Together We Can

Saturday was the first GPS Unified Sports Family Day. And what a success!! Students and families from across the district as well as GHS student athletes participated in a range of activities from softball to dance to soccer. It was amazing to see all of students and families having such a great time. What a way to roll into the last few weeks of school, celebrating the Greenwich Community. Check out the pictures below.

This past Thursday, I presented the Special Education Staffing Formula to the Board of Education. It is through this formula the district determines how many Special Education teachers need to be in each building. The staffing formula was recently noted by Public Consultant Group at the national level as a model for other school districts. It is not an easy-to-understand process, but well worth the watch if this is of interest to you.

Best,

Stacey

Stacey Heiligenthaler, Ph.D.

Chief Officer of Special Education and Student Supports

stacey_heiligenthaler@greenwich.k12.ct.us

Classrooms and programs portrayed in these summaries and photographs

represent the district as a whole, including students in

general education and special education settings.

Mr. Redmond's preschool classroom at Julian Curtiss School has been buzzing with excitement as they welcomed both ladybug and butterfly friends. During this past week, students were captivated by the transition of their caterpillars into chrysalises. Mr. Redmond carefully moved each chrysalis into a spacious new net to ensure each butterfly has plenty of room to stretch their beautiful wings when they emerge

Ms. Lori's preschool students at North Street School are traveling the world as they dive deeper into their Buildings unit! After "landing" in Egypt to create Egyptian necklaces (complete with gems), they learned about the pyramids. Inspired by the writing on these ancient wonders, students were given the opportunity to create their own names in hieroglyphics. Next, our little architects will be heading to visit their neighboring preschool classrooms to explore the landmarks of Chile and France.

Parkway School's incoming kindergarten students recently had the opportunity to visit the school, helping to build excitement and confidence for this important transition this coming fall. During their visit, students explored the classrooms, met the kindergarten teachers, and interacted with future classmates in a welcoming and supportive environment. These experiences help ease first-day nerves while fostering a sense of belonging and connection to their new school community.

Julian Curtiss School celebrated their end of year school band concert. The whole community came to watch as audience members. Students were so excited to share their talents. Great work on all the hard work!

Students in fourth grade at the International School at Dundee in Ms. Williams' class were working on area and perimeter. Students used flexible seating around their classroom to work on their own for real world problems. Students used peers to ask questions of as they worked out their thinking.

Parents joined Heather Martin on the GPS Behavior Team to talk about childhood anxiety and support families with strategies. Parents loved the topic and lots of great feedback was given. It was so nice to have everyone get together for learning to close out the year. Thank you Cos Cob School for hosting.

Cos Cob School celebrated Children's Mental Health Day by starting their Tuesday off with a dance party outside. Students and staff did all the dances they learned throughout the year, like the "Chicken Dance" and "Cha Cha Slide." They were asked to notice how they felt after moving their bodies in the fresh air and sunshine. Fun was had by all.

Students at New Lebanon School are honored for showing their work in math. We challenged older students to show their work in multiple ways, revise their thinking, and even use two and three pages to persevere in problem solving. These students had work that belongs in a museum, so we honored them in our own math work gallery.

During Mrs. Rahaniotis’s ELA class at Western Middle School, students utilized the Encore program to work on their individual IEP goals and objectives using the book, The Jungle Book. To assist with reading comprehension, students used both words and pictures to track the text, matching visual illustrations to corresponding words. Throughout the session, students practiced pointing to the title and identifying characters in the story. They worked on answering "wh-" questions, such as "What is the character doing?" and "Where is the character going?" with students successfully responding in short phrases.

In the Eastern Middle School co-taught math classroom, Mrs. Shive and Mrs. Espinoza provided personalized support as students tackled mean, median, and mode. Following a period of independent practice and 1-on-1 check-ins, the class reconvened to review the problems as a group. This lesson directly supports the sixth-grade math curriculum while advancing specific IEP goals and objectives.

In Mrs. Cheney’s sixth grade academic lab at Eastern Middle School, students focused on their individual IEP goals. Their work covered a variety of key skills, including finding text evidence, practicing decimals on IXL, and reading aloud to build fluency and accuracy. Students also worked on their writing skills by practicing simple and complex compound sentences and composing descriptive poems rich in verbs.

Students in Mrs. Kreutzer's Academic Lab used the recently released final exam schedule to begin to prepare for final exams in their classes. Mrs. Kreutzer discussed the importance of student awareness of the accommodations they utilize most often in their classes when taking assessments. Mrs. Kreutzer then checked in with each student individually and reviewed their final exam schedules. She discussed the accommodations each student found most helpful during midterms and whether or not they would utilize specific ones again for final exams. We wish all of our students the best of luck on their final exams.

School psychologists, social workers, and counselors participated in a district wide school avoidance training. Strategies for engagement, as well as home school problem solving were reviewed and discussed.

with Jocelyn Bruchman

Raising Readers Alongside Your Garden Beds This Summer

When families think about supporting reading over the summer, many immediately picture workbooks, flashcards, or assigned reading lists. While those tools certainly have their place, there has been a huge emphasis within the literacy community about growing knowledge (please excuse the pun). Some of the most powerful literacy experiences happen naturally during everyday activities. Reading is much more than sounding out words on a page - it involves language, vocabulary, background knowledge, critical thinking, and communication.

This summer, consider weaving literacy into the moments you are already sharing with your child. Here are five simple ways to support reading development while making memories together:

1. Follow Your Child's Interests

Motivation matters. Whether your child loves animals, sports, cooking, video games, crafts, or outer space, help them find books, magazines, websites, or audiobooks connected to their interests. Children are more likely to engage with reading when the topic excites them.

Remember: all reading counts. Graphic novels, joke books, how-to guides, and informational texts can be just as valuable as traditional chapter books. Even listening (audiobooks, Bookshare, etc.) counts toward the objective. Expand the faculties that support reading.

2. Turn Everyday Errands into Literacy Opportunities

Trips to the grocery store, garden center, beach, or hardware store offer opportunities to read and talk. Ask your child to help read shopping lists, signs, labels, menus, maps, or directions. Ask your child to group the items in your cart or on your list, and then explain why. Give them a list of items with one outlier and ask which one the intruder is (and do not forget to have them explain why).

These experiences help children see reading as a useful life skill and grow connections in real life rather than something that only happens at school.

3. Build Vocabulary Through Conversation

One of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension is vocabulary knowledge. Summer offers endless opportunities to introduce new words through experiences. At the zoo, discuss habitats. While gardening, talk about roots, stems, and pollination. During a family outing, introduce words like destination, landmark, or tradition. Children learn best when words are connected to meaningful experiences.

Remember, children can often hear and understand vocabulary at a much more complex level than they can decode, so make this an oral activity. Another option includes a Word of the Day website or app. Research tells us that a new vocabulary word should be used at least four times before it is embedded in our lexicon, so make a game out of using the Word of the Day. Who can use it four times first?

4. Make Storytelling a Family Tradition

Stories do not always have to come from books. Share stories from your own childhood, family traditions, vacations, or funny everyday moments. Encourage your child to tell stories as well. Your child can also try narrating their own creative story. Who are the characters? What is the setting? Name the problem they face. Will that character emerge triumphant?

Storytelling strengthens sequencing, language organization, listening comprehension, and expressive language skills - all important foundations for successful reading and writing.

5. Keep Reading Low-Stress and Enjoyable

Summer is a time to recharge. If reading has been challenging for your child during the school year, focus on creating positive experiences rather than emphasizing performance. Read together, listen to audiobooks during car rides, take turns reading pages, or simply enjoy books side by side.

The goal is not perfection. The goal is to help your child view reading as something meaningful, enjoyable, and worth returning to.

As you enjoy the summer months, remember that every conversation, shared story, and new experience helps build the knowledge and language skills that support strong readers. Small moments add up, and the literacy opportunities around us are endless.

Please visit the new Special Education and Student Supports Department webpage on the Greenwich Public School Website. Information about Special Education supports and services as well as contact information is provided

Email: stacey_heiligenthaler@greenwich.k12.ct.us
Website: https://www.greenwichschools.org/teaching-learning/special-education
Location: 290 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT
Phone: (203) 625-7493