Scotty Updates

Scotty Updates has been created to provide families and staff with information regarding upcoming events, happenings, and programs at Scotland Elementary School. Our newsletter will be sent several times monthly to share news and happenings at Scotland!

Good afternoon, Scotland families!

On Friday, our students and staff participated in our kick off No Place for Hate Assembly. During this time, student and staff ambassadors talked about the No Place for Hate Promise and what those words mean to us (see below) and our first of three activities to become a No Place for Hate School, Who am I? This weekend, your child has come home with a plain white bag in their backpack, and they are invited to complete the activity below. As your child chooses items for their bag, engage them in discussion about what they are choosing and why that might represent who they are. This will help prepare them as the talk with their peers in class about their Identity Bag.

Whole School Student Activity: Who am I?

A strong community is a place where there is understanding, where we all belong, and where we respect each other’s differences. We are inviting each student to share who they are on the inside and outside. Below are the directions discussed in the whole school assembly we held.

• Think about what makes you, you.

• Decorate the identity bag that was sent home to show who you are on the inside and the outside.

• At home, find up to three items that represent who you are on the inside and on the outside.

• The items should fit in the bag.

• The items should be school-appropriate.

• The items should not be very valuable.

• Examples of items -

• Picture of an item.

• A leaf because I like to play outside and to explore.

• A bookmark because I am a learner. I like to learn every chance I get!

• A sticker from Ellis Island because my grandparents immigrated to our country through Ellis Island and that is a part of my family history.

• A baseball card because it is one of my favorite things to play and watch.

• Bring the bag back to school and share it with your class.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to share my gratitude to our staff and families for the support you provide each and every day. I feel incredibly grateful to be a part of the Scotland community. Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! We are thankful to work with you and your children each day.

Kind regards,

Jill

Monday, December 2nd: C Day

Tuesday, December 3rd: D Day

Wednesday, December 4th: E Day

Thursday, December 5th: F Day

Friday, December 6th: A Day

• Wear ORANGE for Inclusive Schools Week!!

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Monday, December 9th: B Day

Tuesday, December 10th: C Day

Wednesday, December 11th: D Day

Thursday, December 12th: E Day

• Early Dismissal for students 11:40am - Professional learning for staff

Friday, December 13th: F Day

• PTA's Winter Boutique
• Scotty Spirit Day - wear your spirit wear or red and black!

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Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, December 10th:

• PTA General Meeting @ 10am in the cafeteria

Thursday, December 12th: E Day

• Early Dismissal for students 11:40am - Professional learning for staff

Friday, December 13th:

• PTA's Winter Boutique

Monday, December 16th:

• Report Cards available for parents in the Portal

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Save these Dates!!

Wednesday, January 22nd:

• SES Winter Concert

Tuesday, January 28th:

• Choral Festival at RHS

Monday, February 3rd:

• All District Orchestra Festival

• All District Band Festival

• SES 5th Grade Musical

• SES K-5 Art Show

• SES Spring Concert

Head Lice Information

Head lice: They’re the words no parent wants to hear. Head lice can be acquired by anyone, but it is most common in kids ages 5-12. According to the CDC every year as many as 6-12 million children are affected by head lice. Our own community has just experienced our first reported case of lice. The good news is that head lice are not harmful and can be treated. To detect, treat and prevent head lice, it helps to know more about them.

Below I have included a link to an article titled Head Lice: What Parents Needs to Know (Healthychildren.org/AAP). Please take a few minutes to read the article. It provides parents with a good source of information about head lice detection, management, and treatment.

Lice information

Hearing and Vision Screenings

The health office will be doing CT State mandated hearing and vision screenings for grades 1,3,4 and 5 students over the next several months (late November thru early April). If there are any concerns observed during the screenings, parents/guardians will be notified by a referral letter. Please reach out if you have questions. If a family chooses to opt their child out of these screenings, they must submit a written notification to the school nurse annually.

The Scotland PTA is an amazing support to our school community - students, staff, and families! Joining the PTA helps you stay connected with the school community. You will receive information about family events, before & after school programs, school events, parties and much more! Get to know teachers & staff better with informational sessions throughout the year!

Stay up to date on all of the PTA happenings on the PTA website!

Thank you for your continued support! We appreciate your participation in our Thanksgiving and Holiday Fundraisers.

Visit J. McLaughlin during the Ridgefield Holiday stroll for festive sips and holiday shopping to benefit the SES community.

**12/5 - J. McLaughlin pre-sale shopping event added for those unable to attend the Holiday stroll. Hours of shopping from 1-7pm to pre-charge items.

We are holding a General PTA Meeting next month with special guest speaker, our Librarian, Karen Gonillo. Please come out to hear about digitial citizenship for our children, as well as PTA initiatives.

Friday, December 13th during the school day

Details coming soon...

SES is looking for student volunteers to participate in a small social/emotional skill development group where they can act as peer models for similarly aged peers. The groups occur once weekly for approximately thirty minutes. Groups will generally take place during lunch or direct instruction block and are facilitated by a school psychologist.

Any student wishing to participate in a group needs parent/guardian consent. Signing consent does not guarantee participation as the opportunity to participate and the frequency of participation will depend on the number of student volunteers. Consent can be revoked at any time by contacting Melissa Gaitho, school psychologist.

The purpose of participation is to model and practice appropriate social and emotional and/or behavioral skills. Groups can include but are not limited to activities such as playing games, role playing, and reading children’s books pertaining to various social/emotional topics. If you think your child would be interested in joining these sessions and you would like for them to have the option to participate, please complete the information below. If you do not want your child to participate in the social skills groups, no response is necessary. If you have any questions, feel free to contact a school psychologist: mgaitho@ridgefieldps.net.

Thank you!

Peer model consent form

• Each class will have one 45 minute essential per day (Art, Library, Music, or P.E.)
• We will continue to follow the six day A-F day schedule
• Please find the essentials rotation below

School lunch will be available from the first day of school. Aramark is the District-wide food service provider. The school lunch menu is available online on the RPS website; click Departments and click on Food Service. For all students, utilize MySchoolBucks for families to fund student lunches.

MySchoolBucks is available via the PowerSchool Parent Portal, and communication was sent to families in early August regarding adding funds for lunch. Any balances have been rolled over from LunchTime to MySchoolBucks. Additionally, the district sent a communication in early August regarding Reduced Lunch for eligible students.

Snacks for Purchase in the Cafeteria:

Students in grades 2-5 are permitted to purchase snacks during lunch (last 10 minutes). Please be sure you have set up MySchoolBucks if you would like your student to be able to purchase a snack.

• In short, students eligible for reduced lunch will be provided free lunches in grades K-8 for the 2024-25 school year.
• Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the Free School Meals for Children grant, please do not hesitate to contact us or the District Business Office.
• Questions in regard to school MySchoolBucks can be directed to Andrea McCurry, RPS Food Service Director at 203-894-5550 x2143 or amccurry@ridgefieldps.net

Website to set up an account.

MySchoolBucks

Some Support Links for Troubleshooting:

Updating Your Payment Method | MySchoolBucks

Setting up Automatic Payments | MySchoolBucks

Adding a New Student | MySchoolBucks

Setting Up Low Balance Alerts | MySchoolBucks

Reset Your Password Using Your Mobile Phone Number

Reset Your Password Using Your Email Address/Username

We will follow a similar drop off / pick up procedure that we did last year.

Arrival

• Drop off begins at 8:30am. Please do not drop off your child prior to 8:30am as there will be no supervision at this time.
• After 8:45am, you will need to walk your child into school, as they are late. You will need to sign them in with security. Please do not drop your child off without adult supervision.

Dismissal

• Pick up will begin at 3:15pm.
• Each day, please have your child(ren)’s first and last name displayed on your passenger visor, and have it remain visible until your child is in the car. This needs to be bold and large enough to be visible at a distance. This is a very important step to ensure we have your child ready when you arrive.

• For the safety of both students and staff, proceed carefully and slowly through the lot.
• Please have your child exit/enter the vehicle when your gear is in the park position and is one of the cars at the front of the line designated for drop off.
• Students must exit the vehicle on the passenger side (building side) of the vehicle. Multiple children must exit on the passenger side. It is dangerous to exit/enter on the driver's side of the vehicle!

• Students need to have all of their items ready in hand and will then exit the car immediately.
• Parents, please stay in your vehicle at all times so that the process will prevent backups on Barlow Mountain Road.
• If you miss the drop off time (after 8:45 a.m.), please park in the front lot and walk your child across the designated crosswalk to the main entrance of the building. If you arrive after the drop off window and must park in the parking lot, we kindly ask that you use the crosswalk.

We will continue to use School Dismissal Manager this year at Scotland. Please click below for information regarding this system. This system will be available to families in late August. A welcome letter will be emailed to families when the system is available. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!

• For information on this year's Chromebook distribution and policies click here to watch a short video
• If you have further questions or concerns email: helpdesk@ridgefieldps.net

Playdates and Riding the Bus:

We know how fun it is for our students to get together after school and enjoy time together! Due to safety and limited space on the buses, we are asking that students have no more than 2 guest riders with them at a time. Anytime there is a need for more than 2 additional students to ride, families will need to make arrangements for parent pick up that day. Thank you for understanding!

Hats & Hoodies:

Over the last several years there was no standard hat/hood procedure in the elementary schools, likely related to Covid, when classroom windows were kept open for air circulation and there was the potential for it to be cold in classrooms.

As we have started the 24-25 school year with a typical school opening, we will return to only permitting hats to be worn outside the school building. Students may choose to wear a hat, but will be reminded to remove it upon entering the school building. Students will be permitted to wear hats for outdoor recess. Teachers have discussed this with students and I will remind our school community during the morning announcements on Tuesday.

On special occasions/spirit days, hats may be permitted and this will be communicated to students and families.

RPS distribution flyers for outside groups via a Digital Backpack.

Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion in the digital backpack. Please help us in our effort to go green by checking students' Digital Backpacks Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion to cmelagrano@ridgefieldps.net. Thank you!

Email: jkatkocin@ridgefieldps.net
Website: https://ses.ridgefield.org/
Location: 111 Barlow Mountain Road, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Phone: 203-894-5825