The Schofield Scoop

Hello Forestdale Families,

The photos from the past two weeks show reading throughout the school, group learning activities, special visitors at Oakridge, and Preschool playground time. With multiple daily classroom walk throughs, I get to see the amazing learning and instruction going on in our building. Students are engaged and actively learning so many new things!

You may notice a theme in the background of the photos this week. Forestdale Students and the Sandwich PTA are in full swing with their fall fundraiser - The Forestdale Fun Run! To date, FD and OR have collected enough funds to earn their first school wide prize - seeing staff wearing costumes while greeting students! Stay tuned for upcoming photos, as I'm sure all will have a great time with this activity.

Also included this edition is the topic of student attendance in schools. I hope you enjoy this week's 'Scoop.

Enjoy :)

-Kara Schofield

This month's Scoop focus is on student attendance in school. As a district, we are looking to increase student engagement, starting with sharing pertinent, current local and national information about student attendance. So much learning takes place daily at Forestdale. Our teachers and staff put a significant amount of energy and enthusiasm into providing engaging learning opportunities that cannot be replicated with take home work. Teacher instruction, student discourse, partner learning and hands on activities are daily means of student learning here at Forestdale, and if a student misses out on instruction or practice, they return to school with a gap in their learning.

We do understand that students have illness and we want them to stay home if they are not medically able to attend. Additionally, we see the value in family experiences. We encourage families to utilize school vacations and weekends to experience these wonderful opportunities with their children. Doing so allows student to fully participate in their foundational instruction here at Forestdale.

Below, please peruse some articles on student attendance. Next 'Scoop, we'll share some of our Forestdale Incentives in the works.

Just as our Motto says, we grow readers. Students are busy reading throughout the day, in a variety of ways! Look below to see some PK students reading on the playground and students in classrooms engaged in independent reading, read aloud with teachers, and reading to dogs!

Students participate in whole group instruction - in math, phonics, specials, morning meeting and so many other ways. Our teachers utilize a mix of small group, large group, partner and independent learning times throughout the day. Whole group does offer significant benefits to our young students: taking turns, listening to peers, focusing attention towards one speaker, receiving all the same information at the same time, and group movement/learning activities.

Our PK students love their new playground, and are outside (weather permitting) every day. The variety of appropriately aged activities engage all our students, regardless of abilities. Teachers are there to support, guide and assist these 3 and 4 year olds as they learn to explore their world and challenge themselves through movement and play.

Some Forestdale teachers spent a morning (before FD school time) visiting former students. This was a fun idea created years ago by the second grade teachers that they refer to as a "bucket filling" activity for the kids and grownups. You can see the joy on the students and adults alike.

Share feedback here: kschofield@sandwich.k12.ma.us Thanks for all your great suggestions and ideas.