Issue 11
September 22, 2023
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Fourth graders get the best seats for the pig races at the Tunbridge Fair! |
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Friday, 9/29- Early Release
Wednesday, 10/4- PTO Meeting 6-7 PM at SES
Monday, 10/9- No School- Indigenous Peoples' Day
Wednesday, 10/11- Picture Day
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Letter from Principal Haley |
Families and Caregivers,
As we officially settle into fall, I hope that families, caregivers, staff, and students are beginning to truly settle into the routine of school. Transitioning from summer break into school is often hard for everyone. We are now heading into our fifth week of school! I’m happy to report that I’ve seen students engaging in their work, being kind to one another, and being a positive part of the school culture!
Thank you to those who were able to attend Thursday evening’s building project meeting. The feedback that we received will inform our next steps for this project. If you were unable to attend you can access the recording here:
Part of the proposed building project is a reconfiguration of our administrative office to increase safety. Safety for staff and students is of utmost importance. This year the State of Vermont is asking schools to conduct multiple drills as it relates to safety. We already practice egress drills, or fire drills, where students leave the building, go to a designated area with their class, and are accounted for. In addition to egress drills, we are now practicing what is called an “options-based” drill. An options-based drill gives the adults in charge of students flexible responses in considering the severity and location of a given emergency situation. As part of the Vermont requirement on “options-based” drills, we are required to notify parents within 24 hours of these drills. Please be on the lookout next week for a notification concerning your child(ren) and the “options-based” drill.
Please pay close attention to upcoming events. The Sharon PTO has a few events planned. And there are many field trips on the horizon. Have a fantastic weekend and I look forward to another productive and positive week of school!
Respectfully,
Keenan Haley
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Each month, we will be highlighting a different staff member with a Q&A session. This month, we are featuring Maura Strance, our School Counselor.
How long have you worked at SES?
I started in January of 2020 so that makes this my 5th year, if you can even count my first half year here.
What is your favorite thing about working at SES?
I love the community, the kids, the awesome people I work with!
What do you do to take care of yourself?
I try to eat healthy, stay active, and get plenty of sleep. I have also been trying to meditate every night before I fall asleep….notice I said, “try”.
What brings you joy?
I love to travel, read, garden, bake, hike, and spend time with family.
What do you want people to know about your job?
I wear many hats with this job and that’s probably one of the best parts about it. I never know what the day will bring. I think the most important part of my job is being an advocate for all students.
What is one fun fact about you?
I have driven across the US 7 times, maybe 8, I’ve lost track.
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Mindfully Yours
Inner Explorer is a (mostly audio) Mindfulness platform that WRVSU Schools have partnered with as a resource for stress reduction and emotional regulation for our students and teachers. Now, you too, can access the full content for yourselves and for sharing at home with your student(s). Use the QR code in the flyer, scroll to the bottom of the linked page, and sign up. It's easy! Try it out! Let us know what you think!
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First grade has been very busy building our learning community. We have talked about what it looks, sounds, and feels like to be a student as well as to be in a learning community where everyone has the opportunity to build their skills academically, socially, and emotionally. We shared our responsibilities to ourselves and others, including those in our class, school, and community as well as to parents and caregivers. Now we are revisiting these ideas often and tweaking them when necessary. We are learning our classroom schedule and routines and practicing being independent in our morning routines. We have spent time role-playing and acting out these routines as well as other class agreements to help us really understand why we are doing them.
We have started using our math journals, worked in math workbooks, and practiced figuring out directions by recognizing keywords and really looking at what is given to us. We worked on building numbers to 100, organizing our math thinking, using dice to compute addition, using dominoes to give addition number sentences, counting all kinds of objects, and working on refining our number formation.
We have started our daily reading homework, W.E.B. - Wonderfully Exciting Books, are reviewing our letter and word knowledge, and are busy learning about our Reading Cycle and the particular stations. We are reviewing letters and sounds, rhyming, decoding and encoding sounds, and developing our handwriting.
During our Outdoor Education time, we are establishing routines while exploring our nature areas around the school.
We are very busy!
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During outdoor ed this week we focused on building in the outdoors. We discussed teamwork, and how working together can "lighten the load." Fairy houses were built and forts were constructed. We used the dirt to map out how we might want to build, and then we just explored the natural materials.
In math, we've been focusing on reviewing last year's math, and have played "toss, group, and add." They tossed the pieces up in the air, grouped them based on the color they landed on, and made a math sentence. Then, we teamed up with the first grade and counted 107 rocks outside. There were a bunch of great conversations and strategies that were used, but the easiest was making 10 groups of 10 and one group of 7! They also organized them in tens frames! In our math class with Mr. Paul, we used coins to show our understanding of numbers up to 100.
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