Scotty Updates
A Newsletter from Scotland Elementary School
Week of September 5, 2022
Scotty Updates
Scotty Updates has been created to provide families and staff with information regarding upcoming events, happenings, and programs at Scotland Elementary School. Please take time each Monday to review our newsletter.
A Message from Jill & Tim
Dear Scotland Families and Staff,
We had a wonderful opening week! It was incredible to have students and staff filling our hallways - the energy in the building was contagious! It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces, and fun to welcome our new Scotties as well! We hope that your children had as positive a week as we all did!
As Dr. Da Silva shared in her Friday newsletter, there are some changes to our practices to ensure that all students and staff are safe at all times. If you are visiting SES, one way to expedite the entry process is to fill out this form a day prior to a planned visit (teacher meeting, PTA meeting, mystery reader, library or art volunteer etc.) and your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive. If you have something to drop off for your child during the school day such as a forgotten lunch or instrument, there will be a table outside of the entrance to place the item.
When you arrive to enter the building, we ask that you press the video doorbell button and identify yourself. Once granted access, please do NOT hold the door open for a different guest entering the building. While this may be inconvenient and feel impolite, we are standardizing access to the buildings across the district so that everyone knows what to expect.
For visits to SES during the school day, we recommend that you arrive early as it takes some time to process your visitor badge. For a visit that is not arranged a day ahead of time, calling the main office ahead of your visit is a helpful practice.
I hope that you enjoy the weekend!
Kind regards,
Jill & Tim
A Message from Mrs. Kounnas 🎨
Hello Scotland Community,
I am Mrs. Kounnas, your Scotland Elementary School Art Teacher, and I am so excited to see all of the students next week and can’t wait to get into the Art Room making and creating with our A-Mazing Scotland students this year! I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves, share some updates and reminders for this year.
Art Room “Things to Know”:
I will be in the building on C, D, E and F days.
No smocks are required but please have your child “Dress for Mess” on their Art Day. While we do everything we can to use our art materials appropriately, accidents do sometimes happen and I wouldn’t want that to be on one of my artist’s favorite outfits.
Please check out my Art Room Website, Blog and Instagram, please see below for more information.
The Art Room Website: hosts information and a brief overview including how to contact her if needed. A link to the website can be found on the Scotland Elementary School website under About Us/Teachers and Staff Directory.
Art Room Blog: Happenings and a more in depth look at projects in detail.
Mrs. Kounnas’ Art Room Blog: Ridgebury and Scotland Art Rooms.
Please follow my Instagram! I regularly post what your child is creating in the studio!
I hope you all had an A-Mazing summer and can’t wait to see all of our students soon!
Warmly,
Megan Kounnas
Picture Day!
PICTURE DAY IS TUESDAY, 9/13!!!
HOW TO ORDER:
Ordering will take place online only. If you absolutely need an order form, please request one from your teacher.
No need to print out or send in order confirmation. No paperwork necessary.
1. Go to www.coffeepond.com and select "Order School Portraits"
2. Using the drop-down menu, select the city and state, then the name of our school.
3. Follow the prompts to enter your information and select packages.
4. Pictures should be ordered BEFORE Picture Day!
5. Ordering questions ??? Email lifeguards@coffeepond.com or call (508) 907-6633 ext. 0
Events & Happenings 📆
Monday, September 5th:
- No School - Labor Day
Tuesday, September 6th:
- F Day
- First Full Day for Kindergarten
Wednesday, September 7th:
- A Day
Thursday, September 8th:
- B Day
Friday, September 9th:
- C Day
- Scotty Spirit Day! Wear your Scotty spiritwear to show your school pride!
********************************************************************************************
Coming Soon:
Tuesday, September 13th:
- Picture Day!
- Open House - 5:30pm
Thursday, September 15th:
- Early Dismissal
- 11:40am dismissal for students, professional development for staff
Monday, September 26th:
- Rosh Hashanah - No School!
Snaps around Scotland 📸
A Note from Our PTA
Join the PTA!
Joining the PTA helps you stay connected with the school community. You will receive information about family events, before & after school programs, school events, parties and much more! Get to know teachers & staff better with informational sessions throughout the year!
To join, visit our website: www.scotlandpta.org
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
A Letter from our PTA Co-Presidents
Hello Scotty Families!!!
We are Claudine Materasso (mom to a third grader) and Robert Salaga (dad to a Kindergartener and fifth grader). We are your PTA co-Presidents for 2022-2023
Our Scotland PTA is one of five pillars for our Community! The five pillars include our Leadership with Mrs. Jill Katkocin and Mr. Tim Luchsinger, our Teachers/Staff, our Families, and our Students!
After a few wild years and a lot of new families, our major mission this year is to build an amazing Community. This starts with simple things like including our picture this year to say hello to us as well as all 16 members of Board wearing name tags at events to better identify ourselves. Say hello to any or all of us!
We look forward to building on a VERY long tradition of having an amazing Scotland Community and improve it with spirit, pride, togetherness, and fun!
We are thrilled that family volunteers are allowed back in the building to be apart of our Community. As we forge a new Community, inclusion for all families and students is paramount.
Each school year, the Scotland PTA invests over $36,000 in our Community by providing in-school enrichment, teacher school supplies, art & culture activities, community building, and a major investment in the school.
All of our efforts are a direct reflection of our Families’ generosity who help us fundraise through a few very high impact fundraisers like the Scotty Sprint, Read-a-thon, Math-a-thon, and Scotland PTA Social/Gala.
Our first fundraiser is around the corner, the Scotty Sprint, with a goal of $12,000 net proceeds!
If you are wondering, what can I do to help? We have three easy steps!
1. Join the PTA via this link https://scotlandpta.membershiptoolkit.com/
· This gets you access to our member directory, communications, and alerts
2. Volunteer!!! We need more people!
· Over two-thirds of the Board work and find a few hours a month to volunteer
· Email us at ScotlandElementaryPTA@gmail.com
3. Participate in the Community!!!
· From the Scotty Sprint, art shows, author visits, yearbook, book fair, teacher appreciation, and nights out – join us, say hello to your neighbor, lean on our village raising our students – show-up and have fun!
Information to keep handy...
⚽️ 🎼 Essentials 🎨 📚
- Each class will have one 45 minute essential per day (art, library, music, or PE)
- We will continue to follow the six day A-F day schedule
- Please find the essentials rotation below
Arrival & Dismissal đźš—
We will follow a similar drop off / pick up procedure that we did last year.
Arrival
- Drop off begins at 8:30am. Please do not drop off your child prior to 8:30am as there will be no supervision at this time.
Dismissal
- Pick up will begin at 3:25pm.
- Each day, please have your child(ren)’s first and last name displayed on your passenger visor, and have it remain visible until your child is in the car. This needs to be bold and large enough to be visible at a distance. This is a very important step to ensure we have your child ready when you arrive.
- For the safety of both students and staff, proceed carefully and slowly through the lot.
- Please have your child exit/enter the vehicle when your gear is in the park position and is one of the cars at the front of the line designated for drop off.
- Students must exit the vehicle on the passenger side (building side) of the vehicle. Multiple children must exit on the passenger side. It is dangerous to exit/enter on the driver's side of the vehicle!
- Students need to have all of their items ready in hand and will then exit the car immediately.
- Parents, please stay in your vehicle at all times so that the process will prevent backups on Barlow Mountain Road.
- If you miss the drop off time (after 8:45 a.m.), please park in the front lot and walk your child across the designated crosswalk to the main entrance of the building. If you arrive after the drop off window and must park in the parking lot, we ask that you kindly use the crosswalk.
Chromebooks đź’»
- For information on this year's Chromebook distribution and policies click here to watch a short video
- If you have further questions or concerns email: helpdesk@ridgefieldps.net
School Lunch 🥪
The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) advised that federal funds have been allocated for the Free School Meals for Children grant.
- Funding will support free lunches for all students in grades K-8 until funds are depleted.
- Snacks and additional items will be available through The Lunch Time POS system that allows students to purchase their lunch by entering a 5-digit code at the cash register. These items can be prepaid online at School Payment Portal Powered By LunchTime Software and at the school kitchen. Please read the letter here.
School Lunch will be available from the first day of school.
The school lunch menu is available online on the RPS website; click District Offices and click on Food Service, as well as below.
There will be no change in the payment system; all school lunch balances will roll over.
Questions in regard to Lunch Time POS can be directed to Eric Nickelson, RPS Food Service Director at 203-894-5550 x1127 or enickelson@ridgefieldps.net
Please find the lunch menu below.
School Dismissal Manager
We will continue to use School Dismissal Manager this year at Scotland. Please click below for information regarding this system. This system will be available to families in late August. A welcome letter will be emailed to families when the system is available. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!
Contact Us!
Email: jkatkocin@ridgefieldps.net
Website: https://ses.ridgefield.org/
Location: 111 Barlow Mountain Road, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Phone: 203-894-5825
Twitter: @Scotland_Elem