North Scituate Elementary School

Happy March! February was a very busy month of celebrating the 100th day of school, Valentine's Day, Heart Health Awareness, a visit from the school dentist, and more. As a school, students and staff are focusing on "respecting all" which is our core value of the month. Mrs. Soccio will be reading to each classroom and will be encouraging all students to lead with respect.

It will soon be time to begin planning for the 2020-2021 school year! We will be discussing classroom placement, and the faculty, staff and I will spend time considering each student's strengths and needs. The focus will be on ensuring balanced classrooms that are conducive to an optimal teaching and learning environment. Academic performance, learning styles, social and emotional growth, and a variety of other factors will be considered. If there are any special considerations about your child that you would like to make sure we take into account throughout this process, please do so in writing no later than May1st. Due to fluctuating enrollment, classroom consolidation and/or additions, placement adjustments may occur prior to the start of school.

REMINDER: Yearbooks can be ordered here using ID code 1980520.

Check out this month's Library Newsletter here.

Warm Regards,

Kaitlin M. Soccio, Principal

Kaitlin.Soccio@ScituateSchoolsRI.net

As we say goodbye to February, it is important to remember Attendance at school matters. Here are a few tips to keep your children healthy.

a. Dress them in layers for the varying temperature changes throughout the day.

b. Stress the importance of eating a good breakfast every morning.

c. Stress hand washing, particularly in the winter months. Send your child to school with a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Research shows that something as simple as hand washing can improve attendance.

d. Talk to your doctor or school nurse about when a sick child should come to school. Most health providers allow a child to attend with a cold, but not with a fever.

Congratulations to our February individual student winners:

• Kindergarten: Justin Petrin
• Grade 1: Sam Chisholm
• Grade 2: Emily Camp
• Grade 3: Tessa Bargnesi
• Grade 4: Andrew Bettez
• Grade 5: Haley Birmingham

All students get a fresh start for March! Keep shining, North Scituate Stars!

• The SurveyWorks window closes on March 31st! If you haven't already, there is still time! To take the survey, visit: surveys.panoramaed.com/ride and enter 30106family.
• Don't miss out on an opportunity to share your honest feedback about our school.
• We appreciate your participation in our efforts to improve our school.

Congratulations to Fabiola Beene and Fallon Green for representing North Scituate School at our district spelling bee. We are very proud of our North Scituate Stars. Congratulations to Tristan Boyns, our district winner, from the middle school. He will compete at the state-wide bee this month.

As a North Scituate STAR, the "R" stands for "respect all" and is one of our core values. Mrs. Soccio will be reading My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook. This book addresses the value of respecting others by listening and waiting for their turn to speak. Mrs. Soccio is looking forward to having a discussion around this topic with all students. The pictures below are from our February community meeting in the gymnasium.

This is all part of the American Heart Association’s new Kids Heart Challenge, an innovative and fun program that prepares elementary school students for a healthier future at campuses all across the country. In addition to taking the healthy pledge, students learn how their hearts work and raise money to keep other hearts working.

Students also learn the importance of teamwork and helping other people, all while building their self-esteem in an exciting and active way.

Program activities include:

• Kids Heart Challenge Jump: Students compete to see who can jump the most times in a minute, while learning about how it burns calories, builds agility and increases bone density.
• Kids Heart Challenge Hoops: A heart-pumping basketball-based activity that challenges students to work as a team.
• Kids Heart Challenge Dance: Students burn calories and build confidence as they collaborate and express their creativity with dance moves to the “Cha Cha Slide” or “Space Jam.”
• Kids Heart Challenge Warrior: Students build strength and confidence as they crawl, run and leap as they navigate the obstacle course’s cones, hurdles and balance beam.

This year, our school raised $5,498.00 for the American Heart Association. Thank you to all students and families who participated in this event. Thank you to Mr. Ceprano and Ms. Crossley for leading this work. Photos below are from our third graders during a combined gym class!

The North Scituate Student Council's Annual Pennies for Patients fundraiser will be accepting donations from March 9th - 27th. Students can donate pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills towards this fundraiser. Classes will be competing for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world’s largest non-profit health organization dedicated to finding cures for blood cancers. Our Pennies for Patients program is for elementary and middle schools that would like to support us in our mission to create a world without cancer by conducting a fundraising campaign. By participating in Pennies for Patients, teachers and administrators will have opportunities to incorporate a unique STEM curriculum into their classrooms that give students an insider's look into LLS-funded research, and where their money gets invested.

Kindergarten students are completing work place stations. Some are using geoboards to create shapes, pattern blocks to replicate pictures, unifix cubes to practice counting, and coins to add to a specific sum. We love seeing this engaging work.

Students in first grade celebrated the 100th day of school with projects, pattern blocks, unfix cubes, and more using 100! Each student shared their project with their classmates and the school was able to view them throughout the day.

Student in grade 2 exploring using ScratchJr during STEAM enrichment time.

ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5-7) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing.

Students present their Rock & Mineral projects to their class using Google Slides. Students have been researching their topic for a few weeks as this was a culminating project for this science unit.

Student use NoRedInk to practice grammar skills during Writing Workshop Rotations. To learn more about NoRedInk, click here.

Students in grade 4 are using Tynker, a coding program, during STEAM enrichment time. To learn more about Tynker, click here.

Students in grade 5 explore using Tynker, a coding program, during STEAM enrichment time. Students simply connect blocks to create games, animations and stories, allowing them to focus on the logic behind the code.

Please keep in mind the following recommendations:

• Students should be fever-free and have no vomiting for 24 hours before returning to school following illness.

• Please notify the school if your child will be absent and please let us know what symptoms your child is experiencing.

• Please review the importance of handwashing with your child. The importance of handwashing in preventing the spread of contagious illness cannot be overstated.

If you have been watching or reading the news, you’ve likely been hearing about the new human coronavirus, discovered in Wuhan City, China in December 2019.

H. Cody Meissner, MD, FAAP, from healthychildren.org, has described Human Coronoviruses as a family of viruses that commonly cause mild to moderate illnesses like the common cold. He states that public health officials are actively investigating this new virus to learn about how easily it spreads from person to person. It has been reported that people with confirmed cases of this Novel Coronavirus reported symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath, ranging from mild to severe.

At this point there is no vaccine available to prevent infection with this new virus, so, to protect your family from this virus and other viruses, you can do the following:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or if soap and water is unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Keep your kids away from others who are sick or keep them home if they are ill.

• Teach kids to cough into their arm or elbow, not their hands.

• Clean and disinfect household objects and surfaces in your home.

• Teach kids to keep their hands away from their eyes, nose and mouth.

Health officials are encouraging families to stay up to date about this situation, as new information becomes available about how to prevent this new coronavirus from spreading in homes and communities. For the most up to date and accurate information, visit: https://cdc.gov/coronavirus/ or https://health.ri.gov/diseases/respiratory/?parm=163.

Please call or contact me anytime with questions or concerns!

Colleen McCann, RN, CSNT

Self-Control Skills for Children

Self-control is a skill that enables the child to suppress undesirable, inappropriate behaviors and act in socially acceptable ways. It enables him or her to decide how to act and to choose a good course of action. Children are not born with self-control-it is a learned skill. They learn more effectively through direct teaching along with the use of rewards and consequences. They need consistent teaching from parents on handling frustration. This teaching will help them to control their reactions and substitute more effective responses. Helping your child stay in control is not always easy especially when they are feeling angry, frustrated or hurt. Try teaching your child to do the following when he or she is angry.

• Relax-Teach your child to take a deep breath and think about what is making them mad. Deep breathing and reflection can be ways to help your child calm down.

• Talk- Ask your child to use words to express how he or she is feeling. This will encourage your child to work through the problem.

• Think- Ask your child to think about different ways he or she can make the feelings of anger go away. Some suggestions are; take a walk, draw, or find a solution to the problem that made them angry.

Try taking these steps with your family:

1. When your child is struggling with self-control, use it as an opportunity to teach them what they can do to regain control.

2. Working with others can sometimes be frustrating. Teach your child what to do if he or she is having trouble working with others.

3. Remind children that the more they practice self-control the better they will be at controlling themselves. Parents can be a good teacher by modeling appropropriate self-control in front of their children.

Mrs. Schiappa MA, CAGS

School Psychologist

Thank you to all the families who joined us at Panera for our fundraiser night. Together, we raised $143.18.

Stop & Shop A+ School Rewards Program- click here for more information. The school is still collecting empty ink cartridges and box tops.

Our next PTO meeting will be on Wednesday, March 18th at 6:30pm in the school library.

Please email NorthScituatePTO@gmail.com with any questions.

• Children who will be five years old by September 1, 2020 are eligible to attend kindergarten in September 2020. The Scituate School Department requires registration for Kindergarten in Scituate.

• The registration date for all three Scituate elementary schools is Wednesday, April 8, 2020.

• Parents of children scheduled to attend kindergarten this fall should contact the school of attendance so that a registration packet can be sent to you prior to the registration date.

• Parents/guardians of students whose last name begins with the letters A-L are asked to register between 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM.

• Parents/guardians of students whose last name begins with the letters M-Z are asked to register between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM.

Clayville School:

3 George Washington Highway, Clayville

Phone: 647-4115

Hope School:

391 North Road, Hope

Phone: 821-3651

North Scituate School:

46 Institute Lane, North Scituate

Phone: 647-4110

If you have a question regarding which school your child will attend based on your address, please contact the Scituate School Department at 401-647-4100. Be advised that the Scituate School Department reserves the right to selectively redistrict your child to another Scituate elementary school based on class size issues. In most years this involves a relatively small number of students.

Further, if your child will not be five years old by September 1, 2020, but will turn five by October 1, 2020 and you desire to be considered for a waiver, you must do so by May 17, 2020.

The Scituate School Committee's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 3rd at Scituate High School Media Center! All members of the school community are encouraged to attend. The meetings begin at 7 p.m. and can also be streamed at http://www.clerkbase.com/ScituateSDStreamPage.htm.

03/02-06: Dr. Seuss Week (more details to come)

03/03: School Committee Meeting 7pm

03/06: Trimester 2 Closes

03/13: Audubon Society Visits our Kindergarten Classrooms

03/17: Report Cards sent home

03/18: PTO Meeting 6:30PM

03/20: Girls' Choice Event- 6:00pm Alpine Country Club

03/24-26: Cuozzo's Pizza Fundraiser

03/29: Boys Event- 9-11am at Dave & Busters

04/03: Superintendent's Open Office Hour 1-2PM

Email: kaitlin.soccio@scituateschoolri.net
Website: https://nses.scituateschoolsri.net/
Location: 46 Institute Lane, Scituate, RI, USA
Phone: 401-647-4110
Twitter: @NScituateSchool