Friday Flash

The month of December is winding down quickly and it's safe to say that both students and staff are counting down the days to our winter break. But before we get to break we have to get through next week. That means finishing up last minute projects, units and activities and preparing for Tuesday's winter concert. I had the opportunity to pop into Ms. Zampieri's second grade music class this week and if their rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town is any indication of what's in store for us, you'll want to arrive early to get a front row seat. Through out the week we will be participating in spirit week activities to kick off the winter break. Please check out the information posted below so you know what the theme is for each day. Spirit week here at NES is always a lot of fun.

Next week also brings our annual Kindness Basketball event. This year Mr. Prest is changing it up a little bit and asking for donations for our new food pantry. Read his PE Knights report to find out more. You are welcome to come and watch Kindness basketball on Friday December 19th at 8:30 immediately after our monthly Knights of the Round Table.

We are hoping to gather information to see what interest and support there would be for having full day PreK here at NES. It's important that the survey be filled out by all community members not just those that have preschool age children. This information will be shared with the board at an upcoming meeting. We believe it's important to build a strong partnership with families as early as possible.

If you have a chance get outside and enjoy some of the fresh snow from this week's storm.

~Loretta Cruz

Principal

Please find below my principal's report for the December board meeting.

The last month has been very busy at Newbury Elementary School. We have participated in several CLIF book activities, had a guest chef from Abbey Group who served up made to order waffles, our community holiday meal which served over two hundred and twenty meals, attending the performance of Mean Girls Jr. at Oxbow and our traditions Turkey Trot. We have certainly been busy learning and growing together, if staff and students aren't tired each day when they leave school they should be!

At the November board meeting, the board asked how many students currently utilize school provided busing. Our current enrollment is eighty-eight students, of those 54% use the buses on a regular basis. Considering the rural nature of the community of Newbury school sponsored busing is essential to student attendance.

The Newbury draft budget was submitted to central office before vacation and they have been working to put all the final numbers together. Items beyond our control include staff salary and benefits and special education costs. Over the last year Newbury has seen an increase in the number of students needed para support in order to access their education. The largest increase to the budget would be the addition of a full day preschool. As mentioned last month, BES & NES are working in collaboration to investigate the feasibility of having full day preschool in our buildings. A survey will be sent out to all families currently receiving ten hours of preschool through the budget, as well as made available to anyone on our website and facebook page.

Last month the board was informed that we had a contractor to replace the shingled room on the Town Hall and main school building. We are pleased to announce that the replacement of the roof was completed over the Thanksgiving holiday. They did have to add plywood which was part of the initial quote bringing the job in at under $90,000. This was much less then the quote we got three years ago of $135,000.

Our faculty & staff have been discussing ways to support our school community and the greater Newbury community hiding into the difficult winter months. We are in the process of starting a small food pantry at the school and exploring the idea of a reverse angel tree. If you are a community member that would be willing to help someone in need for shoes, clothing, food or heating assistance please call the main office, so that we can put you in contact with a family in need.

As we head into the final weeks of December our students and staff will be focusing on how to bring warmth, light and cheer to those around us. We hope that you will join us for our winter concert on Tuesday December 16th at 5:30pm or Kindness Basketball on Friday December 19th at 8:30.

Respectfully Submitted,

Loretta R. Cruz

Principal

Kindergarten: The kindergarten is excited to announce that they have all mastered writing their names! They have been learning letters, numbers and shapes and wanted everyone to know the only letters they haven't learned about this year are Q and U!

First Grade: First graders have been working on learning about fact and opinion. In math class they have been focusing on strategies to solve story problems and in phonics they have been learning about glued words. They include sounds like -unk and -ong.

Second Grade: In math seconders have mastered ways to make ten and are moving on to ways to make twenty. They have also been working with tape diagrams. In phonics they have been learning about double consonants and the a word can never end in v, if must be followed by an e. If you get a chance as them about the floss rule.

Third & Fourth Grade: The third graders started their study of geography . Their focus was learning about maps and how to use a map key. One of their tasks was to create a town with a map key that included things like rivers, trees, a school, hospital and mountains. They have also been working on identifying the seven continents and labeling them on a map.

Fifth & Sixth: Are wrapping up their unit on water use around the world by taking a writing assessment using their infographics. This assessment challenged students to write a five paragraph essay.

Gobble Up a Good Book Book Giveaway, thanks to Children's Literacy Foundation. This is the third of eight free books giveaways that NES students will receive as part of the Year of the Book Grant.

Sixth graders are being introduced to the concept of ratio and ways to represent it. Students began by using ratios and ratio language to describe collections of physical objects. They see that quantities in a collection can be described and represented in different ways, using both numbers and words. Next, students draw diagrams to represent situations involving one or more ratios. They learn that simple diagrams can be useful and efficient for reasoning about ratios. Next, students first make sense of equivalent ratios through concrete experiences involving recipes. They learn that scaling a recipe up or down—to create multiple batches or a fraction of a batch—produces a result that is the same as the original recipe in some important way. For example, tripling the amount of each ingredient in a drink recipe makes three times as much drink that tastes the same as the original recipe. Doubling the amount of blue water and red water in a color mixture makes twice as much water that is the same shade of purple. The taste of the drink or the shade of the color mixture are determined by the ratio of the ingredients.

Communicating with their partner and using specific language to work out questions, concerns and ideas was a buzz about the room during experiment days.

~Lynnette Knapp

Sixth Grade Math

Friday December 5th Newbury Elementary Students had the opportunity to participate in a morning of learning about a variety of wildlife, nature and outdoor topics. The day was coordinated by food systems coordinator Cindy Ross. The students had a great time learning and trying new things. We'd like to thank all the presenters and OESU employees who donated wild game to make our day a success. We'll be hosting another day like this in the spring.

Thank you to the following presenters:

Wild Game Sampling: Patrick & Cindy Ross, Sim Cook & Jeff Parker

Bead Making: Wendy, Noah & Zoe

Nature Mandelas: Brigitte MacMillan & Laurie Williams

Wild Games: Cameron Prest

Furs & Skulls: Brianna Shepard GMFS

Maps & Compasses: Stacy Stratton GMFS

Introducing the NES Food Shelf

We are excited to share that NES now has a Food Shelf located in the school lobby! This resource is designed to support our school community with a simple approach: take what you need, and leave what you can.

The Food Shelf will be accessible to families during pick-up and drop-off times. If your family needs access at a different time, please reach out—we are happy to arrange a visit that works for you. Students will also be able to use the Food Shelf as needed.

Thank you for helping us build a supportive, caring space for all NES families. Your generosity and participation make a difference! If you’d like to contribute, non-perishable items are always appreciated. Please be sure to check the expiration date before donating.

Samantha Hersey, BSN, RN

214 Pulaski St, Newbury, VT 05051

802-866-5621 EXT 2120

Monday December 15th-Ugly Sweater Day

Tuesday December 16th Gingerbread Person Day

Wednesday December 17th Red & Green Day

Thursday December 18th Christmas Character Day

Friday December 19th PJ Day

December 12th: Report cards go home

December 16th: Dartmouth Basketball Game (3-6)

December 16th: Winter Art Show & Concert 5:30-7:00pm.

December 19th: Knights of the Round Table & Kindness Basketball

December 22nd-January 2nd: Winter Break

January 5th: School resumes

Email: loretta.cruz@oesu.org
Website: https://www.nesvt.org/
Location: 214 Pulaski Street, Newbury, VT, USA
Phone: 802-866-5621
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newburyelementaryVT