PTO Thank You

Thanks to the PTO, students are using
 Ipads to create on-line stories.

A message from the Merrimac PTO~

The PTO Board and members would like to send out a special Thank You to the families and students of Merrimac.

With the support from you throughout the year, by contributing to fundraisers and participating in events that have been held, the PTO was able to award appropriations to teachers from both schools at last month's meeting. (This was the second appropriations of the year).

The total amount awarded was $4,865.86 and included items such as IPADS, Elmos, Weighted lap pads, Rocker Boards, Adventure Bouncer and Crawl Tunnel, Field Day/Relay for life shirts for all students and staff at Donaghue, Balance Balls, and T-shirts for annual bug show for first Grade.

Without the support from families in our community, the PTO would not have been able to increase the budgeted amount of $3,000 to $4,865.86 and fulfill all the requests from our teachers.

Thank You again for your support throughout the year.

-Merrimac PTO  Jen, Crissy, Rebekah, Sara, Julie and Sharon

Cure AT/RT Raffle

Win this Spring basket by donating to the spinathon for Cure AT/RT!
 

 It is filled with seasonal toys such as a butterfly net, baseball bat, frisbee, jump rope, bubbles, watering can, and shovels. The basket will be on display in the Sweetsir Lobby until the raffle on April 26th at 9:00am. 

Raffle for Cure AT/RT

To enter the raffle, make a donation to the "Sweetsir Spinners" team described below.  All proceeds will go directly to Cure AT/RT.  Any size donation is welcome and will qualify you for the raffle!  Donations can be made via the Sweetsir School office (cash or checks made payable to "Cure AT/RT").  If sent via backpack, please use an envelop labeled Cure AT/RT, and include your name for the drawing.  For more information contact Erica Wentworth at ewentworth@prsd.org.

Sweetsir Spinners for Cure AT/RT

Avalanna

As many of you know, at the beginning of this school year Merrimac lost two children to pediatric cancer.  My colleagues and I feel blessed that Emma and Avalanna attended the Sweetsir School.  They were beautiful young girls with amazing personalities.  We have many fond memories of how they, and their families, brought joy to our school community.  For this reason, participating in fundraisers to cure pediatric cancer is a cause near and dear to our hearts.                          

Avalanna's family and friends created a fund to support research and treatment at Dana Farber Cancer Institute to cure AT/RT.  The weekend of April 26th-27th, they will be hosting a second Spinathon and Spa Night fundraiser.  The goal is to have 80 teams, raise $1,000 each, and ride spin bikes for 24 hours at Latitude's in Methuen.  (For more details, visit www.cureatrt.org ).

Last year, a team made up of Sweetsir staff members and parents had a great time at the event and raised $1,675!  (Follow the cure AT/RT label on the right to see pictures).  If you would like to ride with the "Sweetsir Spinners" this year, contact our Team Captain Erica Wentworth at ewentworth@prsd.org.   The Sweetsir Spinners are collecting monetary donations at the Sweetsir School office until April 24th.

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. 

High Five Fun



Students have been having a blast playing in the snow during recess and in the afterschool program! 

This winter, the weather was fantastic for climbing on mounds of snow, building forts, and creating snow people.  Please continue to send in the high five (coat; hats; mittens; boots; and snowpants) as long as it remains chilly with snow on the ground.  As you switch over to spring clothing, remember to write your child's name inside jackets and sweatshirt.  If things go missing, feel free to search lost & found in our cafeteria.  

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.

Mastering Math Facts

Thanks to the positive feedback we received from both parents and teachers... "Math Fact Power Hours"are back!

Many parents asked us to launch a math initiative for first and second graders again this winter.  They found it motivated their children to spend more time at home practicing addition & subtraction facts.  This is so important, because research clearly indicates repeated practice with flash cards increases 'automaticity'- the ability to quickly and accurately recall answers.  Sweetsir and Donaghue teachers have noticed the students who spent time using the fact triangles last winter, developed greater automaticity.  As a result, they are more secure in their math skills and, even a year later, are demonstrating greater success.

On Thursday, January 24th, there will be a school-wide assembly for all first and second graders to kick-off this year's initiative. The six week incentive program was design to encourage children to practice with fact cards at home.  Each child will be given a math mat, set of triangle cards, and log.  For every 5 minutes spent practicing, they will record their time by coloring in a shape on the log.  After 60 minutes, the log is complete and should be brought back to school and exchange for a new log.   

Like last year, we will tally up all the power hours and graph each classrooms' results on our cafeteria wall.  Each week, the class with the most hours documented will be honored with a certificate and will have a group picture taken for our "Power Hour Wall of Fame."  This year, students who turn in logs will have an opportunity to enter a raffle and win games.  The more logs they complete, the better chance they have of winning!  Several names will be drawn each Monday for the next six weeks.   Highly motivated students could win more than once.

On the right is a picture of our prize table.  We selected games as a reminder to families that most board games are an excellent way to practice math skills (counting, sorting, 1:1 correspondence, etc.).  Funding for the prizes and triangle cards came from the company that takes our school pictures.  As a thank you, they give us a percentage of their profits each year.  That money goes into our activity fund, which is used for field trips and other fun events.  The prizes and fact cards are a gift for students to keep (first graders are encouraged to hold on to them for next year).

Parents of 1st and 2nd graders are encouraged to watch this video!

Last year, some of our students helped create the above video to give parents an overview of how to use the fact triangles and mat. Family members are encouraged to help their children practice.  To view blog postings with additional information, click on the 'math' label in the right hand column.  You will find another math video, photos of last year's gigantic graph on the cafeteria wall, and snapshots of students and teachers wearing crazy costumes. 

I hope to capture more special moments during this year's event, so be sure to check this blog again soon.