SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
Monday, September 14
School Committee Meeting – 6:00pm
(Please see agenda attached.)
Tuesday, October 6
School Picture Day
Wednesday, October 7
Open House- 5:30-7:00
Saturday, October 17
Harvest Festival
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IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE
Happy, Healthy Kids
One of the things I love about Leverett Elementary School is watching children play, and their hardiness in being outside in all seasons. Twenty degrees and two feet of snow? Bring it on! Ninety degrees and 70% humidity? Doesn’t faze us! In other schools in which I’ve worked, I became accustomed to parent and student pleas to stay inside when the weather was something other than sunny and mild. A friend taught in Australia, where classrooms had sunscreen dispensers, and children were required to wear a wide-brimmed hat at recess because of the intensity of the (reduced ozone) sun. But go outside, they did!
Resilience to the elements is but one facet of joyful recess here at Leverett Elementary Schools. Our playground, with its variety of structures and open spaces, provides children with opportunities for both boisterous and quiet play, and they take full advantage of it all. With three teachers or paraprofessionals supervising recess, we strive for consistency in the expectations for fair and safe play. It is rare that I am called upon to intervene about a recess issue, which is a marked difference from my past experience. As a staff, we continue to have conversations about calibrating our expectations for appropriate and respectful behavior, so that children know that we are all on the ‘same page.’
Being an outdoors person myself, I am quick to recognize how escaping the confines of a building helps me to recharge my batteries and to think through things that are on my mind. Over the past year, I have become familiar with the Seven Sisters and the Holyoke Range, the Sugarloaf summits, and different trails on Mt. Toby. There has been a lot of learning along the way! Now I want to explore the area more immediate to Leverett Elementary School, and am working on developing some weekend hikes that would be open to both the school and town communities. While the ultimate goal is to have fun, I also look to these hikes to build enduring relationships among children, families, and Leverett residents.
I hope you will join us and continue the Leverett tradition of taking learning outside the schoolhouse walls.
-Margot Lacey
SPOTLIGHT ON . . .
KEEPING IN TOUCH
Last Friday, we received short notice that Montague Road would be closed north of the school at dismissal time. Did you get the message? We use Blackboard Connect calling system for updates like this, as well as weather-related closings and delays. If you would like to add or change phone numbers or receive emails or text messages, please email [email protected]. Also please make sure you have sent in updated emergency forms for your children!
PRESCHOOL SCREENING
All Preschool students will be participating in the DIAL-4 (Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning) screening next week. This screening tool is individually administered to children ages 2.6 through 5.11 by the classroom teacher (Ruth Love Barer), the Occupational Therapist (Marianne Vinal) and the Speech and Language Pathologist (Karen Gallagher) in order to provide information and guidance for teaching in the following areas: motor, concepts, language, self-help, and social-emotional skills. If the results of the screening indicate any concerns in any of these areas, the classroom teacher will contact and discuss this with the parent(s) of the child.
Help Build a LEGO Wall in the Computer Lab!
I need 10”x10“ (or 32X32 studs) Lego Base plates to create a LEGO wall in the computer lab. If you have any you could donate, please contact Karin Gravina at school, 548-9144 ext. 8, or email her at [email protected]
CONTACTING THE OFFICE
Marilyn is preparing to retire next month, and Kate Rice is already here learning the ropes. If you are emailing anything that is time sensitive, please send it to both of us, as we’ll both be part time for the next several weeks: [email protected] and [email protected].
FORMS, FORMS, and MORE FORMS!
Many, many thanks to all the parents/guardians who have already filled out the avalanche of forms sent home in the back-to-school mailing. For the few who haven’t done so yet, please send them in soon – especially the emergency information form (green) so that we are able to contact you if necessary.
TOO MANY FRIDAY POSTS?
If your family is getting more copies of the Post than you need, please call Marilyn or Kate at 548-9144 or e-mail [email protected], and let me know which of your children should bring home the Post. Also, if you would prefer to have the newsletter e-mailed to you instead of getting a hard copy, please let us know.
Breakfast is served daily at LES!
Enjoy a bowl of cereal and fresh fruit. Students come to breakfast directly off of the bus.
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COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
(Items listed here are not school sponsored)
Yoga for Healthy Aging
New tools to make your yoga practice safer, effective and more pleasurable throughout the aging process. Master better balance; improve bone strength for fall and fracture prevention; increase flexibility, muscle tone and vitality to help you manage the tasks of daily living with more ease. Key poses will be presented in varying levels of modifications.
Saturdays, September 26 & October 3, 9am-12pm
Bangs Center, Amherst
Cost: $80 for both workshops or $45 for one
Teaching Kids to Play Guitar: I have taught children, teens, adults and older folks to play the guitar, anyone with a desire to learn the magic of music. I have over 50 years of experience performing thousands of shows both solo and with several local bands. I will be teaching at my house on Dudleyville Rd, Leverett,
The cost will be $20.00 a week for a 1/2 hour lesson. (If a parent or guardian wishes to learn along with their child there will be only a 5.00 charge per lesson. The only requirements are a guitar and a desire to learn) I will provide enough material to cover a week so it will not be boring for the kids. My time is flexible (I am home with my 90 year old mom in law) I am limiting enrollment to 16-20 students so I can provide quality lessons and not get beyond the time I can commit.
-Mark Snow, Home phone is 413-367-2666
Caterpillar Collection Inspection with the Caterpillar Lab from Keene, New Hampshire, at the HITCHCOCK CENTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT in Amherst,
Tuesday, October 13 2:30 – 5:30 pm
Join the folks from the Caterpillar Lab and see their collection of butterfly and moth caterpillars. They’ll display them on tables in our classroom for all to see up close. You’ll observe cool camouflage, warning coloration, spikey spines, horns and false eyes! And you might even smell some new smells! The variety of adaptations will inspire you about the diversity of our natural world. Each larva will be eating its specific host food plant. And you’ll see photos of the butterflies and moths that emerge from these curious beauties! You’ll delve more deeply into the world of butterflies and moths. Members $5 / Non-members $8, under 5 are free.
The Enchanted Forest: A Non-scary Halloween Event “Nature’s Myth Busters ”
Friday & Saturday, October 23 & 24 , 5pm-8pm each night
Come to the Enchanted Forest for a magical treat. You will be led along our pumpkin lit forest trails where creatures will emerge to share their stories. This year, learn fact from fiction from some of your favorite local critters. Fun for all ages!
· Adult: Members $10/ Non-members $12
· Children: Members $5/ Non-members $6
· Under 3 years free
· Registration required, please call to sign up for a walk time, space is limited.
· Call: 256-6006, Hitchcock Center for the Environment
Piano Studio of Daphne Bye
Daphne teaches piano out of her home in Montague Center. She specializes in helping children learn quickly which, in turn, feeds their momentum and joy of learning. Ask her about her integrative approach to Suzuki education that creates strong musicians who love the process, read well, and play beautifully. Ages five and up.
DESE and Suzuki certified, with degrees in both piano and music education from McGill University, Daphne has over 30 years of joyful experience teaching piano.
Two or three spots still available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Reserve a spot now for this coming school year: [email protected] 413-834-0597
The Happy Valley Children’s Chorus will continue to rehearse on Monday afternoons, 4-5:00, at the First Congregational Church. There will be ten rehearsals, Sept. 21-Nov. 30th (No rehearsal on Columbus Day, Oct. 12th) with a performance on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 6th, at 1:30. Children ages 5 and up are welcome.
Cost is $100/child, with scholarship support if needed, so all can participate. Contact Dorothy Cresswell, 413-668-4189, or [email protected] to learn more and register.
Family Peace Concert honoring International Peace Day, Sunday, September 20th, 3:30-5:30 at the First Congregational Church of Amherst, 165 Main Street, Amherst. Admission is by donations to benefit our local Youth Action Coalition and for humanitarian relief to refugee families through the Valley Syrian Relief Committee. FEATURING: Sarah Pirtle,Roger Tincknell, Katie Tolles and Dorothy Creswell, the Youth Action Coalition Drummers, and the Happy Valley Children’s Chorus. For more information, contact 413-668-4189.
If you would like to put a notice in the Community Bulletin Board section of the Friday Post, please submit notices to be published no later than Thursday at noon. The easiest way to do that is by e-mail to [email protected]. Flyers for non-school sponsored events can be attached to the Post. They must contain a disclaimer “This is not a school-sponsored event” and a sufficient number of copies (125) should be provided to the office by the end of the school day on Thursday.
