What's Bruin at Pierce School?
September 12, 2025
Special Next Week Is...
Percy Hill Comes to Visit
Building Community through Respect, Empathy and Kindness
Percy Hill visits schools to help build positive communities through engaging group activities. His work emphasizes kindness, empathy, and respect while giving students the opportunity to practice teamwork and strengthen their collaboration skills.
Bright Days
Powerful Learning
News from Ms. Powell
Finding Success
News from Ms. Sutton
Students in Ms. Sutton’s class have continued to work on building friendships and a positive classroom environment. We have already filled the marble jar for working together. This week students FINALLY learned about their character animal! This is always a right of passage for our class. Student’s wrote about their own character traits, an extension from last week’s character work, and were matched up with an animal that matches those traits. We painted our banners on Thursday and they will be hung in the classroom until the last week of school. They are there to remind each of us that we have positive traits and are part of our classroom community.
We have also been busy writing our hopes and dreams. These were accompanied by a black bear mosaic. Of course there was time outside to play and be creative in the sand box. Can’t wait for more learning and exploring next week! Stay tuned!
Happenings With Ms. Germain
We Are All Connected
We are off to a great start this year! In writing, 4th graders have been working on draft copies of their Summer Stories. After writing down their main idea and details on 2-column note sheets, they began writing their stories. At the end of writing, we listened to each other’s summer adventures as students became “Writers on Stage.” Everyone did a wonderful job!
Checking in with Mrs. Pope
What's Happening in Title I
It was another busy week at Pierce School and kids are starting to get back into the swing of things. A reminder that I am still collecting your summer work, so if you have it, please return it Monday.
For some of our new parents and families of the current kindergarteners, and anyone else who hasn't checked this website out yet, I would like to share that Reading Rockets is an excellent website for getting information about Early Literacy. Check it out at readingrockets.org.
Check In with Ms. Kotwicki
A Great Start!
Hello and welcome to Pierce Elementary School. My name is Sarah Kotwicki, and I am the school counselor at Pierce, Francestown, and Temple Elementary Schools. I am at Pierce three days a week: Monday, Thursday, and Friday. This year I will be supporting the Second Step curriculum with the classroom teachers. Second Step is a social emotional curriculum that focuses on understanding and recognizing emotions in yourself and in others. We will work on developing strategies to respond in healthy and productive ways. The Second Step program helps our students develop skills for getting along with their peers and finding success in school. In addition to these lessons, I will be meeting individually and in small groups with students throughout the year. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me any time. I look forward to getting to know your children and you!
We Are All Artists
Welcome to Mr. Melle's Studio
Best regards,
Justin Melle
Art Teacher
BES, DCS, FES, GES, HES, TES
Principal's Corner
Setting Ourselves Up for Success
It is our Morning Meeting, and it lasts about twenty minutes each day right after morning recess.
After gathering in a circle, we begin by greeting each other by name in a friendly and cheerful way. Next, the students have a chance to share any new and exciting events with the class. This allows them to work on their speaking and listening skills. After sharing, there is an activity for the whole class. We might sing a song, read a poem, play a math game, or do some other activity. This allows the students to work together and problem solve as a whole group while having fun! The last part of our meeting is called Morning Message. During this time, students connect to the previous day’s learning, and think about the day ahead. They read the chart together or individually which allows them to practice reading/speaking skills. We also “work” the chart, which means that we use the chart for learning. We may practice reading, language, or math skills.
The Morning Meeting is a great way to build community, increase excitement about learning, and improve academic and social skills.
Community Supports
Hot Lunch
Find the hot lunch menu below or follow this link.
Community Happenings:
Upcoming Events:
Annual Title I Meeting and Pizza
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 ~ 5:00-5:45
- Learn about our Title I Program, Family Compact, and Policy.
- Provide feedback and ideas for how our Family Engagement funding can be best spent.
- Join us for pizza afterwards.