This Week at Seely Place

Dear Seely Place Families,

It is hard to believe that October is already here! The opening weeks of school have been filled with learning, connection, and so many moments that have reminded us what makes Seely Place such a special community. From the moment you walk into the building, you can feel the energy and warmth that make us so proud of our Seely Place community. As we visit classrooms, we are equally proud of the learning taking place and the progress our students are already making. Some highlights we have seen include:

• In kindergarten, watching students bring reading, writing, and math together as they explored their names and counted how many letters they have.

• In first grade, watching students develop their writing skills as they identified their favorite parts of fall and practiced turning their ideas into complete sentences with details.

• In second grade, watching students practice their mental math strategies to learn their math facts, with doubles, doubles plus one and make 10, with and without math manipulatives.

• In third grade, watching students deepen their word study skills through Words Their Way as they sorted words by familiarity and categories, organized them alphabetically, and challenged their thinking by reorganizing the words in different ways.

• In fourth grade, watching students grow their ideas about texts as they used picture books to uncover deeper meaning and support their thinking with evidence from the text.

• In fifth grade, watching students engage in design thinking as they planned and created miniature desks for their classmates, combining creativity, problem-solving, and an understanding of another person’s needs.

• In sixth grade, watching students become scientists as they worked together to measure the volume of different objects using water displacement.

There is also a lot of excitement around some of the new spaces in our building. Our STEAM Lab has quickly become a place where students can explore, create, collaborate, and bring their ideas to life. Ask your child about what happens when someone walks into the STEAM room! We are equally excited about the progress being made in our lunchroom and know our students are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to enjoy the newly updated space and school lunch! We are sure that you are excited, too!

We are incredibly grateful for the partnership of our Seely Place families. The support you provide, whether volunteering at our upcoming book fair, reinforcing learning at home, or simply asking your child about their day, plays an important role in their school experience. Thank you for being such an important part of our community. We are excited for all that October will bring, including Picture Day, the Seely Place book fair and our annual Halloween Parade. Here's to a fantastic year!

Last week, the district shared new Screen Time & Artificial Intelligence Guidelines that outline a balanced, age-appropriate approach to classroom technology. For elementary students, teachers use the "Purpose Before Device" principle, ensuring technology is used only when it clearly supports learning. We strongly support hands-on learning, physical play, and in-person social time, and balance digital lessons with required breaks for eye health.

For Artificial Intelligence, our goal is to protect students’ original thinking and the effort that real learning needs. Students do not have unstructured or unsupervised access to AI tools. We introduce AI through a carefully designed framework, starting with teacher-only tools in grades K-2 and progressing to guided, whole-class demonstrations in the remaining elementary grades. *

We invite you to read the full 2026 Parent Guide: Screen Time & AI at EUFSD, available on the district Curriculum Website, which also includes tips for mirroring mindful technology measures at home.

* While the guidance is focused on K-5 as elementary grades, our 6th grade educators follow this guidance closely as well, ensuring developmental continuity across the grades NYSED designates as middle level (5-8).

The Seely Place Scholastic book fair is back next week from October 6-9, 2026. We would like to start by thanking the PTA for organizing the book fair! A few key points about the book fair:

-Family Book Fair Night on October 7th (Wednesday) from 5:00 - 8:00 pm: join us for food trucks, shopping, K-2 family reading (6-7 pm) and a read-aloud with Ms. Margolis at 7:15 pm in the library.

-Details on class in-school shopping schedule here.

-Family shopping hours are as follows:

• 3:00 to 3:30 pm on Tuesday 10/6/26
• 3:00 to 4:30 pm on Thursday 10/8/26
• 3:00 to 3:30 pm on Friday 10/9/26

Next week we will have another evacuation drill (formerly known as fire drills). During this drill, students will accompany their teacher and class to a designated location. New York State requires that we complete 12 evacuation drills throughout the year, and we are committed to notifying families in advance of any planned drills. You can learn more about the different types of drills on our safety pamphlet that you can find here and that is attached to this email.