The Penguin Post

Tuesday, May 16 - Grade 3 & 4 Math MCAS - session 1

Wednesday, May 17 - Grade 3 & 4 Math MCAS - session 2

Friday, May 19 - School-wide enrichment - BMX Riders

Tuesday, May 23 - Kindergarten field trip to the Agawam Fire Station

Friday, May 26 - PBIS Red, White, & Blue Day

Monday, May 29 - No school: Memorial Day

Friday, June 2 - Music Matters Concert - School Street Park

Friday, June 2 - Doering Jazz Band performs for Phelps 3rd and 4th graders

Monday, June 5 - 4th grade tour of Doering and class picnic

Thursday, June 8 - Field Day (rain date: June 7)

Wednesday, June 21 - 4th grade Moving-Up Assembly

Thursday, June 22 - Last day of school (half day for students - 12:20pm dismissal)

In this newsletter we are sharing both our March and April staff Crystal Apple Award Winners!

For March, we recognized first grade teacher Mrs. Keefe! Mrs. Keefe's love of learning is infectious! She loves all subjects, and is excited to share each day's lessons with her students. Math is her particular favorite and her enthusiasm rubs off on her students in room 2! She will challenge her students to solve math problems in numerous ways, show them how to dig deeper into the math problems, and especially how to talk about the math. To be a part of Mrs. Keefe's classroom is exciting and renews not only my love of learning, but the students in room 2 hang on her every word and are happy to take on new tasks.

For April, we recognized our K-2 Connections teacher, Mrs. Dyer! Mrs. Dyer has an incredible way with children and continues to work hard to support new, incoming children into her classroom. During their transitions, students have made exceptional progress in her room both social-emotionally and academically. She has a unique drive in acquiring new skill sets and training opportunities when it comes to educating her students. We have all been a witness to Mrs. Dyer's "magical way" with children and she deserves great recognition for it. I continue to be amazed by her patience, determination, consistency, and joy in Room 1. Thank you for all that you do!

We are excited to announce that we are partnering with Westfield Bank to bring their Ready, Set, Grow school banking program to Phelps in the fall! This is a program set up to encourage young children to start saving at an early age. Starting at the end of September, a representative from Westfield Bank will be at Phelps for school banking day once every week!

More information will go home with students this fall.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated time (and flowers) to come out and make our exterior look beautiful! It was amazing to see how much we were able to accomplish in 2 hours!

Just a reminder that 3rd and 4th graders will be taking the Math MCAS next week on May 16 and May 17. It is important that students get a good night of sleep and have a good breakfast before testing.

We are excited to share that there is new technology in many of our classrooms. We are upgrading our old BrightLinks projectors with new Samsung Flips. The Flip is an interactive whiteboard that has many features to enhance instruction. At this point two out of every three classrooms in each grade level have the new technology. We hope to have the last five classrooms installed soon.

As the district and town prepare to decide on either renovating our current high school or build a new one, we are seeking parent and community representatives to be a part of the visioning process. If you are interested in an opportunity to provide input, please complete this form. Dates and times are included in the form. Your voice matters as it won't be long before your students are in high school.

You can find more information about the Agawam High School Building Project by going to https://agawamhsproject.com/.

Once again, we are excited to offer parents the opportunity to purchase next year's school supplies through School Tool Box! All of the classroom supplies that students use through the year are in the box. As long as you place your order by July 16, the box will be delivered to Phelps and placed in your child's classroom. Please make sure to choose next year's grade when ordering the box. You can place your orders here!

Our Girls on the Run team has been having a great season - we are 2/3 of the way through the program! The Girls on the Run program inspires girls to be healthy, joyful and confident using an experiential based curriculum which creatively integrates running. The girls are doing such a great job with the curriculum and meeting their lap goals each practice! We are gearing up for our practice 5K in preparation for the final 5K at Western New England University in Springfield on June 3rd!

The 2023-2024 Agawam School Calendar was approved by the school committee. The first day of school for students in grades 1-4 is Thursday, September 7. Kindergarten students will start on Tuesday, September 12.

Mr. Villamaino & Mrs. Domina

Website: https://www.agawamed.org/o/bjp
Location: 689 Main Street, Agawam, MA, USA
Phone: 413-821-0586