The Penguin Post

Wednesday, October 19 - Picture day

Thursday, October 20 - 1/2 day for students (Parent/Teacher Conferences)

Friday, October 28 - Trunk or Treat (at Phelps) 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 8 - No School - Voting Day, Staff Professional Development

Friday, November 11 - No School - Veterans Day

This Thursday is a half day for students so we can conduct our fall parent-teacher conferences. Conferences will be scheduled between 1:30-3:30pm and 6:00-8:00pm. In order to avoid parking problems and long periods of waiting to see the teachers, you will be assigned a special conference time. In order to have a more meaningful and effective conference, we request that you please leave students and siblings at home.

We have already started to accumulate a large collection of coats that students have left behind. We will put a table in the lobby for you to look through when you come for conferences on Thursday. Unclaimed items will be donated.

Please consider writing your child's name on the tags of coats, hats, and gloves/mittens.

Lots of creative and fun hats throughout Phelps on our first PBIS spirit day.

Each month Phelps staff nominate a colleague to receive the Crystal Apple Award.

For the month of September, our staff Crystal Apple Award recipient is Mrs. Cheryll O'Connor. Mrs. O'Connor teaches 1st grade. She is an amazing member of our first grade team. She keeps the team organized, happy and full of new ideas. She always has a smile on her face. She is also kind and caring with her students and is the kindest, most compassionate person we know. We are lucky to work with her.

Congratulations Mrs. O'Connor!!!!

Due to an increase in the amount of students with allergies in our school, we are no longer able to accommodate parents sending in treats from home for classroom celebrations. Parents can order a platter of cookies from our cafeteria for your child's classroom. If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly.

On Wednesday, September 28, we celebrated the start of another school year in our annual PBIS kick-off event! Students participated in various activities of their choosing. At the end of the day, all students and staff were outside for our whole-school Penguin Dance!

Teachers are nominating students to receive Sunshine Calls. A Sunshine Phone Call home is simply a positive phone call home to let you know what an amazing job your child is doing at school in modeling our core values of being safe, responsible, and respectful! Reasons for nominating a student can range from being a good friend to working hard at learning a new concept. Mr. Villamaino & Mrs. Domina make these calls home and then head up to the classroom to acknowledge students in front of their peers and give them a sunshine keychain.

The beginning of the school year is an excellent opportunity to reinforce positive behaviors and routines. For the last 6 weeks at Phelps, we have been working on actively teaching and defining many of the rules and expectations for your child’s classroom which can also be carried out in the home. This helps your child define what is expected and avoid any confusion that may lead to having problems succeeding in a particular area or setting. We have provided an example matrix and a blank matrix to be completed at home, if you choose to. Please work together to complete the matrix in order to meet the needs of your family! We hope this will help make the school year positive and successful!

New interventionist, Peggy McNeff greets the school committee in our annual presentation of new staff.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Green Apples
• 1 pkg. Mini Pretzel Twists
• 1 pkg. Rolo Candy
• Toothpicks

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

• On a baking sheet, lay out pretzels in a single layer and place a Rolo candy on each pretzel.

• Put these in the oven for about 3-4 minutes, or until the candy is soft but not melted.

• Chop the apple in small chunks. Squeeze a little lemon juice on them if you would like to help keep from turning brown.

• Place one apple on the end of a toothpick and push into one of the Rolo pretzels. Repeat until all the Rolo pretzels have apples.

• Ready to serve!

Help Your Child Succeed in School - Build the Habit of Good Attendance

DID YOU KNOW?

• Starting in preschool and kindergarten, too many absences can cause children to fall behind in school.

• Missing 10%, or about 2 days each month over the course of a school year, can make it harder to learn to read.

• Students can still fall behind if they miss just 1 or 2 days every few weeks.

• Being late to school may lead to poor attendance.

• Absences and tardiness can affect the whole classroom if the teacher has to slow down learning to help children catch up.

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school—and themselves. Start building this habit in preschool so they learn right away that going to school on time, every day is important. Eventually good attendance will be a skill that will help them succeed in high school and college.

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine. • Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before. • Keep your child healthy and make sure your child has the required shots. • Introduce your children to their teachers and classmates before school starts. • Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor or another parent. • Try to schedule non-Covid-19 related medical appointments and extended trips when school isn't in session. • If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors and other parents for advice on how to make your child feel comfortable and excited about learning. • If you are concerned that your child may have Covid-19, call your school for advice. • If your child must stay home due to illness or quarantine, ask the teacher for resources and ideas to continue learning at home.

When Do Absences Become a Problem?

CHRONIC ABSENCE 18 or more days

WARNING SIGNS 10 to 17 days

SATISFACTORY 9 or fewer absences

Note: These numbers assume a 180-day school year.

Visit Attendance Works at www.attendanceworks.org for free downloadable resources and tools!

On Friday, October 14, Firefighter Tom from the Agawam Fire Department came to talk with all students about fire safety and awareness. He took the time to put all of his gear on to show students that the equipment is meant to keep him safe and that firefighters can look scary, but they are there to help! Students were reminded of what to do in a fire and when to call 911. Thanks Firefighter Tom!

Every day, students in grades 1-4 at Phelps have a 30 minute RTI block. Towards the end of September, a group of teachers, coaches, special educators, administrators, and interventionists got together to look at academic data for all students from the end of last school year and the start of this school year. At the end of the meeting, every student was placed in a group that best fit their academic needs.

This year, there will be three rounds of interventions where we will use various assessments throughout the year to best meet the needs of each student. Kindergarten students will start groups in the second round (starting January 3, 2023).

Groups include Reading Recovery, Leveled Literacy Instruction, Add+Vantage Math Recovery, writing support, enrichment, book clubs, Science investigations, and more!

What is the best way to support your child’s growth? Nutrition!

It matters so much what we put into our bodies. A diet filled with whole grains, vegetables, lean protein and low in fats is the best way to support a developing body and mind. Eating well reduces the risk of so many disorders and diseases, from constipation to cancer. Food provides the raw material for the body’s growth - we literally are what we eat!

Ideally, half of any meal should be vegetables. This is true for all ages and sizes.

It can be tricky getting kids to eat what’s best for them, though. How do we do it?

Here’s some tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/Pages/How-to-Get-Your-Child-to-Eat-More-Fruits-and-Veggies.aspx

How to Get Your Child to Eat More Fruits & Veggies

​​We all know that eating fruits and vegetables is important. But how do you get kids to eat more of these foods?

Tips for Parents:

• Provide fruits and vegetables as snacks. Keep fruit washed, cut up and in plain sight in the refrigerator.
• Serve salads more often. Get prewashed, bagged salad at the grocery store. Teach your child what an appropriate amount of salad dressing is and how it can be ordered on the side at restaurants.
• Try out vegetarian recipes for spaghetti, lasagna, chili, or other foods using vegetables instead of meat.
• Include at least one leafy green or yellow vegetable for vitamin A such as spinach, broccoli, winter squash, greens, or carrots each day.
• Include at least one vitamin C–rich fruit or vegetable, such as oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, melon, tomato, and broccoli each day.
• Add a fruit or vegetable as part of every meal or snack. For example, you could put fruit on cereal, add a piece of fruit or small salad to your child’s lunch, use vegetables and dip for an after-school snack, or add a vegetable or two you want to try to the family’s dinner.

Be a role model—eat more fruits and vegetables yourself.

​More Things You Can Do:

• Be sure your child is getting the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day. Visit choosemyplate.gov​ to find out how much of each food group your child should be getting.
• When shopping for food, start in the area of the store where they keep fresh fruits and vegetables. Stock up. That way you know you always have some on hand to serve your child.
• Avoid buying high-calorie foods such as chips, cookies, and candy bars. Your child may not ask for these treats if they are not in sight.
• Limit or eliminate how much fruit juice you give your child and make sure it is 100% juice, not juice “drinks.”
• Eat a​s a family whenever possible. Research shows that kids eat more vegetables and fruits and less fried foods and sugary drinks when they eat with the entire family.

Remember...

By choosing health-promoting foods, you can establish good nutritional habits in your child that will last for the rest of his or her life.​

Last Updated 8/27/2020

Source Adapted from Pediatric Obesity: Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Strategies for Primary Care (Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Pediatrics)

https://www.myplate.gov/

https://www.myplate.gov/myplate-plan

The P.T.O. would like to thank everyone for a great start to the school year!

Our Scholastic Book Fair and Ice Cream Social were a HUGE success - please take a moment and share any pictures of our events on our Facebook page.

Butter Braid orders can be picked up on Friday, October 21 from 5-7pm. Please pull in the horseshoe driveway to Phelps off of School Street (where the buses go). We will have your order all ready for you.

The Phelps apparel link is now open! Please click here to order your Phelps swag! Orders close on October 30.

Keep an eye out for information about our Bake Sale taking place during voting on November 8.

We would love to have you join us at our next meeting on Tuesday, November 15 at 6:00pm in the Phelps cafeteria.

This year, the Trunk or Treat event will be taking place at Phelps on Friday, October 28 (rain date of October 29). We are collecting candy and trinkets. There is a bin outside the main office of Phelps where you can leave your donations. Please RSVP by 10/24 - this is to ensure that we don't run out of candy! Here is a copy of the flyer that went home.

Any questions, email us at phelpspto@gmail.com

Mr. Villamaino & Mrs. Domina

Email: avillamaino@agawamed.org
Website: https://www.agawamed.org/o/bjp
Location: 689 Main Street, Agawam, MA, USA
Phone: (413) 821-0586