The Buzz

Today is the first official day of Spring (on the calendar at least)! While we still have a lot of snow on the playground, work is underway to begin planning for our gardens at RVS. We continue to be grateful to our Caregiver Group for all of the support they provide to our school gardens. Facilitating the High Mowing Seed fundraiser, buying supplies, donating time and labor, and organizing our RVS GARDEN DAY are just a few of the examples of how they help with our school gardens. Please plan to join us on Sunday, May 7th from 1:30-4:30 for a day in the dirt as we prepare the garden beds for planting. This event was well attended last year and a lot of fun was had by all who were there. This year, our Caregiver Group is hoping to have even more people come out to help with the gardens and they are planning a barbecue to cap off the activities on that day. We look forward to seeing you!

Our preschool students have been busy getting seeds ready for planting (see the cute pictures below!). They are preparing ground cherries, kale, carrots, watermelon, pumpkin, birdhouse gourds, and various herbs for tea. Thanks to the generous donations of seeds, soils, and containers from our Caregiver Group, each classroom will be taking responsibility for starting seeds that will eventually be planted in our school gardens. Students were surveyed to see what they'd most like to eat. From there plans were made for planting and food choices were coordinated with Ms. Marion in the kitchen to ensure that food that is planted in the garden will be gathered, prepared, and served by and for students. In addition to what preschool started, other items to be planted include popcorn, potatoes, zucchini, carrots, beets, radishes, peas, and more. I understand that plans also include pickling cucumbers as we have a lot of students that love pickles!

Another sign of Spring in Vermont is the start of sugar season. Our Bridges group has been busy tapping a few trees here at RVS. Sap will be gathered and boiled off at school. We are hoping for enough maple syrup to have sugar on snow for students (we know we have enough snow)! The weather has cooperated so far with cooler nights and warmer days. With the more daylight in each passing day, we hope everyone is finding more time to enjoy the outdoors. The weather predictions for the rest of this week are showing temperatures in the 40s. Enjoy!!

We had the joy of having Kasey Kathan, RVS parent, visit our kindergarten, first, and second grade students to share her experiences from her time in Alaska. Our students have been learning about animals in the Arctic. Kasey showed a lot of great pictures as she explained the work she was doing in Alaska as part of her PhD program. She even brought a musk ox horn and musk ox fur for students to see. They were amazed at how the fur felt. Students learned the fur was thick for a reason. She also asked students to think about why the musk ox skull is so thick and to think about what else they noticed about the musk ox. Students also learned that wolves entered the campsite at night and liked to take socks. The students thought that was really funny and interesting. Thank you, Kasey, for sharing your experiences with us. Students really enjoyed learning all about your time in Alaska and your experiences with animals in the Arctic!

In Kindergarten last week, we practiced doing body checks by closing our eyes to feel what the different parts of our body are doing to be calm for learning. During the snowstorm we practiced teamwork by building a snowperson together. In Literacy, we started using a tool called sound boxes to practice sounding out words and we learned about words in the -at family, the digraph ‘ch’, and the heart word ‘the’. In Math, we started to learn about the partners to make 10 by breaking it apart, we practiced counting on from any number under 100 and started addition. Please make sure students are sending in their folders and indoor shoes please.

Kindergarten -- Katie Swick

A huge focus in math this year has been to get the kids to move on from counting on or counting up strategies, to mental math strategies and being able to work with numbers mentally in strategic ways. This becomes especially important as we start working with larger and larger numbers. We had the pleasure of having our district math guru come in to show us some additional strategies and ways to have students build with and work with larger numbers to ensure that they are using a “thinking” way of adding larger numbers, rather than a “counting” way in order to increase efficiency.

We also had a wonderful time with Kasey Kathan, Charlie and Calvin’s mom, exploring animal artifacts and experiences that she had when doing research in the Arctic. We are so appreciative to her for sharing her wealth of knowledge with us on our Forest Friday.

1st/2nd -- Karie DeCasas

In the 3rd and 4th grade classroom, we've taken some time to review material that was covered prior to the break. In math, we reviewed division using the area model up to 4-digits (4th grade) and multiplication up to 7 (3rd grade). This week we will be assessing that progress so we can move onto the last phases of those modules.

3rd/4th -- Danny Velez

The next MRPS School Board Meeting will be held Wednesday, March 22nd at 6:30 pm at Roxbury Village School. Visit the MRPS School Board webpage and/or follow @mrpsvt on Facebook for the agenda and more information. The schedule for the 2022-2023 school year can be found HERE. All meetings may be attended in person or virtually, regardless of the location. A link to join the meeting via Zoom can be found on the agenda.

The next Caregiver Group (PTO) meeting is scheduled for April 11, 2023 at 5 pm in the library. Kids are welcome! Meetings will be held the second Tuesday of every month!

The PTO purchased soil, seeds and trays for classes to prepare starts for the school garden. Also, our Spring Garden Day is scheduled for May 7th 1:30-4:30 with BBQ to follow. Please see the GARDEN DAY flyer for details.

Caregiver conferences are being held on Friday, March 31st. There is no school for students on that day so that time can be devoted to these meetings. To offer flexibility in meeting the diverse needs of families, we are offering both in person and on line conference options.

Kindergarten -- Katie Swick

1st/2nd -- Karie DeCasas

3rd/4th -- Danny Velez

Thursday 3/30 -- One Book, One School Event @ RVS -- 5:00-6:00 pm

Friday 3/31 -- No School for Students / Caregiver Conferences

April 24-April 28 -- Spring Recess

Sunday 5/7 1:30-4:30 RVS GARDEN DAY -- 1:30-4:30 pm

Friday 5/26 -- Early Release -- Students dismissed at 12:15

On Thursday, March 23rd MRPS administrators are hosting a Harassment, Hazing, & Bullying Community Forum. The purpose of this session is for administrators to hear feedback from community members regarding their experience with the harassment, hazing, and bullying process.

Please RSVP to attend by Monday, March 20th by visiting https://www.mrpsvt.org/hhb

We hope our entire school community is enjoying our One Book One School book, "The World According to Humphrey". Every student/family should have a copy of the book. As a reminder, there are weekly "assignments" for the chapter readings and optional at home activities. Happy Reading, Everyone!

We look forward to celebrating the book with everyone at school on Thursday, March 30th from 5:00-6:00.

Dear Caregivers:

Do you know any Roxbury children who will be 3 or 4 years old by next September? It's time to be thinking about preschool registration! We are now accepting applications for new preschool students who live in Roxbury. After April 15th, we will open up the registration to residents outside of Roxbury.

Please contact Tina for a registration packet.

Email: bethkellogg@mpsvt.org
Website: https://www.mrpsvt.org/rvs
Location: 1559 Roxbury Road, Roxbury, VT, USA
Phone: 802.262.1506
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roxburyvillageschool
Twitter: @RoxburyVS

Instagram: @Roxbury_vs