Witty Wildcat Update

• Friday, October 9th: Early Release for Students - Professional Development Day
• Monday, October 12th: No School - Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day
• Tuesday, October 13th: Ecology Explorers (Grades 2 & 5)
• Friday, October 23rd: Wear green for Dwarfism Awareness- Read more here
• Tuesday, October 27th: McAlister Picture Retake Day
• Friday, October 30th: PTO Boosterthon
• Tuesday, November 3rd: No School - Professional Development Day
• Thursday, November 5th: K-2 Fly Five/SEL Parent Information Night at Spaulding
• Tuesday, November 10th: Parent/Teacher Conferences (Evening only)
• Thursday, November 12th: Early Release - Parent/Teacher Conferences (Afternoon and Evening)
• Friday, November 13th: Early Release - Parent/Teacher Conferences (Afternoon only)
• Tuesday, November 17th: Spaulding Picture Retake Day

Suffield Reads Kwame! culminated in an author visit on Thursday, October 1st. Over 550 Suffield residents came together to celebrate award winning author Kwame Alexander who gained his inspiration for his talk directly from the audience itself. Rather than deliver a prepared speech, Kwame reacted to audience member’s desires to hear the story behind their favorite Kwame reads, holding up the books for the author to address. And Kwame delivered. Audience members learned the origins of The Crossover, Surf’s Up, and Rebound, while also learning a lot about the author himself. Kwame shared how when the rejections piled up and publishers told him he had to stick to what he did best - picture books - he didn’t listen. Instead, he did what was in his heart and allowed his passion for words and readers to inspire him. We all loved the result, 45 books for all age levels. Picture books and novels in verse. Fiction and nonfiction. Historical fiction, sports fiction, and realistic fiction. Kwame writes for everyone. Kwame’s overall message to the audience was to never give up and to never allow anyone to tell you to “stay in your lane.” Instead, be your authentic true self. Let the yeses outweigh the nos.

Each month, we are excited to celebrate students who are demonstrating what it means to be a mathematician! Our Mathematicians of the Month are recognized for the ways they approach math: asking thoughtful questions, persevering through challenges, sharing their thinking, making connections, learning from mistakes, and helping others grow as mathematicians.

We are so proud of the many ways our students are developing their mathematical minds and confidence each day. Congratulations to our September Mathematicians of the Month!

Want to know what your child is learning in math? Our Bridges Unit Family Letters are a great way to stay connected to your child’s learning at school! Each letter provides an overview of the math concepts and skills your child will be working on during Unit 2, along with helpful suggestions and activities you can try together at home.

These resources are designed to help families support math learning in simple, meaningful ways—no special materials or math expertise required! We encourage you to take a look and talk, play, and explore math together at home.

Kindergarten Unit 2

First Grade Unit 2

Second Grade Unit 2

Third Grade Unit 2

Fourth Grade Unit 2

Fifth Grade Unit 2

At Suffield Public Schools, the safety and well-being of your children remain our highest priority. We are committed to preventing and managing challenging behaviors in a safe, respectful, and supportive manner. Please take a moment to review the letter from the administration regarding our approach to this important topic, available HERE. Each year, the district is also required to provide families with access to a Challenging Behavior Response Form, should it be needed. You can access the form HERE.

• Dismissal Changes: If you need to make dismissal changes after 2:00, please call the office. This is the best way to make sure the classroom teacher sees the changes in PikMyKid, especially if there is a substitute in the classroom.
• Snack: Please send your child(ren) with a snack every day. It never hurts to leave an extra snack in the backpack for busy mornings.
• Snack Donations: We are always happy to accept snack donations in the office for students who do not have a snack.
• Extra Clothes: Accidents happen! Having an extra set of clothes in your child's backpack or left in the classroom is always helpful.

We are excited to share that SFES (Suffield Foundation for Excellent Schools) has generously awarded Spaulding School $7,500 through our “Bringing Literacy to Life Through Purposeful Play” grant! This generous donation has allowed us to purchase fun, engaging, hands-on materials connected to our CKLA Knowledge units across all grade levels.

These materials will give our students opportunities to play, explore, create, and bring what they are learning in CKLA to life. From dramatic play and hands-on activities to materials that encourage students to act out and extend their learning, these experiences help make literacy meaningful and engaging.

We are incredibly grateful to SFES for supporting our teachers and students and for helping us create authentic learning experiences that inspire our students to learn and love literacy!

During our Knowledge Block, our Kindergarteners dove into the wonderful world of nursery rhymes! We learned and recited familiar rhymes, explored their characters and stories, and built confidence through rhythm, repetition, and performance. We ended our unit with a fun-filled Nursery Rhyme Olympics, where students showed off their rhyme knowledge, teamwork, memory, and enthusiasm through a variety of playful challenges. It was a wonderful way to celebrate all of our learning together! Our next unit will be all about our five senses!

Our music classes are off to a great start! We have been singing, dancing, playing instruments, and exploring core musical elements.

Kindergartners are practicing steady beat, singing, and playing simple instruments. Favorite songs include “Frog in the Meadow,” “The Leaves are Green,” and “I Had a Rooster.” In October, we will focus on musical opposites, especially high and low.

First graders are learning about dynamics (volume) and musical terms like forte, piano, crescendo, and decrescendo. We are also practicing echo songs, playing listening games, and exploring movement. In October, we will begin simple folk dances and continue to work on vocal skills.

Second graders are studying tempo (speed) and using the terms allegro, moderato, and largo. Students loved playing “Tempo Tap” and dancing the Swedish folk dance “Fjaskern.” In October, we will begin our rhythmic literacy unit to play, say, and decode rhythmic patterns.

For Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15–Oct 15), our lessons feature Hispanic and Latin American musicians in our Songs of the Day. We are also learning songs in Spanish, and learning about famous musicians.

Please feel free to reach out via Seesaw or email at abrown@suffield.org.

Thank you!

-Mrs. Brown

Preschool Students have had a great start to the school year! We have had a lot of fun while also learning how to take care of our materials and participate in our routines. We will continue to build independence and self-advocacy skills all year. With the start of Fall, we have learned about the season as we watch the trees outside changing colors.

Has your child been talking about Fly Five and the Cares Kids? Social and emotional learning is just as important as reading and math at Spaulding. Read more about our new SEL curriculum HERE!

This summer, students in grades 3 - 5 were encouraged to participate in Suffield Reads Kwame! all summer long and to share their reactions through a Summer Reading Choice Board. We received some wonderful student work. Two lucky winners - 4th grader Evelyn Zinkievich and 3rd grader Cole Tyson - received a Kwame Alexander book and coordinating stuffy. Congratulations Evelyn and Cole and thank you to all who submitted work.

The McAlister library is open in full and it is an amazing sight to see. Brand new furniture welcomes patrons, including both book shelves and comfortable seating. Thousands of new books adorn the new shelves, replacements for those lost in the flood of December 2026. Along with the new book cases comes some restructuring of our collection, so students in Grades 3 and 4 have been studying library organization during the month of September. A study of genre, subgenre, book format and call numbers will allow our bibliophiles to quickly locate books of choice in any library worldwide. Students in Grade 5 will begin this study at the conclusion of Kid Governor and have been studying research skills during library classes.

It’s that time of the year, time to decorate a pumpkin to look like your favorite book character. Interested, click here for all the details. .

The third grade students just wrapped up a literacy unit on classic tales! They had the chance to write an opinion piece about one of the characters from "The Wind in the Willows" and complete a scrapbook explaining which theme the character best represented. In math, students have been learning multiple new workplace games like 'make the sum' and 'anything but 5'. Our SEL focus for the start of the year has been 'Cooperation', what does it look and sound like at school? We've included pictures of third grade students showing cooperation at McAlister this month!

We have three special guests who come to join our McAlister students each week. They enjoy listening to books read by our readers. We are grateful for Lisa Longo who helps to organize this for our students. It brings a smile to many faces both human and dogs :)

Boosterthon (Fun Run):

• Donations open Oct. 7 — sign your student up and start sharing their page with family and friends
• Kickoff is Oct. 21 with a short video in every classroom. Students will get a first look at the prizes they can earn.
• Oct. 22–29 is our fundraising week, with daily videos and announcements to keep the energy up.
• Event Day is Oct. 30! Students will run for 35 minutes on the grass field. Families are invited to come cheer (visitor sign-up required, link forthcoming)!

Save the Date for Upcoming Grade-Level Traditions (details will be sent for each grade separately):

• 11/7 - Fourth Grade: Thunderbirds Game
• 11/8 - Third Grade: Ron-a-Roll Rollerskating
• 11/15 (AM)- Second Grade: Fun-Z Trampoline
• 11/15 (PM) - First Grade: Sparetime Bowling
• 11/21 - Preschool & Kindergarten: Suffield Gymnastics Open Gym
• Fifth Grade tradition will be held in May

Please submit the following volunteer form to get started! https://forms.gle/HKEG2XufzUGwUUYB6