Bates Family Newsletter

Happy weekend, everyone! Just a reminder that we have no school on Tuesday, November 5th due to voting at Bates, and Monday, November 11th due to Veteran's Day. Special shout out to all our Bates community members who have served in our nation's armed forces.

Please note there will be no newsletter next week. We'll get information out to you via ParentSquare, as needed.

Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Ms. Smith, Mr. Mac, and Mr. Lister

We had black and orange spirit day, and it was so cute😄 Next up, crazy sock day on 11/27! Bust out your coolest, weirdest, most mismatched socks!

Our Beacons of the Week were able to use their self control and self regulation skills. Great work, Beacons!

We have so much to celebrate! Congratulations to the following classrooms for achieving an incredible 10% increase on their ST Math journey in October:

• Ms. Anderson
• Ms. Leuci
• Ms. Middleton
• Ms. Brennan
• Ms. Digaetano
• Ms. Larrabee
• Ms. McLaughlin
• Ms. Allen
• Ms. Villano
• Ms. Fairman
• Ms. Hatfield
• Ms. van der Burg
• Mr. DeMontier
• Ms. Salzillo
• Ms. Silk
• Ms. Acconcia

A special shout-out to Peter and Maise from Ms. Digaetano's first grade class and Shea from Ms. Middleton's class for completing over 80% of the ST Math curriculum!

As a reminder, students can use ST Math at home as extra support. By now, your child should have completed about 15% of the curriculum. Please sign in and check your child's progress to help support their learning

November Challenge: This month, we are excited to challenge our students to increase their progress by 8%. Let’s encourage our children to strive for this goal and support them in their learning journey!

Twice a month, two of our wonderful families will be featured on our morning announcements that are shared each day to build community in our school as well as in our family newsletter. Our hope is that this will create new friendships, bring us closer as a community, and help us celebrate the beautiful diversity that we have here at Bates. It ties in with our motto: "Believe, be you, belong, at Bates!".

Your family can record a Zoom with Ms. Roz, create a poster to share a little about your family, or come into school for a fun interview. Want to learn more? Contact Ms. Roz at rguevera@salemk12.org. Want to sign up? Fill out this form, and Ms. Roz will contact you.

As temperatures drop, we want to ensure everyone stays warm this winter. If you or someone you know is in need of a winter coat, please reach out to our Family Engagement Facilitator, Rosalyn Guevara.

You can contact her at rguevara@salemk12.org or 781-771-8309. We want all our kids to stay warm!

Have any other clothing needs? Please reach out to Ms. Roz.

PTO runs an Election Day Bake Sale every year to raise funds for our school. Please show your support on Tuesday, November 5, from 7am-8pm in the Bates lobby. Come by and buy a snack or signup to volunteer. You can also donate a baked good. Sign up here to volunteer or donate a snack!

Social Awareness, by Ms. Amanda, Student Adjustment Counselor

1. This week focused on Self Control and Self Management. Sometimes this can be referred to as Self-Regulation as well. We recognize that these are skills that require time to develop which is why we explicitly teach and re-teach these things with scenarios and opportunities to practice them in meaningful ways.

   
   

   Some ways that you can help us to help your child grow their capacities for self-control and self-management is to share strategies that you, as the adult, use yourself to manage these things!

   
   

   1. Talk about times where self-control is hard for YOU. Tell them about how waiting in a long line at the grocery store, driving in traffic, or being cut off by another driver can be challenging. Name the feelings. This will normalize for young people that we all have valid feelings and we can feel them, while still maintaining control of our reactions.

   2. Share your strategies! Next, share with them what you do to take care of your feelings and manage your reactions. Do you take 5 deep breaths? Do you distract yourself by looking around the room? Do you listen to music or a podcast to take your mind off the trouble? Do you use positive self-talk? Whatever it is, when you name it and share it with your young person you are showing them the way through the problem.

   3. Play self-control games. Simon says, red light greenlight, pick up sticks, and quiet contests can be fun silly ways to show that self-control and self-management can be a skill that we can GROW. Have fun with it, and share with us your fun!

The school menus are posted on the SPS website. Find them here.

Our goal is to keep our chronic absence rate under 19.5% this year. This week, our chronic attendance rate was down from last week. Shout out to PreK and grade 1 this week!

If you need any assistance with getting your student to school, please reach out to Rosalyn Guevara, Family Engagement Facilitator at rguevara@salemk12.org.

If your student wasn't here on picture day or needs a re-take, please mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 19th.

November

• November 5th - No School (Election Day)
• November 11th - No School (Veteran's Day)
• November 12th - PTO Meeting, 6:30, Library
• November 13th - End of Trimester 1
• November 19th - School Site Council Meeting, 7:45am + School Picture Retakes
• November 20th - Polished Dental
• November 27th - Report Cards Published + Crazy Sock Spirit Day! + 1/2 Day!
• November 28th - No School, Happy Thanksgiving!
• November 29th - No School

December

• December 4th - Teacher/Caregiver conferences, 1/2 day
• December 16th-20th - Holiday store week! More information to come.
• December 17th - Grades 2/3 winter concert! Time coming soon.
• December 20th - Cozy/Comfy/Pajama spirit day!
• December 23rd - Winter break starts - See you on Thursday, January 2, 2025!

Did you know you can earn money for our school just by scanning your grocery receipts? All you need to do is download the Boxtops app, and scan those receipts! Don't want to scan? No worries, you can always send receipts into school with your student in an envelope marked, "PTO Boxtops".

Our Bates spirit rock is available for weekly rentals. Celebrate your student's birthday or other accomplishments by painting a message on our rock. Please click here to rent the rock!

Bates Elementary School, in partnership with our families and community, will provide all students with a culturally responsive, student – centered, and equitable learning experience that celebrates our students’ diverse backgrounds, creative pursuits, and their academic, social, emotional success.

School Hours:

Regular school hours:

Monday through Friday: 7:45am to 1:50pm

Early Release (Grades 1-5) at 11:15am

PK at 11am

Kindergarten at 11:10am