As we head into the second month of our school year, we wanted to take a moment to share our school-level attendance data. Our Eli Terry attendance team meets monthly to analyze this data, as regular attendance is crucial for our students' success; as it directly impacts their learning and development. By reviewing this data regularly, we can identify any patterns and intervene early to support our students who may be struggling.

Here are some of the highlights from September's data review. As of September 30th, 23 days of school were offered and:

• 43 students (8.7%) are considered "chronically absent" - This means they have missed 10% or more of the days we've been in school. The state aims to have no more than 5% of students considered chronically absent.
• Grade 2 has the largest number of students considered chronically absent with 11.
• Grade 5 has the lowest number of student considered chronically absent with 1.
• Our average daily attendance was 97%.This is above the state's goal of 95%.
• Grade 3 had the highest average daily attendance with 97.19%.
• Grade 4 had the lowest average daily attendance with 95.22%.
• We had a total of 129 tardies (students arriving to school late). This is important to look at as our academic day begins at 8:45AM. If students are consistently late, they are missing the same core instruction.
• We have 305 students (62%) who had perfect attendance. We recognize that perfect attendance across an entire year is a challenge, relative to illness, therefore we celebrate students on a month-by-month basis.

We'd like to celebrate the attendance of our new Kindergarten students! Historically Kindergarten has had the lowest average daily attendance and the highest number of chronically absent students. We're thrilled to see that our Class of 2037 is already setting the bar high!

Our goal is to ensure that every child is in school, engaged, and ready to learn. Thank you for your continued partnership in promoting consistent attendance and fostering a thriving learning environment for all our students.

October 16th is Unity Day across our nation. Unity Day is a day where we ask our children and all people to wear orange in solidarity in order to represent our commitment to treating people with kindness. While the "official" Unity Day is next Wednesday, we celebrated it with a school-wide assembly yesterday!

Unity Day was started by a group of parents with special needs children who were being bullied back in 2000. They continued their mission through educating non-special education students and parents about their children’s disabilities. Later, in 2005 they decided to span their philosophy to all children. They started PACERKidsAgainstBullying.org.

At Eli Terry and across the district we have adopted this concept to unify us as a community and promise to treat all people with empathy, kindness, and respect.

Below are some questions you can use to talk with your child(ren) about Unity Day and the important role they play in fostering an inclusive school community:

• What was your favorite part of Unity Day?
• How did you feel wearing orange and seeing the whole school in orange?
• What is unity? What does it mean to you?
• Can you tell me about the pledge/promise you made against bullying?
• How can we work together at home to help you keep your pledge/promise?
• What is an "upstander"? Why is it important to stand up to bullying?
• How can you help someone who is experiencing bullying?
• What can you do if you see someone being left out?
• What are some ways you show unity in your classroom or at Eli Terry?

Did you know that socks and underwear are the number one item needed by homeless shelters?

In the month of October, our Student Ambassador team is facilitating a "Socktober" collection for the Cornerstone Foundation in Vernon, Connecticut. As a school community, we are asking for donations of NEW socks and underwear in all sizes. Donations can be dropped off in the bin under our Main Office windows. All donations will be used to support individuals living in local homeless shelters.

To generate some excitement around the month long collection, the Ambassador team has planned a series of spirit days. Please see the schedule below so your child doesn't miss out on the fun!

One of our PAWS raffle prizes for October is "Lunch with a Local Hero"! A different South Windsor police officer will be joining us on Fridays to have lunch with winning students and give them a tour of their vehicle!

2nd graders enjoyed their visit from the South Windsor Fire Department to kick off Fire Prevention/Safety month! They had the opportunity to visit different stations and even test out some of the equipment!

3rd grade students in Mrs. Siddiqui's class have been working hard with their reading partners to dig deeply into texts and find text evidence to answer questions!

Our first PTO sponsored Pumpkin Painting Party was a success! Safa, Jameson, and Ava were chosen for this PAWS raffle prize!

Session #2 of Mad Science programming is open for registration!

We'll be offering 2 different options for this round - a science/chemistry themed program AND an art themed program.

Flyers and registration information is below. Session #2 begins on Wednesday, October 30th.

Eli Terry PTO is excited to announce they will be hosting their 3rd Annual Trunk or Treat!

Let’s bring our enthusiasm and imaginations alive again to create a fun and safe trick or treating event for our kiddos. This will be hosted in the Eli Terry parking lot on Friday, October 25th.

We have 40 spots open for trunks and they will fill up fast, so please see the flyer for all details and the QR code for registration. You can also access the registration Google Form below!

ALL participants MUST register - even if you're just attending to "treat"!

Spend a few minutes getting to know Ivy's story before she visits Eli Terry!

In addition, next week your child(ren) will be coming home with a pre-order form for purchasing a personalized and “PAWtographed” copy of Ivy’s picture book!

If your family would like to purchase a book, the order form (also included below) must be completed and returned WITH payment ($15 cash or check) by October 31st. This is a hard deadline in order to ensure the books will be delivered in time for our visit!

NO SCHOOL - Indigenous Peoples Day - Monday, October 14th

Fall Scholastic Book Fair - Tuesday, October 15th - Friday, October 18th

Book Fair Family Night - Thursday, October 17th, 5:30-7PM

PTO "Trunk or Treat" - Friday, October 25th

NO SCHOOL - Diwali - Friday, November 1st

NO SCHOOL - Election Day - Tuesday, November 5th

Veterans Day Assembly - Monday, November 11th (9:15-10:15)

World Kindness Day - Wednesday, November 13th

Special PTO In-School Assembly - Friday, November 15th

Please note: All events can easily be added to your own Google Calendars by clicking the blue hyperlink above! We don't want you to miss a thing!

Throughout the year, you may miss something and want to easily access a previous week's newsletter. Thanks to YOUR feedback, we've made that easy. You'll be able to just click the links below! We've included the last few weeks of newsletters here.

Week of 10/4

Week of 9/27

Week of 9/20

Week of 9/13

If you would like access to ALL previous newsletters you can find them here!