Marathon Memo

Monday, October 14

Indigenous People's Day

No School

Monday, October 14 & Tuesday, October 15

Playgrounds Closed for repairs

Friday, October 11

Marathon School Council 8:00 AM via Google Meet

Agenda with Google Meet Link

Friday, October 18

Early Release, lunch served

No PM PreSchool

Dismissal 1:00 pm

Monday, October 21

No AM PreSchool

Thursday, October 31

Johnny the K

HPTO sponsored enrichment

Thursday, November 14

Picture Retakes

Metal playground decks are covered with a vinyl coat to protect the metal from corrosion, create a non-skid surface as well as keep the surface cooler under the sun. The coating typically does its job for years, but unfortunately is not immune to cracks and vandalism. When that happens, the metal is exposed and becomes vulnerable to rust. The cuts and tears in the vinyl coating itself become sharp and present a shear hazard to our kids. Repairing these decks is a priority.

Playground repairs will take place on Monday, October 14. The playgrounds at Marathon will be closed on Monday, October 14 and Tuesday, October 15.

Hello Marathon Families!

As a reminder, it would be appreciated if students could all keep a change of clothing in their backpacks in case of accidents, spills, or wet recess conditions. We also accept donations of clothing (especially pants). If your child comes home changed into a pair of borrowed clothing, please wash and return the clothes for other students to be able to use.

We are beginning to organize the process of performing vision, hearing, and BMI screening for students. We are required to screen preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students for vision and hearing. Additionally, we perform a BMI screening for all first-grade students. If you would like to opt your child out of this screening please fill out the below form. Any students not opted out will be screened.

Health Screening Opt OUT form

Visit the Marathon Health Services webpage for a variety of information!

Candace Burnell, RN, BSN, cburnell@hopkinton.k12.ma.us

Amanda Jesse, RN, BSN ajessee@hopkinton.k12.ma.us

PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports) is a framework that provides a system for teaching and reinforcing positive behavior expectations. Marathon implements a school-wide reinforcement system in the form of Cubby Paws. Cubby Paws acknowledges student demonstration of the schoolwide expectations (Take care of yourself, each other, and our school) across all school settings (classrooms, hallways, outside, cafeteria, specialist rooms, etc.).

All staff can recognize students following school-wide expectations at any time.

Classrooms track the number of Cubby Paws earned and notify Mr. Mitchell when the class achieves 100. The following day, classrooms are recognized on morning announcements to celebrate their achievement. This achievement earns the class Cubby Buggy time. Many classes have earned this and others are very close to it!

To reinforce cafeteria expectations, staff on lunch duty track cubby paw stamps earned for each class. We found this was much easier than paper Cubby Paws in the cafeteria. Once a class receives 50 Cubby Paw Stamps at lunch, they earn Cubby Buggy Time, a wagon full of fun items. Cubby Time is an extra 15 minutes of playtime.

Great job taking care of yourself, each other, and our school! A special thank you to the HPTO for funding the Cubby Buggies.

We are so excited, the Preschool was awarded a grant last spring from The Trustees of the School Fund. We proposed to increase inclusion and awareness of differences in everyone. The grant was titled “Seeing Ourselves in Our Dolls.”

With the grant money, we were able to purchase; Books/ Dolls/Medical Equipment (AAC device, hearing aids, a walker, etc) featuring characters with medical differences providing a powerful tool for cultivating empathy and understanding among our youngest learners. This exposure helps break down stereotypes and reduces the stigma surrounding differences, fostering a more inclusive society. The materials will be distributed to the preschool teachers, occupational therapist, speech/language therapists, physical therapist, nurses, and counselors. The kindergarten and first-grade teachers will also have access to the materials.

We are thrilled to be able to provide our children with these wonderful dolls, literature, and materials. Remember, the impact of raising inclusive children extends far beyond their immediate surroundings, contributing to a more inclusive and compassionate society as a whole!

Marathon School Health teachers, Mrs. Lewinsky, Ms. Lyons, and Mrs. Ryder are happy to be helping students develop healthy skills and behaviors that support life-long health and well-being. The Health curriculum is based on the National Health Education Standards, which involves teaching skills such as interpersonal communication, decision-making, healthy behaviors related to safety, nutrition, personal health and hygiene, and social and emotional health.

Each Health lesson begins with a “Feelings/Weather Check.” Students identify and share how they are feeling by using sign language to show if they are: happy (“sunny”), mixed emotions (“partly cloudy”), or upset (“stormy”). During September we have explored emotions: identifying and expressing different kinds of emotions, recognizing how others are feeling, and practicing ways to calm down when emotions are strong. Many classes practiced deep breathing and learned the Candle Breath, Snake Breath, Bear Breath, and Lion Breath. During these lessons, students learned how to make a calm-down bottle, a calm-down box, and a cozy corner. First-grade students played a cooperative game with a beach ball where they were asked to identify and share moments when they felt certain emotions. Students also learned about the importance of being brave and not letting your fears hold you back from doing what is healthy and important. Some students drew pictures of moments when they acted with courage and shared their pictures with their class. Families and caregivers can practice these skills at home by using the following discussion starters: “I show courage at school by…I show courage at home by…”

In our next Health class unit, students will learn good hand-washing techniques. Students will understand that to correctly wash their hands, they need to rub their hands together with soap for 20 seconds. Students will be encouraged to keep their hands away from their mouth, nose, eyes and to keep open cuts covered and cough and sneeze into a tissue or one’s elbow. We are happy that we’ve had such a positive start to the school year and are very proud of all the Marathon students who are remembering to use good hygiene. Keep up the good work!

In art classes, the students learned about abstract art. Kindergarten students worked on skills such as folding paper and drawing circles as they created pictures based on the work of artist Wassily Kandinsky.

First-grade students completed collage pictures with primary colors and vertical and horizontal lines based on the paintings of artist Piet Mondrian.

Dear Marathon Families,

We are excited to introduce Hopkinton SEPAC’s Little Library! It is located by the playground behind the school. Our library is filled with books for parents and caregivers that focus on neurodiversity, special needs, and mental health. There are reference books, novels, memoirs, and more. We hope that you find a book that may be useful to you or that you leave a book that might help another parent. The purpose of the Little Library is to make it an easy lift to find resources about disabilities, special education, and mental health, topics which carry a lot of stigma. Our hope is that this library fosters understanding and makes our community a more inclusive place for everyone.

Also, we would like to thank high school students Sammy Scherer and Eloise Murphy for doing an amazing job with the artwork on our Little Library.

Sincerely-

Erica Seekell

ESeekell@gmail.com

sepachopkinton@gmail.com

www.hopkinton-sepac.org

Facebook (@HopkintonSEPAC)

October 2024 SEPAC Events

Fall Festival with SEPAC

Join us for a fun day at the playground with pumpkin decorating, fall-themed crafts, poke-a-prize pumpkin, a photo booth, and more! Cider, donuts, and snacks will be served. In the event of rain, activities will be moved to the cafeteria. The event is free. RSVP is preferred, but not required.

When: Sunday, October 20th, 2024 at 10 am-12 pm

Where: Marathon Elementary School playground (behind the school)

Hopkinton SEPAC Parents and Care Partners Coffee Hour

Hopkinton SEPAC is hosting a coffee hour for parents and care partners of special needs students. Come to meet other special needs parents and learn more about Hopkinton SEPAC. We will be serving coffee and donuts.

When: Tuesday, October 29th, 2024 at 10 am-11:30 am

Where: Hopkinton Public Library, Betty Strong room

The Hopkinton Public Schools Parent Teacher Organization (HPTO) is an all-volunteer, parent/guardian-run, non-profit organization committed to enhancing and enriching the education of our children and fostering a sense of community within our schools. On average, the PTO provides $100,000 each school year to help support our school system with any and all tools possible for the best education including enrichment programs, training, teacher appreciation, guest speakers and lecturers, science and technology supplies, classroom furnishings, and much, much more.

Want to learn more about the HPTO? Visit hptoonline.com

Tall and Small Ball Is Back!! - Tickets are on Sale now

Our annual Tall & Small Ball is happening Sunday, Oct 27, 2:30-4:30 pm and 5:30-7:30 pm and tickets are now on sale to the general public. This year is sure to be amazing!

The DJ will be spinning great tunes on the dance floor. Free, light refreshments will be available including pizza and decorate-your-own-cookies. We will have a photographer to capture a beautiful shot as a special keepsake and a glow bar for purchase! All proceeds go directly to the Hopkinton School system.

Order tickets here - https://hopkintonpto.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/307267

Harlem Wizards Come to Hopkinton!

The Hopkinton Parent Teacher Organization (HPTO) will host the Harlem Wizards basketball team on Wednesday, November 20th in the Hopkinton High School athletic center. In addition to performing tricks, the Wizards will play a game against Hopkinton schools staff. You don't want to miss this fun event the whole family will enjoy. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the game starts at 7. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit hptoonline.com.

First Ever HerSwap Event Welcomes Everyone 10/19 9 am – 12 pm at Marathon Elementary School

The Hopkinton PTO and The Herd are proud to announce the first-ever HERswap Fundraiser!
This community-wide tag sale event seeks to reuse, recycle, and restyle women’s clothing, shoes, accessories (jewelry, belts, hats, scarves, purses), and books. This is a great opportunity to update wardrobes at yard sale prices. This event is open to anyone from the community as well as surrounding communities so spread the word!

Any products not sold during the event will be donated to local female-centric charities.

Local makers and retailers will also be featured as a vendor pop-up shopping experience.

*This event is cash and check only (some vendors may accept Venmo or CC, but the actual Tag sale is all cash and check only)

All proceeds go to funding programming for the Hopkinton School system & The Herd.

Spirit Store - only open 1 more week!

The HPTO is providing fun Hopkinton gear for a limited time including sleek one-strap slides made with SFTech footbed which molds to your feet over time, awesome Hopkinton drawstring bags great for any after school activity as well as double-sided headbands. All of these items make for great holiday gifts and all proceeds go to the Hopkinton School system. Purchase yours today!! www.hptoonline.com

Contact us at: moffice@hopkinton.k12.ma.us

Lauren Dubeau, Principal

Eric Mitchell, Assistant Principal

Mark Campbell, Administrative Assistant

Rosemary Tabakin, Administrative Assistant