The Buzz at Leeds
November 22, 2021
Message from Principal Wenz
This season brings about a time to be thankful. I am so grateful for our Leeds' students, caregivers, and educators, as we are so fortunate to have such a caring learning community. This week I had the pleasure of watching students use a cider press and taste the cider they made. Additionally, students were engaged in our Visual Thinking Strategies lessons as part of an NEF grant and supported by our PTO. Students discussed what they thought was happening in a painting. Students agreed with others, while others respectfully disagreed and gave their view. For more information on VTS, click here.
One of our Leeds Educational Support Professionals, Susan Roit, will be retiring in December of this year. We wish Ms. Roit a very happy retirement and would like to recognize her dedication to the Leeds' community over the past twenty years. Her last day at school will be December 22nd. We wish her all the best in the next phase of her journey.
Just a reminder we will have an early release on Wednesday, 11/24 with dismissal at 11:30. We will have session 1 for our preschool students. Our full day preschool students will be dismissed at 11:20. Then we will not have school with our Thanksgiving break Thursday, 11/25 and Friday, 11/26.
Our elementary students have new standards based report cards this year. Please see the section below about the report cards. Report cards for students in grades 1 - 5 will be going home on December 10th.
I hope everyone has a safe and restful Thanksgiving break.
Stay safe and be well,
Chris Wenz, Principal
Elementary Report Cards
November, 2021
Dear Northampton Public Schools Elementary Caregivers,
Over the past few years, Northampton Public Schools teachers, administrators, specialists, and coaches have been working collaboratively on updating our report cards to reflect the changes to learning standards that periodically occur within the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum Standards. The current curriculum frameworks can be found here: https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html
Our intent with updating the report card has been to create reporting systems for caregivers and their children to assess how students are meeting academic goals/content standards instruction and support students in a timely manner. In the updating of standards, we also focused on adopting a growth mindset towards student development and proficiency.
Please see the letters below for more detailed information.
Leeds Lost and Found
Welcome to the NPS Elementary Curriculum Corner!
From Karen Albano
- We are in need of pants of varying sizes in case some of our students need to change.
- We are in need of individually wrapped goldfish, pretzels, or graham crackers for some of our students who are in need of snacks.
Thank you for our anonymous donations of sweatpants, leggings, and golfish.
Leeds Equity & Inclusion Committee - A Subcommittee of our School Council
The next meeting of the Leeds Equity & Inclusion Committee will take place (virtually) on Wednesday, December 8, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. New folks are always welcome and encouraged to join! Please reach out to leedsequityandinclusioncomm@gmail.com for the meeting link. We plan to meet the second Wednesday of every month throughout the year
This year, some of the projects we’re hoping to work on include:
Continuing to add even more diverse and inclusive books to the Leeds Library, as well as featuring selected library books and related resources for teachers and students
Continuing to enhance our school’s visual environment through welcoming and inclusive book displays, artwork, flags, and messaging
Surveying families and educators/staff to better understand and assess needs around equity and inclusion within our school community, to inform future plans and projects
…and more!
We would love to hear your ideas, concerns, hopes, and dreams! Please email us at leedsequityandinclusioncomm@gmail.com with any thoughts/questions or to sign up for our email listserv--or come to a meeting and say hello. E&I participation is always completely flexible.
This week we’re sharing a few resources related to Native American Heritage Month and Indigenous perspectives on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
General resources: Check out an extensive resource list created by chef, educator, and organizer Neftalí Duran to support “unlearning” the history of Thanksgiving, and/or the Rethinking Thanksgiving toolkit from the Indigenous Solidarity Network.
Kids’ books: This extensive list includes children’s books and other resources to help us dismantle the myth of a “first Thanksgiving” and to delve into Native American history and contemporary life (we shared it previously but it merits a repeat!) Or choose from Social Justice Books’ great list of kids’ books organized by age, including middle grade books.
Kid-friendly videos: Check out a short video that’s part of a collection of multimedia resources created by Sesame Workshop to support adults in talking about race and racism with young kids. The video introduces the Clutes, a Mohawk family from the Akwesasne territory in northern New York State, and is one in a series of short documentary-style videos featuring families having honest conversations about race.
Thanks for reading, and please be in touch with any questions!
----------------------------------------
Re-opening of Schools Update
There have been some changes to the protocols and updates for schools. Please see the attached letter from all of the principals regarding building use and visitors to the school. All building use, visitors, volunteers, and events must have prior approval by the building principal. Volunteers must go through VINS (Volunteers in Northampton) and follow their protocols of having a CORI, fingerprints, and proof of vaccination. All requests must go through the building principal and have prior approval, follow school committee policies KF and KI and everyone must follow safety and health protocols around masking, social distancing, and capacity. We are still encouraging all meetings be held via zoom, unless it is not possible. Please read the attached letter carefully as well as the two school committee policies embedded in the letter. Thank you for your patience and for putting safety first.
Caregiver Workshops
Register for First Aid or Parents & Professionals Workshops
with Laura at lfrogameni@northampton-k12.us
Early Bird / Late Bird / LEAP
- Our November & December sign ups are now closed. If you need assistance, please contact our coordinator, Gabrielle Hollender.
Payments: Pay Online (preferred) or make checks payable to "City of Northampton"
*Note: UniPay seems to have an aversion to Visa cards... so please try another card for payment
Please be sure to choose the dates you need for after school care. We have a limited number of staff and may not always be able to accommodate drop ins.
- Late Bird - 2:10-5:15 (Please send your child with a snack from home.)
LEAP
Gabrielle will begin looking for enrichment program instructors for courses that will run on Mondays and Fridays beginning in January. If you or you know someone who would like to be a LEAP instructor, please reach out to Gabrielle with more information. (ghollender@northampton-k12.us)
Online payments are accepted for Early Bird/Late Bird and the LEAP program.
Online payment instructions: I know some of you had difficulty with our online payment system, so we have created a document with instructions. Here is the link.
BEHAVIOR POLICY: All staff and students will adhere to the Northampton Code of Conduct found at http://www.northamptonschools.org/project/code-of-conduct/
------------------------------------------------
Calendar of Events
11/24 Early Release Day @11:30 Thanksgiving Break begins
11/25 & 11/26 No School - Happy Thanksgiving!
11/30 Lift Off Learning begins again
12/8 Early Dismissal @11:30 - Teacher Work Day
12/8 Leeds Equity and Inclusion Committee meeting @6:30
12/10 Report Cards and progress reports for grades 1-5 go home
12/15 Picture Retake Day
12/21 Leeds School Council meeting @6:15
12/23 - 12/31 Holiday Break
1/3/2022 - School Resumes
1/6 - No School in observance of Three Kings Day
------------------------------------------------
Contact us:
(sharondewitt@northampton-k12.us)
Laura Ziomek, Administrative Assistant
Gabrielle Hollender, Early Bird/Late Bird Afterschool Coordinator
(ghollender@northampton-k12.us)
Chris Wenz, Principal
Email: sharondewitt@northampton-k12.us
Website: http://www.northamptonschools.org/project/leeds-elementary-school/
Location: 20 Florence Street, Leeds, MA, USA
Phone: (413) 587-1530