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 1:30 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 will receive an email directly from School Dismissal Manager on or around August 22nd. Please check your junk mail if you do not receive this email. This email will give you your temporary password to set up your account. If you already have an account, you will still need to wait for the email to make updates.

If you need any help after this August date, please email: dorian.walters@sau26.org

School Dismissal Manager emails have been sent out! Please update your child's dismissal no later than Wednesday August 28th.

Returning families: SDM does not carry over from the previous year. Please log in and set your child's dismissal

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 TFS website under Parents and distributed to students. Here is the menu for September: https://www.sau26.org/domain/698.

Hope you all enjoyed your last weekend before school starts. We are so thankful for our amazing team for already being in to prepare for our Hawks arriving on Thursday. Reminder: Thursday is a staggered start with kindergarten students starting at 8:15 and students in grades 1-4 starting at 10:15. Friday is a normal start time with all students arriving between 8:15-8:35. Our TFS Hawks Hello/Meet and Greet is scheduled from 2-3 on Wednesday 8/28. We recommend parking at Veteran's Park if there is no parking. Police will be on hand to help with traffic.

Ready, Set, Fly

Thank you to some of our new families and students who participated in our first ever, Ready, Set, Fly event. We heard positive feedback from families and will make this an annual event. Slides from our presentation can be found in this Hawks Happenings.

New Staff and New last names

We welcomed our new staff at a new staff orientation on Friday. Kudos to Brooke Ross, our Assistant Principal, for organizing an informative and welcoming event for our amazing new staff. Congrats to Emily Dion for getting married this weekend and is now Emily Pearson. Kylie Salavatore also celebrated a summer wedding and is now Kylie Garrity.

Special Education News

With mixed emotions we announce that Tracy Griffenhagen, our special education coordinator who started last Spring, is leaving TFS and is taking a new job at a private company. We are excited to share that Dawn Monroe, will replace Tracy. Dawn, who works for White Birch, will be our full time special education coordinator.

Words from Dawn

Hello my name is Dawn Monroe and I will be the Special Education Coordinator at TFS. I have been in special education since 2008. I have taught in special education from grades K through 12. I have worked as an administrator at both district and building levels. I have a Master's degree in Special Education and I'm a certified Special Education Administrator.

I pride myself in connecting and working with families, staff, student collaboratively, to ensure we meet the academic, social and behavioral needs of the students. I am excited to be working with the Team at Thorntons Ferry School and getting to know the students and their families.

Communications

Please stay connected to TFS via our facebook page, instragram, website and these Hawks Happenings (sent every two weeks to families).

Stay tuned for more communications in the next couple weeks from the school and your child's teacher. We look forward to an amazing, productive and joyful year!

Go Hawks,

Julie, Brooke and the entire Hawks Team

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.

From Wit and Wisdom

Knowledge has a multiplier effect—the earlier you learn, the better you do in later years. These time-tested and much-used materials help kids get a head start learning essential literacy skills, knowledge across different fields, and important values of empathy and perseverance. Building this knowledge prepares students to reach their full potential and become empathetic and productive citizens in the real world.

. Read more about books and best practices in literary instruction .

Wit & Wisdom’s curriculum complies with the laws of every state in which we operate and does not teach critical race theory (CRT).

There will be no school on September 10th.

REMINDER
Per district policy, all volunteers, chaperones, and substitute teachers must complete a background check and be fingerprinted. If you intend to volunteer for any of these opportunities, please contact the district office for an appointment ASAP.

You can reach Kat Knauer to coordinate at (603)424-6200 or
Kathleen.Knauer@Sau26.org.

It is very important to submit a free/reduced-price meal application. If you need an help with the application, please call the TFS Office at 603-889-1577.

Filling out the school meal application may help provide:

• After School Academic & Enrichment Programs.

• Free/Reduces meal 30-day rollover for the next school year.

• State and Federal funding for school budgets.

• Fund computers and technology at home and for your school.

• Fee waivers for college applications and admission tests.

https://www.sau26.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=5047

https://www.sau26.org/Domain/541

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Anyone who has had a child at our school knows that one of the most challenging times of our day is arrival and dismissal. Our school was built in 1968 and it was not designed to accommodate today's volume and size of vehicles. Please read below for the procedures for arrival and dismissal. PK is different than K-4.

Due to the high volume of car arrival and car pickup, we have significant challenges with traffic and safety. Please, please have your child take the bus as this will improve our safety during these busy times. In future communications, we will provide more information and visuals about arrival and dismissal. Just a reminder, during dismissal, "walkers" will be walked out of the school at approximately 3:00. Thanks in advance for your grace in the first month of school as we practice and review our routines and procedures.

Please call the TFS Office if you have any questions or concerns.

Go Hawks,

Julie and Brooke

Three important updates:

1. Playground Playdate -we only have 52 kiddos signed up. https://bit.ly/TFSPlayDate (see information above)

2. Volunteers background check:(see details below)

We hope all our TFS families are enjoying their Summer! It's hard to believe we will be going back to school soon!

REMINDER

Per Merrimack School District policy, all volunteers, room parents and chaperones must complete a background check and be fingerprinted by the district prior to volunteering. If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please reach out to Kat Knauer at the SAU office to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. Background checks can sometimes take as long as 10-12 weeks to complete! You can reach Kat Knauer at (603)424-6200 or Kathleen.Knauer@sau26.org. If you have any questions, please contact Ashley Morgan at volunteer@pttf-events.com.

Thank you again for all your help with this. We really appreciate it. Have a wonderful weekend.

Monica VanAsselberg, VP of Fundraising

Parents & Teachers of Thorntons Ferry School

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COMING SOON

TFS Spirit Store!

The spirit wear store will be opening soon.
Grab your gear and grade level shirts.

Principal: Julie DeLuca

Assistant Principal: Brooke Ross

Email: julie.deluca@sau26.org
Website: https://www.sau26.org/Domain/541
Location: 134 Camp Sargent Road, Merrimack, NH, USA
Phone: (603) 889-1577
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TFSHawks

Go Hawks!