Monstricola's Message

Dear MES Families:

Have a great weekend!

Take care,

Kathleen Ortega and Michelle Romein

Our school drop-off time is 8:15. Please do not drop students off at ANY entrance before that time. Our educators are getting ready for the day and supervision is not available. There is a before school program through the Nashua Adult Learning Center if you need before school care.

This Friday, October 9th is an Early Release Day. AM Preschool will dismiss at 10:15.

Kindergarten-Grade Four Dismissal begins at 12:15.

There is no PM Preschool.

Who: Anyone who can join us and their families

What: Walk or bike to school

Live Too Far From School?: Meet and Park at the Town Hall to walk to school with your student

When: Wednesday, October 7th at 8:00 (We will leave town hall at 8:05)

Where: Meet at the town hall and walk to MES with us!

Once students have arrived at school, parents may walk back to their cars!

Why Walk, Bike or Roll?

It’s fun! Remember the thrill of riding a bike for the first time or walking or rolling to school on the first day? There’s a feeling of joy and independence—a sense of adventure—that doesn’t fade. Of course, there are many other benefits to walking, biking or rolling to school, too.

Healthier Habits

Active trips to school enable children to incorporate the regular physical activity they need each day while also forming healthy habits that can last a lifetime. Regular physical activity helps children build strong bones, muscles and joints, and it decreases the risk of obesity. In contrast, insufficient physical activity can contribute to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Dear families,

School pictures are now available!

To see if your child's pictures are available to view, please log in to your account at mylifetouch.com. If you don’t have an account yet, you can create one using your email address.

To locate your child's photos, you'll need their Student ID or Portrait ID and Access Code. If you don't have this information, you can:

• Check your inbox for an email from Lifetouch that may contain your access credentials and a direct link to your child's images.
• Wait for your proof sheet to arrive, which will include your Portrait ID and Access Code.
• Contact the Lifetouch Help Center for assistance

Please note that pictures may not become available for all students at the same time, so check back later if you don't see your child's images yet.

The iReady Inform Window will be closing shortly for grades 1-4. Your child's iReady scores will be coming home on Friday, October 9th!

In grades K,1, and 2 we just finished up a game called cookie monster. Cookie monster is a team based game that includes retrieval and tagging aspects. Here are some of the benefits of the game.

1. Growing Stronger and More Coordinated

• Better Balance and Agility: Instead of just running in a straight line, escaping the Cookie Monster forces kids to dodge, pivot, change directions, and stop on a dime. This dramatically improves their balance and overall body control.

• Spatial Awareness: Running in a crowded gym teaches them how to safely navigate tight spaces. It helps them judge distances better.

2. Giving the Brain a Workout

• Split-Second Decisions: Your child is constantly scanning the room, choosing safe pathways, and figuring out when to sprint—all while in motion.

• Strategy: Students need to decide what cookies to grab and what risk or safe passages they can take. Later levels the students are challenged with team specific goals to grab different types of cookies.

3. Learning to Play Well with Others

• Building Resilience: In tag, you get caught eventually. In this game you get right back in after high fiving the cookie monster and heading back to your team cookie jar. handle minor setbacks and "losses" in a safe, low-stakes environment.

• Respectful Boundaries: We heavily practice using gentle tags instead of pushing or grabbing. This teaches the children how to respect each other's physical boundaries and practice fair play.
  

3rd and 4th graders this week played Giants, Wizards, and Elves—a dynamic, team-based twist on traditional Rock, Paper, Scissors.

At this developmental stage, students are rapidly developing their peer relationships and executive functioning skills. Here are some benefits of the game.

• Collaborative Teamwork & Compromise: Third and fourth graders are learning how to navigate group dynamics. In this game, they must huddle, listen to peer ideas, and negotiate a single team choice. Perfect practice for real-world collaboration and democratic decision-making.

• Strategic Thinking & Anticipation: They look for patterns, guess what the other team might do next, and practice basic strategic thinking.

• Healthy Sportsmanship & Emotional Regulation: Because the game moves quickly and outcomes change instantly, it provides a safe, low-stakes environment for students to practice winning with humility and handling a loss with resilience and a smile.

• Gross Motor Skills: Quick bursts of movement keep them active and help improve coordination.

• Inclusion & Shared Laughter: This game breaks down social barriers. It allows every student—regardless of athletic ability or academic confidence—to participate equally and everyone will be a leader/captain in a round.

Our annual Halloween Parade (weather permitting) will be held on October 30th at 1:30 on O'Neil Field. Families are invited to attend the parade! We will parade around the field in costumes and then students only will re-enter the building for their Halloween party.

Costume Guidelines

• Students should bring their costumes to school. (Consider a back-up costume if your child's costume has a lot of parts or is complicated!)
• Any face paint/make-up needs to be put on before arriving at school.
• Scary costumes are not permitted. We will be parading with our preschoolers and kindergarteners. If you are unsure about the costume, err on the side of caution and choose a different costume for school.
• NO WEAPONS or fake blood will be allowed.

Thank you for helping us to continue to have this years-long tradition by following the above guidelines.

We are excited to welcome our veteran family members to MES for a special Veterans Day Parade on Monday, November 9th at 2:00 PM! Students who have a veteran family member attending will participate in this special celebration as we come together to honor and thank our veterans for their service.

Planning to attend? Please use the link below to sign up by Wednesday, November 4th. Be sure to submit one form for each student with a veteran family member attending so we can plan accordingly. This event is only for veterans of MES students.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIcnEjU44MJdiITuDoEpGzWErQQIkmA6X8y94fZnzXZFpgfQ/viewform?usp=header

Calling All Veterans!

Veterans Day is Wednesday, November 11th, and we want to celebrate the heroes in our MES families! Students absolutely love seeing familiar faces on screen, so we're creating a tribute video to share with our MES community.

Please send a photo of your family’s veteran by Monday, November 1st. You can send a physical photo to school with your child or email a digital photo directly to Miss Wygant at colby.wygant@sau26.org.

Along with the photo, please include:

• Your child’s name and teacher

• The veteran’s relationship to your student

• The military branch they served in

Thank you for helping us honor our military families!

1) To help families stay connected with the school and what your children are up to while they are here, classroom teachers will share a classroom update with you every other week through email. Keep an eye out for it and be sure to reach out to them if you have questions. You will be amazed by all that they do!

2) Monstricola's Message will be shared weekly and contains information about upcoming events. pictures. snippets from our school days and information for parents. Please let the office know if you need a paper copy. Please note Monstricola's Message can be translated into a number of language!

3) Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: It is a goal of ours to share information regularly with all of you, so you can see the amazing things happening every day at MES!

Did you know that filling out the Free and Reduced Lunch Form may help provide:

• After School Academic & Enrichment Programs?
• Free/Reduces meal 30-day rollover for the next school year?
• State and Federal funding for school budgets?
• Fund computers and technology at home and for your school?
• Fee waivers for college applications and admission tests?

Click here for information and application.

The Merrimack School District (SAU #26) has elected to use the Vector Training program to provide school-related safety trainings. Vector Training offers trainings in all facets of school safety issues, and its compliance management system tracks all the training for the district, allowing us to easily demonstrate compliance with safety mandates.

To take the required trainings, you will need to create an account with Vector.

NEW Users: Use the “quick link” registration URL: https://sau26nonemp-nh.safeschools.com/register/7efa4566. When you create your username, PLEASE use your personal email address

Existing Users,: Log in to your account here: https://sau26nonemp-nh.safeschools.com/login.

The courses you must take annually, are:

• Bullying: Recognition and Response (~50 minutes)

• Child Abuse: Mandatory Reporting (~30 minutes)

• Sexual Harassment: Student Issues and Response (~30 minutes)

• Sexual Harassment: Staff to Staff (~30 minutes)

• Suicide Prevention (2 hours)

You can find these courses by clicking on “View Library”, and search for the course in the top left search bar. Once complete, you will be issued a certificate of completion, we will also receive notification that you have completed the course. Your participation will help to make SAU #26 a safer place to work and learn!

If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Fazlic, Director of Human Resources, at Melissa.Fazlic@sau26.org or 603-424-6200, option 1.

October 7th: Walk/Roll to School Day

October 9th: Early Release

October 12th: No School

October 20th: PATT Meeting

October 22nd: Fall Family Festival (See Above)

October 28th: Early Release (Parent Conferences)

October 30th: Halloween Parade and Parties