SCS Community Newsletter
Week of March 25, 2024
Principals' Message
Dear SCS Families and Caregivers,
It’s been a busy week at SCS, made even more so by some of the changes we’re anticipating across the district for next year. Times like these can be anxiety-inducing, especially when they introduce a layer of uncertainty to the often-predictable rhythms and routines of the school year. Few of us are familiar with a world in which we don’t yet have an approved budget for the following school year, let alone one in which we’re facing the prospect of staff reductions. We’ve tried to re-center ourselves as a community of educators by focusing on what we can control: how we talk about difficult topics with our students, how we support each other, and how we respond to our own stressors in a way that models perseverance for students. We’d like to use space in this week’s newsletter to highlight perhaps the most important thing that we can control, no matter what is happening outside the walls of SCS: how we create engaging learning experiences for all learners.
We are incredibly fortunate to have a talented team of faculty and staff doing this work every day. Each person at SCS is dedicated to making teaching and learning memorable for all. Through spring family conferences, you’ll get a good idea of how things are going academically and socially with your child. We wanted to make sure we also highlight our Essential Arts and enrichment opportunities as well, as those don’t always get the same spotlight during conference season. Our K-4 students attend Art, Music, and PE two times per week for 40 minutes each session and a library class once per week. Students in grades 5-8 have a rotation schedule with 45 minute EA's classes that rotate every six weeks or so. In fifth grade students have Computer Science for 45 minutes daily, and in grades 6-8 they take French or Spanish. There are a few more details further down in this newsletter. We also encourage you to look at your child’s Seesaw accounts to stay informed (in real time) of what your child’s school experience has been this year.
In addition to what’s happening within the classrooms and essential arts, we also pride ourselves on how fortunate we are to offer experiential learning opportunities for all students throughout the year. Typically fall and spring are when teaching teams arrange off-site experiences for students. Over the years, we’ve been able to maintain relationships with places like Shelburne Farms, Shelburne Museum, Pierson Library, Clemmons Family Farm, Echo Aquarium, Flynn Theatre, New Village Farm, and more! We’ve also invited guests and performers to SCS as well which is always fun; bringing in local authors, Puppets in Education, The Flying Pig, Back to Bach, Nearby Nature, Everybody Wins, and more!
We try to put the “Community” in SCS by providing something for everyone! We’re grateful that our faculty, staff, and community support such a diversity of learning experiences.
Take care,
Alison, Brett, & Emily
Mark Your Calendars
3/22 - SpongeBob Square Pants musical (7:00 pm, Shelburne Town Gym)
3/22 - SpongeBob Square Pants musical (2:00 pm & 6:00 pm, Shelburne Town Gym)
3/29 - PreK Field Trip to Shelburne Farms (8:45-11:00 am)
- 3/29 - 7th/8th Grade Dance (7:00-9:00 pm, Cafeteria & Gym)
4/3 - CVSD Housing Support Drop-In Office Hours (1:00 pm, Conference Room)
4/3 - DEI Community Meeting (5:00 pm, Library)
4/5 - 8th Grade YELLOW TEAM Field Trip (9:15-12:30, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center)
4/6 - PTO 3v3 Basketball Tournament
4/8 - No School (Solar Eclipse)
4/9 - PTO Meeting (6:00 pm, Green Team Common Space)
4/10 - No School (Eid al-Fitr)
4/12 - Cabaret Night (6:30-8:30 pm, Cafeteria)
4/16 - CVSD Board Meeting (6:00-8:00 pm)
4/17 - DEI Community Coffee (8:00 am, Cafeteria)
4/22-26 - No School - Spring Break
4/29 - School Resumes
2023-24 Calendar Update: Last day of school
Last day of school: Friday, 6/14, 11:30 dismissal
contingent upon no additional closed days
Families and Caregivers of 8th Graders:
Now that the school board has approved the finalized year-end dates, more information about 8th grade activities will be shared next week.
2024-2025 CVSD School Year Calendar
The 2024-2025 school year calendar has been approved by the School Board.
The SpongeBob Musical: Tonight & Tomorrow
Performance Times:
Tonight, 3/22: 7 pm
Tomorrow, 3/23: 2 pm & 6pm
Tickets available to purchase at the door
All performances at the Shelburne Town Gym
Our students were lucky to watch the dress rehearsal on Thursday. What a fantastic performance - congratulations to everyone involved!
Highlighting Essential Arts at SCS
For our Auditory & Performance Learners...
Our magnificent Music Department with Tim Buckingham, Lori Marino, and Jodi Sanders has been packed full of performances this year, which help to bring our music, choral, and band lessons to life for our students! We’ve had several chorus concerts and band concerts, as well as a special performance at a recent event with Senator Bernie Sanders, a Chorus trip to Boston, a new 4th/5th grade musical Nemo, and our middle school musical, SpongeBob. A huge thank you to Tim O’Leary and Alice Brown for helping to arrange a live stream of this performance so all of our school community could enjoy the show! We hope you’ll all get a chance to see this sweet performance this weekend.
We've also had multiple performances during our lunch blocks this year, and thanks to the Gus Mercaldo Grant, we will be teaching students how to DJ school events, such as the upcoming middle school dance, and annual Jog-a-Thon this spring! Don't forget to mark your calendars for the April 12th Cabaret Night.
For our Visual & Tactile Learners...
Pete Boardman, Julia Costes, and Carin Lilly make up our Art Dept at SCS. They have been generating some incredibly creative lessons that expose our students to a variety of mediums - drawing, coloring, painting, sculpting, and so much more! They connect the fine motor skills with the classroom curriculum content to help provide concrete and visual applications of math, reading, writing, social studies, science, digital learning, speaking, listening, expression, and more. The art spaces that our art teachers have created for our artists have both a sense of calm, peace, and mindfulness as well as a social aspect with a little hum of energy, passion, and connection. We have student artwork displayed in other communities, as well as our conference room! This art crew is not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty with this hands-on learning. (This is also a great space for students to practice ‘leaving no trace’ and taking care of our learning spaces, for the next group of artists.)
For our Kinesthetic Learners...
Our PE department (Alysia Kroese, Paul Membrino, and Jude Olson) has partnered with the American Heart Association again this year to raise awareness and funds for supporting healthy habits for kids. In our first week promoting this fundraiser, our community has donated $5,405! Thank you so much for helping us get that much closer to our goal of $7,500. A huge shout-out to Mrs. Molly Fontaine’s 3rd graders, who are holding the school record for the most generous donations, so far. Another big shout-out to Mrs. Jessica West’s class for having the most number of students registered to participate in the challenge. All students in grades 1-4 are learning various skills to improve their gross and fine motor skills and coordination through the art of jumproping in PE classes. It’s been amazing to watch students who had never picked up a jumprope before, now are so engaged and motivated to learn more and more tricks with a rope - we can’t get them to put the ropes down! We are teaching heart-healthy habits to take care of ourselves through nutrition, exercise, and building confidence for a positive mindset. Our fantastic PE team has been encouraging schoolwide community building through events such as the recent student vs staff basketball challenge, a bowling competition, a free-throw competition, and more. You’re never too old to have some FUN and incorporate purposeful PLAY into your day!
For our Literary & Auditory Learners...
Our K-4 students learn in the Library at least once per week through an engaging read-aloud with Ms. Kate Lucia and Ms. Fiona (with sound effects from Novel Effects), as well as exposure to coding, research, literacy skills, author studies/visits, and more! Ms. Lucia has been building community by offering various competitions this year including themed interactive bulletin board challenges, and supporting the recent PTO Read-a-Thon Fundraiser.
For our Digital Learners...
Our teaching teams have been collaborating with our Digital Learning Leader, Leah Joly, throughout the year to create engaging and innovative learning opportunities for students in various grade levels. Teachers are incorporating new digital tools and platforms in their lessons such as Adobe Express, Canva, Goblin Tools, Diffit, Cuddle XYZ, MagicSchool AI, WeVideo, and more! Leah keeps us all up-to-speed on the latest and greatest tech tools that help make teaching and learning interesting, challenging, and efficient.
For our Language Learners...
Did you know that learning a new language can change the chemistry of your brain? It's true! Research shows that bilingual (or multilingual) people have more grey matter, which allows them to process information more efficiently. They also have denser white matter, which indicates faster connections among different parts of our brains. Madame Thomas and Senora Kelley foster a love of language, culture, and new experiences for our 6-8 students. By building students' capacity to read, write, speak, and listen in a new language, we build their brainpower every day. In 5th Grade, Jess Sankey works with students to learn the in(put)s and out(put)s computer science (CS). While it's broader than coding, CS is a language all its own. Whether they are designing their own apps, exploring microbits, or learning how to be mindful consumers of media, there is never a dull moment in CS at SCS. Check out the photo from the recent "Shark Tank" presentations!
SCS Yearbook Orders Due April 5
REMINDER: The 2023-24 SCS Yearbook is on sale for a few more weeks! Get your orders in now! They are due April 5th. The cost is $32. All students at SCS are included in the yearbook.
Orders can be submitted to your child's classroom teacher with the order form or you can order online with the following link: Yearbook sales
Extra order forms can be found in the front office.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Nancy Nakhleh at nnakhleh@cvsdvt.org
For families who checked off "no photo" at the beginning of the year on your PowerSchool forms without a note saying the yearbook is okay, please note that your child's photo will not be included in the yearbook. If you would like your child's photo in the yearbook, please email Nancy Nakhleh at nnakhleh@cvsdvt.org to let her know. Please notify Nancy by Monday (3/25). If you have questions about the status of your child's permissions, you can check your PowerSchool account or contact Katie Schut at kschut@cvsdvt.org.
5th-8th Grade Geo Bee Team
Pictures from the week
Welcome Elbow & Ricotta
Elbow and Ricotta, two Rex Bunnies from New Village Farm, are here for the next three weeks, going back home on Friday, April 5th. The Bunnies will be snuggling and nibbling hay and pellets in the Bunny Hutch in the Bunny Bunker (aka the Goat Shed). Thank you to the 4 Blue Team Bunny Bosses (Evie S., Eleanor C., Helena M. and Alice S.) that will be tending to the bunnies.
Genius Hour Project Learning
Last week two aspiring architects/designers, SCS Students Alectra H and Camille S, had the pleasure of meeting with Shawn Sweeney from Sweeney Design Build. This meeting was part of the student's Genius Hour project.
Shawn took the time to inspire them by sharing his process, designs and answering their questions. Alectra and Camille left the meeting with their heads full of big ideas and looking toward a bright future!
Trivia for National Drug & Alcohol Fact Week
5th-8th graders enthusiastically participated in a trivia game during lunchtime for National Drug and Alcohol Fact Week as part of SCS' prevention education efforts. Some brave/awesome public speakers helped pull it off :)
Day of Arts Advocacy with Senator Sanders
On Saturday, March 9th, choral students in grades 4-7 got to speak to and sing for Senator Bernie Sanders at an Arts Advocacy event at VTSU in Johnson! Students got to hold a town hall style meeting with Senator Sanders and kicked off the performance that evening singing three songs of their own and joining 150 other participants in singing our State Song, "These Green Mountains". What a joyful noise!
7th & 8th Grade Choir Trip to Boston
On Friday, March 15th, 7th and 8th Grade Concert Choir members traveled to Boston to see a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus. They got a tour of Symphony Hall and after the concert traveled to Faneuil Hall for shopping around Quincy Market. What a great experience to see such high caliber musicians and we even heard an American premiere of a new piece!
3v3 Spring Basketball Tourney: Saturday, April 6
- 3v3 tournament all day for grades 5-8, adults and staff
- $1,000 in raffle prizes
- El Gato Food Truck 11-1pm!
- Special K-4 Half time experience and basketball clinic with St. Mikes players
- PTO Bake sale and concessions
- Fun with your school community!
We have many volunteer roles for the event and would love any help on site! If you love basketball or enjoy supporting school events, this is your chance to make a significant impact! Sign up to volunteer here
For any questions or for more info please email hayleyc@shelburnepto.org
CVSD News
Get Informed about the Proposed Budget!
CVSD Budget Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, March 27 at 6:30 pm.
Join CVSD administration and board members to learn more about the proposed budget and get your questions answered. Zoom information is on the left side of the district's website and on the budget page of the district's website.
Check out this newsletter to learn about the proposed budget, how it's changed since the previous budget, and how it might impact taxpayers.
Reach out to the CVSD School Board using cvsdschoolboard@cvsdvt.org or Let's Talk.
Reminder NO Summer School Programming 2024
CVSD will not be providing Summer School Programming this summer 2024. ESY services will be provided for students who qualify through their IEP.
INTRA-DISTRICT K-8 SCHOOL CHOICE - Deadline April 1
Children entering grades K-8 who live in the towns of Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, St. George and Williston may exercise school choice. Our goal is to both allow options for families and also make balanced class sizes to provide a positive learning environment for all of our children. Processes for intra-district choice of school will be guided by the needs of students, space availability, and existing resources. Given this, we will work to meet as many families’ needs as possible. Guidelines and Application
Community Events
Howard Center Spring Community Education Series: March 27 & May 2
March 27, 6:30-8:00 pm - Mental Health is Community Health with Howard Center Chief Medical Officer Simha Ravven, MD
May 2, 6:30-8:00 pm - Substance Use and Our Community with Howard Center clinical staff: Moderator Beth Holden, MS, LCMHC, LADC and Panelists John Brooklyn, MD, Dan Hall, LADC, Heidi Melbostad, PhD., and others.
Free and open to the public.
Register here: Spring Community Education Series - Howard Center
Upcoming 4-H Events at UVM Extension
Check out the upcoming events at 4-H and bookmark the Upcoming 4-H Events page as more opportunities get added all the time!
Parenting Resources
Vermont Family Support Programs
Free virtual parent education programs and support groups for Vermont parents and families. View upcoming programs here.
Child Mind Institute
Check out The Thriving Kids Projects here
SCS Useful Links
CVSD Info
Find information about monthly School Board Meetings, community forums such as the DEI Town Hall, and more on the district website. See the year at a glance on the 2023-2024 K-8 School Year Calendar. See The CVSD Story for the latest blog posts about what's happening across the district.
Let's Talk
Still Need More Information?
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org/shelburne
Shelburne Community School Administration
Brett Cluff, 5-8 Principal
Emily Cogan, Director of Special Education