We have noticed some safety concerns during arrival and dismissal. Below is a reminder of how the flow of traffic needs to go.

Morning Drop off

If you are dropping off your child, it is expected that you are in line no later than 8:45am. To help the line move along, your child should have their backpack in their lap and be ready to exit the vehicle once you pull in front of the building. DO NOT park and have your child cross oncoming traffic. If you would like to walk your child to the building please park at the Powder Mill lot at the end of the road and walk them down.

Afternoon Pick up

If you are picking up your child at the end of the day, it is expected that you are in line no later than 3:15pm. Please make sure you are getting your child into the car as quickly and safely as possible to keep the line moving.

As a reminder, ALL VEHICLES MUST STOP FOR A SCHOOL BUS WITH FLASHING RED LIGHTS and not proceed until flashing lights are deactivated.

According to MGL 90 S14 the penalty for violating this statute is as follows:

• 1st Offense:
  • CMVI Fine for $255.00
• 2nd Offense (within two years):
  • CMVI Fine for $1,005.00 and SIX MONTH RMV license suspension
• 3rd Offense (within four years):
  • CMVI Fine for $2,005.00 and ONE YEAR RMV license suspension

We appreciate your help in making sure that all of our students get to and from school safely and effectively.

10/31 Dress as Your Favorite Character Day

11/3 Term 1 Closes

11/6 Term 2 Begins

11/8 PAWS PTO Meeting @ Powder Mill School 5:30pm

11/9 Half Day (12:00 Dismissal no PM PreK) Staff Collaboration

11/10 Veteran's Day School Closed

11/13 Report Cards Emailed Home

11/16 Family Math Night 5:30-6:30pm

11/17 Turkey Trot (Sponsored by PAWS PTO); Rain Date 11/20

11/22 Half Day (12:00 Dismissal no PM PreK) Thanksgiving Break

11/23-11/24 Thanksgiving Break Schools Closed

11/29 Picture Retake Day

Students will have the opportunity to dress as their favorite character from a book, movie, or tv show. Please remember all costumes must be school appropriate. No masks or facsimiles of weapons are allowed.

During the month of November, preschoolers will continue to learn about their five senses. They will explore their sense of touch, smell, and taste. The children will be introduced to Lively Letters g, q, a, and o and practice letters p, b, t, d, f, v, and k. The children will be introduced to numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 and review numbers 1-6. They will practice showing numbers 1-10 on their Rekenreks (like an abacus). Preschoolers will continue to practice appropriately holding their crayons and tracing letters and writing/tracing their names. The children continue to enjoy engaging in play with their friends during centers and recess.

Over the next month students in Kindergarten will begin a geometry unit. They will learn to identify, describe, analyze, compare, and compose two-dimensional shapes. Students will look for shapes in the world around them and describe and compare them using their own language. During this unit they will also develop spatial reasoning as they make shapes out of pattern blocks.

In ELA, kindergarten students will learn about what makes a community. Classes will read books about the people and places in a community, and the ways in which we all work together to make a community strong. Children will write letters to teach others about our community, practice identifying and producing rhyming words, identify story elements such as character, setting, and topic/main idea. In small reading groups they will engage in foundational reading skills such as blending and segmenting sounds, sound spelling, and apply those skills into word reading.

Students in Grade 1 are working hard!

In ELA, we will be working on blending and decoding CVC words with all the short vowel sounds. We will be starting a new reading module all about animals. Both of our reading and science texts we will relate to the essential question of how do animals' bodies help them to grow and survive.

In writing, the students will write an informational booklet about an animal that they are interested in and teach others all about it!

In math, we are learning all about number stories. Students will practice showing their thinking through drawings and equations, both in addition and subtraction through 20.

Grade 1 students continue to follow and expand their understanding of Woodland CARES.

In ELA, second graders will be learning about working out conflicts and disagreeing with others in a respectful way. We will read texts about how to get along and compromise. Children will also write a persuasive an essay about an issue that may cause disagreement. This work ties in with our mini unit on accountable talk, which addresses several speaking and listening standards. During the unit, students will learn about how to share ideas and question the ideas' of others in positive, productive ways.

Our current math unit is about adding and subtracting within 100. Students will develop strategies using place value, properties of operations, and the relationship between addition and subtraction. They will then use these strategies to solve story problems.

We are approaching the end of our physical science unit. During this unit, students classified materials based on properties and gained experience testing different materials for intended purposes. At the end of this unit, mechanical and manufacturing engineer Megan Ryan will visit with the second grade classes to speak about her work designing and building robots for Amazon's fulfillment centers and lead students in some creative engineering thinking of their own!

Woodland had a special visitor last week, Julie Pellerin-Herrera (as the kids call her Ms. PH), Lead Facilitator for HILL Literacy was in our classrooms to help support our Science of Reading initiative. It was a great learning experience for both students and staff. During the lessons the students demonstrated their C.A.R.E.S. qualities.

Please have your child look at the lost and found table and take home any items that may be theirs. Any items not claimed by November 9th will be donated. This is also a good time to remind you that with the change of season please make sure that:

1. Your child has a change of clothes that is appropriate for the current season and size of your child and

2. That your child's belongings are clearly labeled with first and last name. That way we can get your lost items back to you quickly.

Come join us on Thursday November 16th and Fall in Love with Math! Families are invited to come and play games, enjoy refreshments, and have the opportunity to win prizes! Please click the picture or button below to sign up. We look forward to seeing you there!

As the fall weather is upon us -- we know the holidays will be here before we know it! For many years, our community has come together to support families in need during this time.

If your family is experiencing some hardships right now, our Holiday Giving Tree community is here for you.

Here's how the Giving Tree works:

• Families in need, please reach out to Maryanne Margiotta at mmargiotta@stgrsd.org.
• Create a wish list for each child (infant to age 18), providing:

1. Gender and age of child or children

2. Sizes for clothing items, shoes, and boots. Clothing items to consider are coats, snow pants, hats and gloves, shirts, pants, pajamas, socks and underwear.

3. Specific toys, games and arts and crafts selections. What does your child really want? Please do not ask for video games, gaming systems, or gift cards, as we will be unable to honor your request.

Many of our generous supporters will be ordering online and like to take advantage of sales, particularly around Thanksgiving. Coordinating this support takes time and a lot of communication.

If any families in our community would like to help us fulfill our wish list requests, we would appreciate any help at all you are able to give us. We will put out a request for particular items through Sign Up Genius.

If your family needs our support, we are glad to help -- but we will need time to fulfill your request. For this reason, the deadline to submit your wish list to us is Monday, November 13.

Please know that family information is kept confidential and that there is no judgment in asking for help. We all struggle from time to time and have to overcome many challenges. Leaning on each other helps to get through those tough times. We are a strong community -- and we are here for you!

Rec center basketball will be starting up soon. If you are interested in signing your child up please click the picture below.

Woodland School needs substitutes for the 23-24 school year. Being a substitute offers great flexibility, because you can choose the days you want to work! When teachers are absent, they leave the substitute a detailed lesson plan to follow. Interested? Have questions? Give us a call at 413-569-6598.