What a great first few days of school! It has been so much fun walking around and seeing all of the students. A giant thank you to all of our staff who worked so hard to make these days successful! These first days of school are spent building our communities and learning the routines. In each classroom the students are setting up their classroom expectations which will help them reach their goals for themselves this year. From those expectations, we will create our school goals. Once these are completed, we will share them with you!
Next week, we will begin many of our academic programs. You will be receiving information from your child's teacher about the various programs we use. Look for information on Fundations, Wit and Wisdom and Second Step. You will have the opportunity to view these programs at our Open House on September 25th. If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher.
We are looking forward to a great year!
Take care,
Kathleen Ortega and Michelle Romein
Arrival and Dismissal Help Needed!
Safety is always our biggest concern and being sure our arrivals and dismissals are safe is of the utmost importance to us. To ensure that our process is safe and efficient we ask you to follow these rules:
1) Turn right into the parking lot. To do this, you must go down McElwain Street towards the high school, loop in front of the high school and then come down O'Gara Drive.
2) Do not line up on the left side of O'Gara. This blocks the buses from entering the driveway, slowing down dismissal.
3) Be sure your child is on the right side of the car so that we may easily escort them in and out of the car.
4) If you need more time to buckle your student, please pull into the dirt part just ahead of the drop off zone.
*Thank you for helping us with this!*
Dear Families and Caregivers,
Welcome to the new school year! This year, your student will study an English language arts curriculum called Wit & Wisdom®. Great Minds® created Wit & Wisdom with the belief that every child is capable of greatness. Your child will be challenged, positively and productively. They will build knowledge of the world and develop English language arts skills. Wit & Wisdom students read and study award-winning fiction and nonfiction texts, famous works of art, videos, photographs, and more. These texts awaken and expand students’ curiosity.
Wit & Wisdom students also learn about compelling topics such as the five senses, outer space, the Great Depression, and more. Through their work with these topics and texts, students hone their abilities to read challenging texts and to write and speak clearly, logically, and effectively. Wit & Wisdom students build strong knowledge and skills.
We provide downloadable Family Tip Sheets for families and caregivers. These tips correspond with each module, or unit of study. Each tip sheet gives an overview of what your student is studying and offers ideas for learning outside of school.
Wit & Wisdom prepares students to succeed in English language arts and beyond. If you would like to learn more, please talk to your student’s teacher, and go to greatminds.org.
Sincerely,
The Wit & Wisdom team
**Be sure to check out the table in the APR during Meet and Greet to check out the books your student will be reading!***
School Dismissal Manager
School Dismissal Manager is our online dismissal app for efficiently tracking student dismissal. Using your desktop or smartphone browser, you can quickly and easily update your child's dismissal instructions when they need to be changed, making it no longer necessary to call or send notes and emails to the school for dismissal changes.
The easy-to-use interface will allow you to make changes in advance or for the current day by creating “exceptions”. You can report absences, early dismissals, and schedule recurring dismissal instructions for after-school activities. When creating an exception for the current day, note that the cut-off time on regular days is 1:45 PM and on early release days is 11:15 AM. After the cut-off time you will need to call the school office to make any changes for the current day.
You should have received an email directly from School Dismissal Manager on or around August 22nd. Please check your junk mail if you have not received this email. This email will give you your temporary password to set up your account. If you already have an account, you will need to log in and update your account.
If you need any help, please email: katherine.trudel@sau26.org.
Please click here for more information: School Dismissal Manager Parent Letter
Important Information About Lunch Menus
After the first lunch menu comes home, the menus will no longer be printed and sent home. You can find them at: https://www.sau26.org/Page/5043.
Interested in Volunteering for the PATT?
Looking to volunteer this school year and want to see what’s available? Click below sign up to get notifications when there are opportunities. There is no pressure this just gives you the option to know when there are opportunities.
To volunteer, volunteers must be fingerprinted AND complete the following online trainings:
- Bullying: Recognition and Response (~60 minutes)
- Child Abuse: Mandatory Reporting (~30 minutes)
- Sexual Harassment: Student Issues and Response (~30 minutes)
To access the courses, go to: https://sau26nonemp-nh.safeschools.com/login
Enter your log in credentials, and you should see three courses assigned to you. If you do not see them, please try searching for them. If you still cannot find them, please reach out to melissa.fazlic@sau26.org.
Any questions about the volunteer process, email the volunteer coordinators at volunteercoordinator@jmespatt.com.
You can reach Kat Knauer to coordinate fingerprinting at (603)424-6200 or
Kathleen.Knauer@Sau26.org.
Thank you for your investment in our schools!
Lunch at MES!
Students have a half-hour for lunch each day. They may bring their lunch or buy hot lunch. Lunch will cost $3.25 and milk will be $.50. Parents may add funds to their students' myschoolbucks.com https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/getmain?requestAction=home. Student specific information will come to you with the beginning of the year paperwork.
The menu can be found monthly on the MES website under Parents and distributed to students. Here is the menu for September: https://www.sau26.org/domain/698.
