East Haddam Elementary School

News and Notes Nov./Dec. 2016

Principal Joanne Collins

860-873-5076

860-873-5155 (fax) www.easthaddamschools.org

For the second consecutive year, we’re in mid-December, without any

significant winter storms! There is already so much that we’ve accom-

plished this fall and with the help of our PTO and parent volunteers! Last

week, we enjoyed the excitement of shopping at the PTO’s Holiday Fair.

On December 13th, students brought home their first trimester report

cards. Currently, students are preparing for their holiday performances

and until December 19th, we are proudly participating in a Student

Council-sponsored community service-learning Food Drive to benefit

the East Haddam Food Bank.

The November and December professional development sessions for

grade level teachers were devoted to school goals related to instructional

and assessment approaches within various genres of student writing.

Teachers have developed writing rubrics and checklists for all areas of

student writing. Additionally, a student self-assessment component has

been created to enable students to understand grade level expectations of

their roles in the development of their own writing performance. Ulti-

mately, this work helps students and teachers to further the development

of writing skills, specifically with narrative, opinion, and informational

writing pieces. Teachers will continue to implement this writing curricu-

lum work during the school day with students. Other instructional staff,

including our paraprofessionals, were involved in professional develop-

ment workshops to extend learning that is relevant to their work.

As we look forward to our students’ holiday performances, please see

Mrs. Mazzaferro’s correspondence outlining our efforts to comply with

capacity limits for the safety of all performers and attendees. All students

will be performing the entire program twice ~ once at 10:00 and, again,

at 2:00 as follows:

Each student will be issued four (4) tickets for one of the performanc-

es as follows: 10:00 (students’ families with last names A-J) and 2:00

(students’ families with last names K-Z)

Students bring home tickets a week prior to the performances

Families may switch with others or donate unused tickets

Winter Events

Dates to Remember

12/21 ~ Holiday Perfor-

mance (A-J 10:00, K-Z

2:00) - snow date 12/22

12/23 ~ Early Dismissal

12/26 - 1/2 ~ No School -

Winter Break

1/10~ BOE Mtg. 7PM high

school cafeteria

1/16 ~ No School / Martin

Luther King, Jr. Day / No

School

1/26~ PTO Mtg. 7PM rm.

We are asking that our audience please carpool to the performances to reduce the congestion of

parking and traffic. Thank you in advance, for your understanding and for your support!

Noteworthy updates and information-sharing:

Safety Reminder: If you have a question about bus transportation, please call our school office at

(860) 873-5076. Only students are allowed on the buses. Drivers are expected to keep adults and

others children off their buses. Thank you for helping us keep our students safe.

Our Instructional Facilitators, teachers, and district administrators continue to be engaged in cur-

riculum development and with consultation with Carol Luckenbach from LEARN. Our staff is

routinely involved in curriculum review processes and we will continue to develop curriculum

throughout the school year.

This year’s Student Council will again be coordinated by our Lead Teacher, Ms. Liana Lilburn!

Their December meeting was held on December 14th. School-wide excitement is focused on the

adoption of endangered species and food drive donations!

Our guest Veterans enjoyed a complimentary lunch as they were invited to our school on Veter-

ans Day. They were honored by our students and staff during an all-school assembly where all

students sang songs, as directed by our Music Specialist, Mrs. Mazzaferro, representing each

branch of service. We appreciated this recognition of our guests as they stood when children sang

the song related to their specific branch of service!

Our school will again be donating used books to benefit Project Graduation!

Our preschoolers created the lovely Popsicle stick snowflakes in our school lobby!

The Health Room accepts donations of new socks, underwear, and gently used clothing and

sneakers - PK to size 4.

Our Kids Korner after school program is accepting new registrations!

Our staff contributes annually to the Holiday Bear program that purchases gifts for families in

need!

Please remember that each student enjoys snack time in school everyday! Whenever children

don’t have a snack, they are offered saltine crackers purchased through the PTO-sponsored Box

Please help our school! Stop & Shop customers help our school earn cash

when they shop using their Stop & Shop card. Additionally, customers earn 1

POINT for each dollar spent and TRIPLE POINTS on all Healthy Ideas® la-

beled products and DOUBLE POINTS on other participating products tagged

throughout the store.

Thankfully, we received Stop & Shop A+School Rewards checks last year to pur-

chase materials to enhance student learning, books for our school’s professional

library, and to purchase playground/recess supplies and other items.

Please visit

http://stopandshop.com/savings-and-rewards/rewards-program/aplusor your

store’s Courtesy Desk to register your Stop & Shop card number. Our school is

found under Moodus and the code is 06023 ….. thank you!

The East Haddam School District has openings for substitute teachers and substitute para

professionals. Interested candidates should submit a completed application at http://

www.apllitrack.com/easthaddam/onlineapp/ or in person at the Board of Education office

located at 26 Plains Road in Moodus. Questions can be directed to the Board of Educa-

tion’s office at 860-873-5090.

Substitute teachers must have a bachelor’s degree, and

substitute para professionals must have a high school diploma

The East Haddam Board of Education is an equal opportunity employer for all persons without regard to

race, color, religious creed, age, marital status, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or physical disa-

bility.

Please communicate with us, as needed, and come in to be with us during upcoming events

and whenever possible. Wishing you a happy and peaceful holiday, hopefully with relaxation,

warmth, and special time to be with those who are closest to you.

While we try to teach our children

all about life,

Our children teach us

what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt

Important Reminder for Arrival and Dismissal of Students

and Special Request to Minimize Interruptions During the School Day

This is a reminder of the importance of each student’s arrival to school on time and

need to stay in school throughout the entire day (reference our Family Handbook,

Board of Education Policy 5113.2/Attendance). Although exceptions may arise,

please help to keep your child in school throughout the entire school day.

Each teacher has important classroom routines and they continue their instruction

until dismissal. Furthermore, it is difficult for teachers to consistently support stu-

dent learning with the interruptions of students entering school late and leaving the

classroom prior to our scheduled dismissal.

If a student must be dismissed early for a specific reason, a note from the parent

should outline the reason for the early dismissal. When urgent or in case of an emer-

gency, the parent may call the office to request an early dismissal. Tardiness will be

excused for a legitimate reason as presented in a note from the parent or in person.

Additionally, if you need to speak with a teacher during school hours, please call the

office to leave a voicemail message and the teacher will return your call as soon as

possible.

State Representative, Mrs. Melissa Ziobron World Language Exploration

Reading to Kindergartners Spanish “Go Noodle” Transition

Traversing the Gym’s Third Graders Accessing Climbing Wall and Using Ropes ZEARN through Chromebooks

Veterans Taking Turns Standing as Students Sang Their Branch of Service Song

All Elementary Students and Staff - Pledge of Allegiance to Begin Our Veterans Day Assembly

Kindergarten

Kristian Anderson

Connor Bouchard

Madison Crosby

Henry Drozd

Kyla Dutch

Juliet Feulner

Benjamin McVerry

Skye Moir

Declan Rausch

Kinleigh Smith

Lleyton Thibodeau

Haylee Tromza

Izeah Walls

Michael Waltamath

Evlin Ward

Hadley Williams

Evan Yanzaguano

Adelyn Zaid

First Grade

Carter Arpin

Mason Bonilla

Robert Carter

Leah Corrales

Isabella Cuscina

Rosalee Distefano

Carinna Egan

George Hindle

Jack Joubert

Olivia Kaupp

Austin Laban

Collin Lemmon

Matthew Ricard

Kayleigh Roy

Eden Smith

Paige Williams

Michael Zieler

Second Grade

Lauren Acquarulo

Aiden Bannon

Stella Brown

Bernardo Corrales

Katori Crosby

Riley Crotty

Todd Daniel

Lauren Drozd

Avery Hendry

Owen Kelly

Aaron Knapp

Isabelle La Marr

Arwen Little

Dalton Lynn

Leena Martel

Grayden Sansalone

Olivia Varni

Ruby Werner-Corrales

Third Grade

Patrick Buckland

Spencer Caffrey

Samantha Crotty

Kyle Davis

Brianna Desiata

Charlotte Hedberg

Magdalena Janecek

Addison La Marr

Anthony LaPila

John McVerry

Mia Pisciotti

Jonathan Rosario

Davion Smith

Elyanna Sorey

Ashlyn St. Germaine

Paul Will

December & January

Wall of Fame