North Scituate Elementary School
May 2019 Newsletter
A note from Mrs.Soccio
May has arrived with some cloudy days ahead but we are hoping for more sunshine. The students and I are excited the warmer weather is on its way. Students and staff are gearing up to complete the last month and a half of school. We are well into the final trimester and approaching the end of year benchmarking period. During this time, students will complete testing in both math and reading to assess their progress from the beginning of the year. AimsWeb Plus will continue to be used to assess students in grades K-3, while STAR will be used to monitor the progress of our grades 4 and 5 students. As we know, this is only one way teachers assess student progress over the course of the year.
Students in grade 5 will also take the Rhode Island Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA). The NGSA was administered for the first time as a census field test in 2018. This year, we will receive student scores in the fall. Teachers and students have been working hard and are prepared! Please click here for "student practice materials" and remember, this test is for our 5th grade students only. It is comprised of two sessions which will be administered on May 14th and 15th.
Visit http://www.ride.ri.gov/InstructionAssessment/Overview.aspx for more information.
Check out our library newsletter from Mrs.Serdechny- https://nsslibraryparentnewsletter.weebly.com/newsletters
In preparation for end of the year events, please be sure you have a current background check (BCI) on file with our office if you plan to volunteer. Please see Mrs. Grissom or email her at Jamie.Grissom@ScituateSchoolsRI.net
This is a fully packed newsletter with a lot of important information, please read carefully.
A reminder that our last day of school is Wednesday, June 12th due to the one snow day.
Kaitlin M. Soccio
POSITIVE OFFICE REFERRALS
Students will receive these awards for EXEMPLARY behavior in the following categories: self-control, citizenship, hard work, attitude, responsibility, courage, team work, and honesty. Any adult in the building may choose the recipients. Grade levels are color coded: 5th Gold, 4th Silver, 3rd Bronze, 2nd Stardust, 1st Jupiter (red) and Kindergarten Sapphire. Students will also be able to decorate a star. These stars will be displayed in the showcase in the hall adjacent to the cafeteria. These certificates are presented to students on Friday mornings immediately following announcements.
RICAS Thanks & Success
Thank you, PTO, for volunteering each morning to ensure all students testing had a healthy breakfast. This was a team effort to ensure success for all students!
All orders will be placed online and accepted until 5/14. Orders will arrive before the end of the school year. Looking forward to seeing everyone sporting this NSES gear!
Please contact NorthScituatePTO@gmail.com or Kaitlin.Soccio@ScituateSchoolsRI.net with questions.
Pennies for Patients Results
Results: Together we raised $1,690.95!!!
1st Place: Miss Miguel's Class $362.01
2nd Place: Mrs. DiLuglio's Class $235.60
3rd Place: Mrs. Scucces' Class $ 229.91
I am so proud of everyone for raising funds for a great cause! We are all winners as we help this foundation.
A huge thank you to our Student Council for organizing this fundraiser!
You may have heard the term STEM or STEAM recently as part of your child's education. We're finding that many parents are feeling lost about what STEAM is and how they can help as education moves quickly in a new direction of maker-spaces, coding, and electronics in the classroom. This is a quick intro on what STEAM is for parents who want to stay up to date.
WHAT IS STEM OR STEAM?
Kind of like the subject area language arts, STEM is a mix of interrelated subjects that are taught together in an integrated way. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math. KitHub and some other STEM initiatives are pioneering the term STEAM, which adds an 'A' to the acronym for art.
There is a lot of research suggesting that integrating these subjects, especially adding a creative component with art, is beneficial for students and makes sense for the way kids learn. STEAM lessons are usually hands-on and exploratory (you might hear your child's teacher using the term inquiry-based). STEAM education prepares students for the real world, where professionals often use multiple disciplines (an engineer might also use a lot of math or a programmer might find creative approaches helpful to solving a problem).
You might be hearing a lot more about STEAM because it's becoming increasingly important that schools and communities catch up to educating modern students. Most school districts in the US don't have a set curriculum for coding. Many schools don't have enough technology resources to fully integrate technology into education. For what some schools may lack, you might be able to find other resources in you community to help your child practice STEAM learning.
WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR IN MY KID'S SCHOOL?
Ask your child's teacher about hands-on STEAM lessons or school activities. Some schools integrate STEAM in the classroom and other schools have clubs or fairs to encourage school-wide excitement. Make sure you find out about any after school or summer school programs that your school has partnerships with as well. The school librarian is usually a great resource to find out about school maker-spaces or technology initiatives.
WHAT RESOURCES CAN I FIND IN MY COMMUNITY?
Community maker-spaces have been popping up in cities all over the world. A maker-space is an area that holds events or sometimes rents out space or equipment to make all kinds of projects. Lots of maker-spaces have things like 3D printers, laser cutting machines, and woodworking tools. They might charge a membership fee or one-time fee, and sometimes they are free! Maker-spaces are a great resource for STEAM learning.
There are lots of government, business, and community sponsored STEM initiatives as well. You can find online inspiration and resources for school and home.
HOW CAN I HELP AT HOME?
The best way to prepare students for STEAM learning is to start young and make it interesting to them. Provide a variety of experiences that your child enjoys, like going to science museums, making STEAM kits, reading STEAM books, and going to maker-spaces.
(Source: https://kithub.cc/2016/03/steam-quick-guide-parents/)
Walking Club Support
May Focus- Habit #6
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Art with Mr. Eager
A note from the school nurse
Happy May everyone! Looks like we have made it through another long winter and the many colds, flus and stomach viruses that winter brings. Now, onto spring health issues, like allergies, cuts, scrapes, bug bites and of course, ticks! I have seen a few students with tick bites in the health room already.
In order to protect your child and family from tick borne illness, the CDC recommends performing full body tick checks on your children after they have been playing outdoors, especially in wooded and high grass areas. They have listed the body areas to check as: around the head, including the ears and hair, under the arms, inside the belly button, around the waist, between the legs, behind the knees. The chances of a tick transmitting a disease are lessened if the tick is removed within 36 hours. For more information on preventing tick bites and removing ticks once they have bitten, please visit the CDC website, https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/.
Kindergarten health lessons have recently begun in both Mrs. Farrar’s class and Mrs. Guernon’s class. During the next few weeks, the students will be learning about germs and the importance of hand washing, caring for teeth, healthy eating, and summer safety.
In other grades, fifth grade puberty projects will be due on May 20th. Grade 4 has been learning about caring for their skin, and grade 3 recently learned about healthy eating through the Go, Slow and Whoa method. Coming up in the next few weeks, Grade 1 and 2 will be discussing the importance of good personal hygiene.
Walking Club will be starting up soon, during Friday afternoon recess, once we have a few volunteers to stamp walking club cards.
The health room is in need of some gently used clothing for students who may need to change clothes in the event of spills and accidents during the school day. If you have any boy or girl clothing you would like to donate, please contact me. Thank you!
Please call me anytime if you have any questions or concerns.
Colleen McCann, RN, CSNT
School Nurse
A note from the School psychologist
Keeping Children Safe on the Internet
Most children have access to the internet on a daily basis and they are often better at using the internet than are their parents. While using the internet can be an important learning tool, it can also expose them to risks. Given the potential dangers of children’s internet usage, the following suggestions for addressing internet safety in the home are listed below.
- Set up your child’s computer/device with parental restrictions. This will limit the access they have to age appropriate material.
- Establish a list of rules that you expect your child to follow while using the internet. Post the rules near the computer as a reminder.
- Children should be cautioned about the dangers of talking to people they don’t know online. Also not to give out any personal information such as full name, address, telephone number and photos. Never agree to meet face to face with someone they have met online.
- Supervise and monitor internet friends the same way you would monitor school friends.
- Monitor the amount of time your child spends online and frequently check the computer’s web browsers, which provide information on the websites that they have been accessing.
- Instruct your child on issues of cyberbullying and how to tell you about it.
- Taking videos for placing them on the internet has become prevalent on YouTube. While some may be instructional or funny, some may also be dangerous or illegal. Again, monitoring your child’s activity is essential for safe internet use.
- Talk to your child about sending information to one person is like sending it to everyone. Children don’t realize that once they press send it is now out there and anyone can send their information to anyone else.
- Talk to your child about not sending any inappropriate photos or using threatening language to others. Both can have serious consequences.
The internet can be a wonderful wealth of information if used correctly, but can also be a dangerous tool if used inappropriately and unsupervised.
Mrs. Schiappa, MA, CAGS
School Psychologist
PTO News
Please email NorthScituatePTO@gmail.com with any questions. We hope to see you there!
Northwest Special Education
Greetings, parents and caregivers, Happy spring! We would like to personally invite you to join us at our next Special Education Local Advisory Committee (SELAC). Our special education group would like to start hosting a bi-annual orientation and welcome event for all new parents entering special education in our region (Foster, Glocester, Scituate) - we want to hear about your experiences and ideas.
After listening to some parent’s experiences moving into our school district, or starting special education after early intervention (EI), we believe an event like this would be extremely beneficial. Our hope is to not only provide information about parental rights and understanding IEP’s, but to give families the opportunity to meet each other and key service providers in our district.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Northwest Special Education Office. Please join us to provide your ideas and insight into what this experience was like for you, brainstorm ideas on what information is essential to offer, and the best way to provide that information. If you plan to attend, please call the Northwest Special Education office at 401-647-4106. If you are unable to attend, but still want to be involved, please reach out to us about any ideas and tips you may have at Hmkpuzzledparents@gmail.com.
Thank you, Heather Kennedy and Colleen Brophy
SELAC Co-chairs
Special Education Local Advisory Committee
IMPORTANT DATES
May 3rd: School wide tie dying shirts
May 6th: Nurse's Day
May 6th- 10th: Teacher Appreciation Week
May 7th: Grade 3 Water Festival
May 8th: Grade 2, 3, 6 ARC PD Work (tentative)
May 9th: 5th Grade visit Music Dept at HS 12:45-1:15
May 9th: 4th Grade Slater Mill
May 9th: School Improvement Team Meeting 3:15
May 14th & 15th: Science Testing Gr. 5
May 15th: PTO Meeting 6:30pm (voting to take place)
May 20th: Grade 4 Trip to State House
May 24th: 5th Grade Photo 9AM & Student Council Fun Day Gr. 4 & 5
May 27th: No School- Memorial Day
May 30th: Grade 1 trip to Audubon Society
May 31st: Kindergarten Celebration
June 3rd-6th: Book Fair
June 3rd: Field Day (raindate 6/4)
June 5th: Arts Night 5PM
June 5th 5th Grade Moving Up Day at Hope Pond
June 7th: Grade 2 Zoo Field Trip
June 10th: 5th Grade Celebration
June 11th: Grade 2 Bug Fest
June 12th: Last day of school (tentative) & Kona Ice 11:30-12:30
North Scituate Elementary School
Email: kaitlin.soccio@scituateschoolri.net
Website: http://www.scituateri3.net/nses/
Location: 46 Institute Lane, Scituate, RI, USA
Phone: 401-647-4110
Twitter: @NScituateSchool