Bryn Mawr Bulletin

Dear Families,

Can you believe it is already October? We have a busy month, and I want to remind you of all of important dates we have planned:

October 7, 2024: PTO Meeting 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm SWIS Auditorium

Hybrid: Zoom (ID: 721 298 1278, Password: 703160)

October 9, 2024: Picture Day

October 11, 2024: Half day of school- school dismisses at 12:00 pm

October 14, 2024: No School- Indigenous Peoples' Day

October 16, 20204: Fire Safety Presentations in school

October 17, 2024: Family Literacy Night 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

October 25, 2024: Storybook Parade (1:30 pm) (wear costumes or create a puppet linked to a book!)

October 31, 2024: STEM Day in school

(Donations appreciated)

We look forward to a wonderful October with your students, and we hope that your family can join us for our Storybook Parade and for Family Literacy Night!

Smile,
Brooke Beverly

Bryn Mawr Principal

One of the most important factors in your child's academic success is regular school attendance. Below you will find some of the reasons why attendance is so important to your child’s educational journey, along with strategies to help make sure your child gets to school each day.

Academic Achievement: Regular attendance has a strong correlation with academic success. When students attend school consistently, they have the opportunity to engage in classroom activities, work with their peers, complete assignments, and ask for help, which leads to better academic outcomes.

Building Relationships: Consistent attendance allows students to build strong relationships with their teachers and peers. These relationships can provide students with the foundation to grow academically, socially, and emotionally at school.

Skill Development: By being at school on time daily, students develop many skills that are essential for success in school and beyond, such as time management, organization, and responsibility.

Continuity of Learning: Skills and concepts build on each other each day. Missing school disrupts the continuity of learning and makes it difficult for students to grasp new concepts and stay on track. Many students feel overwhelmed after missing school because the learning has continued without them, and they now have to learn what was taught when they were gone, as well as what is being taught today.

Real-World Expectations: Regular attendance prepares students for the expectations they will face in higher education and the workplace. Being punctual, present, and dependable are expectations as they enter the real world!

Establish Routines: Create daily routines that include a set bedtime and morning routine that ensure your child gets enough sleep and is ready for school on time.

Stay Involved: Keep open lines of communication with the school and attend events to stay informed. This will allow your child to see that you value education and will make you aware of any issues that could affect their desire to attend school.

Proactive Planning: All children will have days they are sick or need to go to an appointment, but try to plan vacations and appointments during school breaks when possible to minimize disruptions to your child's education.

Remember that your involvement and support are integral parts of promoting regular attendance. Thank you for your partnership in ensuring that your child's education is a priority.

Attendance matters!

Bryn Mawr School will be sending home attendance letters for any student that has 5 or more absences, 5 tardies and / or 5 dismissals in a couple of weeks. Please reach out with questions. These letters will be going out since they follow Auburn's attendance policy.

You can come for free to Family Literacy Night, and then the middle school is having a Papa Gino's fundraiser. Grab a pizza and support a great cause on the way home!

Our Storybook Parade showcases the importance of reading for our youngest learners and allows everyone to have some creative fun! This is also a great opportunity for families to come to an enjoyable, school-based event that supports and promotes literacy in our schools. This event is weather permitting.

Here are a few ideas on how to celebrate for the Storybook Parade:

• Students can create a poster, a drawing or a puppet version of their favorite storybook character

• Students can carry the book with their favorite character

• Students can dress up as their favorite character

Hello Bryn Mawr and Pakachoag families,

It has been an absolute pleasure working with your children as the Auburn K-2 art teacher and being a part of this wonderful community for the past 3+ years. Teaching art is my passion, and watching all of those students learn to express themselves creatively and gain self confidence in their artwork has filled my heart with such joy.

However, my family and I have been presented with an exciting opportunity to relocate to Colorado. It is a bittersweet goodbye, but we are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives. I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition and will be available to provide any necessary support during this period. I am grateful for the support and encouragement I have received during my time here and will carry the memories and experiences with me as I embark on this new journey.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of Bryn Mawr and Pakachoag family. I wish the school and the students continued success and growth in the future.

Mrs. Bailey

Click the link the link below to hear Mrs. Fenuccio talk about the importance of reading aloud.

The kindergarten children have settled into the school routine, and have become a part of the Bryn Mawr School learning community. The school rules and routines have been reviewed daily. Students are practicing self help skills such as opening snacks and putting on coats and sweatshirts independently. We continue to reinforce the importance of making good choices and listening to adult directions.

In reading we have begun our first unit “Take a New Step” and will continue to unit two “Let’s Explore!” We are working on learning the letters and sounds of Mm, Aa, Ss, Rr and students are very excited to be reading our first high frequency words, I, can, a, the, and see. The children are learning to always start at the top when forming letters and numbers. In math we have been counting objects, using manipulatives to build amounts and working on number recognition. In the coming months we will be building and writing numbers above 5 and beginning basic addition.

We are beginning to work on our autumn unit. In this unit the children will become more aware of the changes in their environment. We will talk about the weather and discuss the life cycles of apples and pumpkins. We will begin talking about how we use our five senses to explore the new season. We hope to be outside whenever weather allows so please continue to send jackets and sneakers as needed.

Remember to help your child practice their first and last name as often as possible. It is often hard for students to break the habits of name writing with all uppercase letters. Please continue to review and celebrate all the great work they are bringing home!

First Grade is Fabulous!

Our students are working hard and have made such wonderful progress thus far. In reading, students have been learning to read CVC words with automaticity. In the coming weeks, we will begin learning long vowel sounds with silent e and vowel variants. Please continue to read and practice sight words nightly to help your child become an independent reader.

When reading out loud to your child, it is helpful to ask them who, what, where and why questions to develop their comprehension skills.

In math, we will continue to work on addition and subtraction facts to ten. Please practice math facts at home to help develop fluency and mastery.

In science, students are learning about sound and light. Students are participating in engaging activities using our Mystery Science program.

The weather is beginning to get cooler. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately with sweatshirts and jackets so they are not cold. We will be going outside as long as the weather allows.

Second grade is a busy place this year! Bryn Mawr second graders are making new friends and learning new classroom routines. Learning to organize homework, practice math, and reading nightly are responsibilities that are expected of this year’s classes. Planners should go home, be checked nightly and then returned to school each morning.

We are reading stories about family and friends. The children are studying the elements of story structure. The elements are: setting, problem, events, and ending. Discussing these elements with your child after reading a story will help to develop good comprehension skills. We will also be reading books on various reading levels to meet each child’s individual needs. This guided reading is part of the regular reading program.

In math, students are exploring place value. Please practice facts at home to help your child feel confident in math.

In Social Studies, we have been learning about maps. Students have been learning about the compass rose, scale, and map keys. They will also be learning about Matter.

Class donations of tissues and wipes are greatly appreciated!

We look forward to working with you and your child this year!

The Second Grade Team

Hello, Bryn Mawr Families!

Welcome back to school and back to Music!

It has been a pleasure to welcome our new Kindergarten students to Bryn Mawr! They have enjoyed getting to know our instruments, finding their singing voices, and have a wonderful time making music and playing games.

Our First Graders have been growing leaps and steps - a little musical humor! Using cooperation and friendship is important to establishing good ensembles in Music. We have started our year-long quest to learn the finer points of creating music in small, medium, and large groups, working together to trust and collaborate to make beautiful sounds! We are learning play-party games from all over the globe that accentuate trust and collaboration. It has been a pleasure to start off the year with seeing our students work together to make music happen!

Second Grade is traveling to the Continents this year. We have started on the beautiful continent of Africa where we have learned songs from Egypt, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan. We will soon be traveling to the continent of Asia. Our trip around the world corroborates and collaborates with the Social Studies Grade 2 Frameworks and celebrates the music of many lands.

Please stay tuned for more musical information throughout the year!

Musically yours,

Ms. Garrow

Music Teacher

It has been a wonderful, fast start to the school year! We have been hard at work learning the rules, routine, and expectations of physical education class. Students have been working on locomotor skills, moving in general space, and the manipulative skills of throwing and catching. We have been practicing these through tag games, stations, and whole group games. The first trimester will continue with soccer, fitness, basketball and hockey. I look forward to seeing the progress each student makes throughout the school year!

With the rotating Monday’s, we will be having “Mindful Mondays.” We will be working on social emotional learning, growth mindset, stretching and breathing and more. I look forward to diving into these topics with the students and with help from the school counselors. The dates for Monday are as followed depending on what day your child has PE:

Tuesday: 9/9, 10/7, 11/18, 12/16, 2/3, 3/10, 4/7, 512, 6/16*

Wednesday: 9/16, 10/21, 11/25, 1/6, 2/10, 3/17, 4/14, 5/19, 6/23*

Thursday: 9/23, 10/28, 12/2, 1/13, 2/24, 3/24, 4/28, 6/2

Friday: 9/30, 11/4, 12/9, 1/27, 3/3, 3/31, 5/5, 6/9

As always, please remember to send your child in sneakers for safety. I look forward to a fun-filled year of PE!

In good health,

Miss. D

Hello Parents and Welcome Back to School! My name is Kerry LeBreton and I am the Technology Teacher at both Pakachoag and Bryn Mawr Schools.

We are lucky enough to have iPads and computers in our schools that your children can use each day. For the months of September and October, I will be focusing on the proper use of iPads/Computers as well as Digital Citizenship (using technology in a SAFE but fun way both within our schools and at home.) Please ask your child about what they have learned in Technology Class each week!

I have added a QR code with a fun, SAFE website for kids to visit to learn all about the San Diego Zoo. They can even visit the zoo through this site to see what the animals are up to in real time! You can scan the code using your camera on your phone or tablet. The children will be learning all about these fun ways to search for information soon!

I look forward to a wonderful school year!

There is still time to sign up! Support the PTO and get a little creative :)

Breath painting activity that is linked that you can try at home to practice some calm, relaxation and mindful breaths. The template and directions are linked below. Have fun! Please reach out to Mrs. Robichaud if your student may need a printed copy to go home with them.