MHS/WES Newsletter
Thursday, May 9, 2019
News from the Principal
The end of the school year is fast approaching with only 25 days left of school. As excited as I am for summer fun, I honestly wish we had more time with your children. We have lots to accomplish in the next 5 weeks and we plan to make the most of it!
Placement Letters for Class Lists:
Over the next few weeks we will start to build our class lists for next fall. If you have any concerns for placement next year, please send me an email by May 20th. Specific teacher requests will not be granted, however, please feel free to share your child's learning style or concerns for peer relationships.
MCAS: We’re almost finished testing! I couldn’t be more proud of the perseverance and work ethic our students have shown while taking these tests. These tests are long (2 ½ hours for ELA) and very challenging. Our students continue to put forth their best!
Grade 3 - Math, May 9 & 10
Grade 5 - Science, May 14 & 15
MHS Tables: In case you haven’t heard, we have new cafeteria tables at MHS! These fun, round and colorful tables arrived over April vacation. They’ve been a huge hit with our kids.
School Improvement Council: We have 2 open parent positions for next year. The School Improvement Council serves as an advisory board to the administration of Meetinghouse School and Westminster Elementary School. The council gives input to the school improvement plan, as well as budget implications and programmatic changes throughout the school year. School Improvement Council meetings are held monthly and are open to the public. If you are interested, please email me at ktaylor@awrsd.org. If there is a lot of interest, an election will be held at our September PTO meeting.
Hannafords Helps Schools: On Friday, a representative from Hannafords is coming to deliver a check for $1,000 to WES. Thank you to all the families that shop there and deposit school dollars in the collection tower at Hannafords. This money will go to helping families pay for field trips. To learn more about this program and how you can help, click here: https://www.hannaford.com/content.jsp?pageName=HHS&leftNavArea=AboutLeftNav
Thank you for your support!
IMPORTANT DATES
- May 15: Creation Celebration at WES
- May 20-May 24: 5th Grade Nature's Classroom
- May 29: SAVE THE DATE!! Walk to School Day. More info will be coming home soon!
- May 30: Mhs Kindergarten Orientation, Session 3 2 9:30 a.m.
- May 31: HALF day of school 12:00 Noon dismissal (this was previously a full day)
- June 6: 4th Grade State Fair
- June 7: FULL DAY OF SCHOOL (This was previously a half day)
- June 10: WES Spring Music/Chorus Concert for students only
- June 10: WES Spring Music/Chorus Concert at ORHS 6:30 p.m.
- June 11: 5th Grade Promotion Night @ 6:30 p.m.
- June 12: FULL DAY OF SCHOOL
- June 14th: Last Day of School - 1/2 day of school Noon dismissal
From Danielle Pinkes & Alex Kosciak, Adjustment Counselors
1. I know you did your best
2. You have great ideas
3. I love being your mom/dad/grandmom/granddad
4. You make me proud
5. You don't have to be perfect to be amazing
6. Don't be afraid to be yourself
7. We all make mistakes, it's ok
8. I understand you
9. That was really brave what you did
10. You can try again tomorrow
11. Don't compare yourself to anyone else.
12. Its Ok to be scared
13. Being kind does not make you weak
14. I love how you said that
14. I'm listening
15. That was a really good choice.
16. That's a great question
17. Never stop trying
18. Your ideas are great
19. I admire you
20. You make me smile
PTO Staff Appreciation Day
Friday, May 31, 2019
Staff Appreciation Day is a luncheon for the wonderful teachers and staff members who care for and educate our children at MHS and WES. We are excited to host this event and welcome the help from parent volunteers to make this day a great success. Let’s show the MHS and WES staff how much all their efforts mean to us.
Thank you from the PTO
Please contact Annie or Lisa with any questions
Annie Starr 508-274-4124 ann.n.starr@gmail.com
Lisa Adams 207-631-1891 lisasmithadams@gmail.com
Please go to https://signup.com/go/kyJBmre to sign up by Friday, May 17th.
Greetings from the Purple Palette and Paintbrush! ~ Anne Banning
You are all invited to the Art Show
"The Creation Celebration"
Wednesday, May 15 from 6:00-8:00 pm.
There will be 4 hallways full of student artwork from children in grades 2-5. Mr. Lucander and the Jazz band will perform a few selections and there will also be some smaller ensemble groups playing in the lobby. A select few students will be demonstrating various art techniques throughout the building for visitors to watch. Come have your picture taken as "Mona Lisa" in the "Creation Celebration Photo Booth"! Come and go as you wish, even if for just a 10 minute stroll through our children's creativity.
First Grade News!
This is a very exciting time of year in First Grade! The kids have grown so much physically, emotionally and academically! Now it’s their turn to nurture their own little plant. We will be planting sunflower seeds and watching them grow! The kids will learn the parts of the plant and what each part is responsible for. They will learn what a plant needs to grow and keep track of how tall their plant is getting using rulers. The kids will also learn how plants, humans and animals help each other. When the unit ends the kids will be bringing the sunflower plants home to plant in their yards. We love getting pictures in the fall of the kids standing next to their Sunflowers!
Fifth Grade News
The weather is finally showing us that it does remember it is supposed to warm up. If only the sun would stay out too! Fifth graders have the most MCAS testing days and they are really working hard. They have completed the two ELA sessions, two mathematics sessions and next week they will wrap up their testing with two sessions of science, technology and engineering. This is the first year students will take the science portion. We are proud of all our students and their perseverance.
As you are well aware by now, the much anticipated Nature’s Classroom trip is under two weeks away! So much preparation and planning goes into this trip both at school and in your homes. We can’t wait for it to finally be here. Feel free to ask specific questions to your child's teacher as they pop up in the packing process. As you can tell with our weather as of lately, it can vary from cold to hot on a daily basis! A packing tip that we always like to pass along is that packing clothes in labeled ziplock bags has proven to be a very helpful and efficient way. Students then know each day what they’re wearing. We would also like to point out that regardless of whether your child is packing a sleeping bag or blankets, please pack a fitted twin sheet to go over the mattress. Lastly, on the day we depart for Camp Cody, students will need to be driven to school where we will meet in the cafeteria to send them off by 7:30AM.
You should have already received a notice of important dates for Fifth grade. Please stay tuned for more information regarding these events. June is very busy! Thanks so much for your continued support.
AVAILABLE OPENINGS! AWRSD Pre-School
The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District has openings available
in its afternoon integrated preschool program for children
who will be 4 by August 31st. Students may attend either
4 or 5 afternoons per week following the school schedule.
The Learning Tree Preschool, located at J.R. Briggs
School in Ashburnham, welcomes resident children
from Ashburnham and Westminster as peers. The
program runs from 12-2:30 PM and follows the
school year calendar. Tuition is $2660/yr.
Please contact us at the CFCE Program office at Meeting-
house Elementary School, 8 South Street, in Westminster,
via phone (978.874.0163) or email at
If you suspect your 3 or 4-year-old child has a disa-
bility contact the Special Education Department – for
Ashburnham and Westminster: 978-827-3062, for
Ashby, Townsend and Pepperell: 978-433-6150, for
Groton and Dunstable: 978-448-2297.