Newsletter No. 20

Sharon Elementary School

Issue 20

February 16, 2024

Sharon Elementary School News

Kindergarten was ready for the Pep Rally and Celebration today!

Mark Your Calendars!

Monday 2/19 to Friday 2/23- Winter Break, No School

Tuesday, 2/20- School Board Meeting, 5:30 PM. See Website for Agenda.

Friday, 3/1- Early Release, 12 PM

Monday, 3/4- Annual School Meeting, 6 PM

Tuesday, 3/5- Town Meeting Day, No School

Wednesday, 3/6- PTO Meeting, in person at school, 6 PM

Links to Helpful Information

SES Website

Lunch Menu

Building Expansion

Letter from Jamie Kinnarney

Caregivers and Community Members,

I wanted to take the opportunity to share how much fun I had joining the Sharon Elementary School community this week while Principal Haley was out of the office (he will be back next week). It fills my bucket to be able to join one of our WRVSU schools for a week if a Principal has to be away. Sharon Elementary has such wonderful things occurring within its walls. Some of the highlights of my week were:

*Seeing students working on number sense, estimation, and multiplicative reasoning skills.

*Students exploring coding and experiencing hands-on activities that require analysis, reasoning, and problem-solving.

*Observing students engaging in phonemic awareness and phonics to strengthen their foundational literacy skills.

*Pre-K students working on letter identification, sound/letter recognition, and reading comprehension strategies.

*Students are learning how to skate on our wonderful ice rink.

*Students exploring relevance and rigor via passion projects that result in the application of English Language Arts.

These are just a few of the highlights that I had the pleasure of observing this week.

I also wanted to make certain that all of our families are aware that our next School Board meeting will be next Tuesday, February 20th at 5:30 p.m. The Board will be discussing several important items related to the FY 25 Budget and the proposed Building Expansion Project. We will be sharing an update with the wider community on both topics following Tuesday’s Board meeting. As always, our Board meetings are hybrid in nature and can be joined either in person or virtually.

Have a wonderful February vacation!

Mr. Kinnarney

Superintendent of Schools, WRVSU

Staff Spotlight

Each month, we highlight one of our amazing staff members. This month we are featuring our One Planet Site Coordinator and "all-around fill-in for everything" gal, Stephanie Jarriat.

How long have you worked at SES?

I have worked at One Planet for 4 years and subbed at the school for 3 ½ years.

What is your favorite thing about working at SES?

Working with all the kiddos.

What do you do to take care of yourself?

I try to spend as much time outside as I can. I also play with the kids in One Planet. I try to tap into being a kid again!

What brings you joy?

Being around my family and friends.

What do you want people to know about your job?

It’s busy and really exciting. I get to spend time in each classroom during the day and spend my afternoons with students who attend One Planet.

What is one fun fact about you?

I was on the Woodstock Swim Team for most of my youth years. I went to state championships for breaststroke.

SES Highlights

Celebrating our Success

The Pep Rally was amazing!

Students earned a celebration on Friday morning and it was epic! Students and staff participated in games and a pep rally that left all of us smiling! Read below to find out more about how we earn these celebrations...

PBIS or (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) focuses on establishing positive school culture and supporting students' behavioral needs in a positive way to create a safe, enriching environment. PBIS uses the idea of reinforcing positive behavior rather than only acknowledging the behaviors that we are looking to avoid. Sharon Elementary School is using PBIS to focus on their SES behaviors (Safe), (Engaged), (Supportive) in all areas of the school. Each classroom at Sharon uses a digital bank to show their positive behavior choices. Students can earn money by being safe, being engaged and being supportive in their school! To celebrate these banks being full of hard earned money the school will celebrate as a whole!

Flexible Pathways

Superintendent Kinnarney testing the codes that Kindergarten students created with Bee Bots.

Our school Librarian, Ms. Hop, runs our Flexible Pathways program. The program is new this year and gives students an opportunity to explore skills that they may not have access to in the traditional classroom. Ms. Hop works one-on-one or with small groups of students on a variety of projects. The students rotate throughout the year based on teacher input. Currently, there are students learning to code using Bee Bots. With a recent purchase of Sphero Robots, older students are learning more advanced coding. There is a group working on "fixing" things that are broken. There is a group learning how to create a lesson plan and teach an art lesson to Pre-K and Kindergarten students. There are also groups learning how to plan fundraisers. Flexible Pathways provides an opportunity to create a pathway to learn transferrable skills such as communication and problem solving.

Mindful Minute

Here are some sweet ways to pause, connect, and bring your full attention to being together at the end of the day.