Mary Hogan Family Newsletter

Dear Mary Hogan Families,

It has been great to see so many families today and over the past two weeks meeting with teachers about fall conferences. Fall conferences are a chance to learn about how your child is doing in their new class so far this year and work with the teacher to set learning goals for the year. If you haven't had your conference yet, the conference window is still open for 2 more weeks. You can always reach out to your child's teacher if you haven't signed up for one yet and want to connect.

Best,
Jen

Monday 10/27 - Cooking with NOM - Sign up form coming next week!

Wednesday 10/29 - Picture Retake Day

Wednesday 11/5 - November Walk and Roll Day & Early Release Day

• 11.30am - Preschool dismissal
• 12.35pm - K-5 dismissal

Friday 11/7 - Conference window closes

The Mary Hogan Library allows students in grades 4 and 5 to borrow kindles so that they can listen to audiobooks. This allows students to access complex stories that may be too challenging for them to read independently. Audiobooks are wonderful for kids — they build listening and comprehension skills, spark imagination, make reading accessible, and foster a love of stories! Students who are interested in borrowing a kindle can see Julie or Liz in the library.

All Middlebury families can access free audiobooks using their Ilsley Library card and the Libby app. We are happy to help folks with this.

This past weekend, we had faculty and families help put our school garden to bed for the fall and to help replace some of our garden beds. Everyone helped to pull out weeds. Some folks pruned trees, while others used the broad forks to loosen the soil. Deb, Jordan, and John Martin built new garden beds to replace the rotting boards, so we will be set for a new season of planting. Students also picked up trash around our playground!

Many thanks to everyone who came and to the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op for donating cider donuts and cider and to Sarah Ingersoll who brought delicious pumpkin sticky buns. When you put in the hard work, it is great to get a tasty treat!

We started recess on Wednesday outside but when an alert teacher heard the storm alarm, we had students come inside. And it was just in time as it started to pour and thunder within 5 minutes of getting inside!

While we all prefer to be outside, the 5th graders had a great indoor recess with a lot of fair play during board games and exploration of how many volts a solar display could create (see picture at top of the newsletter).

All of our students, K-5, spend a lot of time using models (3D and 2D) to understand mathematical principles. This week, there was a great example of this among the 3 4th grade classes in math. All were working to understand multiplication using different models. Some students were using an area model and graph paper. Other students were using base 10 pieces to create a physical model for questions like 12x37 or 15x7. These models help students to understand how the multiplication work as well as solve for the correct answers.

Want to try some math with your child, Math at Home has SUPER fun math problems that you can work on together. Have them share strategies they know. Just choose the grade you want and the set (1 or 2) for this time of year.

And, save the date for Math Night on 11/19!

This week, 5th graders worked with local musician, Clint Bierman, and actors from Town Hall Theater to to write songs that depicted part of their act in the play. The students had to work on rhyming and finding specific (and not cliché) words while also making the story of the song work. It was collaborative and challenging. I can't wait to hear their songs in the performance in November!

Dear Mary Hogan Families,

Please mark your calendars! MESA is excited to partner with members of our ACSD School Board to host a Town Hall style conversation during our upcoming November 20th meeting held in person at 6:30 p.m. in the Mary Hogan Library. For those unable to attend in person, a virtual option will also be available: Link to November 20th MESA meeting

. Plus, I heard there will be yummy snacks!

Additionally, the School Board is also seeking feedback on the C-30 policy, which relates to school placement and choice within our district. They would greatly appreciate hearing from families. I just completed the brief survey myself, and it took less than five minutes:
C-30 Policy Feedback Survey

We can't wait to see you on November 20th for what promises to be an evening of connection, collaboration, and meaningful discussion. engaging and informative evening about our district's future.

Warmly,
Meghan Dishaw
MESA Co-Chair of Events

Our next meeting will be in November (11/20).

No December meeting

Meeting in January (1/15)

No February meeting

Meeting in March (3/19)

No April meeting

Last meeting in May (5/21)

No June meeting.

-All meetings are at 6:30 in the Library (no roundtable, unless a particular topic is brought up in advance that we'd like to discuss).

-There will be links for families to attend virtually if they'd like.

-We'll continue to bring snacks/drinks.

-Children welcome!

-They will only last an hour.

Please join the Addison Central Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) on Tuesday, October 28th to meet the newest additions to ACSD’s district leadership team, whose work will impact the experiences of students with disabilities in our schools. Featured new leaders:

• Nelly Collazo, Assistant Superintendent of Specialized Services

• Sonya Oefelein, Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Restorative Practices

Tuesday, October 28th

6:00 – 7:30pm

MUHS Library (virtual option: https://meet.google.com/gjk-ymhg-drj)

Learn more about the SEPAC and the SEPAC Board at ​​https://www.addisoncentralsepac.org/.

Sign up for SEPAC updates here (NOTE: This is a Google Group that is only used to send occasional email updates from the SEPAC; you can join or unsubscribe anytime).

We are so grateful to our family and community volunteers! If you plan to volunteer for an event or activity this year, now is a great time to apply or make sure your paperwork is up-to-date!

• Learn more about the volunteer process here.
• Check in with your front office if you've volunteered in the past to make your paperwork is up to date.
• Fill out this form if you've never volunteered before and plan to this year.

Want to know more about the Volunteer Process? Check out more information HERE.