Scotty Updates

Scotty Updates has been created to provide families and staff with information regarding upcoming events, happenings, and programs at Scotland Elementary School. Our newsletter will be sent several times monthly to share news and happenings at Scotland!

Good afternoon, Scotland families!

I hope this message finds you all well! Our students have been LOVING the new playground!! Thank you to all who were able to celebrate our opening! Another huge thank you to our PTA for all their fundraising efforts and our community for all the donations to make this possible!

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In the last week, we have had some warm days with cool mornings. Please remember that our kiddos typically go outdoors every day for recess unless the weather/temperature is unusually severe, with a real feel nearing the single digits. Hats and gloves should be worn when we get to those lower temperatures. Dressing in layers is the best option, as the building can sometimes feel warm, while it gets cool outside. While it will most likely be some time before we are into snow season, when snow is on the ground, snow pants and boots are required for students to play in the snow (anywhere other than the blacktop). Thank you so much for your help!

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This month, we will hold our parent-teacher conferences. These will occur on November 22, November 25, and November 26. The elementary schools have early dismissals (11:40AM) on these dates to hold conferences. We also have an evening option for conferences on November 25th. Fall conferences are scheduled for twenty-minute sessions. Teachers will be reaching out to plan your conference.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Kind regards,

Jill

Above is the language that we are using to set the expectations with students for behavior on the bus. We all reinforce these expected behaviors in school as well as on the bus, which is an extension of our school. We appreciate your support with this as well!

🎶 Exciting Opportunity for 5th Grade Families 🎶

Join us for the Ridgefield Public Schools District Music Festivals—a celebration of music featuring our talented 5th-grade chorus, band, and orchestra students!

🎶Festival Dates:

• Choral Festival - January 28th, 2025 - 7:00 PM at Ridgefield High School

• Orchestra Festival - February 3rd, 2025 - 7:00 PM at Ridgefield High School

• Band Festival - February 4th, 2025 - 7:00 PM at Ridgefield High School

🌟 What to Expect:
Your 5th grader has the opportunity to be part of a district-wide performance, where they’ll meet their future middle school music teachers and new classmates in the performing ensembles. They'll have the chance to:

• Rehearse and perform with other 5th graders from across the district.

• Hear inspiring performances by 8th-grade and high school-level groups.

• Take part in an exciting combined performance that brings together elementary, middle, and high school students for a grand musical finale!

🎶 Why Attend?:
This festival is more than just a performance—it’s a special opportunity for our students and families to experience what’s ahead in their musical journey, build connections with teachers and peers, and be inspired by older students.

🎤 Who’s Invited:

• 5th Graders Chorus students who audition in late November/early December will be eligible to participate in the festival as space is limited.

• 5th Grade Band students who audition in January will be eligible to participate in the festival as space is limited.

• All 5th Grade orchestra students will participate in the Orchestra Festival.

• All students and families who are not participating in the festival are welcome to attend as audience members!

🎶 The Audition Process (Band & Chorus):
Students who want to participate in the Band & Choral Festivals will participate in an audition during the school day with your school’s music teacher. The audition process ensures that your child is prepared to perform at the festival. It also prepares your child for auditions at the middle school and high school level to perform in select groups such as chamber singers, wind ensemble, symphonic orchestra, and jazz band.

• Band Festival Auditions - mid-January

• Student performs a pre-selected song from the band method book

• Choral Festival Auditions - late November/early December

• Students sing a familiar song - Happy Birthday in Ab Major

• Students sing a small portion of the festival song on the appropriate assigned part (will vary by school

More information is to come soon. We look forward to seeing you there to celebrate the magic of music!

Musically Yours,

Elizabeth Anderson - BES General Music, Band Director, Choir Direction

Colleen McGuirk - BMES General Music, Band Director, Choir Direction

Ian Jackson - FES General Music, Band Director, Choir Direction

Ryan Loucks - RES General Music, Band Director, Choir Direction

Jim Tornatore - SES General Music, Band Director, Choir Direction

Ryan Dunne - VPES General Music, Band Director, Choir Direction

Brian Ho - Orchestra Director - BES, FES, VPES

Josh Sette - Orchestra Director - BMES, RES, SES

Monday, November 4th: E Day

Tuesday, November 5th:

• Election Day (School Closed)/Teacher PD Day

Wednesday, November 6th: F Day

Thursday, November 7th: A Day

Friday, November 8th: B Day

• Scotty Spirit Day! Wear your Scotty spirit wear to show your school pride!

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Monday, November 11th:

• Veterans Day (School Closed)

Tuesday, November 12th: C Day

Wednesday, November 13th: D Day

Thursday, November 14th: E Day

Friday, November 15th: F Day

• Scotty Spirit Day! Wear your Scotty spirit wear to show your school pride

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Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, November 5th:

• Election Day (School Closed)/Teacher PD Day

Monday, November 11th:

• Veterans Day (School Closed)

Friday, November 22nd-Tuesday November 26th:

• Early Dismissal (Conferences): 11:40AM

Wednesday, November 27th:

• Early Dismissal (Thanksgiving recess): 11:40AM

Thursday, November 28-Friday, November 29th:

• Thanksgiving recess (School Closed)

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Save these Dates!!

Wednesday, January 22nd:

• SES Winter Concert

Tuesday, January 28th:

• Choral Festival at RHS

Monday, February 3rd:

• All District Orchestra Festival

Tuesday, February 4th:

• All District Band Festival

Thursday, April 3rd:

• SES 5th Grade Musical

Thursday, May 1st:

• SES K-5 Art Show

Thursday, May 22nd:

• SES Spring Concert

Head Lice Information

Head lice: They’re the words no parent wants to hear. Head lice can be acquired by anyone, but it is most common in kids ages 5-12. According to the CDC every year as many as 6-12 million children are affected by head lice. Our own community has just experienced our first reported case of lice. The good news is that head lice are not harmful and can be treated. To detect, treat and prevent head lice, it helps to know more about them.

Below I have included a link to an article titled Head Lice: What Parents Needs to Know (Healthychildren.org/AAP). Please take a few minutes to read the article. It provides parents with a good source of information about head lice detection, management, and treatment.

Lice information

Hearing and Vision Screenings

The health office will be doing CT State mandated hearing and vision screenings for grades 1,3,4 and 5 students over the next several months (late November thru early April). If there are any concerns observed during the screenings, parents/guardians will be notified by a referral letter. Please reach out if you have questions. If a family chooses to opt their child out of these screenings, they must submit a written notification to the school nurse annually.

The Scotland PTA is an amazing support to our school community - students, staff, and families! Joining the PTA helps you stay connected with the school community. You will receive information about family events, before & after school programs, school events, parties and much more! Get to know teachers & staff better with informational sessions throughout the year!

Stay up to date on all of the PTA happenings on the PTA website!

Thank you for your continued support! We look forward to seeing you at the Scotty Social and appreciate your participation in our Thanksgiving and Holiday Fundraisers.

Bonfires, live music and light bites. Exciting items will be raffled off.
Dress in warm, casual attire since this is an outside event.
RSVP here with $20 suggested donation per person.

Orders due by November 13th

Visit J. McLaughlin during the Ridgefield Holiday stroll for festive sips and holiday shopping to benefit the SES community.

SES is looking for student volunteers to participate in a small social/emotional skill development group where they can act as peer models for similarly aged peers. The groups occur once weekly for approximately thirty minutes. Groups will generally take place during lunch or direct instruction block and are facilitated by a school psychologist.

Any student wishing to participate in a group needs parent/guardian consent. Signing consent does not guarantee participation as the opportunity to participate and the frequency of participation will depend on the number of student volunteers. Consent can be revoked at any time by contacting Melissa Gaitho, school psychologist.

The purpose of participation is to model and practice appropriate social and emotional and/or behavioral skills. Groups can include but are not limited to activities such as playing games, role playing, and reading children’s books pertaining to various social/emotional topics. If you think your child would be interested in joining these sessions and you would like for them to have the option to participate, please complete the information below. If you do not want your child to participate in the social skills groups, no response is necessary. If you have any questions, feel free to contact a school psychologist: mgaitho@ridgefieldps.net.

Thank you!

Peer model consent form

• Each class will have one 45 minute essential per day (Art, Library, Music, or P.E.)
• We will continue to follow the six day A-F day schedule
• Please find the essentials rotation below

School lunch will be available from the first day of school. Aramark is the District-wide food service provider. The school lunch menu is available online on the RPS website; click Departments and click on Food Service. For all students, utilize MySchoolBucks for families to fund student lunches.

MySchoolBucks is available via the PowerSchool Parent Portal, and communication was sent to families in early August regarding adding funds for lunch. Any balances have been rolled over from LunchTime to MySchoolBucks. Additionally, the district sent a communication in early August regarding Reduced Lunch for eligible students.

Snacks for Purchase in the Cafeteria:

Students in grades 2-5 are permitted to purchase snacks during lunch (last 10 minutes). Please be sure you have set up MySchoolBucks if you would like your student to be able to purchase a snack.

• In short, students eligible for reduced lunch will be provided free lunches in grades K-8 for the 2024-25 school year.
• Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the Free School Meals for Children grant, please do not hesitate to contact us or the District Business Office.
• Questions in regard to school MySchoolBucks can be directed to Andrea McCurry, RPS Food Service Director at 203-894-5550 x2143 or amccurry@ridgefieldps.net

Website to set up an account.

MySchoolBucks

Some Support Links for Troubleshooting:

Updating Your Payment Method | MySchoolBucks

Setting up Automatic Payments | MySchoolBucks

Adding a New Student | MySchoolBucks

Setting Up Low Balance Alerts | MySchoolBucks

Reset Your Password Using Your Mobile Phone Number

Reset Your Password Using Your Email Address/Username

We will follow a similar drop off / pick up procedure that we did last year.

Arrival

• Drop off begins at 8:30am. Please do not drop off your child prior to 8:30am as there will be no supervision at this time.
• After 8:45am, you will need to walk your child into school, as they are late. You will need to sign them in with security. Please do not drop your child off without adult supervision.

Dismissal

• Pick up will begin at 3:15pm.
• Each day, please have your child(ren)’s first and last name displayed on your passenger visor, and have it remain visible until your child is in the car. This needs to be bold and large enough to be visible at a distance. This is a very important step to ensure we have your child ready when you arrive.

• For the safety of both students and staff, proceed carefully and slowly through the lot.
• Please have your child exit/enter the vehicle when your gear is in the park position and is one of the cars at the front of the line designated for drop off.
• Students must exit the vehicle on the passenger side (building side) of the vehicle. Multiple children must exit on the passenger side. It is dangerous to exit/enter on the driver's side of the vehicle!

• Students need to have all of their items ready in hand and will then exit the car immediately.
• Parents, please stay in your vehicle at all times so that the process will prevent backups on Barlow Mountain Road.
• If you miss the drop off time (after 8:45 a.m.), please park in the front lot and walk your child across the designated crosswalk to the main entrance of the building. If you arrive after the drop off window and must park in the parking lot, we kindly ask that you use the crosswalk.

We will continue to use School Dismissal Manager this year at Scotland. Please click below for information regarding this system. This system will be available to families in late August. A welcome letter will be emailed to families when the system is available. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!

Chromebooks K-5:

• For information on this year's Chromebook distribution and policies click here to watch a short video
• If you have further questions or concerns email: helpdesk@ridgefieldps.net

Playdates and Riding the Bus:

We know how fun it is for our students to get together after school and enjoy time together! Due to safety and limited space on the buses, we are asking that students have no more than 2 guest riders with them at a time. Anytime there is a need for more than 2 additional students to ride, families will need to make arrangements for parent pick up that day. Thank you for understanding!

Hats & Hoodies:

Over the last several years there was no standard hat/hood procedure in the elementary schools, likely related to Covid, when classroom windows were kept open for air circulation and there was the potential for it to be cold in classrooms.

As we have started the 24-25 school year with a typical school opening, we will return to only permitting hats to be worn outside the school building. Students may choose to wear a hat, but will be reminded to remove it upon entering the school building. Students will be permitted to wear hats for outdoor recess. Teachers have discussed this with students and I will remind our school community during the morning announcements on Tuesday.

On special occasions/spirit days, hats may be permitted and this will be communicated to students and families.

RPS distribution flyers for outside groups via a Digital Backpack.

Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion in the digital backpack. Please help us in our effort to go green by checking students' Digital Backpacks Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion to cmelagrano@ridgefieldps.net. Thank you!

Email: jkatkocin@ridgefieldps.net
Website: https://ses.ridgefield.org/
Location: 111 Barlow Mountain Road, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Phone: 203-894-5825