Bates Family Newsletter

What a soggy weekend this has been! We hope you're enjoying some time indoors staying dry and cozy. We’re excited to share our latest school newsletter, filled with important upcoming dates you’ll want to mark on your calendars. From field day to moving on ceremonies, there’s a lot happening! We’ve also included some great photos from recent activities that highlight all the fun and learning taking place in our community. Take a look and stay connected!

My best,

Ms. Smith

Unless any unforeseen events arise, the last days of school are as follows:

• The last day for Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten will be Monday, June 16

• The last day for all students in Grades 1-5 will be on Friday, June 20 (early release)

Ivy the Very Determined Dog

Our next assembly is Wednesday, May 14, and we'll meet Ivy! She's a very determined dog who has overcome so much. An order form will be sent home if you'd like to order the book based on Ivy's life -- totally optional!

We're so proud of our Beacons of the Week who were able to contribute many strategies around coping with anxiety, our social/emotional skill of the week:

Written by Ms. Amanda, Student Adjustment Counselor

This week we discussed “feeling anxious” in all classrooms. Coincidentally, we also kicked off MCAS season with our grade three students crushing two sessions of ELA testing! Anxiety is a normal function of the brain that helps us to survive dangerous situations. However, its utility decreases when anxiety becomes activated when there is no “real” threat of harm. Our brains don’t always know the difference between real and perceived threats, so it is helpful to understand ways to respond to anxiety when we are not in real danger.

One thing you can do to help your young person with anxiety is a strategy called “externalizing”. Rather than allowing your child to say things like ”I am so anxious” or “My anxiety is so bad”, as if it is a part of them or a personality trait, consider responding with something like:

“Oh yes, it makes sense that Anxiety would show up right now. It thinks there is a threat of danger because you want to perform well and there is fear you won’t. You can thank your Anxiety for always trying to keep you safe, but remind it that you are prepared and will do your best, and that is good enough! Then remember to take deep breaths and let Anxiety move along.”

You can invite your child to imagine their Anxiety as some kind of animal that really wants to keep them safe, but gets overprotective sometimes.

Another strategy to keep handy to talk your child down from “Anxiety Visits” is having them name 5 things they see, 4 things they feeling(touching), 3 things they can hear, 2 things they can smell and one thing they can taste.

Our goal is to keep our chronic absence rate under 19.5% this year. This week, our chronic attendance rate is at 18.6%. We're hoping this downward trend continues as it indicates that many of our students are healthy and that we've made our way out of cold and flu season. Take good care of yourselves😊

If you need any assistance with getting your student to school, please reach out to Rosalyn Guevara, Family Engagement Facilitator at rguevara@salemk12.org.

The school menus are posted on the SPS website. Find them here.

April
8th - PTO meeting, library, 6:30pm

18th - Good Friday, no school

21st-25th - April vacation, no school

May

2nd - Walk-a-thon (details will be provided by PTO)

5th and 6th - Grade 3 math MCAS

7th and 8th - Grade 5 math MCAS

13th and 15th - Grade 4 math MCAS

14th - Ivy the Very Determined Dog assembly during Town Hall + Early realease day!

22nd - K-2 Memorial Day concert for the students at school

23rd - K-2 Memorial Day concert for our families, 8:15 (Doors will open at 8:00)

26th - Memorial Day - No School

29th - Amazing Shake for our 5th grade students (during the day for students only)

30th - Grades 4/5 band concert for families - 9:30 (Doors will open at 9:15)

June

Weeks of June 2nd and June 9th - Bates arcade weeks! Students design and build arcade games for their classmates to play!

6th - Field day at McGlew park

9th - Rain date for field day

11th - Trimester 3 ends

12th - Grades 3, 4, and 5 chorus concert for families - 8:15 (Doors will open at 8:00)

13th - PreK and K moving on ceremonies (more information will be sent to PreK/K families)

16th - Last day for PreK and K students

18th - Grade 5 moving on ceremony (more information will be send to grade 5 families)

19th - Juneteenth - No School!

20th - Last day of school for grades 1-5! Early release day!

Did you know you can earn money for our school just by scanning your grocery receipts? All you need to do is download the Boxtops app, and scan those receipts! Don't want to scan? No worries, you can always send receipts into school with your student in an envelope marked, "PTO Boxtops".

Our Bates spirit rock is available for weekly rentals. Celebrate your student's birthday or other accomplishments by painting a message on our rock. Please click here to rent the rock!

Bates Elementary School, in partnership with our families and community, will provide all students with a culturally responsive, student – centered, and equitable learning experience that celebrates our students’ diverse backgrounds, creative pursuits, and their academic, social, emotional success.

School Hours:

Regular school hours:

Monday through Friday: 7:45am to 1:50pm

Early Release (Grades 1-5) at 11:15am

PK at 11am

Kindergarten at 11:10am