The end of the school year is fast approaching with only 28 days left of school. As excited as we are for summer fun, we wish we had more time with your children. We have lots to accomplish in the next few weeks and we plan to make the most of it!

Placement Letters for Class Lists:

Over the next few weeks we will working together as a team to begin to build our class lists for next fall. If you have any concerns for placement next year, please send me an email by Friday, May 17th (ktaylor@awrsd.org). Specific teacher requests will not be granted, however, please feel free to share your child's learning style. You may also reach out to your child's teacher if you have specific concerns around placement with peers.

Over the past few years we have had increase in student move-ins/move-outs over the summer months. This makes it challenging as we strive to create equitable class lists. As a result, class lists will be shared in August. We will have a grade level step-up day for all grades the last week of school. Students will be able to walk through classrooms and hear some grade level specific information from their teachers. We will also have a sneak peek in August for all students before school begins.

MCAS: We couldn’t be more proud of the perseverance and work ethic our students have shown while taking these tests. These tests are long and very challenging and our students continue to put forth their best!

May 6 & 7: Grade 5 - Math

May 8 & 9: Grade 4 - Math

May 14 & 15: Grade 5 - Science and Technology

May 15 ~ WES Creation Celebration 6:30PM - 8:00 PM

May 15 ~ Colonial Day Costume Pick up in WES office

4:00 PM-7:00 PM

May 17 ~ Grade 3 Colonial Day

May 20-24 ~ Nature's Classroom for 5th Grade

May 21-23 ~ Screenings for Incoming Kindergarteners

May 27 ~ NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day

May 29 ~ 1/2 day of school, dismissal starts at NOON

May 30 ~ 2nd grade Camp Learn A lot

May 31 ~ Grandparent/Veteran Concert 9:00AM WES Cafeteria (Doors open at 8:45)

May 31 ~ K-4 Field Day (rain date 6/3)

June 4 ~ Spring Concert for students only 9:00AM & 6:30 PM at Oakmont for family & friends

June 5 ~ 5th Grade Field Day (rain date June 6)

June 7 ~ Oakmont Music visits WES

June 7 ~ Last Day of Preschool

June 7 ~ 5th Grade Picnic on Academy Hill

June 7 ~ PTO Daughter's Choice Dance

June 8 ~ Great East Festival for WES Music

June 9 ~ PTO Son's Choice Event 2:00-4:00 PM WES

June 5 ~ 5th Grade BBQ

June 5 ~ MHS Preschool Graduation 1:30-2:30 PM

June 11 ~ 5th Grade Promotion Night 6:30 PM

June 12 ~ 5th Grade students VS. Staff Basketball Game at 1:30PM

June 13 ~ Last Day of School ~ Noon Dismissal

Spring is here! Greetings from your School Counselors! Spring is a time of new growth for all of us. With the excitement of newness can also come some anxieties too. Whether Springtime means new sports or activities, new schedules and routines, new experiences like Nature’s Classroom or even just preparing for what’s next as we look to the school year ahead, we are all likely to have some anxious feelings around the anticipation of what things will be like. Here are some suggestions for managing some of those worries, for you as well as for your student.

● Students who struggle with Anxiety do best with structure and schedules they can anticipate. We know this is not always possible in life. Begin to prepare them for the unexpected, by “planning” for change. Create routines for when things don’t go as expected (i.e. having a plan “A”, “B” or “C”). You can also simulate the unexpected in order to practice and develop their adaptability and flexibility. Remember to reflect back after they experience the change and highlight how everything turned out.

● Helping them know what to expect can also be helpful. Consider doing “rehearsals” of what situations might look like and be like for them. Role-playing, doing previews or at least a verbal “rundown” of what is to come can create some relief from the unknown.

● Normalize the experience of anxiety. Acknowledge to your student when you might be experiencing anxiety and show them what you’re doing to cope with it.

● Practice coping with your student - use strategies that help to bring about a sense of calm. These can include activities that change how we are thinking, alter a physiological response, or things that have an impact on our emotions. (i.e. think positive thoughts, slow your heart rate with deep breathing, or listen to a song that makes you feel peaceful)

● Do your best not to avoid experiences that might trigger anxiety in your student. Resilience is key to managing anxiety and it is built with evidence that your student is capable of surviving anxious experiences. When we avoid discomfort, we reinforce the idea that situations and experiences are too much for your student to handle and exactly what they were afraid of.

● Always couple these difficult experiences with opportunities for coping. Help them to keep these processes connected. Continue to expose them to age appropriate things that trigger anxiety. Build upon and strengthen their ability to tolerate distress.

● Here are some ideas from TherapistAid.com on ways to incorporate mindfulness activities throughout your day with your student.

● Video on Understanding and Dealing with Anxiety for Big Kids

● Video on Understanding and Dealing with Anxiety for Younger Kids

● PsychCentral also put together a list of some great resources. You can find the full article here.

● Here are also some tips from GoZen! about what you can say to your anxious student. We hope you embrace the new and enjoy this season of growth for your family!

Lindsay Milne (Pre-K, 1st, 3rd and 5th)

Limari Rivera (Pre-K, K, 2nd, 4th)

We were thrilled to connect with families at our recent parent

teacher conferences. We enjoy collaborating with you all to

support our students as we move toward the end of the school

year and prepare for first grade. Please continue to practice your

tricky words and math fact cards at home.

We have wrapped up our “Once Upon a Farm” module in Wit

& Wisdom and we have all learned so much! Our students have

discussed what makes a good story, created their own story maps

and written and illustrated their very own story! We look forward to

exploring “America, Now and Then” in our next module.

In CKLA we are illustrating vocabulary words, reading about

“Sam”, reviewing tricky and rhyming words along with learning

alternative spellings for double letters and consonant sounds.

In our Bridges math program, we are exploring various forms

of measurement, place value and demonstrating our subtraction

skills.

As the warmer weather reaches us, it is helpful to dress in

layers to best be prepared for our building and outside, bring on

the sunshine!

Lastly, you all received information on our upcoming

Kindergarten Field Trip to Davis Farmland! Please, make sure you

have sent in signed permission and email us with any more

questions.

During Module 3 of Wit and Wisdom, we have been exploring the powerful force of the wind and the powerful force of our emotions. In the next few weeks, we will have some hands-on activities to help us explore these topics more. Our very generous PTO has paid for supplies for the students to have a “Wind Day”. We will be constructing structures to blow bubbles, fly kites, fly airplanes, and test the powerful force of the wind.

Then on June 6, our PTO paid for the Discovery Museum to come to our school for an on-site field trip. Each class will travel to the WES science room for an hour to take part in a workshop titled Force and Motion. During this workshop, students explore concepts of force and motion while interacting with a variety of toys and engineering their own toys that move in lots of different ways. Students play with how to make objects move and control that movement, and experiment with the effects of outside forces such as gravity and friction acting on that movement.

The next few weeks will be full of fun and learning in first grade! Thank you again to our PTO for supporting us, helping us to link what we learn in the classroom to real life, and most importantly helping us to make learning fun!

Our annual art show (Creation Celebration) is coming up on Wednesday, May 15 from 6:00-8:00pm. I hope to see many of you there! Please check with your child if they have artwork in the art show, because some of them did not want to put anything in. (It's just a handful of students.) If your child is not sure if they have something in the art show, you can email me and I have a list. (abanning@awrsd.org) There will be artwork displayed by students in grades 2-5 in the first floor hallways, lots of "photo-opportunities" (including Bob Ross again) where you can pose as a crayon near a crayon box, or pose with giant crayons and paintbrushes! We will also have the "Glow Gallery" again with glow in the dark artwork.

The "Mona Lisa Art-o-matic" machine will be available again so bring your quarters for a chance at a cool art prize. There will be a few raffle items as well! All money to be put in a PTO "art fund". Something new this year will be a few locations to do activities: Play with the Big Blue Blocks, and "dance" in the gym to "paint the air" with colorful dancing ribbons. There will be a "make-and-take" art station where you can make a crazy paper crown and a mural you can help to color in. Thanks to our AWESOME PTO for providing some of the backdrops for the show and the black lights for the "Glow Gallery". They also purchased the Big Blue Blocks for the school a few years ago. THANK YOU PTO!!!!!!!!!!!

The children have been busy completing art show projects and writing artist statements in grades 2-5. They will be displaying and hanging all their own artworks next week. Grade 5 also had a special teacher-directed project, inspired by our ELA Curriculum, Wit and Wisdom. They created dragon eye paintings using watercolor and sharpies. This was a great lesson on texture and they will be going home soon. Grades K and 1 created 3D paper "playgrounds" in our study of the words 2D and 3D. These went home last week.

"In the works" over the past school year: I am pleased to announce that I hope to be offering an Art Club next year, starting with students in grades 2-5. This club will most likely meet on Mondays after school in six-week sessions. This program still needs the approval of the Principal and Superintendent, and we are waiting to see if it will be a stipend position through our next contract. Stay tuned!

Over this coming summer I have a list of donations that I will be collecting in the fall: nature items: tiny pinecones, small sticks and twigs, seashells, pebbles and small rocks, bark and moss. I will also be looking for artificial flowers and leaves. These will all be for our Nature Center, which was wildly popular this spring.

A few places to consider for extra art experiences are: Art on the Rocks in Gardner, The Painted Goat in Ashburnham, Summer Art programs at The Worcester Art Museum and Fitchburg Art Museum and programs at The Worcester Center for Crafts.

Stay creative!

"REMINDER:

END OF YEAR MEDS: Please have an adult pick up any student medications, including inhalers and epipens, from the Nurse's office before Noon on Thursday June 13th. Any medications not retrieved will be disposed of properly."

WES Nurse Marissa is looking for new or gently used clothing donations;

Boys: Soft shorts sizes 7-12

Girls: Soft pants/elastic waist/leggings sizes 7-12

Boys and Girls Underwear (New ONLY please): S.M.L (or same as pant sizes above 7-12)

Thank you in advance

Parks and Recreation’ s Summer Recreation Program will begin open enrollment in early May. More information will be available on the Parks & Rec page on the Town website, as well as posted on Facebook . We are gearing up for a fun summer ahead filled with fun for kids entering grades 1 thru 6! THERE WILL BE FOUR WEEKS IN 2024! July 8- 12 | July 15- 19 | July 22-26 July 29-August 2 We will also be offering special single-day programs in late June and early August!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1D6GB6XZ7AQZ0?ref_=wl_share

The Forbush Memorial Library is conducting a community survey for its 2025-2030 strategic plan. We would love MHS and WES parents, teachers, and staff to be a part of the process! Help us envision the future of this community destination and resource by completing this brief online survey: https://bit.ly/Forbush-Plan-Survey. Thank you!

Please reach out with any questions you may have. We are happy to help!

• MHS - Kathi McCarthy 978-874-0163 ext. 0
• WES - Liz Maillet 978-874-2043 ext. 0

NEW PARENTING SOLUTIONS LIBRARY

Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) is pleased to announce its new, free MPY Parenting Solutions Library. To date, over 2,200 videos have been borrowed. MPY is offering the MPY Parenting Solutions Library in partnership with Peace At Home Parenting Solutions, a non-profit located in Mansfield, Connecticut. Peace At Home Parenting Solutions is a dynamic hub of trusted knowledge and compassionate support that inspires parents to create positive change for their children, their families and themselves. Through this new partnership, MPY is pleased to offer proven resources to help students’ families thrive.

Peace At Home Parenting Solutions specializes in empowering parents with evidence-based strategies to foster nurturing connections that safeguard their children's mental well-being. When parents grasp the interconnection between the brain, body, and behavior, they experience reduced stress levels, resulting in less stress for their children.

The Peace At Home Parenting Solutions team, comprised of experts with advanced degrees, stays abreast of the latest advancements in child development. With more than 30 specialists focused on child and adolescent development, including specific issues such as difficulties in school, mental health challenges, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+ identity formation, handling racism, navigating grief, and other matters parents and our partners identify. These experts present easy-to-use strategies for long-lasting change.

Parents can watch or just listen to experts who get right to the point solving big and small challenges. The 24 library presentations focus on the topics below. Each presentation includes a 10-minute videos and handouts.

· Inspire School Success for Elementary, Middle and High School Students

· Parenting Principles for Progress Not Perfection

· Mental Health Knowledge and Skills

· Support Your Anxious Child Library

· ADHD and Autism: How to Help Your Child Thrive

The Home Parenting Library may easily be accessed using the link: https://peaceathomeparenting.com/mpy-solution-libraries/ No log in or passcode is needed.

REMINDER: Please take a look at how the PM pick up line at WES and MHS works. It is important that everyone follows these directions.

FOR WES Student Pick up: Please drive up Academy Hill Road and come down, park on the right hand side of Academy Hill Road and enter the parking lot on your left. Westminster Police have asked to NOT enter the parking lot when coming in from Main Street on your right because it starts a back up on Main Street. See map below.

For questions regarding your child's health, please use the following emails for our nurses.

MHS - MHSnurse@awrsd.org

WES - WESnurse@awrsd.org

We are seeking substitute nurses (RN’s/ LPN’s/ BSN’s) If interested, please email your resume to Ally Law: alaw@awrsd.org.

General Ashburnham-Westminster Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) membership is open to all AWRSD parents/guardians of children with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and Section 504 Plans and other interested parties. We need volunteers to help plan workshops, staff tables at local school and community events, become future leaders, assist other parents, and plan new activities and projects. Learn more about us and our work on our website https://sites.google.com/view/ashburnham-westminster-sepac. You can also follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ashwestsepac.

ARRIVAL

8:20 - 8:30 AM

DISMISSAL

2:55 PM

HALF DAYS - DISMISSAL

12:00 PM

We discourage early dismissals from school and urge you to schedule doctor, dentist or other appointments outside of school hours, on school holidays, or during vacation time. Extra-curricular activities should also be scheduled to allow students to complete the school day. We will send a written reminder if the number of early dismissals becomes unreasonable or excessive.

On the day of a dismissal, the parent or guardian must send a note to school stating the time of dismissal and who will pick up the student. No student will be dismissed to anyone but a parent/guardian or authorized adult, who must report to the office to meet the student.

Dismissals prior to 11:30 am will be considered an absence.

Any changes to dismissal plans must be made in writing on or before the day of dismissal. In the event of an emergency, a phone call to the school office will need to be followed up by an e-mail or fax.

Written notes from parents/ guardians are required (in addition to excused absences), when your student will be:

1. Picked up by someone other than the parent/ guardian.
2. Dismissed during the school day.
3. Picked up at school rather than taking the bus home, or other similar change in routine.
4. Following a standing appointment one day per week such as Brownies, Boy Scouts, etc. One note at the start of the school year will suffice. If there is any change in the schedule, another note is needed.
5. Given permission to independently ride a bike to school. (Grades 4 – 5 only)
6. Cared for after school by a baby-sitter or family day care provider. Please provide the school with the names and phone numbers of all after-school care providers at the beginning of the school year..

Written notes are essential to insure your child’s safety. We would prefer notes over phone calls as it helps us to document your child's individual dismissal plan. (We have 611 students.) Thank you for your help.