North Scituate Elementary School
December 2023
A note from Mrs. Soccio
Trimester 2 begins today, December 1st! Teachers have begun to prepare report cards for distribution and parent/teacher conferences. Please note, report cards will be sent home on Tuesday, December 12th. Parent/teacher conferences will be held on January 9th and 11th. If you have not signed up for a conference, contact Ms. Foster in the office at jennifer.foster@scituateschoolsri.net or 647-4110.
Reminder, as the holidays approach, food items are discouraged from being sent into school due to multiple severe food allergies. Any food items brought into school must be approved by Mrs. McCann one full week prior. You can email Mrs. McCann at Colleen.McCann@scituateschoolsri.net.
As always, I encourage you to reach out with any suggestions, questions, or concerns.
Happy Holidays to you and your families!
Kaitlin M. Soccio, Principal
Announcements & Reminders
- As a reminder, if your child is going to be absent please send a note, call the Front Office or email our new Secretary at jennifer.foster@scituateschoolsri.net.
If you have a change in dismissal for your child, please alert the Front Office before 2:00pm, if possible. This allows us time to inform the teacher and student of the change.
- Please date notes that are sent to school with students. If you are writing a note about dismissal, please write the full name of the person picking up your child.
- Clearly mark water bottles, lunch boxes, etc. with student's name.
WEATHER CHANGES
As we enter fall and winter, it is important that your child is dressed appropriately for school. Students will be going outside for recess with temperatures 28 degrees or above. Please ensure your children are dressed for these conditions, and have a sweatshirt or jacket in their backpacks.
High Five Tuesday*
Mad Science Show
For more than twenty years, Mad Science of Southern MA & RI has been providing exceptional science programming to schools and organizations to spark the imagination and curiosity of children by providing them with safe, fun, and educational activities which instill a clear understanding of what science is and how it affects the world around them. We wrap inquiry-based education in entertainment to create dynamic “edutainment”.
On Friday, November 17th, Jonathan from Mad Science came to provide the Fire and Ice program for us! This Fire and Ice show thrills audiences with impressive science experiments. The event includes foggy dry ice storms and mind-boggling vanishing paper. Students are amazed by a sizzling spoon, shivering quarter, and special bubbly showers!
Students LOVED this program and look forward to having Mad Science back in the Spring.
FOOD DRIVE
Student Council would like to thank everyone who donated canned goods for our November food drive. In total we collected 2,768 items! This was the most successful food drives we have had! Huge thank you to our Student Council co-advisors, Ms. Augustine & Ms. Sloan, for leading this work, and Mr. Cotnoir for his help bringing all the items to the cafeteria.
Winning class: Mrs. Pontarelli's Class
2nd Place: Mrs. Sloan's Class
3rd Place: Mrs. DiLuglio's Class
4th Place: Ms. Robinson's Class
Items were donated to the Trinity Episcopal Church and Scituate Senior Center. Thank you again to all of our families for your generosity and support!
Feinstein Kindness Tree
The Feinstein Foundation challenged us to create a Kindness Tree where students wrote down acts of kindness. Students were excited to hang their act of kindness on the tree to display for others and families.
Positive Office Referrals
PTO's Holiday Shop
Our PTO sponsored Kid’s Holiday Shop will be open on 12/15. A “gift list planner” envelope will be sent home with your child(ren). Please complete the list together, along with the amount you’d like your child to spend per loved one. Volunteers can use this as a guide when helping, and the kids really depend on it to help guide them with their shopping. Students will be able to spend up to $20 in total, not per family member. This ends up being one of the highlights of your child's holiday season!
Classroom Highlights
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Students in Mrs. DiLuglio's class are coaching each other on addition, subtraction, and estimating to see if our answers make sense as they prepare for an upcoming assessment. Great teamwork and focus!
Grade 4
Melanie's mom, Mrs. Bernier, came in and read "Balloons over Broadway" to Ms. Cuttle's class which taught the students about the history behind the Macys day parade. Students worked in groups to create an idea for their own Macys day float. After sketching their ideas they were given balloons, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, construction paper, pom poms and popsicle sticks to make their float as a team. Great team work!
Grade 5
Art with Mrs. Downs
What's happening in STEAM?
Physical Education Update
During the month of November students in grades 3-5 participated in teamwork and cooperation games. The focus was on communication and togetherness. The whole class worked together to accomplish a goal. Below are photos of the cup stacking challenge. The class goal was to make it as high as possible.
Students in grades K-2 participated in chasing, fleeing, and dodging games. The focus was on spatial awareness and moving in safe ways around the gym.
Music with Mrs. Ethier
Health with Mr. Cullen
Holiday Stress!
Tips for helping your child cope with holiday stress
For most children, the holiday season is filled with excitement, fun and happiness! There is a break from school and a chance to spend time with family and friends. There may also be special food, music and family traditions. However, the holidays can be a stressful time for both adults and children. Family plans may be complicated by divorce or the loss of a parent or close relative. Children may be separated from parents due to ongoing military service.
There are a number of things parents can do to help children cope with holiday stress.
Discuss holiday plans well in advance, and let kids participate in decisions when possible. Children benefit from some degree of predictability. Children can become stressed when plans change at the last minute.
If you are traveling, leave extra time and bring kid friendly activities and snacks.
Don’t overschedule. You may not be able to do everything or see everyone. Kids can easily get overtired and cranky during the holidays.
Give kids some down time. Let them have some quiet time, read a book, listen to music or go for a walk together.
Make sure they get plenty of rest. While it may be exciting to stay up late, lack of sleep can lead to increased irritability.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep. For example, don’t promise that a parent will be home in time for the holidays if the decision is out of your control.
Uphold and maintain family traditions even if a parent is absent. Kids count on certain traditions, which can have an important grounding effect by letting kids know that even though some things have changed, other things have remained the same.
Don’t try to compensate for an absent parent with extra gifts. What most kids really want most is your time, attention and reassurance.
Take care of yourself. Try to avoid getting overloaded with obligations. If you feel stressed, your children will sense your stress and increase their tension. Whenever possible, try to eat healthy meals, get to bed at a regularly scheduled time, engage in regular exercise and time for rest.
Keeping predictable routines as much as possible will also help your child transition back to the school routine, when the holiday season comes to a close.
Wishing everyone a happy and relaxing holiday season!
Mrs. Schiappa
School Psychologist
Shawna Swift
School Social Worker
A Note from the school nurse
PTO NEWS
Our annual Christmas in the Village event is on Friday, December 8th from 5:30-7:30pm in our cafeteria. We are looking for bakers for our bake sale and volunteers that night. Click the button below to sign up.
Our Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success with sales over $6,000.00. Thank you to our families for purchasing books and supporting literacy!
If you have any questions, please email Lynn Francazio at northscituatepto@gmail.com.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 17th @ 7:30pm
News from the Scituate School Committee
Important Dates
12/08: Christmas in the Village
- 12/15: Holiday Store
- 12/22: Munchkins & Juice Boxes by PTO
- 12/22: Chorus Concert at 2:00pm
- 12/25-29: No School- Holiday Recess
- 01/01: No School- New Year's Day
- 01/09 & 11: Parent Teacher Conferences
- 01/15: No School- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
North Scituate Elementary School
Email: kaitlin.soccio@scituateschoolri.net
Website: https://nses.scituateschoolsri.net/
Location: 46 Institute Lane, Scituate, RI, USA
Phone: 401-647-4110
Twitter: @NScituateSchool