Shutesbury

PUBLICATION INFORMATION – Please submit any submissions for the Community section to: [email protected] by Wednesdays at 1:00.  Online attachments must be compressed (less than 500KB) and in PNG format.  Hard copies (25) must be submitted by Wednesdays at 1:00.  Call x100 with any questions.

**PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION**

June 2020

Dear Moose Community,

I am thinking of you all and missing you very much. With the incredibly troubling state of our country, and my deep sadness and anger at the ongoing injustices for people of color,  I am yearning for the beautiful faces, open hearts and pure joy of our students. The SES staff have been 

having powerful and emotional discussions around what we can do to further our anti-racist work. We are committed to examining resources, curriculum, and ourselves to ensure that our work is rooted in love, equality and anti-racism. I hope you

were able to read the anti-racism statement that the Union 28 Leadership Team sent out 

on Wednesday. We have included it in this RTN for your reference. This document contains resources that you can use to talk with your children about racism and what is happening currently in our country.

It feels like we started this remote learning journey years ago, but also feels like it was yesterday. I cannot find the right words to express my thanks, gratitude and pure awe of how our phenomenal staff pulled together and executed VALUABLE learning during these 3 months. Remote learning is not ideal, and is particularly challenging with small children. Balancing what is developmentally appropriate, valuable, and engaging is not an easy task. I am SO PROUD of our teachers. I am equally as thankful for the families supporting our students at home. You have all been amazing. Thank you for checking and creating schedules, sitting on sessions and meets, reading, writing and thinking about math with your children. We have been a TRUE TEAM. I am so very grateful for team members like all of you.

This RTN contains various and important end of the year announcements. I have decided to list it under headings to help keep it organized and not overwhelming. Please read these notices, as it is imperative we are all on the same page as we close school for the summer.

NEXT SCHOOL YEAR & 1:1 DEVICES

Many people want to know what the next school year will look like. Unfortunately, we do not know that yet. The state will be providing guidance sometime during the week of June 15th. What we do know, is that no matter what, school will not look "normal". There will be strict health codes to follow and guidelines that will need to be enforced. When Union 28 & SES know our plan, I will communicate that to you as swiftly as possible. We have been doing a LOT of planning and prep to prepare for this "new normal". Part of that plan has been working to become a school with a 1:1 device Technology Plan. This means that each student in K-6 will personally be assigned a technology device that will be able to travel to and from school. This will be a major support in the event we need to have a hybrid of home and in-school learning. MUCH MORE information will be communicated about this at a later time.

VIRTUAL SUMMER SERVICES

Some students are being offered virtual summer services. Teachers will be reaching out to these families to let them know of the schedule/what is offered. These services will be completely virtual.

VIRTUAL SUMMER ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE

SES will offer some virtual summer activities for all students throughout the summer. These activities may include games with Mr. Carra, a read aloud with a teacher, crafts with Rory or other fun activity by a member of staff. A schedule will be sent out with links to join these virtual activities. We hope this will provide some fun, connecting activities for our community. It will also allow students to see friendly school faces. 

REPORT CARDS

We left school for remote learning less than a month after report cards were issued. We have created an " Annual Learning Summary" report for each child that will be in your child(ren)’s bag of personal items from the classroom on the last day of school (June 12). This report will give a basic overview of what your child(ren) have learned and some of their progress on skills throughout the year. It will not be a normal report card, as the last few months have certainly not been normal. As always, teachers are more than happy to speak with you about your child's learning.  If you are not available to pick up on June 12 the Annual Learning Summary will be mailed to your home.

DEVICE RETURNS & LIBRARY BOOK DROP OFF

All of the devices that have been lent out to families will need to be returned on the last day of school ( June 12). They should be put into plastic bags, WITH the charger and a piece of paper with the child's name. They should be dropped off at the table set up at the front entrance of the school at the following times:

Pre-K-1st Grade: 11:15-12:15 on June 12

2nd - 4th Grade: 12:15-1:15 on June 12

5th - 6th Grade: 12:45-1:45 on June 12

At this time there will be a red cart also set up.  Please place any SES library books on the cart.  Masks and 6 feet distance between people are strongly encouraged.

*If your child had personal items left in their classrooms or cubbies we will give you those bags along with their Annual Learning Summary during your drop off time.

6th GRADE GRADUATION

The 6th graders will have a special drive-in & park graduation on June 12! They will enjoy seeing baby photos, a video of their speeches and memories, hear speeches from teachers, and receive certificates of completion and the traditional departing journal from their Kindergarten buddy! We are so very proud of them and will miss them SO MUCH!  At the culmination of the ceremony, the 6th grade will have a car PARADE. If you would like to support our 6th graders you can wave to the parade at any point along our route. At 7:00 pm, we plan to pull out of the school parking lot and onto West Pelham Road, turn right on to Leverett Road, turn left on to Wendell Road at the Town Common and continue down Wendell Road/Locks Pond Road to the lake. Our parade will end in the Lake Wyola State Beach parking lot. We hope you consider waving to the 6th graders along this route on the 12th!

There will be more emails next week to remind you of some of these items. There will also be the final Moose TV episode of this year. I am very aware that people are exhausted at the amount of communication and emails over the past 3 months from all aspects of life. These end of the year emails are important as we are communicating information we need your support with as we wrap up this year and plan for the next. PLEASE READ our communications!

As always, I am grateful to be a member of this school community.Please reach out with any questions you may have and we will do our best to support you. 

We love and miss you!

Jackie

***MOOSE ON THE MOVE NEWS***

We hope that you are still able to get in some running and walking even though we are distance learning at SES!  If you have been running and walking, please fill out the mileage form (here) and send to Nurse Katie - [email protected].  She will update your miles in our system and we’ll announce Moose Milestones in a future communication.  Hopefully we will be able to award milestone prizes as well!  If you do not have a way to send the form to Nurse Katie, you can just email her your miles or leave a message on her phone at school 413-259-1212 x112.

Another bit of exciting news is that we will carry Moose Miles through the summer!  Normally we only include school year (and school day!) miles but this year we will honor all miles gained through the summer!  Keep sending in your miles to Nurse Katie!! 

Congrats to our Moose who hit personal Moose Milestones!!

25 Miles

Aubrey Bunger

35 Miles

Elena Levine

Tessa Whitehill

50 Miles

Elena Levine

Ani Levine

Tessa Whitehill

75 Miles

Ani Levine

100 Miles!!!!!!!!!!

Ani Levine

***SCHOOL NEWS***

Coming to school to drop off a device, pick up your belongings, or collect food?

Please bring back SES library books!

We will put out a cart. Thank you for taking the time to track down the books checked out to readers in your family! 

Contact Ms. L. with questions: 

[email protected]

Message from Nurse Katie:

During this necessary time of social distancing,  local hospitals and medical offices are reporting low numbers of regular medical complaints, routine examinations, and important follow-up appointments. Visits have been reduced to combat the spread of COVID-19 and has been effective in keeping our communities as safe as possible. 

As we approach the 10th week of social distancing and/or self-quarantine, this memo is to remind families not to deter from seeking medical care for physical or mental illness at this time. All area medical offices have staff to direct you to your best plan of care. All providers offer virtual appointments face to face via computer or smartphone, or verbally over the telephone. 

Sometimes it is necessary to have an appointment in the office. Always call prior to going in, especially if you or your child have a cough or fever, but area facilities are doing everything possible to keep their offices safe. Necessary in-person appointments may include; physical injury with bleeding that can not be stopped by prolonged direct pressure, injury with swelling indicative of a possible fracture, chest pain or difficulty breathing, allergic reactions, weakness, confusion, and slurred speech.

Many families in the community use Northampton Pediatrics. Their Northampton office remains open and they share a short video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o-CBkM5Ps4&feature=youtu.be , explaining their safe office procedures and stress the need to seek medical care when needed and not be afraid.

Many of these routine visits include immunizations for the children in our community. Routine immunizations are very important, especially in those children under the age of 6, if you have a child who is due for an immunization during this time of social isolation, it is necessary to have a conversation with your healthcare provider about having your child’s scheduled appointment, especially if they or someone in the home has other health issues. 

We’ve all been working together to keep our families and communities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s continue to care for each other by encouraging health and wellness to continue through these changing times.

***PTO NEWS***

Hello All in the SES Family!

Our Parent Teacher Organization has been on hiatus for the closure of school as we are all fashioning our days differently this spring. We parents and educators are thinking of your family and hoping you are finding ways to stay healthy, busy and creative. There is so much available on www.shutesburyschool.org !

We are a support organization to our wonderful little school and look forward to  seeing all of your faces in the fall. We hope you will consider joining us as we put together future fun opportunities for our students.

Warmly,

Your SES PTO

***COMMUNITY NEWS***

COMMUNITY NETWORK FOR CHILDREN:

Katie, from CNC Shutesbury Tales & Tunes at the M. N. Spear Memorial Library, has a book and songs for you.

Katie reads  Tea Party Rules by Author Ame Dyckman.

Shutesbury Tales & Tunes Video #8: https://youtu.be/NMn-fj1_ilE

During the month of June we will be talking about Playing with Toys. In today's story with Katie the toys are a tea set and the friends that join her! 

Toys that are part of a child's imagination can be so much fun. Toys do not have to be purchased from a store. Some of the most fun toys are empty boxes, kitchen utensils, pine cones, acorns, leaves or shells. Any item a child can  explore, take apart, put together, push or pull, stack or bang becomes a toy in a child's hand. What experiences can you provide your child with everyday objects at home? 

CNC plans to email a June Newsletter later this week with updates regarding our programming for the summer months. Stay tuned!

Gillian & Katie

Gillian Budine, Coordinator

Community Network for Children

201 Wendell Road

New Salem, MA 01355

[email protected]

(413) 422-0170

https://sites.google.com/erving.com/cncprogram/home

www.union28.org

Find Community Network for Children on Facebook

Multi-Arts is going virtual this summer. Children will connect with outstanding teachers who will inspire them with many creative projects in art, music, dance, theater, mime, playwriting and story-telling. Our program gives children tools to self-entertain, and means to find their voices to express ideas and opinions. Small groups and individual attention, while FUN, will inspire, motivate, and empower children. Register for one week or for the entire summer! Space is limited. There is one place where children are encouraged and challenged to think creatively, and that place is Multi-Arts. Check our schedule and register today: www.multi-arts.org

Catalina Arrubla