Suffield Public Schools
 

A. Ward Spaulding School

May 2016

 
945 Mountain Road | West Suffield, CT 06093 | 860-668-3826 | https://www.suffield.org
       
 

Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 2

Suffield BOE Meeting
6:30 p.m.
SMS LMC

Monday, May 2 - Friday, May 6

Teacher Appreciation Week

Wednesday, May 4

All Children Exercise Simultaneously (ACES event)
8:30 a.m. - 9:05 a.m.

Friday, May 6

National Nurses Day

Monday, May 9

Mystic Aquarium
Visits Kindergarten

Tuesday, May 10

NCCC Support Groups
5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
SHS Room 221, Pampered Palace, and LMC

PTO Board Meeting
7:30 p.m.
MIS LMC

Thursday, May 12

SPED PAC
9:20 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
SHS Chorus/Vocal Room #210

Saturday, May 14

SHS Safe Party Bottle Drive
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
SMS Cafeteria Parking Lot

Monday, May 16

Suffield BOE Meeting
6:30 p.m.
SMS LMC

Tuesday, May 17

AWS - Early Release - Professional Development
1:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 19

Hartford Symphony
Instrument Zoo
8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Monday, May 30

No School & All Offices Closed - Memorial Day

Friday, June 3

Kindergarten Circus
Family Performance
9:30 a.m. -10:30 a.m.
1:00 p.m.- 2:00 p.m.


"Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together." - Scott Hayden


Virtual Backpack:

2015 - 2016 District Calendar

2016 - 2017 District Calendar

Spaulding School Menus

Parent Student Handbook

 
 

A Message From The Principal

The sunny weather of May is here and sunshine always has a way of making our days even more enjoyable. The month of May also brings about Teacher Appreciation Week from May 2-6th, a time when we express gratitude for the consistent and loving efforts of our teachers at Spaulding School. Their dedication to your children and expertise as educators impact our school community in profound ways. I thank our PTO who has planned a breakfast in their honor on May 3rd. Also, National Nurses Day is May 6th. Mrs. Burkett continues to provide appropriate and loving care to our Spaulding Stars, and we thank her for her efforts, enthusiasm, and strong communication with parents.

We are entering an exciting month of interviewing for various positions, all of which will impact teacher and student growth. As of this writing, interviews are being conducted for the new position of assistant principal, a classroom teacher, literacy and numeracy coaches, and a technology integrationist. All of these positions exist to support students to be successful.

Our evening event on April 14th to engage parents and guardians in our literacy and numeracy efforts with children at Spaulding was well-attended. Curriculum leaders Sara Baranauskas and Kris Pryce provided parents and guardians with updates on our programs and provided information and strategies relative to supporting that practice and growth at home. Additionally, those who attended provided valuable feedback from a parent perspective that will inform our work moving forward.

As we enter the final weeks of school, please continue to visit our school website and the contents of your children’s Wednesday folders to obtain important information relative to end-of-the-year events, such as Step-It-Up Day at McAlister Intermediate School, field days, preschool graduation, and others. We continue to value the effective and sincere partnership that we share in supporting your children. Here’s to a great final stretch of the school year!

Scott P Dunn

The Principal’s Golden Star

We have many different color stars for students showing expected behaviors in different settings. The yellow star is the school-wide star, the green star is the cafeteria star, the pink star is the recess star, the orange star is the bus star, and the blue star is the classroom star. We also have a Golden Principal Star that is awarded to students when the principal sees them showing expected behaviors.  Each year, students can submit drawings to be displayed on the Golden Principal Star. If you have an idea for the star design, please draw it in black pen only (no color) on letter-size paper. Please submit your drawings to the main office by May 31th, 2016. The four winning star designs will be presented at our Star assembly in June. Mr. Dunn is looking for and excited to see your ideas for the design of the Golden Star!

Spaulding Students Shine at Suffield Idol!

The stage was alive with singers, dancers, gymnasts, and others at Suffield Idol. Students impressed the panel of judges and audience with amazing performances that inspired and motivated everyone! Mr. Dunn, one of the judges, and Mrs. Pickman, the emcee for the event, were impressed with all of the Spaulding Stars who participated.

 
       

Annual Spaulding Art Festival Shines with Creativity!

 

The 31st annual A. Ward Spaulding School Art Festival opened to the public on Thursday, April 7, 2016. This school-wide Art Festival showcased at least two works of art per student. Attendance at the event was impressive both during the day and evening. During the day, students as a class admired their art work and those of their peers, including pinch pots, clay squirrels, Chihuly “glass” bowls, and paintings of silhouetted trees. During the evening hours, parents and guardians joined their children to marvel at all of the student creations. A slide show displaying rotating pictures of students creating in art class provided families with additional visuals of our Spaulding Star artists at work.

Mrs. Jespersen, our music teacher, provided lovely musical selections on the harp during the evening portion of the event. Her playing, a popular feature of the Art Festival, helps to remind us how the arts guide us in understanding each other, expressing ourselves and celebrating life. Parents and families enjoyed the musical accompaniment to the annual event that engages and inspires the artist in all of us!

Mrs. Piellucci, our art teacher, commented proudly: Our students are wonderful! As they take this exciting and explorative journey into the world of art, I am taught something new every day! It makes me a better artist, and as a result a better teacher, to find out what these brilliant little Van Goghs, Picassos and O'Keeffes have to offer! I am in constant wonderment!

 

Curriculum Highlights for First Grade

 

This spring is a busy time in the life of a first grade student at Spaulding School.  To begin with, each classroom has special guests visiting during the spring months. These small guests arrived as eggs, are now tadpoles, and we are anxiously waiting for them to become froglets, and finally frogs! We enjoyed to opportunity to study the life cycle of the butterfly at the beginning of first grade and are now experiencing a frog’s life cycle.  By mid-May, there will be many frogs hopping and croaking around Suffield!

We are currently embarking on a reading adventure with fairy tales. Although we will read and discuss a variety of fairy tales, our primary focus will be on reading and comparing different cultural versions of Cinderella. It’s amazing the number of Cinderella stories there are available to read! Following the fairy tale unit, we will return to non-fiction text where we will look closely at text features and start preparing for our animal research project.

As writers, we are gearing up to producing our own “how-to” writing pieces, complete with listing the materials necessary and the steps that are needed to be successful at a certain task. Our final writing unit of study is research-based. We will select an animal of interest which we learn about through technology, and then create a research paper based on our findings.  As a culmination for our busy year of writing, each of the first graders will select a writing piece worked on during the year and bring it to a “published” state, which will be presented at our class “Authors Share” in June. 

As mathematicians, we have been collecting data and reporting out our findings with our classmates. We will continue to revisit the 100s chart and strengthen our addition and subtraction strategies using bigger numbers. Our plan is to finish the year having fun with fractions.

Some other points of interest for us in first grade included a visit from Zoo Stations just before April vacation. This opportunity allowed us to observe amphibians up close and personal, thanks to the donation made by the Spaulding PTO.  On Wednesday, May 11th, the entire first grade team is making a trip to Springfield Symphony Hall to watch a live performance of the story, Henry and Mudge.  Of course, the end of the year brings so many additional activities.  Please keep an eye on the school calendar, monthly newsletter, and the digital backpack for the happenings in June!

 

Nurse’s Corner

 

Recently the Suffield Lions Club partnered with the First Selectman’s office and the Lions Clubs of Terryville, Thomaston, and Bristol to screen students between the ages of six months to eight years of age for the most common eye disorders that children possess.  Screenings were conducted at Bright Horizons Early Care Center and Spaulding School. The Suffield Lions were able to provide screenings for 301 students. We thank the Suffield Lions Club for their partnership.

 

Friendly Reminders

 

Please continue the practice of calling the absence line when your child is out of school (860-668-3826 and then press #1 to report the absence).

When picking up your child on a particular day, please be sure to send in a pickup note with your child’s name, teacher’s name, date, time, and name of the individual picking up your child.

 
 

Suffield Public Schools
350 Mountain Road, Suffield, CT 06078
Phone: 860-668-3800 (Central Office)

 

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