Haynes Monthly

January

Dear Haynes Families,

Happy 2024! I hope you all had a nice winter break and have been fairing well with the recent weather. As you know from living in New England, we have about 12 seasons a year here and we are currently in our first "false spring" season. I'm sure we'll be back in the cold and snow soon!

It has been a nice start to the new year with lots of fun and excitement in the building. Our first graders experienced experiments and exploration of light with a visit from the Discovery Museum (thank you HOP!). I sat in on one of the presentations and I was just as amazed and engaged with the lasers as the students were! In PE, Mr. Ilg has started a Winter Olympics unit. I saw students working on hockey and teamwork skills and I look forward to seeing them do the "luge", curling, as well as other events. We have introduced student performers for School Meeting and we will have students start performances soon. We are going to prioritize 4th and 5th grade performers as they had a couple of years disrupted due to COVID and we want to make sure they have opportunities to perform, if they would like.

January is also a time for mid-year progress monitoring. Students at all grade levels have been working hard on their literacy and math assessments. Teachers then meet together as grade level teams, along with curriculum specialists, special educators, and administrators, to identify student needs and plan out their upcoming units and lessons. The first elementary term will be ending next week and report cards will be coming out on January 25th. That will be an opportunity to check on your child's progress as we are about mid-way through the school year.

Our Community and Celebration Committee has an update that we would like to share with you. February 12th-16th will be the first Haynes Community Week! The week will be a winter-themed celebration focusing on making connections, building relationships with students across grade levels, and celebrating kindness, all while learning together! Classes will be given a buddy class and students will have a learning partner for the week. Activities include read-a-louds, poetry writing, snowflake math, and more! The school will also celebrate Valentine's Day by focusing on kindness and connection.

Best,

Bryant Amitrano

Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day will be here before we know it and I wanted to clarify how it will look at Haynes. The other elementary principals and I collaborated on our message and in an effort to be more inclusive and equitable, we are asking families not to send in store-bought or home-made Valentine’s Day cards or gifts. This change in practice reflects our ongoing commitment to equity and inclusion. When we do projects at school, we ensure all students have the same access to supplies and we avoid placing any undue burden on families’ time or resources.

We understand for many of you this may come as a relief – no last minute CVS shopping on Feb. 13! – and for others it feels like a loss. It needn’t be. As a school and district, we recognize and celebrate Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to express friendship and our gratitude for family, friends, and community. This may look different from classroom to classroom, but the intent is to focus on the underlying Valentine’s Day themes of kindness and connection.

Along with individual classroom Valentine's activities, as a school, we will be creating a masterful chain of snowflakes and hearts connecting each student and staff member. This will be a part of our Haynes Community Week that was shared from our Community and Celebrations Committee.

Thank you for your support and understanding,

Food Pantry & Spirit Day

The next Food Pantry Day will be on Friday January 19th. Thank you for all of your donations to the food pantry every month as they are greatly appreciated and well received. There are some specific foods that are in need: cereal, canned tomatoes (whole & diced), pasta, salad dressing (including mayo, marinades, ketchup & mustard), boxed rice (ex. Near East, Rice-a-Roni), boxed potatoes.

Next Friday will also be Haynes Spiritwear/Blue/White Day!

Haynes Operational Reminders

We had our first major snowstorm in a couple of years and I want to thank our custodians Glen and Ryan, SPS facilities, and Sudbury DPW for getting our school and grounds ready this past week! Below are a couple of winter reminders:

Please remember to send students in with all of their winter gear. We will go outside for recess whenever possible. Principals monitor the weather, including temperature and windchill, to determine if we are able to have outdoor recess.
Please remain in your car at drop-off and pick-up. We know that students are carrying extra gear and ask for your patience as the car-line may take longer during times of inclement weather and when students have additional bags to carry.
Please drive slow on and around the Haynes Campus. We have students and families walking to and from school and driving slowly helps to increase safety. Please also remember to stop for all pedestrians in the crosswalks on and off the school campus.

Absence/Tardy/Dismissal Change Form

MCAS Dates

Grade 3 MCAS ELA Monday, April 8th & Tuesday, April 9th

Grade 3 MCAS Math Thursday, May 2nd & Friday, May 3rd

Grade 4 MCAS ELA Thursday, April 4th & Friday, April 5th

Grade 4 MCAS Math Tuesday, April 30th & Wednesday, May 1st

Grade 5 MCAS ELA Tuesday, March 26th & Wednesday, March 27th

Grade 5 MCAS Math Thursday, April 25th & Friday, April 26th

Grade 5 MCAS STE Tuesday, May 7th & Thursday, May 9th

Upcoming Important Dates

1/19 - Food Pantry & Spirit Day
1/22 - School Advisory Council - 2:45-4:00 PM - Haynes Conference Room
1/24 - No School for Students - Professional Development Day
1/31 - Early Release - 11:45 AM
2/8 - Bingo Night
2/9 - Food Pantry & Spirit Day
2/14 - Early Release - 11:45 AM
2/19-2/23 - No School

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Kickoff to K posters in other languages:

Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese

pdf

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Kickoff to K 2024.pdf

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HOP Updates

5th Grade Store

The 5th Grade School Store opens for business from Monday, January 22 through Friday, February 2.

What to expect:

5th Graders sell small, fun items (pens/ pencils, erasers, notebooks, erasers, stickers, highlighters, etc.) to Haynes students, help them ring up orders, count money, and check out.

This is a cash-only event, and small bills/ coins are appreciated. A per-visit spending limit will be set - more info coming soon. 100% of proceeds go towards 5th Grade's end-of-year activities.

Shopping hours: 7:45 - 8:05am

Mondays: Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Tuesdays: 2nd and 3rd Grades

Fridays: 4th and 5th Grades

Shopping at the 5th Grade School Store is OPTIONAL.

Scholarships are available and anonymous. Please contact Principal Amitrano (Bryant_Amitrano@sudbury.k12ma.us) to learn more.

SAVE THE DATE: BINGO Night is February 8!

Want to join the planning team? We need your help working together to promote the event, procure prizes, and organize concessions and raffles. Please fill out this volunteer interest form. We'll be in touch with more information!