The January PRIDE theme of the month is passion. It's surprising to no one that MY passion is reading! I read 65 books in 2024, and my goal for 2025 is (gulp) 100. It's a reach for sure, but I'm gonna give it a shot! Included in that 100 are 24 middle grade books so I can make good recommend to students and families. I'm committing to reading at least two middle grade books per month. I started January with the book featured in this month's book talk, and I can't recommend it enough. I laughed, I cried, it featured a cat. :) What are YOU reading? If you have book recommendations for me - middle grade or adult - I'd love to hear them!

Students will be exploring the theme of PASSION by setting goals for the new year and tapping into what they love. 2025 is gonna be a great year!

Daily fresh air and exercise is vitally important for kids. Howard Schools students will go outside unless it is dangerous for student health. I will be using the Child Care Weather Watch guidelines linked here. It will be very important for students to come dressed appropriately for outdoor recess. This includes appropriate layers and footwear. Encourage kids to wear a hat and gloves, maybe even tuck some into their backpacks along with a dry pair of socks.

We will bring EVERYONE outside, so the natural consequences of leaving the house sans coat will be a cold recess experience. Remind your child of that, and then allow them to learn from the experience.

If you need help providing warm clothing for your child, please reach out to me. We can help!

Monday, January 13 - School Committee meeting

Wednesday, January 15 - half day day

Friday, January 17 - Sports Spirit day

Monday, January 20th - MLKJr. Day, no school

Tuesday, January 21 - School Council meeting

Tuesday, January 28 - Coffee Hour with Ms. Giuffre

Click the links below to see the menus for the month.

Breakfast/Snack Menu

Lunch Menu

Cold winter days are a great time to spend time in the kitchen! Here are some winter snack ideas perfect for young chefs.

• Snowman Cheese Sticks:
  • Ingredients: String cheese, basil leaves, cherry tomatoes
  • Slice string cheese and stack the chunks to create a snowman. Use the basil leaves for a scarf and half a cherry tomato for the hat. Hold with a toothpick.
• Winter Fruit Kabobs:
  • Ingredients: Assorted fruits (such as grapes, banana slices, and berries).
  • Thread the fruits onto skewers to create colorful and healthy winter fruit kabobs.

Emergent bi-lingual students are working very hard to develop their linguistic abilities to compare and contrast a variety of topics. This requires significant critical thinking and advanced linguistic skills, so we are excited about the progress they are making.

The cold weather is with us for a while longer, so please remember to have your children layer up for outdoor play. Warm jackets, hats, mittens, and boots are important so everyone can enjoy the cold fresh air daily! This is the chart we use - as long as we're not "in the red," we'll go outside. Please advise your children accordingly! Also, if you have any new or gently used clothes (youth sizes 8-16), coats, or shoes/boots - we would love to have extra available in case someone forgets or needs a change!

Thank you to everyone who continues to send in updated physical forms and immunization records. Please complete the Annual Student Health Update form at your earliest convenience, if you haven’t done so already.

We want to keep everyone healthy while at school so please keep them home if they are not feeling well. Please refer to our Sick Child Guidelines and school health policies at https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org/page/health-services and reach out to me directly with any concerns. If your child is absent due to illness, it is recommended that they visit the doctor in order to document these as excused absences.

One final note, teachers always love donations of tissues and Clorox wipes to help keep the spread of illness to a minimum in the classrooms.

As always, please feel free to reach Nurse Mando if you have any questions or concerns: smando@wbridgewater.com or 508-894-1250 ext 3115. Thank you!

We will begin our second Wit & Wisdom module titled Extreme Settings. Students will determine how the setting affects the characters in a text.

In math we will be starting Topic 5 which covers division concepts. Continuing to practice your math facts at home will be very helpful!

We are continuing to learn about the five different regions that make up the United States. As a culminating project, students will be assigned a state to research and present at our state fair.

Students will be sharing what they are passionate about.

We hope you can join us for our state fair on Thursday, 1/23/25. Stop by anytime between 1:00 and 2:00. More detailed information will be sent home as the date gets closer.

In ELA, students are continuing to work on their compare and contrast essays where they are comparing Chief Joseph and Sound of Running Feet's shared and differing beliefs and values.

In math, students are completing Topic 5 (Using Models and Strategies to Divide Whole Numbers) and starting Topic 6 (Using Models and Strategies to Divide Decimals) this week.

In Science, we are wrapping up our unit about the Human Impact on the Environment. We will then move on to Social Studies.

For the pride theme, passion, students will be interviewing staff about their own passions.

Book talks are due on Friday, January 31st! Happy reading! Next month, students will be learning more about Black History month.

History Month Enrichment Project - To celebrate African American History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March, we are going to create a Wall of Fame. We will also be celebrating Hispanic History Month (September) and Native American History Month (November) during this time as well!

Next week, we will begin our Novel Study A Long Walk to Water.

ELA is currently wrapping up Module 1 with our End of Module task writing assignment. We are about to move onto Module 2: The Hero's Journey. We will start by reading Ramayana: Divine Loophole. This is an adaptation of the Hindu myth illustrated by Sanjay Patel. We will use this myth to study the stages of the Hero's Journey and archetypes of the myth genre.

This month students are starting Topic 5: Patterns and Equations. We will be learning about dependent and independent variables, discovering a variety of patterns and equations, as well as graphing equations.

Students are beginning their unit on plate tectonics. We started by learning about Alfred Wegner and his theory of continental drift. We also took data on the fossils of the continents and will complete an assignment called the Mystery of the Far Flung Fossils! Students will look at patterns and make connections to Wegner's theory.

We started a new unit on Monotheistic Religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam this week! Students are learning about basic beliefs of each Abrahamic Religion and then looking for similarities and differences between these religions. This is a short unit and we will have an open packet test on January 16th and 17th. Students should keep track of their notes to use on the test!!! After that we are exploring African geography, and starting a unit on Ancient Egypt!

January's Pride theme is passion. Students will either write about or create a presentation on something they are passionate about. They will how this brings them passion and why it is important to them.

The second Nature's Classroom payment is due Monday January 13. The payment is $155. Checks can be made out to the Howard School.

This is the last and final call to any parents who are interested in chaperoning the trip. Paperwork was sent home to all parents who stated interest in chaperoning the trip on Wednesday January 8. Please return paperwork by Friday January 17th if you are still interested in chaperoning.

4th Grade: Students will dive into coding and engineering using SPIKE LEGO Essential Kits. They'll learn to program and build creative solutions, exploring foundational concepts in robotics and engineering through hands-on projects.

5th Grade: Harnessing the engineering design process, students will collaborate to design and build a "Ninja Assassin" obstacle course. The winning design will be brought to life in gym class, blending engineering with physical activity and teamwork.

6th Grade: Sixth graders will use the engineering design process to research, design, and pitch their own unique shoe creations. They'll combine innovation and practicality, creating functional designs and presenting them as if they were professional product developers.

Meeting dates until February Break: 1/14, 1/21, 1/28, 2/11

Little Leo's Penny War

The Little Leo's club is starting our annual Penny War January 15th to raise money for the Massachusetts Lions Club Eye Research Fund which helps research and find cures for eye diseases around the world. The Penny War lasts 2 weeks and will end January 28th. There will be a drop off time scheduled for each grade, so the Penny War does not interrupt learning at school, and students can only drop coins in buckets for their grade level. The drop times, overall prize, and grade level prizes will be announced January 15th in morning announcements. Please save your pennies, and silvers to get ready for the Penny War! Click the link below for the official rules.

Student Council is very happy to announce that Friday, January 17th will be sports day. Wear your sports uniform or dress like your favorite athlete.

December was a busy month for Student Council. We sponsored a door decorating contest and helped advertise our theme week leading into Winter Break.

Winner of the coziest door - Ms. Ferreira's room

Winner of the funniest door - Ms. Keady's room

Winner of the most creative door - Mr. Peckrill's room

We are absolutely thrilled to introduce Ruth Kaumeheiwa (pronounced comma-HEAVE-a). Mrs. Kaumeheiwa is our new counselor, and she's spent this first week meeting staff and students and familiarizing herself with the world of Howard School.

Five years.

That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation.

It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash.
Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished―the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box―she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it.

Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys...

February is Heart Month! In preparation for this, a representative from the American Heart Association will be joining us for our January PRIDE assembly. Below are some heart healthy tips for the new year.