The Greystone Glance

This has been a wonderful week at Greystone! All teachers of students in grades k -5 received training and materials for a new math intervention program! All are excited about bringing new learning opportunities to their students. Classrooms are celebrating the unique characteristics of each and every student, which we see here in the hallway outside Mrs. Moura's classroom:

The Great Kindness Challenge took place from January 24-28th. Students created a school-wide paper chain that grew as they performed more and more good deeds/acts of kindness!

World Read-Aloud Day is February 2nd. We are pleased to be hosting author Brian Wray and illustrator Shiloh Penfield for a school-wide virtual author visit from 9:15-10:15am on that day. Brian and Shiloh are the author/illustrator of Fen's Drop of Gray, Max's Box, Unraveling Rose, and Maia and the Very Tall Wall.

I am looking forward to the district spelling bee on Thursday, February 3rd at 6:30pm. It will be virtual, and we are proud to have Aaron representing Grade 5, with Laura as an alternate, and Mason representing Grade 4, with Cameron as an alternate.

It would be wonderful if you would join the Greystone PTA and I on February 8th at 6:30pm. I would love to formally introduce myself and get to know the families a little bit better. I promise that as soon as we can, I will host an in-person, proper 'Meet the Principal' event and I can't wait for that opportunity!

They are now scheduled for Thursday, February 10th.

Our next School Improvement Team meeting will be Thursday, February 10th at 4:00pm.

Lisa Caprelli, author of the Unicorn Jazz series will be treating us to a special Valentine's Day Virtual Author Visit! This will happen at 1:45 on February 11th via zoom!

Reading Week will be celebrated throughout the week of March 7th. The theme is "Be You! We are Readers!" We are pleased to be welcoming author Jay Miletsky for a Virtual Author Visit on March 10th. He is the best-selling author of multiple children's books, including Ricky the Rock That Couldn't Roll. Information on how to pre-order a signed copy went home last week.

More information about Reading Week will be shared soon! We are very excited about the many different ways Greystone will celebrate reading, including a Battle of the Books run by Mrs. Eastman, virtual guest readers, and exciting creative writing activities! Thank you to Mrs. Montecalvo and the Reading Week Committee for all your hard work planning this very special time of the year!

Our book club for grades 3-5 met to discuss Friendship According to Humphrey on January 24th. Slacker by Gordon Korman has been chosen for the March 24th book club.

As numbers are rising, we are all keeping our windows open as much as possible, air purifiers on all day, and making sure students sanitize/wash their hands at the start of the school day, before eating snack, lunch, and after recess. Extra masks are always available, and we are following all nurse protocols.

SurveyWorks began on Tuesday, January 18th. It is important for all of us to participate by answering the SurveyWorks questions, because our answers provide meaningful feedback on how to improve Rhode Island Schools.

This is the family link bit.ly/ridefamily and it will ask you to choose our school from a drop-down menu.

This is the teacher link bit.ly/rideteacher and it will also ask you to choose our school from a drop-down menu.

Ms. Sloan was so pleased to be presented with this beautiful artwork from a first grader!

Malachi from Mrs. Moura’s class is always kind to his friends and helps them to make safe choices!

Sky from Mrs. Lucca's class kept everyone safe and everything orderly by walking around the room and pushing in all the chairs that were left out.

Cameron was kind to his friend, encouraging him to do something that was a little scary for him.

Brayden from Mrs. Robert's class is always so helpful to Mrs. Montecalvo and other students, when technology assistance is needed!

I appreciated the attentiveness of Mrs. Lucca's class while I read them a story and facilitated this "Wrinkled Heart" activity!

We are excited to welcome Samira to our wonderful Greystone community!

"When we work together, we bring out the best in each other."

Teamwork creates synergy. Synergy is the working together of two things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. There is an increased effectiveness when two or more people work together. When we work together, we bring out the best in each other. Teamwork also promotes a sense of achievement, equity, and camaraderie. I feel the strength of our team in many ways each day.

Inspiring Story:

Once there was a man who was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to read a map while driving, he accidentally drove off the road into a deep, muddy ditch. Though he wasn't injured, his car was stuck, so the man walked to a nearby farm.

There he saw an old farmer and asked for help. The farmer replied, "Warwick can get you out of that ditch,'" pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the old run-down mule and then looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, "Yep, old Warwick can do the job."

The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and Warwick made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reigns he shouted, "Pull Fred! Pull Ted! Pull Jack! Pull Warwick!" And the mule pulled the car from the ditch with very little effort.

The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule and asked, "Why did you call out all those names before you called Warwick?"

The farmer grinned and said, "Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he is part of a team, he doesn't mind pulling."

Email: jennifer.quattrucci@npsd.k12.ri.us
Website: greystone.nprovschools.org/
Location: 100 Morgan Avenue, North Providence, RI, USA
Phone: (401) 233-1130
Facebook: Facebook.com/Greystone-Elementary-School-309406046426904/
Twitter: @GreystoneEsRI