Hope Happenings

I hope that you and your family had a restful Thanksgiving Break. As we head into December, trimester one has come to a close and trimester two officially began on December 2nd! Teachers are working hard to prepare report cards for distribution. Please note, report cards will be sent home electronically on Tuesday, December 10th. Parent/teacher conferences will be held on Thursday, December 12th. Please reach out to your child's teacher or the front office if you have any questions or still need to schedule a conference!

As the holidays approach, food items are discouraged from being sent into school due to multiple severe food allergies. Please feel free to email Nurse Salisbury at amanda.salisbury@scituateschoolsri.net with any questions!

My wish to you as we prepare for the holiday season is peace, health, and happiness. Thank you for your continued support. As always, I encourage you to reach out with any suggestions, questions, or concerns.

Rebecca Toomey, Principal

rebecca.toomey@scituateschoolsri.net

At dismissal, all those picking up students MUST park in the front recess lot. Parking in the back staff lot is forbidden, as only staff have special permission to use the small access road. Any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Toomey and we can come up with a plan for a special arrangement together.

As we enter the winter season, it is important that your child is dressed appropriately for school. Students will be going outside for recess with temperatures at 28 degrees or above. Please ensure your children are dressed for these conditions, and have a jacket, hat, and gloves as needed.

We are so excited to celebrate all of the good deeds and good choices that our Hope students make on a daily basis! Students receive these awards 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.

The Student Council has been extremely busy this month. First, they spear-headed our November snack food and drink collection. Thank you to all of our Hope families for your generosity and support!

The Student Council also helped to design our classroom banners for the Turkey Trot (check out the pictures from Turkey Trot found below)!

Thank you to our Student Council co-advisors, Miss Robitaille and Mrs. Mikkelsen, who guided the students through both of these important initiatives!

Our annual PTA sponsored Turkey Trot raised a whopping $17,700 this year! Congratulations, to the top raising class -- Mrs. Hanson's class, who raised $6,030! Wow! They have earned a pizza party for all of their amazing fundraising efforts! The top 10 individual fundraisers will all receive a special Hope t-shirt -- Ayla O., Macy C., Mackenzie G., Wesley S., Beckett R., Grace K., Charlotte L., Angelo G., Chase A., and Kendall C.! Thank you so much to all families for your amazing fundraising efforts and continual support! We are amazed, humbled and READY to put that money to work for your kiddos!

Get ready! The Scholastic Book Fair is coming our way from December 2nd-6th during library class. We will also be holding a Book Fair Family Night on Tuesday, December 3rd from 4:00-6:00. Choosing their own books empowers kids and inspires them to become bolder, prouder, and stronger readers. And as an added bonus, every book they buy earns rewards for our school.

Our PTA sponsored Kid’s Snowflake Shop will be open on Friday, December 13th. Volunteers will be ready to guide the students during their important shopping adventure! You can sign up to volunteer at the following link: https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/527026627648324072/false#/invitation

Kindergarten students had the experience to churn their very own better, make outfits resembling what the Pilgrims wore, and celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast!

Students in Mrs. McCann's class have bee busy completing Mystery Science lessons from the Animal Traits and Survival unit. They had to test a bird beak vs. a duck beak for getting food- which is more efficient under certain circumstances. They also learned about camouflage and they had to create a camouflaged moth in the classroom.

Grade 2 students are learning about place value, which is an integral second grade math concept. For this place value turkey activity, students brainstormed a three digit number and had lots of fun representing the value of the number in all different forms.

Third Graders focused on gratitude in the month of November. They wrote a 5 paragraph essay about what they are thankful for and even made a "gratitude pumpkin" in the classroom!

We have had a lot of fun in fifth grade this past month! We grew as learners by finishing up the first module in math, our first reading and writing unit and we even wrote our own narrative! We had a lot of fun learning about chemical reactions with our first science unit! We are excited to grow even more as learners in the month of December!

First grade students performed a piece to thank our Veterans!

For most children, the holiday season is filled with excitement, fun and happiness! There is a break from school and a chance to spend time with family and friends. There may also be special food, music and family traditions. However, the holidays can be a stressful time for both adults and children. Family plans may be complicated by divorce or the loss of a parent or close relative. Children may be separated from parents due to ongoing military service.

There are a number of things parents can do to help children cope with holiday stress.

• Discuss holiday plans well in advance, and let kids participate in decisions when possible. Children benefit from some degree of predictability. Children can become stressed when plans change at the last minute.

• If you are traveling, leave extra time and bring kid friendly activities and snacks.

• Don’t overschedule. You may not be able to do everything or see everyone. Kids can easily get overtired and cranky during the holidays.

• Give kids some down time. Let them have some quiet time, read a book, listen to music or go for a walk together.

• Make sure they get plenty of rest. While it may be exciting to stay up late, lack of sleep can lead to increased irritability.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep. For example, don’t promise that a parent will be home in time for the holidays if the decision is out of your control.

• Uphold and maintain family traditions even if a parent is absent. Kids count on certain traditions, which can have an important grounding effect by letting kids know that even though some things have changed, other things have remained the same.

• Don’t try to compensate for an absent parent with extra gifts. What most kids really want most is your time, attention and reassurance.

• Take care of yourself. Try to avoid getting overloaded with obligations. If you feel stressed, your children will sense your stress and increase their tension. Whenever possible, try to eat healthy meals, get to bed at a regularly scheduled time, engage in regular exercise and time for rest.

• Keeping predictable routines as much as possible will also help your child transition back to the school routine, when the holiday season comes to a close.

Wishing everyone a happy and relaxing holiday season!

The PTA will NOT be holding a meeting in December. See you all at the next meeting on January 11th at 6:30pm! Don't forget to sign up to volunteer for Book Fair and Holiday Shop!

The next Scituate School Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 10th! 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.

• 12/02: Trimester 2 Begins

• 12/02-06: Scholastic Book Fair (during library class)
• 12/03: Family Book Fair Night (3:30-5:30)
• 12/10: Report Cards Sent Home (electronically)
• 12/10: IEP Progress Notes Sent Home (paper copy)
• 12/12: Parent Teacher Conferences
• 12/13: Student Holiday Gift Shop (during school hours)
• 12/19: Hope Elementary Chorus Performance, 2:00pm
• 12/23-12/31: Holiday Recess- No School
• 01/01: No School- New Year's Day Observed
• 01/02: Back to School in 2025
• 01/20: No School (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Email: rebecca.toomey@scituateschoolsri.net
Website: https://hope.scituateschoolsri.net
Location: 391 North Road, Hope, RI, USA
Phone: 401-821-3651