 | | | A. Ward Spaulding School | Dec. / Jan. 2015 | | 945 Mountain Road | West Suffield, CT 06093 | 860-668-3826 | https://www.suffield.org | | |  | | | | | | | | Upcoming Events: 
Tuesday, Dec. 1 Suffield BOE Meeting
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 - Friday, Dec. 4 Early Release, Conferences
1:00 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5 SHS Safe Party Bottle Drive
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
SMS Cafeteria Parking Lot Tuesday, Dec. 8 NCCC Support Groups
5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
SHS Room 221 Home Economics Wednesday, Dec. 9 Sped PAC
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Suffield High School LMC Tuesday, Dec. 15 Suffield BOE Meeting
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16 Spirit Day
Wacky Wednesday Friday, Dec. 18 First Grade Gingerbread Kid Caper Play
Auditorium Tuesday, Dec. 22 Preschool Holiday Celebration
9:45-11:00
1:00-2:15 Wednesday, Dec. 23 Early Release
Winter Vacation
1:00 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24
through
Friday, Jan. 1 No School - Winter Vacation Monday, Jan. 4 Suffield BOE Meeting
6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8 M&J Bus Lessons
8:45-10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13 Sped PAC
9:20 a.m.
SHS Room 610 Monday, Jan. 18 Martin Luther King Day
No School Tuesday, Jan. 19 Suffield BOE Meeting
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20 Spaulding Numeracy Night and Book Fair
Preschool and Grade 2
5:30-6:00 p.m.
Kindergarten and Grade 1
6:15-6:45 p.m.
(Snow date 1/28) Saturday, Jan. 23 Kindergarten Tradition
Pizza Bowling
4:00 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29 Preschool Peer Screenings
8:45-9:45 a.m.
"The more passion you have about something, the more likely it will translate into a passion in the students." - Katherine Paterson  2015 - 2016 District Calendar Spaulding School Menus Parent Student Handbook | |  | A Message From The Principal | | During this holiday season, we thank you for the continued partnership that we share in ensuring a safe, productive, and enjoyable learning experience for your children at Spaulding School. Last month, our school community demonstrated their volunteer efforts in our annual Trick or Treats for Pets drive. Also we joined together in November to honor Veterans Day and as of this writing, we are about to embark on Parent Teacher Conferences on December 2-4. All of these events remind us of our good fortune to be a part of this vibrant and inclusive school community. As a faculty, we continue to engage in our four strategic district goals, which are: (1) using data to drive decision-making in order to improve student outcomes; (2) conducting comprehensive professional development for teachers; (3) developing curriculum aligned to the Connecticut Core Standards; and (4) shifting to a digital learning environment. All of our work emanates from these four key goals. We continue to review and revise our curriculum, ensuring alignment to CCS. Additionally, our team has begun to refine and update common assessments and establish progress monitoring and academic and behavioral intervention protocols for students in need. Our talented and dedicated teachers and leaders continue to engage in this work which serves to impact student learning as we collaborate together to support the district mission of preparing all students for success in a rapidly-changing world. As the new year approaches, so do our annual Spaulding Traditions! In previous newsletters, and in this one as well, we have included the dates, times, and locations of these fun events. We hope that you and your family will be able to join us. I hope the upcoming holiday vacation provides you and your family with quality time together characterized by health and happiness. See you next year! Sincerely, 
Scott P Dunn | The Giving Tree | |  During our parent conferences on December 2-4, teachers will have a “giving tree” poster on their classroom doors. Each tree contains “leaves” that include necessary items for classrooms, such as tissue boxes, hand wipes, and paper towels. All of these supplies are utilized within the classrooms. If you wish to assist teachers by purchasing an item for classroom use, please feel free to take a “leaf” and have your child bring the chosen item to the teacher when convenient. Thank you for your shining kindness!
| Teaching Expected Behaviors to our Spaulding Stars |  At Spaulding, we have developed lesson plans that explicitly teach expected behaviors in each setting. Through direct instruction, modeling and repeated practice of these behaviors, we work to develop appropriate social skills. Similar to the way we would re-teach a math skill that a student did not grasp, we break down the behavior into smaller steps, teach what the expected behavior looks like, model the appropriate behavior, and offer opportunities for the student to practice this. Reminding students to engage in the expected behavior and reinforcing them when they exhibit these behaviors help to prevent the unexpected behaviors from occurring. We will be re-teaching the expectations school-wide when we return from the December vacation and again after the April vacation. Here are some of the posters of the expectations that we teach in specific settings. Ask your child about the expectations! You can help support them by talking about the expectations before they go to school in the morning. | The Shining Hallways of Spaulding | | Our teachers and students continue to decorate the hallways of Spaulding! Whether it is a monster glyph, scarecrow, bat, or other pieces of student work, our hallways showcase our Spaulding Stars! We thank our students and teachers for their hard work. 
| Friendly Reminders | | Thank you for our continued partnership in maintaining a safe and secure learning environment for everyone at Spaulding School. We appreciate your understanding relative to the district's new sign-in procedure of asking for driver licenses as a means of positive identification when entering the building. Parent response to this procedure has been very positive as we work together to maintain a safe and secure school for all. | Spaulding Newsletter PDF | | 
A. Ward Spaulding December and January Newsletter - PDF
| | | | | | | | | | | Show and Tell Night | | |   Our Show and Tell event in which families visited classrooms to observe and appreciate student work within the curricula was successful. Our annual book fair was well-attended (with an appearance by Clifford the Red Dog!) and our ice cream social always brings families together for conversation and sweets. We thank our teachers who prepared for the event and our families for the continued partnership that we share.
| | Curriculum Highlights: Art, Music, and Physical Education | Art Education | | |  Our student artists remain busy in room 25! In December, Grade 2 students will return to our Landscape Unit by painting landscapes that tell a story as inspired by the art of American Artist Grant Wood. The challenge will be to include several layers of foreground and middle ground in the artwork. Grade 1 students will pattern symmetrical-beaded necklaces. These will be adorned with a pendant of their own design and build using a polymer clay. Once baked for durability, they will problem-solve unique ways to attach the pendant to their necklace. Our kindergarten students are exploring what objects feel like, how to describe them, and learn how to use line and shape to create the look of texture on such items as a tree trunk and dog fur. This texture unit will include several different mediums.
| | Music Education | | |  In December, our students will begin working on our Spaulding Star Concert music. Let’s Eat! is the theme for our concert which will be performed on Thursday, February 11, 2016. Our Grade 1 students will also be learning about folk songs and learning to perfect our bell playing skills. Our Grade 1 students have completed a unit about the brass family and will be learning about the woodwind family instruments in December. Ask your first grader to tell you about brass instruments. Our kindergarten students will practice beat-keeping and matching pitches while they sing. They will also learn more about how to perform on the risers to prepare for our concert. Be on the lookout for Mrs. J to open her wix webpage where you can view videos of concert songs and practice them at home! http://wjespersen.wix.com/letseat
| | Physical Education | | | Our Spaulding Stars just finished up fitness testing, which consists of the two-minute continuous run, push-ups, and sit and reach. Students have been excited to test because we have been practicing since the beginning of the school year. Although only grade 1 and 2 graders are tested, all of our friends at Spaulding have been working diligently. Coming up in December, the students will be starting the parachute, Fitness Monopoly, and mats. The mats will be coming out for some rocking and rolling fun, demonstrating their fitness skills. Students will be demonstrating weight transfers, jumps, and types of balance. Just like the board game, Fitness Monopoly gives students a chance to roll dice and land on spots to perform different types of movements. Keep moving and grooving! | | Nurse’s Corner | | |  As the cold weather months are approaching and students start wearing hats and scarves routinely, it’s a good time to remind families about some basic facts about pediculosis and Suffield’s current health policy (#5141.221) regarding the prevention and treatment of head lice. Head lice is ever present in humans and is a common community problem, but we can approach the problem collaboratively, learning from the facts and focusing on prevention. Anyone can become infested. Preventing infestation and treating it appropriately requires knowledge, on-going vigilance and attention to detail.
An itchy scalp is the most common symptoms and our staff is aware of the need to watch for this sign. When those symptoms are observed in school, students are referred to the nurse for private screening. The nurse will then contact the parents to ensure appropriate treatment is implemented. We encourage all parents to help in watching for these same signs by carefully checking your child’s head on a routine basis. I would like to direct you to a website that is endorsed by the National Association of School Nurses which has been a help to many parents and families. Headfirst Lice Lessons (headfirstlicelessons.org) presents the facts: how lice are spread, the symptoms and the most effective way of treating it. I would like to emphasize the important role that parents play in notifying the school nurse of an active case in their family. All names will be kept confidential as we alert other families with children in the same classroom. Mass screening will be conducted only under special circumstances deemed appropriate by the school nurse. | | Sped PAC Meeting Schedule | | | The Suffield Special Education Parent Advisory Council (Sped PAC) was started as a way for parents and Suffield Special Services to exchange information and ideas, ask questions, and solicit input. We encourage all parents whose children receive services from Suffield Special Services to attend the meetings. Your attendance and participation are welcomed! | Month | Day | Time | Location | | December | 9 | 7-8:30 p.m. | SHS Library Media Center | | January | 13 | 9:20-10:50 a.m. | SHS Room 610 | | February | 10 | 7-8:30 p.m. | SHS Library Media Center | | March | 9 | 9:20-10:50 a.m. | SHS Room 610 | | April | 13 | 7-8:30 p.m. | SHS Library Media Center | | May | 11 | 9:20-10:50 a.m. | SHS Room 610 | | | Spaulding Spirit Day: Costume Day at Spaulding | | |  | | Library Media Center | | | Across grade levels students come to the library to gain an appreciation for great literature and to choose books to take home that will foster their love for reading. Beyond that, students come to the library to engage in hands-on learning that supports the Common Core and grade-level curriculum. Over the past month, students have been focusing on grade-level science units, conducting experiments, researching, and gaining information about the world around them through investigations. Second grade students have begun a science unit to understand that human beings, like all other living things, have special nutritional needs for survival. So far, students have looked at the skeletal and muscular systems to understand these two different structures that function within our bodies. Did you know that it takes 17 muscles to move your index finger? We also learned that the heart is an involuntary muscle that pumps blood and oxygen through your body. An involuntary muscle is one that you cannot control. Students then delved into researching the various food groups to learn how they support these body systems in order to keep them functioning and healthy. Students are using their acquired information about the needs for survival to create a digital project that will be used to teach younger students about the importance of eating healthy and exercising. In the first grade classrooms, students are working on forces in motion. Students began by learning about different motions. Any object that is moving is in motion. Students identified various motions by working with others to experiment with objects. They learned motion can include words like roll, bounce, spin, twirl, walk, or flip. Students then focused their attention on the forces that cause motion. How could you move a feather without touching it? What happens when you squeeze a spring and let go? See if your child can identify motion around you and the force causing the motion. Students will next focus on the relative position of objects to understand how shadows form as a result of the Earth’s motion. Our kindergarten students have spent time looking at the season of fall. Students have worked to identify signs of fall and the various changes that happen as one season changes to the next. Students have been learning by researching on Pebblego, reading non-fiction and fiction text, and experimenting with digital tools to demonstrate their understanding. Students drew pictures on the iPads and wrote about their drawings. They have even spent time using a digital magazine to bring to life numerous fall events. Ask your child about the changes around us as the season changes to fall and from fall to winter. | | Trick or Treats for Pets Drive: A Shining Success! | | |  For the second consecutive year, Spaulding School has organized a Trick or Treats for Pets Drive to benefit the food pantry at the Newington Humane Society and Suffield Emergency Aid Association. Amber Lonardo, a second grade teacher at Spaulding, led a committee of teachers and students that created an engaging showcase at the school entrance, collaborated with students to promote the drive on the morning announcements each day, and created posters to motivate interest.
Many items of dog and cat food, treats, and toys were collected, all of which were donated to the Newington Humane Society. This fundraiser heightened student awareness of these pantries and the pet owners who struggle financially. Pet food pantries provide people with an alternative to surrendering their pets to shelters. In addition to the donations collected, the faculty and staff at Spaulding School donated funds from their Jeans Day initiative to this cause. Mrs. Lonardo and the committee thank the school community for their contributions to this worthwhile endeavor. | | Spaulding School Remembers Veterans | | |   There was a sea of red, white, and blue in the auditorium of A. Ward Spaulding School on November 10th as the school community honored Veterans Day. The Tiger and Wolf dens of the Cub Scouts led the school in the Pledge of Allegiance and students learned about this holiday and its significance. In addition to the United States Proclamation of Veterans Day being read, students and staff also watched a moving video on Veterans Day, learning how the efforts and sacrifices of veterans made the freedom that we enjoy today possible. The assembly concluded with everyone singing America under the direction of our music teacher, Mrs. Jespersen.
| | Spaulding Traditions – Save the Dates! | | | | Preschool
March 5 (Saturday)
My Gym in Enfield
1:00-2:00 p.m.
(for a.m. students)
2:30-3:30 p.m.
(for p.m. students) |  |  | Grade 1
February 5 (Friday)
PJ Movie Night at AWS
6:00-7:30 p.m. | Kindergarten
January 23 (Saturday)
Bowling at Bradley Bowl
Windsor Locks
4:00-6:00 p.m. | 
|  | Grade 2
February 26 (Friday)
Pizza Bingo Night at AWS
6:00-7:30 p.m. | | | | | Suffield Public Schools
350 Mountain Road, Suffield, CT 06078
Phone: 860-668-3800 (Central Office)
| | | 
| |
