Monstricola's Message

This week was another busy one at MES! Students attended Wild Life Encounters with their classrooms, practiced bus evacuations, pretended the floor was lava, began third and fourth grade chorus, noticed and wondered in Wit and Wisdom and countless other things! Be sure to check out the weekly newsletter that your child's teacher sends home to find out what is happening in their classrooms!

Have a great weekend!

Take care,

Kathleen Ortega and Michelle Romein

School pictures are ready!

To order, log in to your account on mylifetouch.com or create an account using your student's student ID number. You may also log on as a guest using the Picture Day ID EVTQ69WH2 code.

All families can also log on and order a FREE Digital SmileSafe card.

More about the Smilesafe program here.

For those little spills and accidents that happen, our health office is in need of spare clothing. If you have any new or clean, gently used clothing, our nurse, Mrs. Webster, would appreciate the donation! She is in need of girls leggings size 6-10, and boys sweatpants/drawstring pants size 8-12, as well as boys underwear size 8-12 (new please). If you are able to donate, please feel free to send in these items with your child with a note stating they are for the school nurse, or you can drop them off any time during school hours.

Thank you!

10am - 4pm

MHS Cafeteria, Mattress Showroom

BRAND NEW. BRAND NAME. DISCOUNTED PRICE.

HOW IT WORKS:

On October 6th come shop for mega discounted mattresses, bedding, pillows, bean bags and more! Mattresses come NEW, factory direct and shipped to your home. Each purchase and referral directly supports our junior students as we begin planning prom & senior week activities.

We know asking someone about their mattress isn't exactly a common topic of conversation, but that's exactly why you have no clue who might be in the market for a new one without bringing it up with EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Help find as many people as possible to walk through those doors and support both their back AND our program! It takes less than 2 minutes to text it out, talk it up, and share on social medias. And of course, if you are in the market for a new mattress, who wouldn't was to save 30%-50% off?

Thank you to all of you and the PATT for sponsoring Wildlife Encounters for our students this week!

• Early Release October 11th: Dismissal for K-4 begins at 12:15, AM Preschool dismissal begins at 10:15.
• No School October 14th Columbus Day
• No School November 5th Election Day
• No School November 111th Veterans' Day

Awesome Kid Alerts are for students who are nominated by their teachers for always doing what is expected of them or going above and beyond to do something great. When nominated they call an adult in their life to share what a great job they are doing in school. They also receive a certificate and have their picture in Monstricola's Message.

The MES Halloween Parade will be held Thursday, October 31st at 1:30 on O'Neil Field. Families are invited to attend the parade. If there is inclement weather, the parade will be cancelled. Please note, only room parents will be allowed into the building following the parade.

Our fall conferences will be held November 4th and 7th this year. You will receive a Sign Up Genius from your child's teacher to sign up for a time.

If you have any questions or problems with your child's pictures, please reach out to Customer Care at Lifetouch.

1-800-736-4753

Online chat service is available!

https://lifetouch.com/support-us

Click "Get Support" at the bottom right of the main page.

Please reach out to Parks and Rec with any questions. This is not being done through the school. Thank you!

Gotchas are given out when staff members notice students exemplifying The Big Three (safety, respect and responsibility). These are the bright orange tickets that you may have seen. When a child receives a Gotcha, they are entered into a drawing of the week and of the month. Their name is also placed on our Gotcha Wall near the front lobby.

Congratulations to all of our Gotcha Winners this week!

Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Fournier will be working with the kindergarten classes to teach the MindUp curriculum.

The MindUp program focuses on:

• Building kind and safe learning environments

• Mindful awareness

• Understanding the three main structures of the brain that regulate emotions: prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus

• Learning about how naming emotions helps manage emotions

• Naming feelings and developing emotional literacy

• Building healthy relationships with yourself and others by developing a positive mindset

Towards the end of the week be sure to ask your Kindergarten student about Guard Dog, Wise Owl and Remembering Elephant!

Have a question about MindUp? Feel free to reach out to Mrs. Duncan or Mrs Fournier at their emails below.

Mrs. Duncan- cassandra.duncan@sau26.org

Mrs. Fournier- deborah.fournier@sau26.org

We are excited to continue our work teaching Comfortable Cafeteria skills and strategies beginning with our Kindergarten students next week. Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Fournier will then work their way through the grades over the next month.

Comfortable Cafeteria is a program that encourages and reinforces a positive cafeteria environment. We want all children to enjoy their meals, all while being comfortable communicating with their peers. Here are the main objectives of each lesson.

Day 1- We will be open and ready to learn about easy ways to help and be more comfortable in the cafeteria.

Day 2- We can make conversations with peers, make new friends, and include others.

Day- 3 We can learn how to have positive lunchtime conversations and practice conversations skills with peers.

Day 4-We can have positive mealtime conversations.

Day 5-We can name the different senses we experience in the cafeteria and we can try new foods!

For more information on Comfortable Cafeteria please visit the website below.

https://everymomentcounts.org/comfortable-cafeteria/

Have a question about Comfortable Cafeteria? Feel free to reach out to Mrs. Duncan or Mrs. Fournier at their emails below.

Mrs. Duncan- cassandra.duncan@sau26.org

Mrs. Fournier- deborah.fournier@sau26.org

The Merrimack School District has an online registration and contact information system, PowerSchool. To ensure that we have current information, please update all registration and emergency information in PowerSchool by September 28th. You should have received an email directly from PowerSchool that will help or you may log on to your PowerSchool account directly.

If you have any questions please contact Ellie Barry at eleanor.barry@sau26.org.

Emmy award winning TIGER, from Plymouth State University, has performed for over 550,000 students throughout New England. TIGER has also performed at the state level for the New Hampshire Department of Education, regionally for the New England Theatre Conference (NETC), nationally for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), and internationally for the National Drama International Conference at Durham University in Durham, England, the ASSITEJ International Festival of Children’s Theatre in Cairo, Egypt, and the IDA World Congress in Paris, France.

This year, they will be presenting:

True Blue You (K - 6)

A musical production about the importance of being true to yourself and what you know is right is sure to ring true in everyone's hearts. It's hard to be an upstander and tough to be a bystander too. This production attempts to unpack some of these important concepts through theatre, music and dance and to teach children to care about themselves and others.

At MES, we are our best selves when...

1) We are kind to ourselves, each other and our school.

2) We are ready for learning and try our best.

3) We include everyone and celebrate differences.

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.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1M2a1RXlwbwlCtCgrYMyQTXsQFWBv0vVBvmjT-211UNQ/viewform?edit_requested=true

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!

October 1st: Wildlife Encounters: In House Presentations

October 11th: Early Release

October 14: No School

October 15th: PATT Meeting 6:30

October 18th: Harvest Ball 6:30