The Penguin Post
Benjamin Phelps School - September 2024
At the end of January, our art teacher Mrs. Robinson will be headed over to Sapelli School for the remainder of the year and we welcome Ms. Conklin, our STEAM teacher, back to Phelps. Starting Monday, January 27, students will see Ms. Conklin twice each week. You can see what your child will be doing in STEAM class on Ms. C.'s website:
https://sites.google.com/agawamed.org/sciencewithmissc/home.
Don't forget that you can also purchase your child's artwork from Mrs. Robinson's class by heading to the Phelps Artsonia shop at https://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=15756
Members of the Phelps Student Government gave a "Highlights of Education" presentation to the School Committee on November 26. Students shared some of their visions for Phelps and what work they have accomplished so far. In January, members will be giving a survey to their class, leading an all-school meeting, and sharing our next AMAZING upgrade that they voted on in their first meeting.
The 4th grade student council started meeting and has met with Mrs. Domina and Mrs. Jitov. Students were excited to help organize and load all of our donations to the Mayflower Marathon.
Phelps is looking for a long-term substitute Special Education Teacher for the remainder of the school year. Please share this opportunity with anyone you know that may be looking for a position in our amazing school.
If you have any questions, please reach out to:
Andy Villamaino
Principal
413-821-0587
I hope everyone enjoys their time off from school and stays healthy and safe! When we return in January, vision and hearing screenings will continue. You may choose to opt your child out of this screening if you wish. A copy of a current screening completed by a specialist is required for this opt out. Please contact Nurse Taunya by email at tjasperson@agawamed.org or by phone at 413-821-9368 if you wish to opt out of this screening. If a current screening by a specialist isn't provided, your student will be screened per state guidelines. Looking forward to seeing everyone back next year!
We know that showing up matters, and that when students show up to learn, they are more likely to be able to stay on-track, stay engaged and meet major educational milestones.
We are at 96% average daily attendance as a school.
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 one or two days every few weeks.
- Being late to school may lead to poor attendance. children catch up.
- Absences and tardiness can affect the whole classroom if the teacher has to slow down learning to help 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.
We’re excited to announce new grade-level and content-specific websites designed to enhance the connection between school and home! These online resources will provide students and families with helpful tools, activities, and important updates to support learning both in and outside of the classroom. Be sure to check out your child’s grade-level page to explore all the great resources we’ve made available to help foster a fun and engaging learning experience at home. Stay tuned for more updates!
To find your website - head over to https://www.agawamed.org/o/bjp and click on MENU. All of our new sites are published here!
Our new sites are a work in progress and will continue to be updated throughout the year.
Benjamin Phelps Elementary School
Email: avillamaino@agawamed.org
Website: https://www.agawamed.org/o/bjp
Location: 689 Main Street, Agawam, MA 01001 USA
Phone: (413) 821-0586