UES Swoop Scoop
September 5, 2023
Vermont Youth Orchestra at UES
Our PreK-Grade 4 learners and staff enjoyed amazing performances by the VYO last Wednesday in our beautiful auditorium.
Roxbury Village School Visits UES
Learners and staff from RVS visited UES last week to tour our school. While at UES, they attended the VYO performances and enjoyed lunch and recess together. We are already looking forward to their next visit.
UES First Annual Staff Spelling Bee
This morning we held our first annual UES Staff Spelling Bee during our monthly Community Time. April's monthly focus, Striving for Accuracy, was demonstrated beautifully by the 14 staff members who began the Bee by spelling familiar school wide words (kind, safe, swoop, read) and ended with some really complex words (ichthyosaurus, verdigris, formaldehyde). There are 7 staff members who still remain as we ran out of time due to their incredible spelling skills. Stay tuned to find out who our 2024 Staff Spelling Bee champ will be!
MRPS Loves Books Week 2024!
This week we are celebrating, MRPS Loves Books Week! This year's event was planned in collaboration with Roxbury Village School and the Caregiver Alliances from both buildings. A huge thanks to the Caregivers Alliance for helping fund and organize some of the fun events we have planned.
Across our MRPS elementary schools, this week, the literary curricular focus for the week is on the Red Clover books. The Red Clover Book Award is designed for children in kindergarten through fourth grade. Each year thousands of Vermont school children read the 10 nominated picture books and vote for their favorite in the spring. The award has been handed out annually since 1997. Teachers have selected various Red Clover books to read and engage with in their classrooms this week.
Additional Fun!
- UES Staff Spelling Bee
- Learners will be making MRPS Loves Books Bookmarks in Art and reading a story from our visiting author, Marty Kelley, during Library classes.
- Classroom Reading Celebrations
- Book Fair Sponsored by the UESCA on April 16 & 17: The in-person book fair is back! Every student will take home a FREE book from a diverse selection curated by local bookstore Bear Pond Books. It's as simple and easy as that. No money exchanged and each kid gets a high-quality book to keep thanks to UESCA sponsorship. There are no books for purchase at the book fair, please do not send money in with learners.
- Author Visit Sponsored by the UESCA on April 18: Author/illustrator Marty Kelley will visit with UES learners to talk about his books and creative writing process. This visit is supported in part by a grant from Vermont Humanities.
- Teacher Wish Lists Organized by the UESCA: Support our UES teachers, staff, and students by purchasing books from their wish lists that will go directly into their classrooms and learning spaces. All books on the wish lists will be available to purchase at 15% off online at our local bookstore Bear Pond Books during April 15-20, 2024! Visit bearpondbooks.com/ues-loves-books starting April 15th to shop the teacher wish lists.
- Check out this flyer for details of all the UESCA supported events!
We can't wait to continue to grow this week of fun in years to come!
April Kindness Club - This Week!
Kindness Club at UES is a group that meets once a month on Wednesdays after school from 3-4pm in the school library. Our mission is to spread kindness throughout our school community, and beyond. We start each meeting with a light snack, and discussion, and spend the rest of our meeting time engaged in a kindness project. Learners sign-up for each individual meeting that they are able to attend.
Any student in 2nd-4th grade is welcome to attend. Sign Up Here for the April 17th meeting.
Optional Learner Placement 2024-2025 Caregiver Questionnaire
If you would like to provide the placement team with information regarding your learner from your perspective, please complete this informational questionnaire and return it to your learner’s teacher by Monday, April 29th. A paper copy will be coming home with learners this week. The placement teams will use this information during the placement process, alongside a great deal of information gathered at school, in making student centered decisions and balanced classes for the 2024-2025 school year.
Family Fitness Night - Save the Date!
UES Spring Caregiver Feedback Results
Thanks to the 43 caregivers who completed the survey this round. Here are the results!
Though we had 17 more responses than the fall, we would still like to see more engagement. We heard from several caregivers that they would like to see a shorter survey in the future. The UES Caregivers Council agrees with this sentiment. Additionally, there were many “I don’t know” response. We will be responding to these pieces of feedback, working together to create a different survey to gather feedback next year.
Additionally, the Caregivers Council is continuing to digest the results of this round of feedback and will be sharing out some action steps, after our May meeting, based on what we have heard. Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill the feedback form out!
News From Nurse Megan
It’s officially mud season! Which means that it’s super important to bring in an extra pair of clothes to have in your backpack or to leave in the classroom! Our playground gets muddy as well as when your child’s class goes to Eco so you want to make sure they have extra clothes every day.
It’s that time of year to also make sure you are checking yourself or your child for ticks. It’s helpful to wear tick resistant clothing when you know your child is going to Eco or will be playing in the woods, wear bug spray, and check your clothing and body after coming inside. For more information on tick prevention and bites go to this link:
Order Your 2023-2024 Yearbook Before May 1st
You can now place orders for the 2023-2024 yearbook! Select the link below and enter our school code to order.
YBPay.lifetouch.com
School Code: 14772124
Please note, UES is not accepting cash or checks for orders. All orders must be done through the LifeTouch website. If you have any questions, please email Jena Mallery - jenamallery@mpsvt.org.
Next MRPS School Board Meeting
The MRPS Board of School Directors is meeting Wednesday, April 17th, 2024 at 6:30pm at MHS. Everyone is welcome to attend. Find the meeting agenda, minutes from past meetings, information about the work of the various School Board Committees, and more by visiting www.mrpsvt.org/school-board