Pentucket Cares

Students have decorated posters for the lobby bulletin board
 about the soldier drive.

March 18th-22nd, we will be celebrating "Kindness Week" with theme days and special events.  Students will be encouraged to make cards and write letters of appreciation for members of our school community.  In the lobby, there will be a mailbox to 'mail' the letters in-house.  To show our support to military men and women, we will also be joining "Operation Pentucket Cares."  This High School group will be mailing donations to soldiers overseas.  A box will be placed in our lobby to collect items such as chapstick, popcorn, playing cards, and toiletries.  Students will also be decorating book markers for soldiers during art classes.  Please look for the brochure coming home this week via backpack with more details. 

Classroom Guidance Lessons

From Guest Blogger:  Sarah (Angell) Pond

We have been having a great time in Classroom Guidance lessons so far this year!  Grades K-2 have biweekly classroom guidance lessons that focus on a variety of topics to supplement the Second Step Curriculum.  Classroom teachers and paraprofessionals do a wonderful job working on these skills every day!  Lesson topics include: respecting differences, conversation skills, self-esteem, managing feelings, handling mistakes, career awareness, community helpers, and more.  This year, lessons in Grade 1 and 2  have focused on helping students recognize, refuse, and report bullying. During Bullying Prevention lessons, students have been learning how to recognize bullying behavior and what to do if it happens to them or if they see it happen to a classmate.  The definition of bullying from Second Step is “Bullying is unfair and one-sided, it happens when someone keeps being mean to, hurting, or scaring another person or leaving someone out on purpose.”  Bullying can be an abstract topic for younger students so we often use our school bucket filling theme to help guide their understanding.   It can be difficult for students to differentiate between a one-time incident and continued mean behavior that can lead to bullying.  Students learned there are different ways kids can be bullied and some forms can be harder to recognize. Bullying is not something we can always spot across the playground.  It is often difficult to see and others may not even know it is happening.  We read several books that showed examples of different types of bullying and how the characters were supported by their families, friends, teachers, and classmates.  Students learned how, with support, the characters were able to refuse or stand up to the bullying behavior.  Students learned about the important role of bystanders or those that see bullying behavior happen.   Bystanders are the group with the most power to do something about bullying.  They can offer support, include others, encourage their friends to be kind, and report to an adult if they see bullying behavior happen.

All that being said, it can still be confusing for students to know when they need to let an adult know or when a situation is not bullying (but may still be hard to handle).  We read A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue by Julia Cook.   This is a great book that helps students recognize the difference between tattling on a classmate to get them in trouble and reporting to a teacher when someone’s body or feelings are being hurt.   Students explored how to try and solve a problem first before asking an adult to intervene and when to let a grown up know right away.  Even when students are able to figure out that it would be tattling to tell the teacher about a classmate not following directions, the need to share this information can still be strong.  That is where the Tattle Monster comes in!  This is a great idea I came across on Pinterest.  Students can quietly go up to the Tattle Monster to share these thoughts without interrupting the teacher and avoid tattling.  Each first grade classroom now has their very own Tattle Monster.  Grade 2 classrooms each have a copy of “The Tattle Rules” from A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue to help them decide whether they can handle a problem themselves or if they need to let an adult know.    Students are always encouraged to ask an adult for help if they are unsure whether they need to report.  Together we can figure out what the problem is and how to solve it.  I look forward to the second half of the school year and our upcoming lessons! 

Looking ahead:   Kindness and Appreciation Week is March 18^th through March 22^nd and Career Day is Tuesday April 23^rd.  More information coming soon!  Thanks for reading!

 Mrs. Sarah Pond is the School Guidance Counselor for both Donaghue and Sweetsir Schools.

A Community Against Bullying

'Be A Buddy; Not A Bully' banner held by assembly presenters and students.

It sends a powerful message when adults with different roles in the community stand together to speak against bullying.  On October 4th, Police Chief Eric Shears, Fire Chief Ralph Spencer, and Superintendent Dr. Jeff Mulqueen visited both Merrimac Schools to speak with students about the importance of being "A Buddy; Not A Bully."  The event was part of a community-wide initiative, which also included Groveland, West Newbury, and other neighboring towns.  Police Chief Eric Shears helped bring this initiative to all the Pentucket Schools.

The three Chiefs did a wonderful job tying the anti-bullying message in with the "Bucket Filler" theme we use all year long to promote kindness.  (Follow the link at the top of this blog for additional information about Bucket Filling).  After the assembly, students received green bracelets with the motto "Be A Buddy, Not A Bully" thanks to a generous donation from the Haverhill Bank.  School Counselors, Sarah Angell Pond and Amy Brennan, then invited students to sign a banner pledging to "Be A Buddy and A Bucket Filler." 

Below are some age appropriate examples we use as talking points. 

                  Being a Buddy means being a good friend (Bucket Filler):

§  Smiling and saying hello

§  Saying nice things to others- giving compliments

§  Using good manners- (saying please and thank you)

§  Offering to help others- (hold the door/ pick up someone’s pencil)

§  Inviting others children to play at recess or to sit with you at lunch

§  Sharing and taking turns

§  Respecting others space- ‘Keep your hands and feet to your self."

Buddies help to stop bullying (bucket dipping):

§  Remind others to be kind, and help them to learn and remember the rules

§  Using words to solve problems.  If someone does something you do not like, tell them with your words. ('I do not like it when you lean on my desk, please stop'.)

§  If someone is hurt or really upset, get help by telling a grown up.

PRSD stars against bullying

Kudos to Pentucket High School 

for creating this amazing music video with an anti-bullying message!

This clip was posted on the Vimeo website, along with many others created by Pentucket students and staff members.  Footage from School Committee Meetings and past athletic events are also 

featured on the website at:  https://vimeo.com/prsd/videos.

Joy in a Box

A mailbox was placed in the school lobby for 'Kindness Week'.  A few days later it was overflowing with letters of appreciation written by students.  They were addressed to all different staff members including bus drivers, custodians, office staff and previous teachers.  I am not sure which was more heartwarming, seeing the expressions on the faces of children as they mailed them, or the joy they brought when read.                                                                                                          

So many of the letters I received were truly precious, it was impossible to choose a favorite.  I selected these two to share because I loved seeing how they chose to draw me.

A student who transferred to Sweetsir in the middle of last year gave me this picture with a letter stating, 'You filled my bucket since I met you.'  I remember trying to offer him some words of encouragement when he arrived on his first day looking scared and anxious.  It touched my heart to see that he remembered it too.                  

Merrimac is a Caring Community

The Holiday Helper program was a huge success!  Community members joined with staff from the Donaghue and Sweetsir School to help over 30 families.  Local organizations, such as the Merrimac Garden Club, Merrimac PTO and many others, gave monetary donations to purchase warm clothing and toys.  Throughout the past year, Lion Club Members raised funds to provide each family a turkey dinner.  They partnered with the West Newbury Food Mart to provide the food baskets below.  Students also brought in mittens, hats and food donations. 

 

A special thank you to Kathy Devaney, Judy Kroner, Kathy Sullivan 

and the many other Holiday Helper organizers.

'Holiday Helper' Tradition

Giving Tree 2010
Girl Scouts handmade stockings
filled with mittens.

For many years, the Sweetsir School & Donaghue School have joined forces with community members and local organizations to provide holiday gifts for families experiencing financial hardship.  This wonderful tradition will continue again this year!  If you would like to contribute, food drives will be held at both elementary schools and gift cards or monetary donations may be brought to the school office (checks can be made payable to 'Holiday Helper').  After Thanksgiving, there will also be a 'Giving Tree' in the Sweetsir lobby for children to hang donations of mittens and gloves.  The tree is named after the book, by Shel Silverstein, featuring a tree that showed unconditional love by giving gifts.

A letter recently went home to let parents know how they can apply for assistance from the 'Holiday Helper' program.  For more information, please contact one of the elementary school nurses or guidance staff members. 

Lion Club Members 
help every year!

Both retired & current staff members
are behind the scene organizers.

Power of Words and Actions

 I recently stumbled upon these two cute videos that made me think...

For the past several years, our district has focused professional development efforts on explicitly teaching students the 5 Habits of Learning: communication, collaboration, independence, thinking and creative exploration.  This first video highlights why explicitly teaching-  and encouraging- creativity is so important.

Derek Sivers also created this video, which has an important message about the power of our words and actions.  Just as harsh words can stay permanently in a person's heart, they may also stay permanently on the Internet.  It is so important for children, and adults, to realize when they write something on the Internet it is not easily erased- it becomes part of your "digital footprint." 

Bucket Filling Moments

Everyday at Sweetsir, I see and hear things that are kind and heartwarming....

A 5 year old boy filled my bucket this week.  I asked him if he remembered meeting me last year and he responded with my name.   When asked if he knows what a Principal does, he answered, "You're the one who cares about all the kids." I loved the fact that he stressed the word all.

On Friday, the students in Mrs. Byrne's class proudly informed me they had earned extra recess time by filling up a marble jar.  When asked how they did this, they responded, "We filled buckets!" They then shared stories of helping classmates with kind gestures such as opening a water bottle, returning a lost pencil, and lifting up a chair.  Best of all, the smiles on their faces showed they understood the importance of building a caring, classroom environment.