Momot BearFacts
April 23, 2018
ISAB Award Show
New York State Testing
Grade 3 - 8 Math: Tuesday, May 1 - Wednesday, May 2
Grade 4 Science (Performance): Wednesday, May 23-Friday, June 1
Grade 4 Science (Written): Monday, June 4
As a district, we will continue to honor and respect the wishes of our parents concerning testing. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your child's teacher or the building principal.
Little Free Library
Need a book? Take a book!
Momot Elementary is the proud home of a new Little Free Library outside our main entrance. Our Little Free Library offers families a convenient place to find free children's books to read. Unlike a traditional library, books in the Little Free Library do not need to be returned - feel free to keep them forever or share them with a friend!
At this time we do not need any donations in order to keep our Little Free Library stocked. If you have any questions regarding our Little Free Library, please email Tasha Nadge at tnadge@plattscsd.org.
Happy reading!
Kindergarten Registration and Screening
If you have a child, or know of a child, who will be five (5) years old ON or BEFORE December 1, 2018, please contact us to sign up for the Kindergarten Screening.
Registration and Screening will take place as follows:
WHERE: Momot Elementary School
WHEN: May 14th, May 15th, June 18th, June 19th - 9am - 2:30pm
HOW: By Appointment ONLY
PHONE: Momot Office @ 518-563-1140
Please call 518-563-1140 to set up your child's screening as soon as possible. Appointments are first-come, first-serve. The registration and screening process will take place at the same time. Your child WILL need to accompany you.
IMPORTANT: Children enrolled in our Momot Pre-K Program DO NOT need to be screened. They will automatically be enrolled in Kindergarten at Bailey or Momot according to geographic location.
Questions? Please feel free to contact us!
Jack and the Beanstalk - Marionette Puppet Show
Bailey/Oak FSA Welcomes: No Strings Marionette Company from Vermont!
When: May 11, 2018 @ 6pm (Doors open at 5:30pm)
Where: Oak Street Elementary School, 108 Oak Street, Plattsburgh
Show Tickets: $6
Raffle Tickets: $1 (or 6 for $5) Win 1 of 4 Marionette Puppets!
For Tickets: Buy in person at Cook & Gardener (139 Tom Miller Rd.), Buy at the door the night of the performance (while supplies last), or Send a check payable to Bailey/Oak FSA, 22 Lynde Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901. Indicate your name, phone number, number of tickets, and the total amount (tickets are $6 each). Pick up your tickets at will-call the night of the show.
QUESTIONS? Visit Event page on Facebook or baileyoakfsa@gmail.com
Late Arrivals
RUDE vs MEAN vs BULLYING - Defining the Differences (By Signe Whitson, The Huffington Post)
Signe Whitson, a child and adolescent therapist, has a timely message for parents and educators: “there is a real need to draw a distinction between behavior that is rude, behavior that is mean and behavior that is characteristic of bullying.”In a HuffPost article, she clarifies the way she identifies the difference and asks adults to remember that distinguishing between them allows “teachers, school administrators, police, youth workers, parents and kids all know what to pay attention to and when to intervene.”
Whitson’s article was prompted by an encounter with a parent, who told her, “Last week, my daughter was bullied really badly after school!" and then went on to describe what Whitson characterized as a benign encounter between playful children throwing leaves. She writes, “While I always want to be careful not to minimize anyone's experience... if kids and parents improperly classify rudeness and mean behavior as bullying -- whether to simply make conversation or to bring attention to their short-term discomfort -- we all run the risk of becoming so sick and tired of hearing the word that this actual life-and-death issue among young people loses its urgency as quickly as it rose to prominence."
So how does Whitson define the differences? Rude, she says, is “inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else.” In children this takes the form of social errors like “burping in someone's face, jumping ahead in line, bragging about achieving the highest grade or even throwing a crushed up pile of leaves in someone's face.” The critical factor? “Incidents of rudeness are usually spontaneous, unplanned inconsideration, based on thoughtlessness, poor manners or narcissism, but not meant to actually hurt someone.”
Being mean involves “purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice).” Unlike unthinking rudeness, “mean behavior very much aims to hurt or depreciate someone….Very often, mean behavior in kids is motivated by angry feelings and/or the misguided goal of propping themselves up in comparison to the person they are putting down.” And while Whitson agrees that both rudeness and mean behavior require correction, they are “different from bullying in important ways that should be understood and differentiated when it comes to intervention.”
Bullying is “intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power….Kids who bully say or do something intentionally hurtful to others and they keep doing it, with no sense of regret or remorse -- even when targets of bullying show or express their hurt or tell the aggressors to stop.” Whitson gives examples of multiple kinds of bullying, including physical and verbal aggression, relational aggression (like social exclusion, hazing, or rumor spreading), and cyberbullying. The key aspect to all of them is the ongoing nature of the behavior, which leaves the victims feeling powerless and fearful.
Whitson is pleased that, in the past few years, “Americans have collectively paid attention to the issue of bullying like never before; millions of school children have been given a voice, 49 states in the U.S. have passed anti-bullying legislation, and thousands of adults have been trained in important strategies to keep kids safe and dignified in schools and communities.” As we continue to improve our response to bullying, she asks all adults who interact with children to remember that “a child's future may depend on a non-jaded adult's ability to discern between rudeness at the bus stop and life-altering bullying.”
Signe Whitson is the author of the bullying prevention book for parents and educators, "8 Keys to End Bullying: Strategies for Parents & Schools" (https://www.amightygirl.com/8-keys-to-end-bullying) -- and an excellent guide for kids ages 8 to 12, "The 8 Keys to End Bullying Activity Book for Kids & Tweens" (https://www.amightygirl.com/8-keys-to-end-bullying-for-kids…)
For a helpful parenting book focused on relational aggression and bullying among young girls, we highly recommend “Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-Proof Girls in the Early Grades” at https://www.amightygirl.com/little-girls-can-be-mean
For a fantastic resource for children that addresses bullying of all types and helps kids learn how to stand up for themselves and others in a positive, productive manner, we recommend "Stand Up for Yourself and Your Friends" for ages 7 to 12 at https://www.amightygirl.com/stand-up-for-yourself-and-your-…
For many bullying prevention books for children in preschool and early elementary school, check out our blog post, "The End of Bullying Begins With Me": Bullying Prevention Books for Young Children," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10255
For books on this topic for tweens and teens, check out our recommendations in "Taking a Stand Against Bullying: Bullying Prevention Books for Tweens and Teens" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10257
And, for books to help teach children how to be a good friend, check out our blog post: “Making and Keeping Friends: 50 Mighty Girl Books About Friendship” at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10315
Muddy Conditions
We recommend that all students have a change of clothes available at school due to the wet and muddy conditions that students will encounter at recess.
Momot Elementary School
Principal: Sue Wilson, sdwilson@plattscsd.org
Assistant Principal: Jamie Maggy, jmaggy@plattscsd.org
Website: www.plattscsd.org
Location: Momot Elementary School, Monty Street, Plattsburgh, NY, USA
Phone: 518-563-1140