Pierce School Weekly Newsletter

Happy New Year! 🎉 I hope you all had a restful and joyful holiday season filled with moments of connection and celebration.

We are excited to welcome students back tomorrow, and I want to share a few highlights about the week ahead.

Our Mission:
We are here to empower students to achieve in life by addressing barriers to success and providing targeted supports.

Our Schoolwide Goals:

1. Increase Attendance – Helping students feel motivated, supported, and excited to come to school every day.
2. Improve School Climate – Creating a safe, welcoming, and positive environment where every student feels valued, connected, and ready to learn.

On Tuesday, 12/17, students had their last week of the Cornucopia Cooking Club at Pierce School for this session. We were so proud to see students rolling out their own dough for pizza crust, and creating variations of toppings and sauce to go with their own taste.

Pierce School had the highest amount of participation in the club this year out of all 8 elementary schools in the district, and we are very proud of our students and families for taking part in this opportunity. Thank you! We also want to thank the Cornucopia Program for offering this opportunity again this year to our students as an after school club, we love this program!

Monday, 1/6 - Students return to school 😀

Wednesday, 1/8 - Pierce PTO Meeting in MultiPurpose Room, 6-7PM - All Welcome!

Thursday, 1/9 - Community Supper at Pierce School, hosted by Pierce School PTO, 5:30 - 6:30PM

Friday, 1/10 - 4th Grade Walking Field Trip to GEP Dodge Library, 2:15 - 3PM

Coming Up:

Monday, 1/13 - Susie Spikol Turtle Lesson in 3rd Grade, 9:00 - 9:15AM

Wednesday, 1/15 - 4th grade Field Trip to Bruce Edes Forest with Susie Spikol, 1:30 - 3:00PM

Wednesday, 1/15 - 3rd Grade Walking Trip to GEP Dodge Library, 2:15 - 3:15PM

Thursday, 1/14 - 4th grade Field Trip to Bruce Edes Forest with Susie Spikol (Snow date) 1:30-3PM

Friday, 1/17 - Student Assembly - Grades 2 & 3 presenting, 2:30PM-3:00PM

Monday, 1/20 - MLK Jr. Day/Civil Rights Day - No School - Holiday

Thank you for your help with the Chapter Book Challenge/Literary Genre Reading Challenge. Completed forms were coming in before the vacation break, and students had pictures placed on "The Wall of Flame" to honor their efforts. I have been meeting with lots of students during Literacy Lunch Bunch, and asked students about their reading routines at home. Lots of students shared the success they have at home with a particular routine that works well for them. Some reported that they find it difficult to make time to read or do homework at home. Here are some tips to make time and do homework more consistently at home:

• Try to find a consistent time to do your reading every day, and make it a time that is easy to remember, like right after dinner and at the dining table.
• Another common routine is right before bed or in bed, for 10-20 minutes before turning off the lights.
• The key to building this life long habit, is to make the habit small and achievable at first.

Some families asked for recommendations for popular books to give their children. In my opinion, it is always a great idea to give the family a book each year and share in the memories together. One recommended website with book recommendations by age and grade is Reading Rockets, https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/childrens-books. Book recommendations can be found under the topics tab. This site is great for all sorts of reading information and activities as well.

Another idea is to read to your children your favorite book from when you, or their grandparent, were their age. Remember that frequent family trips to the library is another great way to build up the importance of a reading habit, and it's free!

Please feel free to email me at school if you have any questions at apope@conval.edu.

Many thanks for all of your help and support at home.

Mrs. Pope

Ski/Snowboard Club Participants please email Melinda Adams at melinda.hay.adams@gmail.com to let her know you have any questions about the program starting at Crotched Mountain. The program begins this week, Thursday, January 9th. Students should make sure that they have all gear with them and leave items outside against the building if they are carpooling with another adult to the mountain. If students are carpooling, please ensure that the school is notified in advance about who is picking them up to dismiss them early by Pickup Patrol, or please call the office before 2pm. Students will be dismissed from school for this program at 3pm to ensure that they are able to get to the mountain in time for lessons.

Behavioral expectations at the mountain are similar to those at school, since students are representing Pierce School while they are at Crotched Mountain. We are so excited for this program to begin, and we thank Melinda Adams for taking on this role as our facilitator this year! We hope students will have fun and enjoy the snow! 🎿🏂

Lunch Account Information and Menus can be accessed here:

https://www.fdmealplanner.com/#menu/mealPlanner/323/1639/1

Reminder: To avoid paying fees for reloading money to student lunch accounts online, students can bring a check or cash into school to be added to their accounts.

Meal Pricing

Elementary Breakfast Full

Secondary Breakfast Full

Reduced Breakfast

Elementary Lunch

Reduced Lunch