Bates Family Newsletter

And what a wonderful three days they were! The excitement was palpable. Teachers and students are already hard at work getting to know one another, building classroom communities, establishing routines, and having some fun. We had a smooth start to this school year so far, and next we get to welcome our littlest learners to Bates on Monday, September 9th. It's going to be awesome.

We had our first fire drill today. Salem Fire reported that the students exited the building quickly and orderly. Everyone did their best with following directions, and we are so proud of all our students and staff for acting responsibly.

If you notice this new banner (see left) hanging up outside as well as the one in front of the building, please note that we are thrilled to display our school pride for all passersby to see. We hope that you all feel welcome at Bates from the moment you step through our doors. HUGE shout out to Mr. Coss, a parent at our school, for the beautiful work he and his team did on creating these for us. We are grateful to have such quality signage at our school!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Ms. Smith, Mr. Mac, and Mr. Lister

Today our school community earned an A+ for a safe and effective rolling drop off. Nice work, families! Remember, you move when the car in front of you moves. We no longer pass one another as it was creating some very unsafe conditions or our students.

PreK/K also employs a rolling drop off system. Please do your best to have your child unbuckled before the staff member comes to open your car door. If your child has an older sibling, they can be dropped off at their PreK/K door. If you'd like to drop your PreK/K student off at the front door, we allow students in as early as 7:20. The PreK/K door, however, won't be open until 7:30.

We're committed to helping all students and their families feel like they belong at Bates. It's not just a "tag line". In keeping with this goal, the following are ways in which we'd love to see your family get involved as part of our Bates community.

We welcome all families to come and share a meal with us and visit with teachers on 9/11. This is a wonderful way to get to know our school, visit classrooms, meet the staff, and mingle with other Bates community members. We hope to see many of you next week.

Want to bring a dish to share? Sign up here!

School may have just begun, but we’re already gearing up for an exciting lineup of activities in the coming months! If you're new to our community, welcome! The Bates PTO is a dedicated group of parent volunteers who work together to raise funds for school events, like field trips and other fun activities throughout the year.

We’d love to have you join our team! Whether you can spare just an hour to help at an event or are interested in becoming part of our executive team, there’s a place for everyone. To learn more, email us at BatesSchoolPTO@gmail.com. For updates on PTO events, be sure to follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BatesElementarySchoolPTO. We look forward to working together to make this year amazing!

Upcoming meeting:

First PTO meeting of the year - Tuesday, September 17, 6:30-7:30 - Come find out how to get involved in the Bates School community as a PTO member! We'll meet in the library.

Another goal of ours is to employ the most effective teaching practices to challenge and engage your students. One way of many that we're making this happen is by adding library/digital learning to your student's weekly specialist rotation. We want to offer a warm welcome to our new library/digital learning teacher, Laura Brosnan. Ms. Brosnan will bridge a gap between traditional library resources and modern digital learning tools, supporting a well-rounded, information-rich educational environment. All students in PreK-5 will have access this amazing new class!

You may hear your child talk about our morning announcements. These announcements are recored daily and address a social/emotional learning standard that link to a monthly SEL theme. Ms. Amanda and Ms. Gojanovic (Ms. G.), our adjustment counselors, will update you weekly on the SEL strategy we're working on so you can continue the conversation at home.

From Ms. Amanda

We are so happy to be back. All of the Bates Beacons worked diligently to create welcoming communities in their classrooms this week. It was a great WEEK to be great!

The SEL theme this week is “Rules and Self Discipline” and much time was spent this week creating classroom rules, expectations and systems. Often these are referred to as “classroom agreements”.

Young people spend a lot of time with their grown ups at school, and just like in a family, there are values and expectations that get learned and followed, which is why this is done thoughtfully.

One way you as a parent can partner in this work would be to ask your child:

• “What is something you remember about the classroom rules, expectations, agreements from this week?”

• “Did you have a discussion to come up with them or did they get decided another way?

• “Are there any rules or expectations that you don’t understand or don’t agree with?”

• “Is there another way to think about that rule?”

Help them to build their cognitive flexibility by considering multiple different viewpoints. Remind them that when everyone feels safe and respected, learning can increase and that’s when more FUN can happen too!

The school menus are posted on the SPS website. Find them here.

Here are our regular school hours, and when we have an early release day (note upcoming early release day on 9/18!), these are the times you need to remember:

Regular school hours:

Monday through Friday: 7:45am to 1:50pm

Early Release (Grades 1-5) at 11:15am

PK at 11am

Kindergarten at 11:10am

Our goal is to keep our chronic absence rate under 19.5% this year. If you need any assistance with getting your student to school, please reach out to Rosalyn Guevara, Family Engagement Facilitator at rguevara@salemk12.org.

September 9th - Welcome PreK and Kindergarten students to Bates!

September 11th - Open House and Potluck Dinner, 5:30-7:00

September 17th - PTO meeting, library, 6:30-7:30
September 18th - Early release for all students and first town hall for students (more on that next week!)
September 30th - SMILE! It's school picture day!

Did you know you can earn money for our school just by scanning your grocery receipts? All you need to do is download the Boxtops app, and scan those receipts! Don't want to scan? No worries, you can always send receipts into school with your student in an envelope marked, "PTO Boxtops".

Our Bates spirit rock is available for weekly rentals. Celebrate your student's birthday or other accomplishments by painting a message on our rock. Please click here to rent the rock!

Bates Elementary School, in partnership with our families and community, will provide all students with a culturally responsive, student – centered, and equitable learning experience that celebrates our students’ diverse backgrounds, creative pursuits, and their academic, social, emotional success.