Weekly Newsletter
September 29, 2022
News from Principal Emma Liebowitz
Mountain Day, our all school hike, will take place on Friday, October 7th. We will leave Sanderson Academy between 9:15-9:30. We will hike together and stop for a snack at Bug Hill Road. Some classes will return back to school after snack and others will hike on. Each classroom teacher will communicate their plan with caregivers. Please make sure your child(ren) are dressed for hiking with the appropriate footwear. Students should bring a snack and water bottle. Bagged lunches will be available. There is no rain date for this event but if it canceled we will seek an alternate day. Everyone is welcome to join us!!
PTO News: Ashfield Fall Festival
The PTO would like to thank everyone that has signed up so far to help with the Ashfield Fall Festival. We still need more help with the Walking Taco and Seltzer booth. Please click on this link to sign up. All money raised goes directly to our students, their teachers and their classrooms.
PTO News: October Meeting
The next PTO meeting will be virtual this coming Monday, October 3rd at 7:30pm. We will be discussing the fall festival, grants, and upcoming events. Here is the information to join.
https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/97063972715
Meeting ID: 970 6397 2715
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,97063972715# US (Washington DC)
+13092053325,,97063972715# US
Sanderson PTO has a Facebook page. It is called Friends of Sanderson Academy. Like Us!
PTO News: Local Goods
Local Goods orders are due Friday October 7, 2022
Sanderson Academy is proud to present our 14th annual LOCAL GOODS 2022 fundraiser. Many hands went into making this wonderful catalog which offers locally crafted gifts and products.We hope you shop from this catalog and enjoy the items that our local area has to offer. Not only does a portion of the proceeds from every product go back to Sanderson Academy, all of the dollars spent will stay in our community and support our local artists, farmers, and business owners. We know from seasons past that the wonderful community support for The Local Goods Catalog has the potential to bring incredible vibrancy and programming to Sanderson Academy.
Thank you,
The Sanderson Academy Local Goods Fundraising Committee
Events/Calendar
Friday, September 30: Third grade to Mt Greylock
Monday, October 3: Local Education Council meeting at 3:30
Monday, October 3: PTO meeting at 7:30
Wednesday, October 5: 1:50 Dismissal
Friday, October 7: Mountain Day
Monday, October 10: No School
Tuesday, October 11: Building Evacuation Drill
Wednesday, October 19: 1:50 Dismissal
Thursday, October 20: Bus Evacuation Drill
Wednesday, October 26: 1:50 Dismissal
Monday, October 31: Sugar Rush at 10:00
Monday, October 31: Costume Parade at 2:00
Link to Sanderson Academy calendar.
Health Office News from Nurse Loranna
Please see the following message from the nurse leader: COVID-19 TESTING REMINDER
Just a reminder that we are NOT allowed to test students or staff for Covid-19 this school year. We were informed at the very end of the last school year that the State would no longer cover our district for testing. We had an abundance of iHealth test kits at the end of the school year that the State said we can give to people for self use. The school nurse is not allowed to perform, supervise, or advise on the use of these tests.
The expiration date on the kits says they are expired but the expiration date was actually extended to Oct. 23, 2022. After that date, all iHealth test kits obtained through the school should be thrown away. You can obtain 8 free antigen self test kits, per person, from your pharmacy that will be charged to your insurance. Some people can pick them up for free. Others may need to pay upfront and be reimbursed by your insurance company. It really depends on your insurance. Call your pharmacy with any questions.
You can also call your local Board of Health. Many of them have antigen self tests free of charge for their citizens.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Donna Weber, MSN, BSN, RN
MTRS/HRS District Nurse Leader
413-625-9811 ext. 1334
Preschool News from Ms. Freeman
This week in our classroom our butterfly emerged from its chrysalis that we have been checking on daily!! We released it in our school garden…it was a boy Monarch butterfly. We have been creating artwork around the theme of butterflies this week…paper plate caterpillars, folded painted butterflies and colorful window butterflies!
Preschool News from Ms. Melanie
We released our last butterfly this week, a big and beautiful boy butterfly. We knew it was a boy because it had two black spots on its back. We put him on a flower in the warm sunlight and he was gone when we returned from our outdoor classroom–maybe he is already on his way to Mexico!
We made some yummy applesauce out of the last of the apples we picked. We chopped them all up, put them in the crock pot and they simmered while we were outside. We came in for a warm and delicious treat on a chilly fall day!
Our third-grade buddies planned a fun fall project for us. They outlined a tree on paper and our preschoolers used brown crayons to color the tree. Then we glued on dry leaves that we scrunched up with our hands. It smelled like fall!
Kindergarten News from Ms. Sarah
We are happy to announce the successful release of 3 boy and 8 girl butterflies! We also did a life cycle sequencing activity to bring closure to this science unit.
We had a garden harvest party to pull up the carrots that last year’s kindergarten classes planted for us. The kids got to enjoy eating some for snack and we donated the rest to Ms. Kate in the kitchen to use for school lunches.
First Grade News from Ms. Wyckoff
One of our morning meeting components is sharing. Each day of the week we have a different sharing prompt. So far it seems our favorite is wishful Wednesday where each child thinks of someone to send a wish to. This could be a family member, a friend, a classmate or a teacher. Our most recent wishful Wednesday wishes included: “sending a wish to a teacher to have a great day” , “A wish to my younger sister to have a good day at home” “A wish to a classmate to have a great day at school” “A wish to an older sisters friend” and “A wish to my friend from soccer” It’s a wonderful way to begin our day! Some other shares are Memory Monday, Tell us Tuesday, Thankful Thursday and Flashback Friday.
Second Grade News from Ms. Robertson
During our Fundations (phonics and spelling) block, we have been reviewing the short vowels and their respective sounds using word families such as -ap (map, nap, clap, snap) and -ot (cot, jot, slot, knot). These lessons also lend themselves to the discussion of other language skills, such as silent letters (Ex. the silent k that comes before the n in knot) and homophones (Ex. cot/caught and not/knot). We are also using the word families to write sentences, such as “The class is traveling with a map to Hawaii.”, allowing us to review the use of capitals and periods and the importance of leaving spaces between words.
Language skills have also been a part of our morning meeting activity time this week as we enjoyed an activity called “Verbdoodle”. We discussed that a verb is an action word and then we brainstormed a list of verbs, such as drink, smile, dance, and wash. To do the activity, one person chose a verb from the list and used it in a sentence, but instead of saying the verb, they said “verbdoodle” in its place. For example, “My dad likes to verbdoodle on Saturdays.” Another person then guessed what verb belonged in the sentence. If the guess was incorrect, the person shared another sentence, such as “My dad likes to verbdoodle his car on warm Saturday afternoons.” Another person offered a second guess, such as wash, and if they guessed correctly, they chose a new verb and the play continued.
This week we also continued our reading theme of “Schools”, with the guiding questions of “What is school?” and “Why are schools important?” We are currently using the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds to continue our exploration of the above guiding questions and using our “What is School?” notebooks to explore the feelings of characters and how they can change over the course of a story.
Next Friday is the school’s annual Mountain Day. Please look for additional information pertinent to our class’s day in the Thursday folder. If you have additional questions, please email me at jrobertson@mtrsd.org.
Third Grade News from Ms. Carole
In science we started the year by learning about various climatic regions around the world through a Mystery Science activity. This week we took that learning to the next level and assigned each student a different place on Earth to study, climatologically, for the whole school year. By using the website Wunderground.com, students will be graphing the temperatures and weather throughout the year and note the changes that do or do not occur and compare them with our expectations based on climatological trends.
This week we continued to enjoy the apples we picked from the school campus. Through careful cleaning, cutting, and stewing, we made our own applesauce, which we enjoyed during snack on Wednesday. We added nothing but a bit of cinnamon to our stewed apples, and everyone loved it!
Fifth Grade News from Ms. Johnson
Fifth grade is starting to wrap up first units. Students are putting final touches on their visuals that go with their research of the colonies. They will be presenting what they learned to the class next. They are also finishing their first math unit about volume and multiplying and dividing. In ELA, the first unit of the module is being wrapped up with discussions and comparisons of the characters’ situations to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s exciting and satisfying to complete tasks, reflect on learning, and move to the next challenges.
Sixth Grade News from Ms.Lilly
Sixth grade has been busy preparing for the Ashfield Fall Festival. We will be running a Dime Toss game at the festival, but we need to decide on a few details first! Over the next couple of weeks we will be gathering data to determine what the best distance will be to toss the dimes from, how many attempts are best, and what prizes are fitting for each circle. After we gather the data we will analyze the data and determine how our game will function best. Be sure to stop by and visit the 6th grade game at the Ashfield Fall Festival on Saturday, October 8th and Sunday, October 9th.
News from Ms. Prew
Our fabulous Sanderson students love math! If you are looking for ways to extend math learning at home, please check out the Math At Home website from the Math Learning Center. The site has links to scavenger hunts, online games, practice books, and more! Everything is organized by grade level so it is easy to navigate. As always, please email me with any questions, comments, or concerns. :) aprew@mtrsd.org
Mindful Movement News from Ms. Sue
Here at Sanderson we have been talking about C.A.R.E.S. and what each letter stands for. So this week's theme in Mindful Movement was Cooperation. What does it mean to you? Many answers from the 3rd-6th graders were working well together, working towards a common goal or communicating together to achieve an end result. The game that we did that most put this into practice was called Sticking Together. Two people were given a wooden dowel stick and they needed to work together to keep it between the palms of each of their hands and then challenge each other by moving it to a finger tip. One person was the leader, the other a follower. Next they needed to twist, rotate and possibly step over the wooden stick. And then as they gained confidence, I challenged them to silent minutes during the activity and then gave them a shorter wooden stick to see how different that was. Everyone agreed that this activity helped to understand how important the word Cooperation is in our daily lives. It can be applied to the classroom, out at recess time and even within our homes. How can you be more Cooperative? We created a mantra that said: I can work with others!
Library News from Ms. Wilson
What does a reader look like? Who are you as a reader? This week, grades 4, 5, and 6 have continued to explore these questions with a new project called “Profile of a Reader,” where they are creating autobiographical fliers all about themselves and their interests. Grades 5 and 6 are using Google Drawings to create their fliers, and so far they are off to a great start! First and second grade students designed book covers all about themselves while the third graders created wacky drawings of themselves coded to their reading preferences. Across grade levels, we have been talking about “taking care” in the library, and how we can care for ourselves, others, and the library materials. Pre-K - 1 graders really enjoyed the book, The Digger and the Flower by Joseph Kueffler. Ask them to tell you about it!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN THE LIBRARY! I would love some weekly help with shelving and/or book mending. It would be 30 - 60 minutes per week, or even every other week. No experience needed! 🙂 Please email Robin Wilson at rwilson@mtrsd.org if you are interested.
Community News:
Bus Drivers Needed
Immediate Openings
School Bus Driver Part-time - School Bus Drivers for sports, field trips and afterschool activities September to June. CDL Class B with School Bus and Passenger Endorsement license required. Watch your favorite sport, free admission to local museums for field trips and involvement in your school community programs, all while being paid.
Pay Rate: $19.51 per hour.
Forward cover letter, resume and recommendations to: ktotman@mtrsd.org.
Community Engagement and Enrichment Program News
About Us
Email: eliebowitz@mtrsd.org
Website: https://sanderson.mohawktrailschools.org/
Location: 808 Cape Street, Ashfield, MA, USA
Phone: (413) 628-4404
Facebook: facebook.com/SandersonAcademy