The Old Farm at Garnet bus stop crew made the most of their first snow day!

One of the things we appreciate most about our ET staff is that we work together to provide a high-quality education for children and families. We place great value on seeing our students demonstrate continued success and academic progress as they move through their academic journey over the course of a school year, as well as their K-5 career at Eli Terry.

Over the course of this week, and the next few weeks, your child(ren) have/will engage in their winter benchmark assessments in reading and writing. Not only do these updated assessments highlight the tremendous progress students have made over the past 5 months, but it provides our teachers important information to help ensure that students are on-track, prepared and ready for the second half of the year. With this updated information about individual strengths and areas for growth, teachers will be able to design a variety of whole-group and small-group lessons to meet every students' unique learning needs. In addition, they'll likely be sharing this data with you to connect and collaboratively support students in the areas they individually are working to grow, and continue to celebrate together the progress they are making.

As we head further into 2024, we look forward to continuing to create opportunities that make our school a place where all children enjoy learning, develop strong relationships, and continue to grow each day socially, emotionally, and academically. As always, thank you for your continued support!

WE NEED YOUR SUBMISSIONS!

Shout outs are a great way to express gratitude towards those who have made a positive impact in our lives. Whether it's a staff member, friend, student, or colleague, taking a moment to acknowledge and appreciate their contributions can strengthen relationships and bring our ET community closer together.

So, if you're feeling thankful for someone in your or your child's life, don't hesitate to give them a shout out! Go ahead, spread some love and appreciation to those who matter most to you.

We are hoping to partner with Girls on the Run - Greater Hartford (GOTR) to bring their after

school program to Eli Terry this spring but....we can't do it without YOU!

Read on to find out how you could help.

GOTR provides fun, evidence-based programs that inspire all girls to build their confidence, kindness and decision making skills. It inspires individuals of all abilities to recognize their unique strengths, while building a sense of connection in a team setting. Volunteer coaches facilitate lessons that blend physical activity with life skill development to enable team members to adapt to whatever comes their way. At the end of the season, the team completes a 5K together, which provides a tangible sense of accomplishment and sets a confident mindset into motion.

In order for this program to become a reality, we still need to recruit a SUBSTITUTE COACH. This is a VOLUNTEER position with a commitment of 10-12 weeks. The program meets 2x a week (non-consecutive days), for 75-90 minutes each session. GOTR provides all the necessary training and you can find more information about this important role below.

If you would be interested in becoming a coach, Mrs. Hammer (jhammer@swindsor.k12.ct.us) or Mrs. Army (kathryn.army@gmail.com) would LOVE to chat and answer any questions you may have. Our goal is to solidify coaches early in the new year, so we can begin recruiting our female students in time to start the "season" at the end of February!

Earlier this school year we shared information about one of the core RULER tools - the Charter. If you'd like a refresher on the purpose of this tool and its connection to social-emotional learning, click here!

To help welcome students back following Winter Break, and to help energize our classroom communities for 2024, this month students and teachers will be revisiting and reflecting on their classroom Charters. Because Charters are "living" documents it's important that community members "check-in" frequently to ensure that they are helping themselves and their classmates feel how they want to feel at school!

After reflecting on the words and behaviors they've felt most, as well as least, communities made changes to their Charters, possibly adding or removing more important emotion words, or identifying additional behaviors that would lead to certain emotions.

Ms. Margnelli engaged her students in the first part of this work this week and shared, "Revisiting the Charter - what feeling do you feel the most and why, went awesome! Students generated the idea of, “Doing this again but a feeling we feel the least and talking about why." AMAZING work by our Grade 1 learners!

Below you'll find their reflection and their noticings.

Kindergarten writers LOVED sharing the "writing posters" they created that will help them spark ideas for stories!

We recognize that we have some new families who have joined our ET community, as well as some parents who may have missed the fall deadline for the PTO Family Directory!

As a result, the PTO is holding another "open enrollment" period, allowing new families to submit their information for inclusion in the directory.

Remember...this directory allows families to have access to the contact information for other families, helping to plan playdates, birthday parties, etc. The school cannot provide that information, so this is the way to get it!

If you'd like to be included in this year's directory, please fill out the Google Form below. The completed family directory is always linked at the bottom of each week's newsletter for quick access!

It’s that time of year again. Nothing like a cool treat in the winter months!!

The PTO is sponsoring Eli Terry Family Ice Cream Social night January 26 at school in the cafeteria.

This year we will be doing two separate time waves 6:30pm - 7:15 pm and 7:45 pm - 8:30 pm. Please RSVP by 1/19. We look forward to seeing you there.

Join members of the Eli Terry community at the Hartford Wolf Pack hockey game on Saturday, February 3 at 7:00 pm!

All children attending will be able to head out on the ice to hold the flag during the National Anthem.

Ticket sales are available online now! The deadline to order tickets, guaranteed to be with the ET group, is January 22nd. Visit the link below to order.

• NO SCHOOL - MLK Jr. Day - Monday, January 15th
• Virtual PTO Meeting - Wednesday, January 17th, 7-8PM
• PTO Ice Cream Social - January 26th, 6:15-8:30PM (there will be 2 waves!)
• PTO Wolf Pack Game - Saturday, February 3rd @ 7PM
• 4th Grade NAEP Testing - Wednesday, February 7th (during the school day)
• Global Play Day - Thursday, February 15th (during the school day)
• NO SCHOOL - February Break/Presidents Day - Friday, February 16th & Monday, February 19th

Remember...any of the above events can be quickly added to your own Google Calendar just by clicking the blue hyperlink!

Throughout the year, you may miss something and want to easily access a previous week's newsletter. Thanks to YOUR feedback, we've made that easy. You'll be able to just click the links below! We've included the last few weeks of newsletters here:

January 5th, 2024

December 22nd, 2023

December 15th, 2023

December 8th, 2023

If you would like access to ALL previous newsletters you can find them here!