Eddy Elementary: December 2024

As reflect upon Thanksgiving, it is important to think about gratitude and for what and who we give thanks. Personally, I am thankful for being a part of an amazing learning community here at Eddy Elementary School and Nauset; my family; living on Cape Cod; doing winter evening stargazing; reading a good book. Our school community gives thanks for all our parents, caregivers, and adults who care for our students and cheer them, and for our outstanding teachers and staff who support and challenge our students every day. Research shows that documenting gratitude - verbally in conversation or written in a journal - improves our outlook, our well-being, and our overall health. It can be informal or formal, and it is an easy exercise to do. You can engage your student in a conversation, or even decide as a family to create a gratitude journal. Dr. Monika Roots, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, suggests giving students a prompt of J.O.Y., asking students:

• Joy: What is one thing that brought you joy or happinness today?
• Others: What is one thing that you did today to bring joy or happiness to someone else?
• You: What is one thing about yourself that happened today that makes you happy or proud?

Taking the time to give gratitude can actually create new neural pathways in our brain to help us better understand others' perspectives, improve brain function, and have a healthier, happier self. Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, has some great TED Talks, other videos, books, and articles if you are interested in learning more about his work: https://www.shawnachor.com/happiness-advantage-key-takeaways/

As we have entered the holiday season, there are many changes in routine, new people to meet, new spaces, homes, and beds to sleep in, travel plans near and far, and lots of new foods to be tried. It can all be very stressful - for kids and adults alike! This article from ChildMind, a child advocacy organization, has written this article, 24 Ways to Make the Holidays Kid-Friendly: https://childmind.org/article/how-to-make-holidays-kid-friendly/. Just below this paragraph is a brief two minute video with a few suggestions to make the holiday season more successful for kids because of all the changes to routine.

However you celebrated, I hope that you had a relaxing time reconnecting with loved ones and giving gratitude for all the things large and small during Thanksgiving break!

With Gratitude,

Steve Guditus

Principal, Eddy Elementary School

November has turned out to be a very musical month! We are progressing nicely on our instruments while grade 3 is just beginning their first instrument…the recorder. This is the prelude to learning a band/string instrument through notation reading, instrument use and care and ensemble playing. Grade 4 had the privilege of seeing our very own Cape Symphony, live in Barnstable. It was quite a treat and we had lots of fun. Finally, we had our very first Eddy “First Performance National Day of Celebration” on November 18th. Schools from all around the country participate in this celebration highlighting the progress made from the first eight weeks of learning an instrument. The students did a fantastic job and I am so proud of all of them. Keep encouraging your child to practice at home and I am always here to give suggestions on practicing.

Don’t forget to follow us on instagram too! @eddyschoolmusic

Musically,

Mrs. Faris

The Brewster Department of Public Works is teaming up with Eddy and Stony Brook students for a snowplow naming contest! There will be six snowplows named, one by a student in each grade: Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Student naming submissions are due on Friday, December 6 at school, and winners will be announced the following week. Snowplow naming submissions are due to your student's classroom teacher by Friday, December 6.

Students have been working hard on fiber arts projects and will finish those up before winter break. Third and fourth graders learned some basic sewing stitches and are applying their new skills to create an applique piece. This consists of layering fabric on top of other fabric and using the stitches to help create a design. 5th grade students learned the basics of felting and are making positivity patches using 2-D felting techniques. Many students have expressed interest in continuing to work on their fiber arts projects outside of school. Here are some links to resources for them to keep creating!

• Wool Felted Animals 3-D
• Wool Felting 2-D
• Applique Kits

Also, the art room is in need of donations! If you have any of these items you would otherwise be discarding, we will accept them and use them to upcycle into art! You may send the smaller items into school with your student, or drop off the larger items in the main office:

• Bottle caps

• 1 liter bottles

• Small cardboard boxes (6-8 inches wide)

• Wood scraps for a base stand for sculptures

• Third Grade: In math, students are learning about the introduction to division, and how it relates to multiplication, practicing both operations to see how they are interconnected. In ELA, using the new Expeditionary Learning curriculum, students are writing informational paragraphs, following a template to determine the moral and the gist of the story. In Social Studies, students are studying Native Americans, as well as diverse groups from New England. In Science, students are learning about friction and force. Classes made model slides to test the force of various objects, including both low friction and high friction, and predicted and learned which would go faster!

• Fourth Grade: In math, students are learning about number factors, multiples, prime numbers, and multi-step word problems. In ELA, fourth grade is wrapping up the first unit in Expeditionary Learning, and starting unit two, where the focus is writing to inform, and answering the question, "What inspires writers to write poetry?" In Science, students have finished up the lessons with the Chatham Marconi Center's lessons, with more to come this spring, and are currently exploring more about sound waves in classrooms. In Social Studies, students have finished their unit on Native Americans, and are starting their next unit on European explorers.
• Fifth Grade: This month, students in English Language Arts with our new Expeditionary Learning curriculum, students are continuing their unit on Human Rights. Students are learning about important issues related to fairness, freedom, and justice. We continue to read Esperanza Rising together in class, discuss real-world examples, and write about ways Human Rights are being threatened. In Science, we are exploring the wonders of space! We are learning about the solar system, stars, and planets, and how space exploration has helped us understand the universe. The students are excited to dive into the mysteries of outer space! In Math, 5th graders are diving into decimals! We are learning how to read, write, and compare decimal numbers, as well as how to add and subtract them. Students are also practicing converting decimals to fractions and understanding the relationship between the two. The 5th grade students are also working hard on their 13 Colonies Project in Social Studies! Each student has chosen one of the original colonies to research. They are exploring the history, culture, geography, and important events related to their colony. We are excited to see the students' creativity and learning come together as they share their findings!

Looking for fun, easy, but also educational activities to do at home? Boston's Museum of Science has released free activities that you can do at home! These STEM actvities use everyday materials to develop your student's love of science, technology, engineering and math. Click on the link below to check out the Museum of Science's brief interactives and tips to do STEM activities at home, which can be downloaded in English or Spanish.

https://families.eie.org/activities/at-home

Always know you can reach out to our School Adjustment Counselor, Mrs. Bono for support. She can help with connecting your to community resources, talk out ideas on how to best support your student at home, helping your student navigate friendships, help getting to school on time, and even to help get your student identify their feelings. She is here to help support you and your student. You can get in touch with her by calling the school at X2705 or sending her an email at: bonos@nausetschools.org

Like last December, we will again hold a school-based Scripps National Spelling Bee final the last week of December. As such, this will now be our second annual Eddy Spelling Bee! Within each classroom, teachers will hold a school competition to determine their classroom champion, and then each of our classroom winners will compete as 12 finalists, all together from all three grades, on Friday, December 20, on the stage in the cafeteria. Last year's competition was riveting, and was a great opportunity to practice and celebrate spelling, language, and vocabulary! The Scripps Spelling Bee does provide a practice list, "Words 1–450: Scripps National Spelling Bee School Spelling Bee Study List Words," which are most of the words that will be asked in the classroom competition and school competition (but not every word included in the 1-450 list will be asked). There are additional words beyond the 450th word, which are not shared with student competitors until competition day, but may be asked in the competition. The 1-450 list is organized by difficulty, and labels approximate grade level, but classroom teachers may ask words from anywhere on the list, and the same is true for the school finals.

If your student would like a copy of 1-450 word list to practice spelling words that will be used in the competition, please have your student stop into the main office to get a paper copy (or you may do so as a caregiver to bring home). This is completely optional, but available if your student would like to do some spelling practice to prepare. Unfortunately, Scripps National Spelling Bee very specficially asks us to not post this list anywhere online, so we are only able to offer paper copies of the 1-450 word list. Any questions, please let Principal Guditus know!

This year, we had a unique Veterans Day celebration on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. Together as a school community, we learned about the history of Veterans Day (you can watch that short video here), about the six branches of the military, what a veteran is, where our veterans memorials are located near and far, and the history of poppies as a symbol of gratitude and thanks to veterans. After this, we recognized the service of over 80 veterans who are connected to our Eddy community alone; these range from parents to siblings, grandparents to loved ones, in almost every branch of the armed forces. I clicked through one slide per student or staff member who shared veterans in their lives, announcing the student and their veteran. It was a very personal way for us to recognize and give thanks to our veterans. Afterwards, each student received a paper poppy, and we created a poppy field of thanks to our veterans in Brewster and everywhere, which is currently on display at the Brewster Town Hall, and will make its way to the Council on Aging next. Thank you to all our students, parents, caregivers, and loved ones who took the time to share their veteran's story with our school community!

As you may have seen from previous district communications, Nauset Superintendent Brooke Clenchy has announced her retirement and will do so on June 30, 2025 at the end of the school year. The search committee is requested feedback and input from all members of the Nauset community, including all of you as parents and caregivers! If you have a few brief moments, I encourage you to fill out this survey regarding your vision and priorities for the next superintendent of the Nauset Regional Public Schools.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NAUSET2024A

For more information about influenza and how to support your student, please read these guidelines from Nurse Miller, and contact her with any questions at 508-896-4531 x2702 or via email at millerm@nausetschools.org.

The cold weather is finally upon us! This is a reminder to please provide winter clothing for your student to wear at outdoor recess. Please send your student with a jacket, hat, and gloves/mittens, as we will have outdoor recess, weather permitting, if the windchill is at 20 or above. If the windchill falls below 20, we will have indoor recess. Therefore, kindly provide your student with warm clothing for outdoor recess. If you need assistance acquiring winter clothing for your student, please reach out to our Eddy Adjustment Counselor, Sonja Bono, at bonos@nausetschools.org.

Mr. Guditus is the proud principal of Eddy Elementary School. He was born in Washington DC, and grew up on Long Island, NY and then upstate New York in Saratoga Springs, NY. He attended college at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, and then moved to Massachusetts for graduate school and never left! He is currently in his 24th year of working in public education in Massachusetts, first working as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and principal at the middle school level, then as the director of educational technology, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to rejoin a school community as the principal of Eddy Elementary School. Mr. Guditus loves working with students at Eddy Elementary School, making sure each student is challenged to grow and supported in doing so. Mr. Guditus loves living here on Cape Cod with his husband and golden mix pup, and when not at school, he enjoys walking on the beach, spending time at cut 5.5, reading a good book, tending to his vegetable garden, exploring and cooking new recipes, doing home improvement projects, and always working to expand his perennial pollinator garden.

Did you know that we have a boxtops for education fundraising campaign run through the Brewster PTO? No more cutting of UPCs and boxtops! You can download a free app to your phone by clicking here, and choose Eddy Elementary School. It’s as simple as snapping a picture of your paper receipt from the grocery store or uploading a digital one if you purchase your groceries online. It all adds up! Thanks for your willingness to help with this!

Join KidNews 22 as we explore the vibrant world of Lower Cape schools! Discover a 5th-grade multimedia project on ecosystems, ride along with “Kindness on a Cart,” and uncover what really happens when you’re sent to The Principal’s Office. Get health tips from the nurse, unravel a mystery about turtle eggs, and drop into The Joke Corner for a few chuckles. Don’t miss this exciting edition of KidNews 22—where Students' Voices Matter!

This is a reminder about students' personal electronic devices: students are not permitted to use their personal electronic devices during the school day, including phones, tablets, smart watches, and other personal electronic devices. This policy applies to both the school day, as well as before and after school, including on school buses. If your student ever needs to get a hold of a parent or caregiver, they may always ask to call from the main office, and Mrs. Reeves can assist with having your student call you; if your student is not feeling well, they may let their teacher know that they need to see Nurse Miller, and she can assess their well-being and be in touch with you if there is a medical concern. If you ever need to get a hold of your student, please just call the main office, and we will get a message to your student in a timely manner. If students have a phone, it should be turned off and stowed away; if a student has a smart watch, they are not permitted to text or call during the school day or on the bus. Instead, if there is a problem, your student should speak to an adult at school and we can help solve the problem! Thank you for your help with enforcing this policy. If you have any questions about it, do not hesitate to let Principal Guditus know. This policy is listed on p.13 of the Brewster Elementary Schools Handbook 24-25 under "Personal Technology Devices."

• Tuesday, 12/3/24: Term 1 formally closes
• Thursday, 12/5/24: Rob Surette assembly at Stony Brook at 9am - thank you Brewster PTO!
• Friday, 12/6/24: Early release for students at 11am
• Friday, 12/6/24: Snowplow naming contest submissions are due
• Wednesday, 12/11/24: Report cards go home
• Thursday, 12/12/24: Brewster School Committee @ 6:30pm at Town Hall or remotely here
• Monday-Friday, 12/16/24-12/20/24: Eddy Spirit Week! (see above for details)
• Tuesday, 12/17/24: Eddy School Council @ 2:15pm
• Thursday, 12/19/24: Winter Concert @ 9:00am - Eddy Gymnasium
• Monday, 12/23/24-1/1/25: Holiday Break - no school