North Scituate Elementary School

October was filled with many highlights! Our curriculum is off and running, and students are focused on learning! I hope you enjoy reading through this newsletter to learn about all the great things happening at North Scituate.

On behalf of North Scituate School, I would like to recognize the dedication of our PTO members and parent volunteers. With the support of North Scituate families, the PTO covers the costs of admission and buses for field trips, special classroom supplies, assemblies, and more. Our PTO also plans events that create meaningful and special memories for our students. To date, they have sponsored and coordinated the Back to School night, Bake Sale @ the Scituate Art Festival which raised $1,500.00, and Trunk or Treat. Walk-a-Thon is our next big event that raised a great amount of money to support field trips. The deadline for signed permission slips and donations is Wednesday, November 6th! The school community looks forward to a continued partnership with our supportive parent group!

If you did not sign up for a parent teacher conference at Open House for December 12th, please email Jennifer.Foster@scituateschoolsri.net to set up a time to meet with your child's teacher.

Kaitlin M. Soccio, Principal

Kaitlin.Soccio@ScituateSchoolsRI.net

Contact Mrs. Soccio with questions or concerns.

• If your child is gong to absent or late to school, please call 647-4110 or email the school secretary.
• Please date notes that are sent to school with students. If you are writing a note about dismissal, please write the full name of the person picking up your child.
• Clearly mark water bottles, lunch boxes, etc. with student's name.
• District Policy requires all parents and school volunteers to maintain a current BCI check and to RENEW all BCI checks yearly prior to volunteering in classrooms/school or field trip activities. Please contact the school office if you are in need of a form and this will be available at Open House.

Our annual food drive starts today! This year, grade levels will compete against one another to collect the MOST canned goods. Our drive will run for two weeks, November 4th - 15th. Items will be donated to places in need in Scituate. Thank you for your support! Student Council members will support organizing and counting our items.

Questions, contact Mrs. Soccio, Ms. Augustine, or Ms. Sloan.

Huge thank you to the Boys Soccer Team, Girls Volleyball Team, and Cheerleading Team for having HIGH 5 FRIDAY at North Scituate in October. We love starting our day off on the right foot. Thank you to SRO Sgt. Parenting for organizing this!

On Wednesday, October 16th, students wore orange in support of Unity Day! Mrs. Soccio held a Community Meeting to discuss the meaning of Unity and students participated in the meeting by giving examples of how they could be/have been an upstander. See some photos below and see "Art Room" section for more unity day happenings!

On Friday, October 25th, the district had a PINK OUT to support breast cancer awareness. Students wore pink and white to show their support and made donations to the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation. Our student council sold pink pens and pins the week before to raise additional funds. We raised over $700! Huge thank you to our Student Council, students, and families for supporting this great cause.

Huge thank you North Scituate Fire for coming to teach us about fire safety, firefighter gear, and more. Thank you for bringing the engine and rescue for us to view and learn about.

Therapy dog, Glory, visited North Scituate Elementary to say hello and start our day off on the right foot. Thank you for making us all smile!

The 2023-2024 school year marked the fourth administration of the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) for students in grades 3-8 and NGSA Science testing for grade 5 since the start of the pandemic. Although we know test scores are only one measure of student performance, the results give teachers, students, and families information about student progress, school performance and how to improve teaching and learning.

North Scituate School's Results:

• ELA- percentage of students meeting/exceeding expectations: 52.1%
• Math - percentage of students meeting/exceeding expectations: 57.1%
• NGSA- percentage of students meeting/exceeding expectations: 58.3%

We saw a 10% decrease in ELA and a 2% decrease in mathematics proficiency rates as compared to our results in 2022-2023. In NGSA science testing 58.3% proficient remained the same, our results of.

I am very proud of our students for giving their BEST effort on these assessments, and their teachers for their instruction and preparation to achieve success. As a district, we will continue to focus on improving curriculum in all areas, especially math and literacy. *Individual student reports were sent home in October.

*Click on the link below to access the RI Department Of Education's Assessment Data Portal to view results by district or school. I suggest using the Interactive Reports tab to view results*

As we start this upcoming school year, we would like to hear from parents about topics that you would like us to cover in upcoming newsletters. In previous newsletters, we’ve talked about topics such as: kindness, safe internet use, self-care, supporting transitions and more.

Please complete this google form when you have a moment, to let us know some topics you’d like use to cover in this year’s newsletters ⬇️

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9Jy-TrEC6eJnEOERLeLy-2NZinfmbCiZT5u5MJ1aMPNIleQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

We are excited to start this school year and look forward to your feedback!

November is a time of thanksgiving and gratitude. Cultivating gratitude has been shown to increase wellbeing and positive emotions, such as joy, love and happiness.

Gratitude is the positive feeling we get when we recognize a positive experience we’ve had or a positive aspect of our life. Gratitude is also the understanding that the source of a positive gift or experience is outside oneself.

There are many strategies to help us recognize the things and aspects of our lives for which we are grateful. Cultivating gratitude is beneficial for children and adults, and has been shown to decrease negative emotions, such as bitterness, envy and resentment.

Strategies to support gratitude:

1. Keep a gratitude journal for 30 days and/or support your child with this activity. Everyday write 3 things for which you are grateful, and try to write down different things each day (opposed to the same things over and over). This will help you prime your brain to notice good things in your life and increase positive emotions as a result.

1. Keep a family gratitude jar. You can consider starting this in the new year, and make a habit of writing down things and experiences you and your child are grateful for every day or a few times per week. At the following new year, you can open the jar and review all the positive events and experiences your family has had in the previous year.

1. Support your child with writing a gratitude letter to someone who has been especially kind to them but has not been thanked. Your child can use the letter to share the act that made them feel happy or supported, and to describe how that act helped them. Have your child give the letter to the person they are thanking.

As we approach the holiday season, which can be busy and full of events, it is helpful to slow down and recognize the things and experiences for which we are grateful.

Wishing you a happy start to the holiday season and Happy Thanksgiving

Sincerely,

Ms. Swift and Mrs Schiappa

Students can receive these awards given by a faculty or staff member for EXEMPLARY behavior in the following categories: Growth Mindset, Problem Solving, Managing Emotions, Effort, Kindness, and Goal Setting. These categories align with our Social Emotional Curriculum- Second Step.

In music class, Ms. Murphy's class sang a fun Halloween song using voice exploration. Hope you enjoy it!

Students in Mrs. Slaughter's class built cube stairs for numbers 1-10 and put them in order. They took turns taking a line out of the staircase so their partners had to guess the missing number! Great work mathematicians!

Students in Mrs. Slaughter and Ms. Cuttle's class enjoying their weekly reading buddy sessions. I love seeing students read to one another and be role models for our younger students. Great work!

First graders in Mrs. Lancellotta's class are working hard on their reading and word work skills. Check out all their word practice on the photos below! Students enjoy reading on the rug as one of their literacy centers to become stronger readers.

In the first photo below, students in Mrs. Lancellotta's class are excited to bring their stuffy to school for the day as part of their class rewards they decided on. Students got to read to their stuffed animal at school! In the second photo, first graders had fun outside doing a science experience with a Jack-O- Lantern. Looks like they had a great time and continued their learning about pumpkins.

Second graders in Mrs. Bettez' class learned about place value by "bundling" sticks into ones, tens, and hundreds.

Students in Mrs. O'Grady's class work together to set up with insect habitats for unit 2 research lab about bugs. Students were eager to get to work and learn more about bugs!

Mrs. O'Grady students are working in pairs to practice their RED words from on grade level texts. Students take turns reading the words, writing them, and quizzing each other. Well done, everyone!

Third graders categorize fossils using modern animal "bones" to determine similarities an differences.

In our Second Step (Social Emotional Learning Curriculum) lesson we learned about what it takes to complete a goal as a team. Students were grouped together to try to stack a set of cups without using their hands! They were each given an elastic band and string to achieve their goal in under five minutes. Everyone was successful!

Grades 3-5
October was a fantastic month for our young athletes as we completed our soccer unit. Students in grades 3-5 practiced essential skills, including dribbling, passing, shooting, and defending. Throughout the unit, they applied these skills in games, allowing everyone to experience the fun of teamwork and build confidence in their abilities. We also introduced an exciting obstacle course this month, designed to challenge students’ agility, coordination, and problem-solving skills.

To end the month on a festive note, we had a blast with some Halloween-themed games! One favorite was the “Poisonous Pumpkin Patch,” where students practiced chasing, fleeing, and dodging as they avoided being “tagged” in the pumpkin patch. We also enjoyed a spooky Halloween hide-and-seek game, where students searched for Halloween-themed items hidden around the gym—adding an extra thrill to our activities.

Grades K-2
October was full of fun and learning in Physical Education for our youngest students. This month, we focused on exploring different levels and pathways as students moved in various ways around the gym, developing spatial awareness and coordination.

One highlight was the obstacle course, which challenged students to navigate different pathways and practice balance, agility, and focus.

We also celebrated Halloween with some festive activities! The “Poisonous Pumpkin Patch” was a hit, giving students a chance to practice chasing, fleeing, and dodging as they avoided being “tagged” in the pumpkin patch. We wrapped up with a spooky Halloween hide-and-seek game, where students searched for Halloween-themed items hidden throughout the gym. It was an exciting way to finish October, with everyone enjoying the seasonal fun!

Check out our school nurse's page for updates, information, and more. Please call 647-4110 or email Colleen.McCann@ScituateSchoolsRI.net with any questions or concerns.

Trunk or Treat was a huge success. Thank you to all the families who decorated trunks, donated candy, and came to have fun. Some photos from the event are below.

Our Art Festival Bake Sale raised $1500 to support PTO initiatives. Thank you all the families who baked/donated and ran the location at the event. We appreciate all of your support!

UPCOMING PTO EVENTS & FUNDRAISERS

Scholastic Book Fair: 11/18-11/21

Volunteer Sign Ups: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409054DAEA723A1FA7-52726414-volunteers

Brick Fundraiser:

https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/3c424cd0-9422-47d6-9bd7-30ba54c8f0ca

Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 20th 7:30pm

Please email NorthScituatePTO@gmail.com with any questions. We hope to see you there!

The Scituate School Committee will hold it's October meeting on Tuesday, November 12th. All members of the school community are encouraged to attend in person or virtually. The meetings begin at 7 p.m. For more information about meetings, click here.

• 11/08: WALK A THON (DATE CHANGED)
• 11/05: No School- Election Day
• 11/11: No School- Veterans Day
• 11/18-22: Fall Scholastic Book Fair
• 11/19: Canes Fundraiser Take Out
• 11/20: Book Fair Open from 6:00-7:00pm (credit cards accepted at nighttime)
• 11/20: PTO Meeting 7:00pm IN PERSON
• 11/27-29: No School- Thanksgiving Recess
• 12/10: Report Cards Available on PowerSchool
• 12/12: Parent Teacher Conferences 3:30-6:30pm
• 12/13: Christmas in the Village Event
• 12/20: Holiday Store & Munchkins
• 12/23-31: No School- Holiday Recess
• 01/01: No School- New Year's Day
• 01/20: No School- Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Email: kaitlin.soccio@scituateschoolri.net
Website: https://nses.scituateschoolsri.net/
Location: 46 Institute Lane, Scituate, RI, USA
Phone: 401-647-4110
Twitter: @NScituateSchool