New Manchester Elementary School
April 2026
A Message from the Principal
4/1 - 4/3 No School - Spring Break
4/6 No School for Students - Professional Learning (PL) Day for Staff
4/9 PTA Meeting at 6:00 p.m. - 1st and 2nd Grade Presentations
4/14 HCSB Financial Literacy Graduation for 4th Grade
4/15 Class Pictures and Spring Make Up Pictures
4/15 LSIC Meeting at 3:15 p.m.
4/22 Earth Day
4/22 School Bus Driver Day
4/24 Pre-K Registration - No School for current Pre-K students
4/24 Family Read Aloud
4/27 NMES School Achievement Presentation at the Hancock County BOE Meeting 5:30 p.m.
4/28 3rd and 4th Grade Family Engagement for GSA State Testing at 1:30 p.m.
Breakfast, Grab & Go and Lunch menus can also be found on the school website.
ORIGINAL
The Character Trait for our "Guidelines for Success" for April is Be an ORIGINAL. This trait involves recognizing and expressing one's unique qualities that define their identity. This can include traits such as creativity, originality, and individuality, which are essential for fostering a sense of self-worth and personal expression. School plays a crucial role in promoting original character traits by providing opportunities for students to explore and articulate their individual strengths and passions. Through activities, discussions, and creative projects, students can learn to appreciate and celebrate their unique traits, contributing to their overall development as original characters in the classroom and beyond.
Congratulations to our Bearcats for being the Student Spotlight recipient for April
Pre-K: Willow & Cooper
Kindergarten: Madison & Kansas
1st Grade: Waylon & Isaac & Ethan
2nd Grade: Chase & Aria & Zane
3rd Grade: Alia & Parker
4th Grade: Damron & Cameron & Lilly
One student per classroom will be chosen each month by the teacher to be recognized for our "Student Spotlight". The student will have their picture posted to our front lobby bulletin board, will be recognized in our monthly newsletter, and will receive a token of appreciation for their efforts at our PTA meetings
Criteria for selecting the Crew Chiefs will include (but is not limited to) the following
- Effort
- Character through compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, optimism, and responsibility
- Behavior and self-control
- Attitude toward others/learning
- Good citizenship
- Leadership and integrity
- Demonstrates responsibility.
- Respectful to peers and teachers
- Significant progress in the classroom and/or marked improvement in grades
Congratulations to Miss Ruiz, 2nd Grade Teacher, for being recognized by her peers as the nominee for Teacher of the Year representing New Manchester Elementary School.
Below is a "getting to know you better" paragraph about Miss Ruiz.
Miss Ruiz has been working for Hancock County Schools for 5 years and has been at NMES for 4 of those years. She has a very close-knit family who shows up for everything and finds things to celebrate in order to get together as much as possible. In Miss Ruiz's free time, she enjoys time with her fiancé. She also likes to go to new places and spend time with family. When Miss Ruiz was in school, her favorite subject was math. Miss Ruiz has always loved school and teaching, but if she could have a second profession, she would be a school counselor or a speech language pathologist. She loves working with children and watching them grow! If Miss Ruiz could visit anywhere in the world she would go to Italy to see the history, soak in the beauty, and take in the culture. Miss Ruiz wants you to know that she loves her job and truly cares about "her kids" not just academically, but as her own. Building lasting relationships is very important to her and she feels grateful to be part of New Manchester Elementary School where that is a core value. Teaching is so much more to Miss Ruiz than just a job and she is thankful to be able to call it hers!
Congratulations to Mrs. Nicoles, Autism Mentor, for being recognized by your peers as New Manchester Elementary School's representative for Service Personnel of the Year.
Below is a "getting to know you" better paragraph about Mrs. Nicoles.
Mrs. Nicoles has worked for Hancock County Schools for 12 years. She's been married for 25 years. She has one child in college attending Duquesne University. Mrs. Nicoles and her family lives on a small farm with several animals. Her hobbies include biking, going swimming in the summer, gardening, and feeding the wildlife at the house. Mrs. Nicoles feels that the best part of her job is working with the great staff and children. She says, "Every day brings new challenges, but I love it. It is a very rewarding job." When Mrs. Nicoles was in school her favorite subjects were Biology and Chemistry. If Mrs. Nicoles could travel anywhere in the world, she would like to visit Switzerland. She loves the scenery and the mountains. She feels it is beautiful there in the summer and even prettier in the winter with the snow. Did you know that Mrs. Nicoles went to West Liberty University and received a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Chemistry?
Autism Acceptance Month is dedicated to promoting the understanding and acceptance of autism spectrum disorder. Autism Acceptance Month kicks off with World Autism Awareness Day on April 2nd to improve acceptance for people with autism as well as dispel the myths surrounding the condition. Autism Spectrum Condition is a lifelong condition that can affect a person's communication and how they relate to the world around them. Autism can present itself in different ways in different people, and all Autistic people will likely have different experiences of how autism impacts them.
Did you know that an estimated 75 million people worldwide are on the autism spectrum, which accounts for 1% of the human population. Despite being one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the US alone, people with autism continue to suffer from discrimination, with approximately 40% of adults with autism never working in a paid role. On top of that, children with autism often find it difficult to make and maintain friendships, leading to bullying and isolation.
Research to find out how you can help raise awareness of Autism Acceptance month.
We have an exciting opportunity for Family Engagement occurring every Friday with Mrs. Cole and Mrs. Gamble.
Our "Fluency Fridays" will be posted to Class Dojo the first and last Friday of each month to help you understand the importance
of the Science of Reading and Math fluency. These will be activities that you can do at home to increase fluency at home. The activities that will be explored have been recommended by Hancock County's Literacy and Numeracy Teams.
The first Friday of the month will be dedicated to Reading and the last Friday of the month will be dedicated to Math.
We are hoping for this to be an "interactive family engagement community" in which we can all benefit.
You will be able to receive feedback on any comments or questions you may have.
Look for Episode 1 coming October 3rd!
This month I want to address building the foundational skills of self-esteem and confidence. Self-esteem is how a child feels about themselves, while confidence is the belief in their ability to succeed in specific tasks or challenges. These skills work together to help children take healthy risks, bounce back from setbacks (resilience), and develop a positive outlook. Children with healthy self-esteem and confidence are more likely to participate in class and group activities, handle mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures, build stronger friendships and social skills, and develop intrinsic (internal) motivation.
The following are some suggestions for home. Praise effort, not just results. This teaches kids that abilities grow through effort and persistence. Let kids make mistakes because they are where real learning takes place. Help your child set small, achievable goals rather than focusing only on big wins. When your child shares their worries or fears, validate their feelings before offering solutions. Support participation in activities outside their comfort zone. Focus on their own individual growth and unique strengths and never compare them to siblings or peers. Finally, model confidence and self-compassion by sharing your own mistakes and handling challenges gracefully.
Here are a few questions you can ask your child to help build confidence through conversation:
“What is something you did well today?”
“What is a challenge you faced, and how did you handle it?”
“What is one thing you would like to get better at?”
“How do you feel when you try something new?”
Best wishes as you help your child thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
April is Stress Awareness Month! Stress in minor to moderate doses may be expected, as the body is equipped to handle these reactions. However, ongoing or unattended stress can have serious consequences. Chronic stress impacts the entire body and can harm well-being in the long term. Ongoing stress is a risk factor for heart disease, dementia, stroke, accelerated aging, depression, anxiety, insulin resistance, prolonged digestive issues, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In addition, chronic stress may impact your outlook on life, interpersonal relationships, performance in the workplace, and self-care.
Understanding the signs of stress may help you recognize them and find strategies that target the unique circumstances of your stressful situation. A few of these indicators are increased irritability and anger, a loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, mental burnout, changes in appetite, changes in sleep patterns, gastrointestinal distress like nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and indigestion, loneliness, body aches, muscle tension, mood swings, feeling overwhelmed, and headaches.
Powerful solutions for stress relief include spending time with others, breathing exercises and meditation, grounding activities, physical activities, addressing the root cause, hobbies, time in nature, journaling, cognitive reframing, and therapy. Practicing the activities listed and putting in the effort to manage stress in your life can be a significant way to celebrate Stress Awareness Month!
Roll a Bunny
There are many activities that you can do with your child outdoors with sidewalk chalk to help them with Math. Try some of these at home.
- Have your child create a large number line (large enough for them to be able to jump from number to number). Allow your child to act out addition and subtraction problems on the number line.
- Create a giant hundreds board. Have your child count by ones, twos, fives, and tens. Have your child work out multiplication and division problems.
- Allow your child to create a maze for them to work their way through with cars or objects, or even with themselves.
- Do a color scavenger hunt in the outdoors. Give your child the challenge to find as many things that they can that match the colors of your chalk pieces. Color a square with each piece of chalk and have your child place the things that they find on each of the correct squares.
- Draw a giant clock face on the cement with numbers but no hands. The children are the hands. Call out a time and have them lie on the clock face to show the time that was called out.
- Explore lines and angles by coloring squares and adding different angled lines within the squares.
- Have some hopscotch fun in the traditional way. Put a spin on it by having the child work out math equations that match the number they hopped on.
Fun Facts for April
- Two flowers that signify the month of April are the daisy and the sweet pea.
- Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary in April.
- William Shakespeare was born and died in the month of April.
- The first April Fool's Day goes back as far as the 1600s.
- April is a rainy month.
- The Titantic sank in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912 killing more than 1,500 people.
- Earth Day is celebrated on April 22.
- National Burrito Day is April 1.
- April is the best month to watch meteor showers.
- After a 1,500 year break, the first Olympics of the modern era took place on April 6, 1896 in Athens.
- The smaller animals that hibernate for the winter in the Northern Hemisphere usually start coming out of their burrows in April.
- Ford unveiled their first Mustang on April 17, 1964 costing $2,368.
New Manchester Elementary School
Email: cyeater@k12.wv.us
Website: https://newmanchester.hancock.k12.wv.us/
Location: 128 Frankfort Road, New Cumberland, WV, USA
Phone: 304-564-3242
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Elementary-School/New-Manchester-Elementary-School