SPS Weekly Newsletter

This week's header photo (above) features Wilkins School students who were recently honored for their community spirit! As part of the C.A.R.E.S. initiative at the Wilkins, students learn about how to best exemplify the traits of Community, Acceptance, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self Control throughout the school year. The Wilkins focused on the importance of community first this school year.

Next Thursday is Halloween and the forecast looks great so far. It should be a great night for trick-or-treating. With the holiday coming up, and Halloween celebrations taking place between now and October 31st, I wanted to use this opportunity to remind our students to make good choices, be responsible, and be safe, while of course having fun. When you are out trick-or-treating, be alert for traffic and stay on sidewalks or to the side of the road. The Stoughton Police Department shared some helpful Halloween safety tips that are posted here.

Your school will communicate any specific Halloween observations and celebrations. In general, any costumes worn to school should be school appropriate and not overly gory. Costume-related toy weapons are not allowed to be brought to school.

We understand not everyone observes or participates in Halloween and your school will make accommodations during any Halloween-related celebrations.

Lastly, I am sending best wishes to the SHS Marching Black Knights as they host the USBands Massachusetts & Rhode Island State Marching Band Championship at Stoughton High this Saturday, October 26! Stoughton is scheduled to perform at 6:30pm. More on this further down in this newsletter.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Stoughton Public Schools

October is National Principals Month, so over the course of the month we are running a series of spotlights highlighting each of our building principals. This week we featured Jake Dore, principal at the South Elementary School, and Katie Monahan, principal at the Wilkins Elementary School.

This Saturday, October 26, the USBands Massachusetts & Rhode Island State Marching Band Championship is being held at Stoughton High! Almost 20 marching bands are scheduled to perform starting at 1pm at Veterans Memorial Stadium at SHS. The Stoughton High Marching Black Knights are scheduled to perform at 6:30pm.

Visit the POPS website for more information, to purchase tickets, and to take part in the 50/50 raffle.

And, visit the USBands website for a full schedule of bands performing throughout the day.

The video clip above is of the Stoughton High Marching Black Knights performing part of their 2024 show, titled "Falling Waters,” earlier this school year. You'll definitely want to see their full performance on Saturday!

Massachusetts STEM Week took place this week, October 21-25, and we spent the week highlighting some of the great work being done in our classrooms throughout the Stoughton Public Schools focusing on areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

The theme for STEM Week this year was “STEM starts now” – at any age you can learn about STEM, from our youngest learners to adult learners.

SPS offers a wide variety of STEM opportunities from PreK-12. Every student in SPS takes technology and engineering each year from K-5, STEM class in grades 6-8, and then students can choose engineering or computer science pathways in addition to the many math, business, and science courses offered at SHS. All of these courses are designed to expose students to real life applications and opportunities as well as prepare them for higher education or career skills.

Check out the photos below to see examples of STEM education right here in the Stoughton Public Schools!

Stoughton High students in a statistics class are pictured here calculating probability models using dice to learn about independent and mutually exclusive events.

O'Donnell Middle School students on team 7C participated in a density demonstration as part of their convection currents unit in science class. Hot water is less dense, so it stayed on top of the more dense cold water in the example to the left (in the first picture). On the right, the more dense cold water was on top, so it sank down and mixed with the hot water.

2nd grade students at the Dawe School are seen here working with the Kodable app in Mr. Relihan's technology class. This is a great way for students to learn basic coding skills. Click on the photo to watch a video of the students coding.

In Mrs. Kane's technology class at the Gibbons School, students were given a challenge to build the tallest free standing tower they could using only pipe cleaners, plastic straws, and scissors. Students watched a short video about construction and structural support and then worked in groups, first making a plan on how they would construct their tower, and then building it.

Hansen School kindergarteners in Mrs. Downer's class became scientists and conducted their first science experiment! They made predictions and then tested to see if an apple, half an apple, apple seed, and apple stem would sink or float in water. The students recorded the results in their own experiment journals.

Second graders at the South School had a lesson on physical changes of matter during a science workshop with the Discovery Museum. They investigated the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases. Students used water, liquid nitrogen, and dry ice to learn about melting, freezing, evaporation, condensation, and even sublimation.

At the Wilkins School, students in all grades participated in robotic STEM activities in Mrs. Falcione’s technology class. Students in grades K-2 and TLC worked with the line-following mini robot, Ozobot. Students in 3rd grade replicated Olympic sports with creative Ozobot displays. And students in 4th and 5th grade, pictured here, were creating and coding Olympic sports models with our more advanced robot, Dash.

Occupational Therapist Janice Bryant ran a pumpkin carving activity with different classes at the Jones Early Childhood Center. This activity also involved utilizing counting skills and recognition of different shapes. The students started off by helping to hollow out the pumpkin, removing the pulp and seeds. Then each class voted on what type of shapes they wanted the eyes and nose of the jack-o'-lantern to be. The students counted the votes and then watched as their jack-o'-lantern was carved.

The O'Donnell Middle School's annual Veterans Day Assembly is one of the most anticipated events of the school year. 8th grade students interview local veterans and then honor them by presenting their service story with the 8th grade class at the assembly. This year's assembly takes place Thursday, November 7, 2024 (brunch at 8am, followed by the assembly at 9:30am). The OMS is currently looking for local veterans to participate in this tradition. If you are interested in participating, please contact Caitlin Valair, OMS Social Studies Teacher, by November 1 at c_valair@stoughtonschools.org or 781-344-7002.

Are you receiving text messages from the Stoughton Public Schools? We sent this newsletter via text and email to all SPS families and staff. If you did not receive this text and have not been receiving texts from SPS so far this school year but would like to be receiving them, you can text YES to 79041 to opt-in to text messaging.

With the school year underway, we want to make sure we have accurate and updated emergency contact information and health information for your child. Please log into your PowerSchool Parent Portal account, click on the forms link in the left navigation menu and update any information that is not accurate in the two forms:

• Current Student Health Information
• Student Information/Emergency Form

While only one emergency contact is required, we recommend including at least three contacts who would be able to pick your child up in the event you are not available.

When you have updated the information, please click on submit at the bottom of each of the forms. If your child's information is accurate, please click on submit at the bottom of each form to indicate that you have reviewed the data and it is accurate.

Thank you for taking the time to do this important task.

The Jones Early Childhood Center's PTO is hosting a "Touch a Truck" event on Saturday, October 26 from 10am-1pm at the Jones (rear parking lot via Park Ave.).

Families of our younger students are invited to a Trunk or Treat event organized by the Stoughton High Student Council on Tuesday, October 29 from 6:30-8:30pm in the SHS student parking lot.

For updates throughout the week, be sure to follow Stoughton Public Schools on social media: