The Penguin Post
Benjamin Phelps School - September 2024
Please take a few minutes to complete this Google form for our permissions to use student photos/videos, etc., military status, appropriate use of technology, and that students will abide by the policies in our code of conduct. *This form must be completed for each child in the Agawam Public School system. Each principal will send out their own form.
The Agawam Public Schools K-8 Code of Conduct can be found here.
Many parents have reached out about birthday treats for class celebrations. Here is the updated order form for you to order classroom celebration platters.
Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate outside snacks and desserts.
The Data Success Team at Phelps is made up of a number of staff who look at academic and behavioral data for the school and brainstorm ways to celebrate or support both students and staff. The DST also plans our PBIS spirit events and supports teachers in our PBIS initiative with resources for their teaching and supplies for their classrooms.
One big job of the DST is to help plan our first monthly all school meetings. In September, our theme was "BELONGING." This was the theme that teachers looked at as they chose their September student of the month recipients. In our first meeting, students watched our ribbon cutting ceremony, we talked about belonging and students shared what they are seeing, we read a book as a school ("Our School is a Family") and we recognized our staff September Crystal Apple Award winner and our September Students of the Month. After that, we went outside for our annual PBIS kickoff, walking Mr. Farrell's pathway and ended doing the Phelps Penguin dance as a whole school community.
Please note:
- Account setup must take place on a computer or laptop (not a phone).
- The student access ID and password in your letter is not your account login, it is the information that will link your student to your account.
- After you create your account, you can access all information through the PowerSchool application on your phone.
For assistance setting up your account or if you need access to a computer, please stop in the Phelps office anytime between 10am and 2pm. We will also be available to assist you on parent/teacher conference day (October 24).
We are asking for the help of all our families to reinforce the expectations for riding the school bus safely. We discussed this with all students at our first all-school meeting, but would love you to support us in this conversation. We continue to get reports of inappropriate language, students not keeping their hands to themselves, students not sitting appropriately or moving throughout the aisles, and very loud voices. Please help your child find a strategy that will work for them so that our bus rides are safe for all. We appreciate your support with this.
We are once again proud to partner with Westfield Bank for their Ready Set Grow program. Every Thursday morning, representatives from Westfield Bank are at Phelps to take deposits from students. Ready, Set, Grow is a program set up to encourage children to start saving at an early age. If you wish to have your child participate in this program, simply complete the entire application and sign the application form and return it to the school. IMPORTANT: The application must be completed in full or the account cannot be opened. It only takes $1.00 to open an account and as a bonus, Westfield Bank will deposit $25 into their account. I am proud to share that Phelps had the highest student participation rate of all schools enrolled in the Ready Set Grow program last year! Let's keep that going and teach our children the value of saving.
The buttons below will take you a letter with more information from Westfield Bank as well as the application to open a new account.
Benjamin Phelps Elementary School
Email: avillamaino@agawamed.org
Website: https://www.agawamed.org/o/bjp
Location: 689 Main Street, Agawam, MA 01001 USA
Phone: (413) 821-0586