Mary Hogan Family Newsletter

Dear Mary Hogan Families,

It is hard to believe it but we are already a 1/4 of the way through the school year. The first part of the year went by so fast!

One of the things that feels like a big success story from the start of the year is the opportunities our school and students have had to engage with local produce, the harvest of the month, to be outside learning, to garden, and tend to our school. This week, students across grades peeled A LOT of apples for our Food Nutrition staff, who baked us a delicious apple crisp. Students gave it a big thumbs up.

In other news this week:

• Our faculty thought about how our Farm to School work connects with our wider work and how we might move it forward,
• Students ventured out on a commuity walk, despite the rain,
• 5th graders baked oatmeal apple cookies for the Friday Community Supper,
• And students played music in rhythm to a poem.

It was a good week!

💙,
Jen

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

Monday 11/10 - 5.30pm - Cooking with NOM (see below)

Wednesday 11/19 - 5.45-7 - Math Night! (see below)

Thursday 11/20 - 6.30 - MESA meeting in Mary Hogan Library (see more below)

Please come in and enjoy a free pasta dinner with our community. It’s a chance to recognize every child’s effort and growth in math. When families explore math together, children feel more supported and confident. You can visit classrooms to play math games with your mathematician, view student work, and learn more about at-home resources.

Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring (NOM) is a healthy cooking and baking club at Middlebury College that aims to create community and connect people through food by collaborating with local elementary and middle schools! NOM cooks delicious recipes with the students that are accessible to all, ranging from maple granola to beet brownies. Through Vermont's Harvest of the Month and collaboration with the Knoll, NOM incorporates farm-to-table cooking into its recipes. Feel free to contact nom@middlebury.edu with any questions - we look forward to cooking with you!

In 2016, Junebug launched Cozy Kids to ensure all children have what they need to stay warm and dry all winter. If you are in need of any winter items for your child(ren) please contact your child’s teacher or complete this confidential form.

If you would like to learn more about Cozy Kids please visit their website.

Students across Mary Hogan - from Kindergarten through 3rd grades - helped to peel apples this week for one of our lunch meals. The students were SO excited to peel apples - so you know who to ask when you are tired of all that peeling at your house. They worked together and together peeled over 150 apples!

Dr Ingrid Rizo, our curriculum coordinator at Mary Hogan, worked with 1st graders this week to learn how to make Mexican flowers for their flower shop. This is part of the work that the 1st graders are doing in their current unit of inquiry with a focus on community and economics. The students will sell the flowers at their market day - and students can pay for the flowers with their Mary Hogan bucks they are earning. Have a 1st grader? Ask them about it!

Students in 2nd grader went out for walks this week, despite the rain. Each class is doing walks each week to build stamina to walk but more importantly to explore the community as the seasons change together.

5th graders worked this Friday to mix and prepare apple oatmeal cookies for the Friday Community Dinner offered at the Congregational Church. The students had a lot of fun mixing and scooping as well as then tasting the cookies they made. They were super tasty! Many thanks to Chef Steve for helping make this happen!

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.

Last fall, Superintendent Baker held meetings with Bridport & Shoreham teachers and families to review student performance data and discuss how best to support greater academic success. This summer a working group of Bridport and Shoreham families formed a working group to help design a K-5 single-grade model at one school for the Board to consider for the 2026-27 year.

We now invite our ACSD community to offer feedback using this community survey which includes an overview of the Working Group’s design. All community feedback will be shared with the ACSD Board on November 10th. The Board will review the final design and all feedback in November to determine the 2026-2027 path forward for Bridport & Shoreham students.

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.