Good Evening Bishop Woods Families,

I am changing things up for my weekly newsletters! During these days of quarantine, I am missing hugs from students, daily visits to my office, and the smiles and words of encouragement from our students, parents, and staff the most. While academics are extremely important, what is also important is the connections that we share as a Bishop Woods family. Each week, I will be featuring photos of students, families and staff as they work and play from home.This will be a great opportunity for us to share our moments with one another from our virtual worlds! I am hoping we will only be apart for a short time, but understanding that it must be so for now.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, which we missed celebrating together last Tuesday, we will focus on the Luck of the Irish! The prompt for pics and/or videos for this week is "Why are you lucky?" Although this is a time of uncertainty, we must think of all the positives in our lives. You can explain in writing, caption the picture/video, or any way you wish! Be creative! Please submit photos or videos to me at dina.natalino@nhboe.net or share them through Remind text. I will choose a few to include in next week's newsletter.

Each week I will also share a photo from my life. The picture this week is of my family, which I am lucky to have! This photo was taken in January when we attended a family event. From left to right: Mikey (my middle son), Nico (my youngest son), me, Michael (my husband), and Artie (my oldest son). Even though Nico is the youngest, he is the tallest one!

Love & hugs, from my home to yours,

Mrs. Natalino

Welcome to our Bishop Woods Family, Dominic B.! Dominic has joined Ms. Stevens' 1st grade class! He is loving his new book in this picture! Happy Reading Dominic!

While I am unable to announce birthdays over the loud speaker, we will be sure to share birthdays in our weekly newsletter for now! Happy Birthday to the following members of our Bishop Woods family who have celebrated since we left school last week, and will be celebrating this week.

Happy Belated Birthday!

March 13th - Tatiana A. (Grade 8), Ariellah D. (Grade 2), Dylan M. (Grade 5) & Ms. Dabney (Administrative Assistant)

March 14th - Ms. Cassidy (Special Education Teacher)

March 15th - Eric W. (Grade 6)

March 16th - Zulaika K. (Grade 7)

March 18th - Gina Marie C. (Grade 7), Xyriah L. (Grade 5), Gia L. (Grade K)

March 19th - Gabriel S. (Grade 4)

March 20th - Jermaine C. (Grade 4)

Celebrating Today!

March 22 - Sabrina S. (Grade K)

Celebrating This Week!

March 25th - Mr. Paul (Assistant Building Manager)

March 26th - Maleah C. (Grade 4) and Esmatullah M. (Grade 5)

March 27th - Aniyah S. (Grade 5) and Zariyah S. (Grade 5)

March 28th - Caden S. (Grade 1)

A Message from Ms. Stevens, Grade 1 Teacher - Click on her picture to hear her message!

Ms. Giammattei was also LIVE on Facebook this week! Unfortunately, I was unable to copy Facebook Live video! Like our Facebook page "Bishop Woods Architecture & Design Magnet School" to check her out!

Bishop Woods School will be distributing student Chromebooks (grades 1-8) and iPads (grade K) for families in need of a device for learning from home. This distribution will occur THIS Monday, March 23rd. This will be the only day that distribution will occur, due to Governor Lamont’s request to stay in place as of 8pm Monday evening. A legal parent/guardian must be the one to pick up the device, as signatures will be needed.

https://forms.gle/9ussdnRdTBwMXXq37

The district is currently working on an online learning plan. Teachers will be reaching out with more information this week. Since this is new to us, I expect there will be some glitches...but we will work through them together. For this week, students should continue focusing on work that was sent home and/or posted on our webpage. There are hard copies of this work available at Bishop Woods M-F from 9am-12pm as well.

I am hoping our families can make the best of this situation. Change is not easy, but necessary at this time! Do what you can to support your child's learning from home, but do not make yourselves sick with worry over it. The Bishop Woods staff is available to support you...just reach out!

All students in grades 1-8 have access to iReady Math, and students in grades 1-5 have access to iReady Reading. The link to iReady is below, along with directions for accessing the program from home. Our students should be working in these programs daily. All students should know their username and password. If not, please reach out to their teacher who can provide this information.

Grade 6-8 students that are Scholastic Read 180 should continue to work from home as well. The are aware of the website and their log-in information. Ms. Heiter is also sharing information on her Google Classroom.

If you are getting an error message, and using an iPad or tablet, you need to download the i-Ready app. If you are getting an error on a computer, you most likely need to upgrade your browser. Contact your child's teacher if you are running in to problems and he/she can troubleshoot with you. I have provided directions for parents as a link below.

Each week we will provide a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tip, lesson or article for families. Some will be geared towards elementary school, while others will be geared towards our middle grades.

Elementary Grade Students

During this time of uncertainty and change, we may be unsure of how are children are feeling. It is important to help them develop their communication vocabulary regarding their feelings.

Help reinforce your child's growing emotional vocabulary by giving words to how they may be feeling in your day-to-day interactions with them. For example, "You look like a girl who is FRUSTRATED by waiting in this long line." Help your child verbalize their feelings. This allows a child to communicate more clearly with others about their needs.

Below are some links to resources/activities that will help reinforce your child's vocabulary. Thanks to Emotional ABCs free accounts for teachers, I am able to provide this information for you. Some ideas for you (but be creative)!

• Use the Vocabulary Word Art to help teach new vocabulary, and have students apply new vocabulary using the Moody Face Cards (Moody is a character that will come up in multiple lessons!)
• Students can act our each mood.
• Students can also document situations when they have felt each emotion.
• Students can create an emotion book.
• If you have a printer, print these cards out and engage in activities like matching the word to the face card or coloring the face cards.
• Continue to use these vocabulary words with your child so that they become part of their own vocabulary. Repeated exposures to a term is how a child will learn its meaning best.

Middle Grade Students

Here is a link that provides information on Coronavirus, along with strategies for students that are feeling worried:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjJxYM3aPbUiyzYyRdCRWOkaDszdmS48/view?usp=sharing

Bishop Woods Weekly News is a pretty boring newsletter title! I am looking for a more catchy name! If you have an idea, submit it in the form below. I will send all options out to vote next week and the winner will be announced the following week! Parents, students and staff are all welcome to submit ideas!

https://forms.gle/Z3sF5YKQF6QrczNs6

Email: dina.natalino@nhboe.net
Website: https://www.bishopwoodsschool.com/
Location: 1481 Quinnipiac Avenue, New Haven, CT, USA
Phone: (475) 220-7300
Twitter: @BWoodsNewHaven

Mrs. Natalino - 203-654-9533

Ms. Crisci - 475-221-1633

If you prefer to receive information via text messages, be sure to sign up for Remind texts! Text @bwfam to the phone # 81010 to sign up!