke Barnes & Noble
2/19-2/23 Winter Vacation
A Note From the Principal
I hope this message finds you well. In the coming days your child will receive their report card for term two. Please note that your child may receive a grade of PR which means progressing. This grade is utilized when students are continuing to learn a standard through an entire school year and have not yet mastered the specific standard. If you have any questions about report cards, please reach out to your child’s teacher.
Please see below a reminder about arrival and dismissal procedures.
Arrival and Dismissal
Morning Drop off
If you are dropping off your child, it is expected that you are in line no later than 8:45am. To help the line move along, your child should have their backpack in their lap and be ready to exit the vehicle once you pull in front of the building.
Afternoon Pickup
If you are picking up your child at the end of the day (including Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade it is expected that you are in line no later than 3:15pm. Please make sure you are getting your child into the car as quickly and safely as possible to keep the line moving.
Note:
Please remember parents/guardians should not be parking in the Woodland parking lot and walking their child to drop them off.
As a reminder, ALL VEHICLES MUST STOP FOR A SCHOOL BUS WITH FLASHING RED LIGHTS and not proceed until flashing lights are deactivated.
According to MGL 90 S14 the penalty for violating this statute is as follows:
1st Offense:
CMVI Fine for $255.00
2nd Offense (within two years):
CMVI Fine for $1,005.00 and SIX MONTH RMV license suspension
3rd Offense (within four years):
CMVI Fine for $2,005.00 and ONE YEAR RMV license suspension
If there are additional concerns related to arrival and dismissal we may have to look into other alternatives to our current procedures.
We appreciate your help in making sure that all of our students get to and from school safely and effectively.
Respectfully,
Michael Pescitelli
Principal
2024-2025 District Calendar
The 2024-2025 Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District calendar was approved by the School Committee earlier this month. The calendar is available on our website: https://www.stgrsd.org/community/calendars
Grade Level Updates
Pre-School
During the next month, preschoolers will learn about feelings. During this unit they will learn about different emotions that exist.
In ELA, students will be introduced to and learning Lively Letters z, j, and w and practice letters p, b, t, d, f, v, k, g, q, a, o, m, n, l, r, u, and s. Classes continue to use Heggerty in the classroom twice a week. This program focuses on hearing sounds in words. are practicing rhyming, initial and final sounds, blending and segmenting words, and adding and deleting words.
In Math, students continue to work on learning numbers 1-10 and counting objects using 1:1 correspondence. We will celebrate Valentine’s Day with cards and treats! The children are continuing friendships, learning how to share and taking turns with their peers.
Kindergarten
Math: Kindergarteners will begin to explore how to "make" or "break apart" numbers in our next unit called, Composing and Decomposing Numbers to Ten. While working with physical manipulatives such as counters and connecting cubes, students will understand that there are different ways to compose and decompose a given number. For example, 2+4=6, 1+5=6, 6+0=6, and 3+3 can also equal 6.
ELA: Read Alouds and vocabulary focus on the central topic question, "What does it mean to try hard?" Students will meet characters that despite their different abilities, with a little hard work, patience, and perseverance, they too can achieve their goals. Phonics work will consist of focusing on letters Qu, Ww, Vv, Zz, review of short vowels and begin to study long vowels a and i.
Science and Social Studies: Classes will begin the next Unit of Animals and Habitats. In the first portion of the unit, students will engage in play and exploration activities that allow them to learn and study aquatic habitats. Students will learn about the life cycles of frogs and fish, as well as create their own representations of aquatic life and habitats in Blocks center and Dramatic Play. At the discovery table kindergarteners will investigate how fish move in water.
First Grade
First graders are off to a great start in the new year! Students made their resolutions for 2024 and reviewed Woodland CARES. Students continue to work very hard at showing what is expected of our first graders!
In math, students are continuing to build their math fluency in addition and subtraction through 20. They are also beginning their work in base ten and learning that numbers are composed of tens and ones.
As readers and writers, students continue to practice blending and segmenting their sounds. They have been working on consonant blends with s, l, and r. They are also learning to create, tell, and write a folktale! They are tying in our science thinking, too, as we read and explore all about light and sound. We are looking closely at text features and understanding the differences between fiction and nonfiction.
Second Grade
Second graders are hard at work! In ELA, Module 6, Weather Wise, is underway. During this module, students will learn about different kinds of weather, how weather impacts us, and how the weather changes from season to season. Students will also write a poem about the type of weather of their choosing.
In math, we are working on Unit 5, Numbers to 1,000. In this unit, students will extend their understanding of the base-10 system to include numbers up to 1,000. They will develop their understanding of a hundred as a unit and explore comparing and ordering 3-digit numbers.
In science, our current focus is weathering and erosion. Students will explore different types of landforms, and how forces such as wind and water can affect materials on Earth. This unit will include some hands-on investigations that will allow students to see weather and erosion firsthand and explore ways to prevent it.
Specials
In Art with Ms. Beebe, students just finished wrapping up their artwork for Barnes & Noble night inspired by the books The Tiny Seed (Kindergarten), The Cat In the Hat (Grade 1) and Where the Wild Things Are (Grade 2). We can't wait to see it hanging up in the store on February 9th! We are now working on our extra special artwork for the upcoming Square 1 Art fundraiser. Keep an eye out for stickers and flyers coming home at the end of March!
In Digital Literacy with Mrs. Murray, all grades have been working on block coding courses where they must solve puzzles using code. They work with Bee Bots on giant mats, completing typing lessons, and creating art in Paint 3D! They have also started compiling work which will be put into a book for them to bring home at the end of the year. Everyone has been doing awesome!
In the new year in Music with Mrs. Peirce, each grade has started learning something new about music. Kindergarten students have started discovering their “just right” singing voices and we’ve been enjoying playing singing games like “Jack-in-the-Box" and “Fill the Basket”. First Graders have discovered a rest, which is a beat of silence. We will be exploring how to create our own songs in the coming months with ta, ti-ti, and rest. In Second Grade, we just learned about “la”, which is a new, higher note. Along with “so” and “mi”, we will use “la” to compose songs and perform them on classroom instruments.
K-2 students at Woodland have been learning about Sport Stacking in Physical Education class with Mr. A. Sport Stacking is an exciting sport where students use 12 specially designed cups to up-stack and down-stack in different patterns as fast as they can! Students can continue practicing and learning about this sport on Speedstacks.com where they can view all of the tutorial videos for this sport.
Leading up to winter break in STEM with Mrs. Brown, all 3 grades were learning about how animals prepare for winter through migration, hibernation, or adaptation. We have now moved on to learning about the E in STEM - Engineering! We've started talking about different kinds of engineers, the Engineering Design Process, robots, and have doing fun engineering challenges.
Westfield Boys Lacrosse
Click the button above to register for Westfield Boys Lacrosse
Click the button above to register for Westfield Little League
Click the button above to buy tickets for the Sweetheart Dance
Box Tops for Education
Dear Families,
Are you looking for a quick and easy way to support our school?
Box Tops for Education has been around for over 25 years, and it really can make a difference.
In fact, the Box Tops program has helped give almost one billion dollars to schools since 1996.
The Box Tops app gives participants the ability to earn for any school across the country with just the touch of a button. Plus, the Box Tops app allows you to search for schools that could use a little extra help, so you can help give students in low-income schools the opportunity to succeed.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: Buy participating products and use the Box Tops app to scan your store receipt. The app identifies eligible products and earnings are credited to your designated school online. Even if you’re shopping online or doing grocery pickup, you can still submit your
digital or email receipt with the Box Tops app and earn. Twice a year, our school gets a check!
See a list of participating products at
Box Tops earnings really add up, and the more people that participate, the bigger the impact we can make. So let’s give our teachers the support they need and give more kids the opportunity to succeed. Together, we can help make a big difference.
DON’T HAVE THE APP YET? DOWNLOAD IT TODAY!
LEARN MORE ABOUT BOX TOPS AT BTFE.COM
District Calendar
Substitutes Wanted
Woodland School needs substitutes for the 23-24 school year. Being a substitute offers great flexibility, because you can choose the days you want to work! When teachers are absent, they leave the substitute a detailed lesson plan to follow. Interested? Have questions? Give us a call at 413-569-6598.