Best of Bennet
March 11, 2022
From the Principal
Our students and staff have transitioned nicely to our optional mask protocol. Please know, whether masked or not, we are still encouraging the school community, to the best of our ability, to follow the safety measures that have been in place (distancing, washing hands. etc.). Thank you all for your support as we continue our efforts to keep our school community as safe as possible.
Our 3rd quarter progress report grades will be available by the end of the day Tuesday, 3/15/22. A blackboard message will go out when grades are posted in Home Access Center.
Thank you all for your consistent support as we all work together to support your children!
With appreciation!
Joe Chella, Principal
Can my child go to school today?
Has your child or a family member been in close contact with a known positive Covid person?
Does your child or a family member have a persistent cough, or other respiratory symptoms, shortness of breath, lung congestion?
Has your child or a family member lost the ability to smell or taste?
Does your child or a family member have a fever over 100 F?
If you have answered YES to any of these questions for you or your child, your child should stay home and you should call the school absentee line.
If you answered YES to any of these questions for a member of your family, please contact the school nurse for advice prior to sending your child to school.
Additional Items Requested for Ukraine Backpacks:
There is also a specific need for teen backpacks.
Female backpacks might include feminine products, deodorant, face wipes, hair ties, etc.
Boy's packs might include deodorant, hair comb, face wash/wipes, etc.
Appropriate for any backpack would be packaged snacks, sanitizer, decks of cards or UNO, etc.
MASKS ARE OPTIONAL
Starting Monday, February 28, masks became optional for most people in school buildings. It has been so nice to see so many smiling faces!! Many students and staff continue to wear their masks and that's okay too!!
Students or staff who test positive for COVID-19 will quarantine for 5 days and wear a mask for five days following their return to school as stated in the current CDC guidelines.
Does your child ride a bus? Do they need to go home with a friend?
A child may only ride the bus they are assigned to. If your child is not a bus rider they may not go home that way with a friend. Likewise, if your child is a bus rider, they may not ride a friend's bus, only their own. If your child is on the same bus as a friend and you need them to get off at a different stop there is a protocol. A written note should be sent in with your child and given to the office in the morning. At that point a staff member will call home to verify the plan and scan the note to the Transportation Department, who will then communicate with the bus company.
This is only if your child needs to get off at a different stop on their own bus. No bus changes will be made. This policy is for the safety and protection of your student. Thank you for your coopertion.
Attendance Line - 860-647-3582
Please take note, even if your child is in quarantine, it is important to call them in absent if they are to ill to complete assignments or participate in remote learning (if they qualify).
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CVS
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Things to note on the calendar:
Progress notes will be posted in Home Access Center the week of March 14. If your child earned a D or below, progress notes will be mailed home that week as well.
Monday, March 21 is Down Syndrome Awareness Day!
Wednesday, March 23, Virtual Art Night!
REMEMBER WE HAVE EARLY RELEASE EVERY WEDNESDAY THROUGH JUNE 1st. Students will dismiss at 1:15 on Wedndesdays.
Home Access Center is where you access your child's grades. If you do not know your HAC information please email Mrs. Turner (b39hturn@mpspride.org). You can see your child's grades, attendance and progress notes as well as report cards, so take note of the different tabs.
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Parents please help!
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We are Nut-Free this year!
Bring those bottles in!
What's for lunch?
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Musical Notes
We are very excited to announce that we will have concerts again this spring! Below are the concert dates:
6th grade concert is Wednesday, May 4th at 7 pm
5th grade concert is Thursday, May 5th at 7 pm
Sixth grade Bennet Singers, Jazz Band, and String Ensemble will perform on the May 4th concert and Fifth grade Bennet Singers will perform on the May 5th concert. We have really enjoyed teaching these before and after school clubs the last few weeks. The students have been very enthusiastic about singing and playing!
Our 6th grade general music students have been working on their tonal and rhythmic skills this month. We have been using xylophones, drums, and rhythm sticks to practice these patterns, as well as their singing voices. They are such wonderful singers! We are also in the initial phases of planning for our Spring Concert in May; repertoire has been chosen and sign up sheets will be sent home in the next few weeks.
Our 5th grade general music students are singing! These students are continuing to learn how to read rhythms and simple melodies. We are also learning about different genres of music, as well as examples of musicians within each genre. We will soon learn about different musical instruments around the world. General music students will be given the opportunity to sing in the Spring concert, along with Bennet Singers, in May. There will be more information sent home about the concert in the coming weeks.
Fifth grade band students are hard at work learning eighth notes, while working on their pitch reading fundamentals. Sixth grade band students are progressing through the book and many classes are almost finished with the book. They are also very excited to be learning music for our Spring concert. Students are making progress each and every day!
Fifth and Sixth grade Orchestra students have been working on note reading and learning new rhythms. Students are working on their two ensemble songs. These songs use different ensemble skills where different students are playing different parts at the same time. The students are enjoying this challenge.
Please do not hesitate to contact the music department with any questions that you may have. Also, please visit our Bennet Music Department website to meet us and see our Musicians of the Month! The Bennet Music teachers each choose a student from one of their classes that is making a great effort and showing a positive attitude to be Musician of the Month. We look forward to teaching your children for the remainder of the year!
Ms. Daigle, Mr. Garrison, Ms. Gelb, Ms. Jordan, Ms. Kish, Mrs. Mellen
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Eastern Region Middle School Festival
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It all adds up in Math class!
Happy PI Day! For those of you who love to celebrate Pi Day, here are some activities that you may choose to do at home.
Please ask students to share with you what they are learning about in Dreambox. They can find the link in the MPS K-8 Resource Page.
6th Grade Happenings
From the classrooms of: Grace De Angelis, Mike Menefee, Erin O’Hara, and Krishna Longanecker:
Humanities - Spring season is approaching us! Students have been working hard in Humanities, building a solid foundation of essay construction and claim writing skills. In Language Arts, we have been reading a historical fiction text titled Refugee. We have integrated reading and writing to write a literary essay on our Refugee characters. At the beginning of the story we worked to orient ourselves with the characters, the setting, and the historical conflict. Students created a thesis that encompassed their character as a whole. As we have continued to read the story, students have been gathering evidence that supports their claim. They learned how to summarize, story-tell, and quote evidence within an essay.
The next steps are to analyze their evidence. Students do this by adding commentary that helps strengthen their argument. This is challenging for students and will take a lot of practice. As we are nearing the last third of our book, we are really starting to see the characters change. We are analyzing how they are changing and the causes of the change. We will also start talking about theme. Students will learn how to synthesize the three character’s story lines to create a strong theme statement. They will then be taught how to support that theme with evidence.
Student's vocabulary and grammar skills have improved tremendously throughout the year using the website Flocabulary. Please have your child check Flocabulary frequently to make sure they are caught up on all assignments.
In Social Studies, this quarter we will also spend some time analyzing the current events of the world in relation to the Refugee readings. How do they influence us? How do they deceive us? Students will be able to take these skills with them, to help them navigate the tricky and sometimes congested landscape of the modern world. With so many people and sources vying for their attention, the goal is to get students to be able to quickly make smart decisions, using critical thinking and applying common sense. Thank you for all you do, and all you have done, to help your child succeed throughout their 6th grade journey.
Math - We just completed a unit on rules, patterns and functions/equations, Now, we have started our unit on ratios, rates, unit rates, equivalent ratios and proportions. Although we are still early in the unit, we are seeing the connection to previous learning. It is important that we remind the students that math is cumulative. We are constantly building on prior knowledge.
Our students began studying fractions several years ago. During the last few years, they have studied equivalent fractions. That learning relates directly to our current study of equivalent ratios. We have to also spiral back to greatest common factor and the concept of simplifying fractions. Please take some time to talk with your child about these concepts. Your continued support makes all the difference.
A reminder that all students are expected to complete a minimum of 60 minutes and 6 lessons of DreamBox each week. Our team has also added XtraMath, which is a support program to practice basic math facts.
Science - We started a new unit all about Adaptation. We began with a look at the peppered moths in England, and how natural selection helped these moths adapt to their changing environment. We learned that during the Industrial Revolution, smoke from factories filled the air and peppered moths evolved to a darker color. When environmentalists shared the negative impacts of air pollution on organisms, new regulations meant cleaner skies and the peppered moths evolved back to their original peppered appearance. How cool is that?
Over the course of this unit, students will come back to the big question, 'Should we intervene or let nature take its course?’ After we complete a lesson, students will take what they have learned and apply it back to the salmon we’re raising in our classroom or another endangered species. Later this week, students will share their google slides with each other and we will have a debate.
Students are assigned vocabulary work every week through Flocabulary. The expectation is that students will work on vocabulary practice as homework and come prepared to take the vocabulary quiz on the assigned day. Please remind your student to spend a few minutes each night reviewing these vocabulary lessons.
Please also remind your child to:
Charge their chromebook each night
Bring a water bottle
Check that they have all school supplies including a pencil
Check out some photos from the classes below!
From the classrooms of Ms. Pietkevich and Mr. Lemay:
ELA and Social Studies with Ms. Pietkevich:
In Reading we are wrapping up our Informational unit. We have been exploring how nonfiction becomes more complex as we look at text features, text structures and finding main ideas. Coming up we will dive into writing informational pieces while connecting our learning to colonial life.
In Social Studies we are exploring what life was like in colonial times. We will focus specifically on the New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. Currently, students are creating maps of the New England Colonies by using an Atlas.
Math and Science with Mr. Lemay:
In math class we are wrapping up unit four where your children have been learning how to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers. The kids have been doing excellent and are looking forward to starting our next unit on multiplying fractions. In science class, we are learning about the earth’s spheres focusing on the geosphere currently. Students have taken a journey on the rock cycle and have studied and classified rocks based on their characteristics. We will also be making our own “rocks” in an upcoming lab which students are truly excited about.
Mrs. Bertuglia's Class
Students have been working hard in both ELA and social studies. We have continued our work with Refugee. We have been planning our literary essay using a boxes and bullets organizer. We have created thesis statements, incorporating a claim about one of our three main characters: Isabel, Mahmoud, or Josef. We have come up with two to three reasons to support our claim, as well as begun the work of finding evidence to support those reasons. Our social studies work has accompanied this book as well. We are working on a research project in which students are collecting information about the country their character is from. This includes researching the geography of the country, it’s history, important people, and current events. Lastly, we have spent time discussing the events in Ukraine. We had the pleasure of hosting Mr. John, one of our security guards, to help us in our class conversations. As a military veteran, we loved to hear his perspective and learn about his experiences. He was happy to answer any of the questions our class had for him! He has created a positive, lasting impact in our classroom!
(Poster made by Stephen K.)
Mr. Pinati's Grade 6 Class:
The Bennet Bear Den
SHOUT OUTS!
We are going to continue highlighting the positives this school year. Throughout the year please let us know who has made you smile, or been a wonderful role model for your child, went that extra mile, or was there when you needed a shoulder. This could be a student, a teacher, support staff, or even an administrator. Remember, we rise by lifting others!
Ms. Conte would like to shout out Ms. Wollert and her students for coming up with a list of questions for our guest speaker, Judith Altmann, a Holocaust survivor who will be meeting with grade 6 in April, after reading the book Refugee. The questions were thoughtful and insightful and showed a genuine interest in Ms. Altmann’s story. We look forward to her visit.
Ms. Marques shouts out to Dylan in Ms. St. Laurent's class. He is awesome with the students in Miss Stahls EveryDay Class that join them for specials. He plays with them in gym and assists them in art and music. He's very encouraging and supportive to all and just a great kid. The students respond to him well. Looks like we may have a future special education teacher among us!!
Ms. Wollert shouts out to Ms. Merwin for going above and beyond for all of the students and staff she works with. We appreciate all of the support she gives us!!
Mrs. Holman shouts out to Kathleen Boccia for being a supportive coworker and an amazing friend! Thank you for all you do!
Mrs. Holman also shouts out to our nurses, Ms Penny, Ms Elisha and Ms. Christie, for holding down Bennet! They work tirelessly to make sure everyone is safe and cared for! Thank you for all you do for us!
Ms. Wilson shouts out to Zain in Ms. Fagan's 5th grade for being a wonderful friend to a classmate who needs a little extra support. He is always sure to bring an extra snack for him and is the kind of friend everyone hopes their child will be.
Ms. Mulholland shouts out to all the students and classrooms that successfully completed the February Dreambox Challenge! See some pictures from the reward celebration along with the new challenge for March below!
We want to hear from parents and staff alike - email cberman@mpspride.org with your shout-out!!
March Dreambox Challenge
Who will meet the Dreambox March Madness Challenge?
How far in the challenge can you get?
Challenge 1:
Week 1 (March 6-12): Complete 60 minutes on Dreambox
Week 2 (March 13-19): Complete 6 lessons
Challenge 2:
Week 3 (March 20- 26): Complete 80 minutes on Dreambox
Week 4 (March 27- April 2): Complete 7 lessons in 7 days
Rewards
This month’s rewards will be STEAM related challenges and games in the Courtyard. These will include Minute to Win-It games and STEAM Challenges.
Complete both Week 1 & 2 - Earn an invite to our STEAM celebration in the courtyard on Wednesday, March 23.
Complete both Week 3 & 4 - Earn an invite to our STEAM celebration in the courtyard on Wednesday, April 6
Nurse's Corner
Parents please talk with your children about not texting or calling home from their cell phones when they feel ill and would like to go home. If your child is not feeling well the protocol is for them to get a pass to the nurse, who will then evaluate their status and determine if a call home is warranted, or if they need a little TLC, a snack, a rest, some ice, etc. and to go back to class. It is becoming an issue with students using their phones and parents arriving unexpectedly.
Bennet School Nurses
Penny Parent & Elisha Mathews
860-647-3582 (p)
860-647-6348 (f)
Attention: Sixth Grade Parents
Requirements for your student to start Grade 7 include:
-a copy of your child's most recent physical dated January 1, 2021 or later
-Tdap booster
-MPV/meningococcal vaccine
These documents can be faxed to Nurse Michaud at 860-647-6348. Please call 860-647-8189 with questions or email cmichaud@mpspride.org.
Christie Michaud BSN RN
Manchester Public Schools
District Nurse Substitute
Take a look at our Virtual Backpack!
PTSA
Jackie Wood- president
Brooke Barber- vice president
Howard Rovegno- treasurer
Deanna Sokola- secretary
Alison Watson- event/fundraiser chairperson
To join the PTSA as a regular member please fill out the membership form below and send it in with your child or email it.
News from the Bennet Office:
Picking your student up early? Please call about 10 minutes ahead and we will have your student ready. Let us know when you arrive and we will meet you at the front door with your student to check your ID. Thanks for being patient with this early dismissal procedure as we limit visitors.
For all technology assistance (including Chromebooks, laptops and iPads), go to the IT Helpdesk or call / text 860-682-0607, Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
- Did you move? Please see the list of required documents. Contact Registrar Heidi Turner to update your information: b39hturn@mpspride.org or 860.647.8275. Remember we cannot change your child's bus information until you have provided your new proof of residency.
- New number? Please remember to update the registrar with any changes to your phone number or email so we can reach you! We send out newsletters twice a month and emails from the principal weekly and you do not want to miss anything!
- New email? If you are reading this on our app and not in your email it may mean we have old information. Please contact Ms. Turner with your new email address so you don't miss out!
Bottle & Can Drive last week
A big THANK YOU to all that contributed cans towards Mrs. Brown's son, Ryan's Eagle Scout project! He was able to collect close to $500! We truly appreciate your generosity!
Thank you for your support,
Ryan Brown
NOTES FROM SECURITY
If you pick up your child utilizing the School Street to Vine Street route please be aware that you may be blocking driveways of the residents on School Street. We have had several compaints about people not being able to get in or out of their driveways as cars are sitting in line, blocking the driveways and not yeilding for a resident to pull in or out. If you are blocking a driveway and see a car trying to get in or out, please yeild to them. It is very frustrating for our neighbors to have to fight to get in and out of their property every day. We appreciate your being aware of your location and helping spread goodwill!
Please be aware as you drive through our pick up/drop off area that students are everywhere!
Please do not stop on the CVS side of Wells Street to drop off or pick up your child. It is much too dangerous to have students crossing that narrow road and causes traffic issues on both sides of the road. Also, there is no parking in the CVS parking lot for drop-off or pick-up.
Please be sure to discuss pick up and drop off plans with your student to eliminate any confusion and keep your plan consistent. Thank you.
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Is there something you would like to see in this newsletter?
Bennet Academy
Email: jchella@mpspride.org
Website: https://www.mpspride.org/Domain/9
Location: 1151 Main Street, Manchester, CT, USA
Phone: 860-647-3571