Flynn Flyer

October 25th, 2024

Elementary Student and Family Handbook

November Lunch Menu

Important Dates

11/1-NO School-Diwali

11/6-PTO Meeting in the Library - 6:30 PM Remote

ink: https://meet.google.com/srx-jqeb-eoq

11/7-11:30 Early Release-Professional Learning Day

11/8-11/9-Robin Hood and Maid Marion Play Performances

Friday 6:30

Saturday 4:00

11/19- Save the Date: Parent Workshop, move info soon

11/22- Report Cards go Home

11/25-11/26-Parent Teacher Conferences/NO School

Sign Up Information for conferences will go out on November 1st

11/27-11/29-Thanksgiving Break/NO School

SAVE the DATE!

Please save the date for an upcoming workshop being offered on Tuesday, November 19th from 6pm to 7pm at Flynn. Presenter Kristie Grant from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont will be providing a cargiver workshop to the Flynn Caregiver Community. Please keep your eye out for more details and registration information. This event is free. Please reach out to Jill Everett with questions: jeverett@bsdvt.org

Counselor's Corner-Emily Russen

Hello Flynn Families!

I’m sure you may have heard some of these conversations circling around already but I thought it would be important to put on your radar that “relationships” are spreading in 5th grade faster than COVID. Thinking back to when I was in 5th grade, I certainly wasn’t ready for a relationship and more importantly, I didn’t have any idea how to define a healthy romantic relationship let alone engage in one myself. While we can’t change or particularly shape our kiddos feelings or relationships, we certainly can have an influence on building resiliency, strength/confidence, and healthy decision making within our kiddos as they begin to navigate this new world of relationships.

Spoiler alert: Our adult brains tend to jump into a fear response when we hear that our kiddos are in “relationships” as we have already experienced the growing pains that come with new relationships, heartbreak, love, etc. Our students are not there yet! They are simply (sometimes messily) navigating crushes and trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be.

Here is an overview of some of the wording we have used at school to address these relationships between students and we encourage you to have conversations at home as well!

It is totally okay and normal to have new and exciting feelings for others.
No one else is responsible for our happiness. We are responsible for our own happiness, reactions, and choices. To expect someone else to provide our happiness means giving them way too much power and puts way too much pressure on that person.
Healthy relationships (no matter what type of relationship) includes respectful communication, room to grow, support, forgiveness, encouragement, empowerment, lifts us up instead of puts us down, and so much more!
While at school, our primary job is to learn. We cannot let relationship worries become a barrier to accessing our learnings.
Yes, it is very hard to experience hurt feelings and have to still engage in learning. We all have to navigate those hardships and still show up to do our work. Both things (strong emotions and the need to do our work) can be true at the same time.
Taking care of ourselves is just as important as taking care of other people. This is not selfish.
It is okay to walk away or take some space from a situation that is not serving you well.

Looking for some resources on talking to your kids about various types of relationships in age-appropriate ways? Here is a great resource to browse!

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or just want to talk things through - please do not hesitate to reach out! These are called “difficult conversations” for a reason… they’re difficult!

Warmly,

Emily Russen (3-5 School Counselor)

Counselor's Corner-Jill Everett

Hello Flynn Families,

Greetings from the K-2 World!

This month we will be talking about Bullying Prevention in our Wellness classes. We use the Second Step Curriculum for this module. Family letters went home two weeks ago with information about the program and how to access information. There is a code that families can use to access this information. If your learner misplaced their letter, feel free to reach out to me at jeverett@bsdvt.org and I will send you another copy.

Emily and I would also like to take some time to review services offered by the Flynn School Counseling Department Please read below for information about our services!

What is a “Lunch Bunch”?

A lunch bunch is when a student(s) can stop by to have lunch with their school counselor. The frequency of lunch bunches can vary and there is not a formal referral process (most often students seek us out and ask for a lunch bunch to switch up their lunch routine!). If students need more regular and structured support, a teacher or school counselor may reach out to you to explore helpful options. If it seems a student would benefit from a regular lunch bunch we would check in with you at home first to discuss what this may look like and gain your consent to provide ongoing, regular support.

Can my student just stop by a counselor's office to check in?

Absolutely! Students can stop by without a referral to check in to see the school counselor. If we are not in our office, students are encouraged to leave a note (or have a teacher reach out) and we will check in with them as soon as possible. If we think it would be beneficial to meet with students on a regular basis, we would check in with you at home first to discuss what this may look like and gain your consent to provide ongoing, regular support.

What is a “social cognition” group?

A social cognition group is designed through a referral process (most often initiated by teachers and caregivers) and consists of a small group of students. The focus of the group is to learn various skills such as communication, friendship, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and so much more! Groups usually run once a week for about 6 weeks. Caregiver consent is required.

What about individual counseling?

Yes, we offer 6 to 8 week supportive counseling to students at Flynn. Caregiver consent is required. Unlike therapy, there is no treatment plan or diagnosis attached to the work, it is more skills based and student driven.

Free Thanksgiving Meals

St Marks will cooking and delivering Thanksgiving Meals on Thanksgiving Day between 11 and 1 pm.

Sign Up Here

Lice Reminder!

Fall and Winter are prime Lice seasons. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 6-12 million children will get head lice this year. According to BSD policy, which can be found on page 24 of the school calendar, “Parents should check their young children's head once a week and especially before returning to school after vacations.” BSD follows the guidelines of NASN, Vermont Dept. of Health and the CDC. For more info refer to this resource for parents/guardians. Please contact the school nurse if you need any help or have any questions!

Book Fair News

Book Fair and Pancake

Gratitude (and Success!)

Thank you for your patience!

The line got long when the wifi got temperamental. The line got longer when one of the scanners stopped working. The people stayed pleasant and understanding.

Thank you for your generosity!

57 books (and 2 pointers) were purchased from the Classroom Teacher Wish List bins and have been delivered to enthusiastic readers in every grade. By simply rounding up to the nearest dollar you also donated $103.65 to “Share the Fair” which helped purchase 19 new books for the library (Last Kids on Earth! Babysitters Little Sister! Dork Diaries! I Survived! Pokemon! Warriors! Who Would Win?!) So that even readers who weren’t able to join us on the evening of the fair can still enjoy new books.

Thank you for supporting our learning opportunities!

By joining us last Thursday, buying books (and “creator tools”) and eating pancakes, you helped us raise over $1000 for the 3rd grade trip to Camp Abnaki and over $1000 for the 5th grade adventures at Starbase.

If you weren’t able to join us at the in-person fair (or still want more Scholastic books!), the option to shop online continues through this Sunday, October 27 and 25% of your purchases will continue to benefit Flynn’s “Scholastic Dollars” account - which lets us buy more books, too!!

https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/fair-2.html

And huge and special thanks to the folks who joined us in the trenches!

Griddles, Grills, Registers and Sales Floor all worked because of your help.