It has been a busy week here at MES! Be sure to refer to your child's teacher's newsletter or email about the specific things happening in each of the classrooms!
We are excited to welcome our preschoolers to MES next week. They came to visit today and enjoyed scavenger hunts and getting to know their teachers and classroom.
We are looking forward to a great year!
Take care,
Kathleen Ortega and Michelle Romein
We want your child to be as successful as possible at school. Success in school is not just about reading and math. It is also about knowing how to learn and how to get along with others. We will be using the Second Step program in your child’s classroom to teach these critical skills.
The Second Step program teaches skills in the following four areas:
1. Skills for Learning: Students gain skills to help themselves learn, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, use self-talk to stay on task, and be assertive when asking for help with schoolwork.
2. Empathy: Students learn to identify and understand their own and others’ feelings. Students also learn how to take another’s perspective and how to show compassion.
3. Emotion Management: Students learn specific skills for calming down when experiencing strong feelings, such as anxiety or anger.
4. Problem Solving: Students learn a process for solving problems with others in a positive way.
To Create An Account:
1) Use the link: www.secondstep.org
2) Create an account.
3) Enter information.
3) Enter activation codes.
4) If you have an account, you will only need to update your grade level by clicking Kit Activation once logged in.
Second Step Family Codes:
Kindergarten SSPKFAMILY70
Grade 1 SSP1FAMILY71
Grade 2 SSP2FAMILY72
Grade 3 SSP3FAMILY73
Grade 4 SSP4FAMILY74
iReady Testing
This school year we will continue using i-Ready, an online program for reading and mathematics. The window for completing the assessment is from October 16th to November 1st for kindergarten and September 11th-September 30th for students in first through fourth grade..
What is i-Ready?
i-Ready will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.
The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions based on student responses. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.
i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic supports to keep your child engaged as they learn.
Your kindergarten through grade 4 student will be beginning iReady between September 11 and the end of the month. Kindergarten will do the math portion during this time and reading between October 16th and November 1st.
What can you do to help?
To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:
- Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
- Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will not get all of the questions right.
- Be respectful of other students who take longer to finish.
Thank you for your continued support and for being a partner in your child’s learning! I look forward to sharing i-Ready information with you throughout the year. If you have any questions about i-Ready, please do not hesitate to contact me or the school. We will provide results to you each trimester.
Our Ice Cream Social is held as part of our Open House on September 25th. The Parents and Teachers Together (PATT) is looking for volunteers to help with the Ice Cream Social. Please click the link below to sign up for the Ice Cream Social.
**Please note, you must have had your fingerprints cleared and completed all three trainings in order to volunteer.***
Ice cream social: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4CA4AB2CA5FFCF8-51196965-icecream
Picture Day!
We are looking for a few volunteers to help out on picture day! Please click the link below to sign up:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4CA4AB2CA5FFCF8-51196788-picture
****Please note, you must have had your fingerprints cleared and completed all three trainings in order to volunteer.***
Interested in Volunteering for the PATT?
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.
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!
