SCS Newsletter 3.3.24

Dear Salisbury Families:

Happy March! It has been a fun few weeks as the weather has definitely allowed us to start getting outside even more and really enjoying all the space around Salisbury Community School. Nature has been on our mind a lot lately, as the trout are starting to get bigger in Amy Clapp's fish tank, a calf came to visit our 5th grade (look at the end of this newsletter!), multiple classes have been exploring animals and natural cycles, we have been able to take coats off at recess, and this week we really started diving into the April 8th eclipse!

As you will see later, this week we hosted an exhibition about the eclipse, which will be viewable in our area around 3:00 on April 8th. The map at the end of this blurb shows where "totality" occurs- in other words, where you can see the eclipse best. It is being projected that tens of thousands of visitors will be coming to Vermont (apparently rentals are already scarce) and things could get snarled, so ACSD is having an 'early release" that day. Students will be preparing for it by learning about it, and will be able to take home some special glasses for viewing the solar spectacle!

On that note, I would like to acknowledge and honor the hard work and care that SCS teacher Amy Clapp has put in to helping ACSD prepare for this once-in a lifetime event. She has written grants to get materials (including all the glasses students will use, and educational materials like you will read about later), she has collaborated with others to think about how to get students engaged, and she put together the traveling eclipse exhibition that is making its way around ACSD (no easy task,). Thank you, Amy, for your passion, your vision, and your hard work.

Read below for a bunch of stuff- there's a good amount of new content in this newsletter!

Sincerely,

Bjarki

Wednesday, March 6: Early Release (Info Below) School lets out at 1:00.

Monday, March 12th: Final Day for Little Caesar's order!

This Wednesday, March 6gth is an Early Release Day across ACSD. School will end at 1:00.

As part of the updated progress reporting system, the spring parent-teacher conference window opens March 22. The goal of this conference is to be in person, as teachers plan to share student work and current progress toward the standards. Your child's teacher will be reaching out in the near future with a conference schedule.

At 6:00 on Wednesday, March 6 we will be holding an information session for 5th Grade Students and Families about KEEC and 5th Grade Exhibition. Interested parents of younger students are certainly welcome as well!

What are these things?

KEEC (Keewaydin Environmental Education Center): 5th Graders from across the district spend a week (M-F) at a camp on Lake Dunmore. During the day they do lots of fun and educational activities, and they stay in cabins together overnight (with adult supervision). It's a ton of fun, and one of the great benefits for Salisbury kids is that they hang out with kids from the other schools, so they know each other a little better when they go to MUMS. This week KEEC will be from May 13-17.

5th Grade Exhibition: 5th Grade Exhibition is a substantial project that 5th graders do, as a key step in their IB curriculum, where they pick a topic of their choice (with guidance and some boundaries) and spend time not just researching it but really thinking about how they can take an action related to that topic. Students last year explored health care costs, milfoil in Lake Dunmore, and school dress codes. They end their work with an actual Exhibition where they share their work with the community. This will be a major focus of the second half of the year for your students, and parental engagement can really help them be successful!

Last week students brought home a flyer for our annual "Little Caesar's Fundraiser". This raises funds for Friends of Salisbury Community School, who then contributes money for fun things like school trips, activities, KEEC, and even playground supplies and equipment! It is an important fundraiser for the group, and for our school.

We will be selling pizzas until March 11th. Buyers can either order using the order sheet in the packet (and they would pay when they order- checks made out to F.O.S.C.S) or they can buy online using a credit card.

Once we have all the orders, Little Caesar's sends us the pizzas, and we have a day when they all get picked up! We don't know what that date will be yet.

We have more flyers at school- just reach out and we will get you one!

If buying online using the flyer, use the following info:

Group ID#: 184060

Fundraiser ID#: 437293

Thanks so much! Thank you FOSCS!

We are picking up our Salisbury swag from our printer on Monday, and we will have them ready to be sent home this week. We will reach out with more details once we know which day we will be able to organize everything, so stay tuned!

As mentioned above, last week we hosted an exhibit designed to stimulate student knowledge and interest in the upcoming solar eclipse. SCS teacher Amy Clapp was instrumental in both putting the exhibit together and guiding students through the stations over the two days we had it. There were excellent models that demonstrated how eclipses occur, a neat tool to see sunspots, and demonstrations of different glasses and filters that can be used to see eclipses safely. The students got super interested, so it's done its job and has now moved on to the other schools in ACSD!

Well, no matter what Punxsutawney Phil (the Groundhog) said this year, spring is coming at its own pace, and last week we really felt it. But no sooner had we taken jackets off at recess, then it dropped to 17 degrees again! Here are a few images of spring coming to our playground.

...you might as well bring a calf by school! Thanks Amanda! (Please always check your livestock in at the front office with Donna).

Get ready...a total eclipse is coming to Vermont on April 8, 2024! What you need to know:

• April 8, 2024 will be an early release day! We will end school early because parts of our district will be in totality (darkness) around 3:30pm and Route 7 is expected to be busy with tourists visiting our area for the eclipse. We will follow our usual early release schedule.

• Salisbury 4th grade teacher, Amy Clapp is leading the way in partnership with colleagues across our schools to plan fun eclipse activities for our PK-12 students leading up to the eclipse. We’ll be sharing more details about activities for school and home soon.

• We have eclipse glasses for every ACSD student! These will come home closer to the event.

This year, ACSD is partnering with Dr. Rebecca Eunmi Haslam of Seed the Way LLC to advance our commitment to equity and justice. Dr. Haslam’s focus is on understanding the impact of racial and bias-based harm in our schools. Her work is designed to inform ACSD’s policy and procedures, increase more inclusive classroom practices, and leverage decision-making in meaningful ways. We hope this work will increase the restorative and reparative experiences for students, staff, and faculty in the ACSD community.

Dr. Haslam has completed the first phase of her work at MUMS and MUHS which included meeting with students and staff directly. She is now set to begin phase two which will focus on students and staff in ACSD’s elementary schools. The complete announcement and plan for phase two will be shared with all ACSD K-5 families in March, with a phase two completion date of June 30th. Please be on the lookout for the invitation to participate in this work.

Upon completion of both phases, Dr. Haslam will share findings with incoming Superintendent Dr. Wendy Baker in preparation for ACSD’s implementation of the ACSD Strategic Plan for Equity.

Dear ACSD Families,

This February, ACSD will launch text messaging for ACSD families. This won't replace our current email/phone communication, but it will help us reach you quickly for urgent issues. We will not text you often and only for short, time-sensitive messages (like early dismissal and snow days).

To receive texts, you must opt-in. Directions to opt-in:

• Text “yes” to 67587. You will get a reply confirming your registration. If you ever want to stop, just text STOP.

• Make sure we have your wireless number in our student database. This is the number you share on school forms in August. (If you currently receive school/ACSD calls on your cell phone, we probably have your wireless number.) If not, please share it with your school.