Friday Flash
November 10th, 2023
"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." ~Willie Nelson
Notes from the Principal's Office
I am so grateful! Grateful to be part of such an amazing, school community. The staff are kind, and hardworking, the students creative and inquisitive, and the parents and community are understanding and supportive of our school.
As we head into the week before our Thanksgiving holiday break we will be focusing on what gratitude means to each of us. Gratitude is being aware and thankful for the good things that happen in your life. It is easy to want something more or want what someone else has, but thinking like this can only cause us to harbor ill feelings towards others. This week we will help students to reflect on being grateful for the non material things in their lives. It could be the sunrise on their ride to school, the love and acceptance of their family or the encouragement of an adult in their life. Practicing gratitude has many benefits: reducing depression, improving sleep, lessen anxiety, relieve stress and support heart health. I challenge you to find three things to be grateful for this week to help improve both your physical and mental well being.
We are very excited to welcome a hundred guests to our Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday. We appreciate this opportunity to show our gratitude and appreciation to so many members of the Newbury community. We look forward to future opportunities to welcome the community into the school.
Please consider attending our Turkey Trot this Thursday afternoon on the Common.
Wishing You Well!
~Loretta
We will be collecting donations for the wounded warrior project until Thursday. Please consider donating using the link below.
Teacher Spotlight
Chris Crane: Special Education Teacher
Positivity Project: Gratitude
Dear Families,
This week our school community will be focusing on the character strength of Gratitude. Gratitude means you are aware of and thankful for good things that happen.
Gratitude is the quality of feelings and expressing thankfulness and appreciation. It is an affirmation that there is goodness in other people and the world and that we have received that goodness. People with the strength of gratitude have a readiness to show appreciation for kindness and also to return kindness. A leading expert, Robert Emmons, calls gratitude a “relationship-strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people.”
Out of all 24 character strengths, gratitude is the single best predictor of individual well-being. It is correlated with increased energy, empathy, happiness and optimism. And, the great thing about gratitude is that it can be intentionally cultivated. Numerous studies have concluded that gratitude is like a muscle. The more you practice it, the stronger it gets -- and the more you’re able to reap its benefits.
To practice and encourage the character strength of gratitude with your child, please visit the Positivity Project’s P2 for Families (password: P2) where together you will watch a video, read a quote and talk about the answers to three questions.
Have a wonderful week!
Why is Gratitude Important?
Updates from the Music Room
Notes from Mrs. MacMillan
For the month of October Forest school was enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. The 5th and 6th graders worked as archeologists digging up treasures/ clues that each class buried to portray as their own unique civilization.
The 3rd and 4th grade continued with the leaf theme reading leaf man, and creating leaf creations. Each student photographed their work with the school's new digital cameras.
3rd through 6th grade learned about Andy Goldsworthy, a nature artist from Scotland that collaborated with nature. They enjoyed creating sculptures with leaves, sticks, rocks then photographing each of them. K, 1 and 2 have continued learning about extreme weather, they made tornadoes with water and dish soap. Ms. Winchester read a book about hibernating and they drew an animal that hibernates.
In Art the students learned about monochromatic art, and it was Pablo Picasso's birthday. They saw some of his 20,000 pieces of artwork, ranging from realism, blue period, rose period and Cubism. The 6th graders are working on cardboard Masks. The 5th graders have been doing monochromatic paintings.The Owls have been introduced to Pop Art and printmaking. The Otters have been working on radiating leaves. 1 and 2 Learned about Yoyoi Kuska and her obsession with dots. We looked at Van Gogh's work and made sunflowers using q-tips. The Monkeys made Line monsters with pastels, paint and cut out shapes.
Pictures from Around the School
Important Dates
November 15th: Community Lunch
November 16th Turkey Trot (Rain date November 17th)
November 19-26th: Thanksgiving Break
Principal Loretta Cruz
Email: loretta.cruz@oesu.org
Website: https://www.nesvt.org/
Location: 214 Pulaski Street, Newbury, VT, USA
Phone: 802-866-5621
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newburyelementaryVT