Monstricola's Message

It was great to see so many of you at our Open House! Thank you to all of the families who were able to make it.

This week all students attended assemblies to learn about this year's school-wide expectations. In a K-2 assembly and a 3rd-4th grade assembly, the students learned how their classroom expectations were put together to create our school wide expectations. Each year each classroom creates their classroom expectations. These come after students have identified their goals for the year and a discussion about what type of environment do they need to reach these learning goals. From there, student representatives work together to create grade level expectations and finally school wide expectations.

These expectations are hung around our school to help remind us how to be our best selves. You can help by asking your student about what they are doing when they are their best selves. You will find the school-wide expectations below.

Take care,

Kathleen Ortega and Michelle Romein

At MES, we are our best selves when...

1) We are kind to ourselves, each other and our school.

2) We are ready for learning and try our best.

3) We include everyone and celebrate differences.

It’s spirit wear time at MES!!! Our Fall store is live! https://mintprintworks.chipply.com/JMES/

The store will close on September 27th so be sure to get those orders in! We are offering in-school delivery as well as shipping home. In-School delivery orders are picked up by volunteers and distributed to classrooms. Orders are expected to be ready in the middle/end of October. Be sure to list your child’s teacher and grade via the drop down with each item for ordering!

Class Colors

Preschool: Purple

Kindergarten: Orange

Grade One: Red

Grade Two: Yellow

Grade Three: Blue

Grade Four: Green

• Early Release October 11th: Dismissal for K-4 begins at 12:15, AM Preschool dismissal begins at 10:15.
• No School October 14th

Awesome Kid Alerts are for students who are nominated by their teachers for always doing what is expected of them or going above and beyond to do something great. When nominated they call an adult in their life to share what a great job they are doing in school. They also receive a certificate and have their picture in Monstricola's Message.

If you have any questions or problems with your child's pictures, please reach out to Customer Care at Lifetouch.

1-800-736-4753

Online chat service is available!

https://lifetouch.com/support-us

Click "Get Support" at the bottom right of the main page.

Please reach out to Parks and Rec with any questions. This is not being done through the school. Thank you!

Gotchas are given out when staff members notice students exemplifying The Big Three (safety, respect and responsibility). These are the bright orange tickets that you may have seen. When a child receives a Gotcha, they are entered into a drawing of the week and of the month. Their name is also placed on our Gotcha Wall near the front lobby.

Congratulations to all of our Gotcha Winners this week!

Next week Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Fournier will be working with the Kindergarten classes to teach the MindUp curriculum.

The MindUp program focuses on:

• Building kind and safe learning environments

• Mindful awareness

• Understanding the three main structures of the brain that regulate emotions: prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus

• Learning about how naming emotions helps manage emotions

• Naming feelings and developing emotional literacy

• Building healthy relationships with yourself and others by developing a positive mindset

Towards the end of the week be sure to ask your Kindergarten student about Guard Dog, Wise Owl and Remembering Elephant!

Have a question about MindUp? Feel free to reach out to Mrs. Duncan or Mrs Fournier at their emails below.

Mrs. Duncan- cassandra.duncan@sau26.org

Mrs. Fournier- deborah.fournier@sau26.org

We are excited to continue our work teaching Comfortable Cafeteria skills and strategies beginning with our Kindergarten students next week. Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Fournier will then work their way through the grades over the next month.

Comfortable Cafeteria is a program that encourages and reinforces a positive cafeteria environment. We want all children to enjoy their meals, all while being comfortable communicating with their peers. Here are the main objectives of each lesson.

Day 1- We will be open and ready to learn about easy ways to help and be more comfortable in the cafeteria.

Day 2- We can make conversations with peers, make new friends, and include others.

Day- 3 We can learn how to have positive lunchtime conversations and practice conversations skills with peers.

Day 4-We can have positive mealtime conversations.

Day 5-We can name the different senses we experience in the cafeteria and we can try new foods!

For more information on Comfortable Cafeteria please visit the website below.

https://everymomentcounts.org/comfortable-cafeteria/

Have a question about Comfortable Cafeteria? Feel free to reach out to Mrs. Duncan or Mrs. Fournier at their emails below.

Mrs. Duncan- cassandra.duncan@sau26.org

Mrs. Fournier- deborah.fournier@sau26.org

The iReady Diagnostic Window will be closing shortly. Your child's iReady scores will be handed out at parent conferences.

The Merrimack School District has an online registration and contact information system, PowerSchool. To ensure that we have current information, please update all registration and emergency information in PowerSchool by September 28th. You should have received an email directly from PowerSchool that will help or you may log on to your PowerSchool account directly.

If you have any questions please contact Ellie Barry at eleanor.barry@sau26.org.

Emmy award winning TIGER, from Plymouth State University, has performed for over 550,000 students throughout New England. TIGER has also performed at the state level for the New Hampshire Department of Education, regionally for the New England Theatre Conference (NETC), nationally for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), and internationally for the National Drama International Conference at Durham University in Durham, England, the ASSITEJ International Festival of Children’s Theatre in Cairo, Egypt, and the IDA World Congress in Paris, France.

This year, they will be presenting:

True Blue You (K - 6)

A musical production about the importance of being true to yourself and what you know is right is sure to ring true in everyone's hearts. It's hard to be an upstander and tough to be a bystander too. This production attempts to unpack some of these important concepts through theatre, music and dance and to teach children to care about themselves and others.

Looking to volunteer this school year and want to see what’s available? Click below sign up to get notifications when there are opportunities. There is no pressure this just gives you the option to know when there are opportunities.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1M2a1RXlwbwlCtCgrYMyQTXsQFWBv0vVBvmjT-211UNQ/viewform?edit_requested=true

To volunteer, volunteers must be fingerprinted AND complete the following online trainings:

• Bullying: Recognition and Response (~60 minutes)
• Child Abuse: Mandatory Reporting (~30 minutes)
• Sexual Harassment: Student Issues and Response (~30 minutes)

To access the courses, go to: https://sau26nonemp-nh.safeschools.com/login

Enter your log in credentials, and you should see three courses assigned to you. If you do not see them, please try searching for them. If you still cannot find them, please reach out to melissa.fazlic@sau26.org.

Any questions about the volunteer process, email the volunteer coordinators at volunteercoordinator@jmespatt.com.

You can reach Kat Knauer to coordinate fingerprinting at (603)424-6200 or
Kathleen.Knauer@Sau26.org.

Thank you for your investment in our schools!

October 1st: Wildlife Encounters: In House Presentations

October 11th: Early Release

October 14: No School

October 18th: Harvest Ball 6:30