South Elementary Family Newsletter

Volume #1 September 2024

Message from the Principals

Dear South Families,

Welcome back! It is so nice to see our students and families again, as well as our newest Crickets, the incoming Kindergarteners! We have now been in school for almost ten days and everyone is getting into their routines. Our primary focus for the first six weeks of school is getting to know each other, build community within the class and school, and establish safe and effective procedures. This helps to establish more time on learning in the long run. Pleas consider purchasing some South Spirit Wear for the year (see PTO section below) to show that it's always "a great day to be a Cricket"!!

Each month, our South Family Newsletter will be emailed to you so you can see what the grade levels are doing, briefly share some educational topics, and be aware of upcoming events. Please scroll down to all the sections of the newsletter to see the pictures, resources, and exciting things to come. Another part of our home/school communication plan is The "Weekly Update" which will be sent via email with a short overview of important dates and information that are coming up. You may also be receiving emails and Remind messages from your child's teacher. Using all of these tools, we hope we can keep the lines of communication open to best support our Crickets and their families. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, concerns, input, etc. throughout the year. The best way to contact the principals is by email. Dr. Hurley's email is: rebecca.hurley@somersetschools.org. Mrs. Brown's email is: stephanie.brown@somersetschools.org. Our school phone number is: 508-324-3180.

Across the district, all elementary schools will continue to focus on our Elementary Vision of the Graduate "PRIDE" traits of: Perseverance, Respect; Independence; Diversity/Equity/Inclusion; and Empathy. These are targeted each week and important characteristics that we want each child to learn and be able to exhibit. The weekly lessons will be shared in this newsletter each month so you can discuss and reinforce them at home as well. For September, our lessons will be: greeting others; accepting others/showing tolerance; being punctual and prepared for class; following instructions; active listening; and, appropriately gaining the teacher's attention.

Thank you for your hard work preparing your child/ren for coming back to school and establishing your own routines at home. We could not do it without you and are looking forward to partnering with you this year. As the saying goes, we are "better together"! Hope to see you at our Back to School Open House.

With Much Aloha,
Steph Brown and Rebecca Hurley

508-324-3180

stephanie.brown@somersetschools.org

rebecca.hurley@somersetschools.org

Mark Your Calendars

*SCHOOL YEAR 2024-2025 DATES*

Monday, September 2-No School-Labor Day

Tuesday, September 3-First Day for Kindergarten

School Committee Meeting

Tuesday, September 10 & Thursday, September 12-Instrument pick- up for 4th & 5th Grade Students at SBRHS. Flyer is HERE.

Wednesday, September 11-Elementary Back to School Night-5:30-7:30pm

Friday, September 13-Early Release Day @ 12:30PM

Tuesday, September 17-PTO Mtg @ 6PM

Wednesday, September 18-Picture Day

Wednesday, September 25-Early Release Day @ 12:30PM

From Our Amazing PTO!

Upcoming Events: Mark your Calendars!

September 17th: First PTO Meeting of the Year

South School Cafeteria at 6:00PM
Review the upcoming school year and events!
All are welcome! Please join us!

Stop and Shop Community Bags for September

Purchase a community bag for $2.50at the Somerset Stop and Shop!
Each bag sold will send a $1.00 donation to South School!

South School Spirit Wear Store Open Until September 17th

Show your South Spirit by purchasing South gear.
There are over 25 varieties and sizes.
Oder using the link below:
https://theswanbrothers.chipply.com/SouthES/
Items will ship directly to the buyer in 2-3 weeks after the shop closes.

Enter to Win Red Sox Tickets!

Enter The Red Sox Ticket Raffle to benefit South PTO.
Game date: Sat, Sept 28th
Time: 4:10pm
Seats: G23 ; ROW 04; Seats 7&8
Each $10 donation = 1 entry*
https://givebutter.com/redsoxsouthpto

Thursday October 3rd Papa Gino’s Night 4PM-9PM

869 GAR Highway, Somerset
Walk-in or phone orders: Mention this fundraiser when you place your order for South School to get the credit for your order.
Online Orders: Enter Code 19 at the payment screen and click redeem.
South School earns 20% of orders!

Why Attend PTO Meetings?

The PTO is a volunteer organization made up of parents, teachers, administrators, and support staff.
The purpose of PTO is to enhance and support the educational and recreational experience at South School.
Meetings are a great way to meet other parents and work together on upcoming

events.

PTO Contributions for August and September

Popsicles with the Principal

The PTO purchased popsicles for the event.

Kindergarten Orientation

Incoming kindergarteners were given a South School t-shirt and a book.

Welcome Back Staff Luncheon

Staff received a welcome back luncheon.

Contact PTO

Follow South Elementary PTO on Facebook for updates and information!
somersetsouthelementarypto@gmail.com

BODY MASS INDEX (Grades 1 & 4) and POSTURAL (“Scoliosis” Grade 5) SCREENINGS

Parents/Guardians: If you do NOT want your child to be screened for Body Mass Index (BMI) and/or Postural Screening in school, you MUST submit a signed letter in writing or fill out the OPT OUT Form and return to the School Nurse ASAP. Screenings will begin in October.

PLEASE BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR EMAIL WITH LINK FOR OPT OUT FORM.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS:

MEDICATION IN SCHOOL

URGENT: I am still waiting for quite a few medications that are needed for school, especially life saving medication such as EPI PENS. Please bring in as soon as possible.

Please do NOT send any medication in with a child. *This includes: prescription, over-the -counter, lotions, drops, etc. Medication must be delivered by the parent/guardian directly to the School Nurse.

All medication orders and parental consent forms must be completed and signed prior to the School Nurse accepting any medication.*
Please make sure all medications that must be given in school, especially life-saving medications (Epi-Pens, Diastat, etc), are all set for the first day of school.
All medical forms can be downloaded and printed from our district website: http://www.somersetschools.org/Families/Medical-Forms/index.html

Annual Physical Exams

Please submit a copy of your child’s annual physical exam as soon as it is completed. Please make sure all screenings (vision, hearing, postural) are completed and documented on the form.

Welcome back South Families and Students,

I hope all of you had a good summer and created some great memories. The transition back to school is exciting, but often difficult and at times can create excess anxiety as well. Especially for the little ones who struggle with transitions.

We are happy to work collaboratively to help support those needs. Our Social Emotional Team is always looking for ways to better serve our students and families. Below is a form to assess interest in attending some informative parent nights, as well as, to determine if you have any other questions or requests for resources and or information. Please fill out and submit. Parent Interest form * I emailed this to everyone last week, if you have already submitted it you do not have to do it again. If you have not I would love you to do so. Your input is important. STORY TIME BOOKS AND VIDEOS

THE HUG WHO GOT STUCK

Helping Kids with Back to School Anxiety

Story time with Lynn “A Little Spot of Anxiety” by Diane Alber.

Please reach out to either Ms. H or Mrs. Shaw with any questions and/or concerns.

Looking forward to a great year.

Cecilia.Huard@somersetschools.org

Jennifer.Shaw@somersetschools.org

Parent Resources

September Lunch Menu: please click HERE.

Click HERE for September Read Aloud Books for Elementary Students

Click HERE for a 100s Chart to help count to 100, add, subtract, and notice number patterns.

Click HERE for an Alphabet Linking Chart to help your child match sounds and letters when writing/reading.

Click HERE for Multiplication Charts to practice math facts or use for a reference.

Somerset Public Schools, SY' 24-25 Calendar: please click HERE

KINDERGARTEN

We are so excited for the new school year! In September, we will be focusing on learning about our school routines, procedures, and expectations. This is important to ensure students know what appropriate behaviors are expected of them before we begin teaching academics. We will be creating a classroom community where we learn about and celebrate diversity and learn how to be a kind friend. At home, families can practice writing first names, identifying letters/sounds of the alphabet, identifying numbers 1-10, and orally counting to 20. Please be sure to go over the papers every night in your child’s green folder for important school information and to see what your child learned in school that day. We look forward to a fun and engaging year in kindergarten!

GRADE 1

Hello Families and Welcome to FIrst Grade!

We are so excited about this school year and learning about you and your wonderful children! We have had a great start to the school year. We have spent lots of time building our classroom community. The newly appointed first graders have been hard at work learning routines and expectations, making new friends, and just being awesome 1st graders! We are so ready for a great year with all of you. September will be filled with review of some important kindergarten standards, but we will also start to integrate our first grade standards into our learning, We can't wait to meet you at Back to School Night...it will be a fun night because your first graders will be included in showing off our classrooms.

We are looking forward to seeing you all soon!

GRADE 2

Welcome Back to School! We are looking forward to a fantastic year! September in 2nd grade is filled with building community and relationships. We will spend time creating and establishing routines and classroom rules that will help us learn and grow together throughout the school year. We will enjoy a friendship themed book study and set the foundation for our reading and writing blocks. One daily routine we have introduced is Number Corner… activities will include Calendar Grid, Calendar Collector, Daily Rectangle, Computational Fluency, and Number Line. Our first unit in math is figure the facts. These activities include sorting & graphing, number facts with the number rack, introduction addition & subtraction strategies and adding & subtracting to 20. The month of September will also be a time to gather data regarding student skills and ability so that we can meet the academic needs of all students. Back to School night is on September 11th at 5:30 p.m. and it is a STUDENT LED Scavenger Hunt… Bring your child! We look forward to meeting everyone and sharing our classroom community with you.

z

GRADE 3

As we step into a new month and a new school year, we’re excited as we dive into learning new rituals and routines. We are making new friends, sharing bright smiles, and getting to know each other better. We spent some time sharing about our summer adventures so that we could learn more about what makes each of us unique. A big thank you to everyone for the supplies! They will help us stay organized, clean and healthy-which promises a fantastic year ahead. We’re looking forward to seeing you all at Back to School Night on September 11th! Here’s to a wonderful start to third grade!

Ms. Francoeur, Ms. Lopes & Ms. Oliveira

Grade 4

What a great start to the year! We have enjoyed getting to know each other. Students are settling into routines and we are impressed with the smooth transition to 4th grade. Students have learned the expectations for 4th grade. We have shared classroom and individual goals that we will focus on this year.

In ELA, students are learning about the different types of genres of reading and writing. We will begin phonics instruction next week. In Social Studies, students started to learn about North America, its landmarks, and geography.

In Math, students are enjoying Number Corner each day. Students are using math vocabulary to explain their work. This year Science will be full of learning, fun and experiments! We are looking forward to a great year!

Grade 5

What a great start to the year! We have enjoyed hearing about summer adventures and meeting new faces. Students are settling into routines and we are impressed with the smooth transition to 5th grade. Students have learned the expectations for 5th grade. We have shared classroom and individual goals that we will focus on this year.

In ELA, students are learning about the different types of genres of reading and writing. We will begin phonics instruction next week. In Social Studies, students started to learn about North America, its landmarks, and geography.

In Math, students are enjoying Number Corner each day. Students are using math vocabulary to explain their work. This year Science will be full of learning, fun, and experiments! We are looking forward to a great year!