Week of October 28: PBIS Spirit Week

Tuesday, November 5: No school for students - Election day

Monday, November 11: No school - Veterans Day

Tuesday, November 12: PTO Meeting (6:00pm in the Phelps Library)

Monday, November 18: Picture retake day

Wednesday, November 27: Half day for students - Thanksgiving recess

Thursday, November 28 & Friday, November 29: No school - Thanksgiving recess

The Northern Lights lit up the sky over Phelps on October 10.

Two of our Phelps students are looking forward to doing their annual Treats for Troops candy collection again this year! Collection will run from November 1-8th, and we will then drop the collected candy off for the Agawam Veterans Council to coordinate distribution to our Troops overseas. Students or parents can bring leftover candy to school and there will be a donation bin in the main office.

Help Kids Balance Their Media Lives

From phones and tablets to streaming movies and YouTube, tech and media are everywhere. Kids love

easy access to shows, games, and information. Parents and caregivers love that kids can learn on the go (and stay busy when dinner's cooking). But it's easy to overdo it when the phone never stops pinging and the next episode plays automatically. Families can keep media and tech use in check by following a few simple practices. Check out these 5 tips!

Create screen-free times and zones. Help kids take breaks from tech by limiting screen time in bedrooms, during study time, or at the dinner table.

Try parental controls. Set content limits that make sense for your family. Alongside conversations about healthy media habits, use features such as content filtering, privacy settings, and time limits offered by the apps and platforms your family uses to help manage access and exposure to media.

Establish clear family rules. Decide together what kind of media and tech is OK -- and when it's OK to use it. A family media plan can help get everyone on the same page.

Watch and play together.

Choose quality, age-appropriate media to enjoy with your kids. Visit commonsensemedia.org to find shows, games, and more.

Help kids identify healthy behaviors. Practice talking about feelings -- both physical and emotional -- during screen and non-screen activities.

Cleaning out your closets to make room for the winter clothes? Consider putting any clothing donations in the bin at the start of the Phelps access road (in the little league parking lot). Phelps gets a monetary donation from the company based on the weight of donated items.

This coming week, students who were interested in participating in our first student government will meet with Mr. Villamaino to talk about a brief classroom speech. This will look different in our younger grades as staff will assist students. Interested students completed a form sharing why they think they would be a good candidate and some ideas they have for Phelps. We are working up to an in-class election on Monday, November 4 where one member of each class will be elected by their peers to represent the classroom. Elected students will meet with Mr. V. and Mrs. Domina each month to discuss ways to improve Phelps. Students on the Phelps Student Government are expected to continuously model our core values of being safe, responsible, and respectful at Phelps School. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at avillamaino@agawamed.org.

Phelps has a vacancy for a paraprofessional position. Candidates are required to have at least 15 college credits or have passed the Parapro/Workkeys Test. Experience in an ABA or therapeutic classroom is preferred, but not required. Applications can be submitted on SchoolSpring.

Want to see what your kids are working on in art class? You can view and purchase student work at the Phelps Artsonia webpage! In addition to prints, you can purchase canvases, tshirts, ornaments, magnets, mugs and much, much more! Click on the link below to check it out:

Each year, Phelps participates in Rock 102’s Mayflower Marathon Food Drive. Bax and Nagle of Rock 102 will be broadcasting live from the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield From November 25th-27th. Their goal is to fill FOUR, 48-foot trailers with non-perishable food donations for the Open Pantry of Springfield.

Last year, Phelps was the third highest contributing school out of all the schools that participated. We donated 5,394 items!

We know it's a stretch - but this year we are aiming to reach 6,000 items!!! The winning class at Phelps will win a pizza party! If we beat last year's collection, we will also have a school-wide pajama day! Let's do it!!!

The staff Crystal Apple Award for the month of October is Ms. Heffernan!!!

Ms. Heffernan is a natural educator. She has been a seamless addition to the second grade team. Ms. Heffernan is adaptable and flexible. This shows especially when covering in classrooms where she excels in following lesson plans to fidelity! She connects with students and they enjoy having her in the classroom. She is consistent in her tone and approach when working with students. Her positive attitude radiates and is infectious in the classroom for students and staff. MS. Heffernan is also enthusiastic about learning how to improve.

The entire Grade 2 Team is so lucky to have her help our students this year!

The Data Success Team facilitated our October all school meeting. The theme for October was RESPECTING DIFFERENCES. In our meeting, we read the book, "All People are Beautiful," by Vincent Kelly. we sent students home with flags and blank people to color in to show how different we all are, and we recited a pledge to respect differences as a school. The pledge reads:

I promise to respect and celebrate the differences in everyone!

I will listen to others and value what they say.

I will appreciate the unique things that make everyone special.

I will use kind words and treat everyone with care.

I will stand up for others if they are being treated unfairly.

I will learn about the different stories and backgrounds of my classmates.

I will celebrate our differences by sharing and asking questions!

Together, we make our school a friendly and welcoming place for everyone!

Our students of the month for October were nominated for RESPECTING DIFFERNCES in their classrooms.🤝

It's never too late!!!

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.

PTO would like to thank all volunteers who have helped with our first few events of the school year!! We couldn’t have done it without you!

Congratulations to our top 3 sellers in our Butter Braids Fundraiser: Mia, Chester, and Vivienne. They helped our school reach our goal. We raised over $3,500 from this fundraiser alone!

Get your Phelps Apparel! Online now through November 4th!

Click here 🔽

Calling all bakers!! Election Day Bake Sale flyers went home this week. If you are able to bake or purchase items for our Phelps Bake Sale, please let us know. All items can be brought to the school Monday, November 4th for the Election on Tuesday the 5th!

PTO will be selling wreaths and poinsettias for Christmas again this year, fresh from Granny’s Place! Look for order forms coming out at the beginning of November!

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