Happy Holidays!

Firefly enjoyed a walk to Shelburne Wine and Coffee for hot chocolate with whipped cream on Thursday.  Everyone had a terrific time and did a fantastic job of remembering our safety rules.  Our class received many thank yous from Mrs. Nakhleh's class for inviting them to join us.
Lily did a terrific presentation for her Discovery Table about Art this week.  She shared some of her own art work and taught us about the color wheel.
We had a little holiday treat during snack time today which included juice and homemade cookies.  A big thank you to those parents who contributed to our special holiday treat.
A big thank you to everyone for all the beautiful cards and gifts I received.  I hope everyone has a terrific holiday break and I will see you all in 2014!

Our Kids' Reading Blog Is Up and Running!

Our Reading Blog is now up and running.  It can easily be accessed by clicking on Kid's Blog in the upper right hand corner of this blog.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the interest everyone has had in posting to this blog!  My email has been flooded with pending posts from all of my friends. Please take a moment to log on and read some of the posts and leave a comment when you have time. It is very exciting for kids to get comments on their posts, and it encourages them to continue to post.
Our class made approximately $100 at the Craft Fair this past weekend.  We have decided to use our earnings to walk into town for a hot chocolate this week.  We also decided that since we have enough money, it would be nice to include the Firefly first graders.  All my friends should feel very proud of the mature, generous and kind decision they have made to use their earnings to include the entire Firefly Team in this event.
We sent our Flat Stanleys on their adventures around the world today.  We look forward to having them return to us after the new year ready to share about the places they have been.  In the meantime, we will continue to learn more about physical geography and will take some time to learn about maps and practice using different maps to locate information.  We will also spend some time after the new year creating our own maps and spend some time sharing those.
Mr. Madden joined us this week to teach a few lessons in math.  We had a lot of fun learning about standard and nonstandard units of measure and spent some time practicing measuring a variety of things using both kinds of measurement.  We learned about inches, feet and yards and talked about the importance of measuring accurately.
With Winter upon us, I would like to remind everyone to make sure your child comes to school dressed to play outside in the cold.  We have had many children come to school this week without snow pants, boots, hats and mittens.  With the cold weather we have been having, children need to have all their winter gear to stay warm outside.  Please also find a way to mark your child's belongings so they can identify them.  We have many children who have the same boots and have had several mix ups this week.
Friday Folders are coming home with 2 class pictures today.  Please keep both of them.  There was a problem with the spelling of my name so the company printed an extra batch.  Unfortunately, my name is still spelled wrong...
Have a great weekend and stay warm!

This slideshow design customized with Smilebox

Mindful Movements

Vicky Wideman kicked off a series of lessons this week about Mindful Movements.  She is teaching students a variety of techniques to help them be mindful and feel relaxed.  She will continue with these lessons weekly through the end of January.
Our class has been working hard this week finishing up our creations for the Holiday Craft Fair.  We will be selling homemade necklaces/ornaments, gift boxes, holiday tags and cards, and holiday balloons.  A huge thank you to Anne Marcoe for helping us with these projects.  Many of my friends have decided they want to buy their own creations and have already brought their money to school to purchase them.  We have already earned $22 and the Craft Fair hasn't even started yet! The Craft Fair will take place tomorrow (Sat., 12/7) from 9:30-1:30.  A big thank you to those families who have offered to cover our booth for part of this time.  If you are interested in helping out, we can always use more helpers!
Thank you to everyone for getting our Flat Stanley project addresses back to school already.  We have been working hard decorating our Flat Stanleys and creating a journal to send along on his adventure.  We hope to get our envelopes addressed and in the mail by the end of next week.  With any luck, we may have some mail back when we return from our Holiday Break!
Progress Reports are coming home in Friday Folders today.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  Everyone has been working hard in school and has a lot to be proud of!
Hope to see you at the Craft Fair!

Publishing Party

This slideshow personalized with Smilebox A big thank you to everyone for attending our publishing party this week.  Everyone was very excited to share their writing with their families.  After Thanksgiving we will be moving on to another writing unit. Many thanks to our Hands On Nature parents for another great lesson this week.  We learned about different kinds of cones, and spent some time outside identifying various kinds of cones.  There will be no share for the month of December.  It is a short and busy school month, so we will wait until January to start sharing again. We have been busy making necklaces to sell at the Holiday Craft Fair.  After Thanksgiving Break we will be painting our necklaces and making gift boxes out of paper to sell.  Many thanks to Anne Marcoe for helping out with this project.  The Craft Fair will take place on Sat.,  December 7th from 9:30-1:30.  I am looking for families to work at our table for an hour during this event.  If you are able to help out, please email me with the time that works for your family. Have a great Thanksgiving!

November PTO Minutes

PTO NOTES & NEWS FOR NOVEMBER

SUPPORT THE PTO WHEN YOU SHOP ON AMAZON!  Click on the link on the PTO page of the SCS website each time you shop at Amazon and the PTO will receive up to 15% of your purchase!

The PTO wants your input!  Please take our  SURVEY by clicking on the link on the PTO page of the SCS website or click on the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTHSL

The SCHOOL DIRECTORY is finished and has been distributed.  Extra copies can be purchased for $5 from Esther or at the Holiday Fair.  We raised over $1500 in business listings.  Please solicit these LOCAL BUSINESSES that have supported the PTO.

HANNAFORD HELPS SCHOOLS program ends on December 1.  Please remember to bring all of your "schools" receipts to the office or put in the kiosk at Hannaford.

The PTO decided to replace the Flower Power fundraiser with a new local plant fundraiser through Hinesburg company, RED WAGON PLANTS.  More info. on this in the spring.

The PTO FALL GRANT COMMITTEE met and distributed $5000 in grants to teachers and staff!  Some of the great things we've funded are:  New instruments for K-8 music programs, books to support the Common Core, an on-line book subscription, playground equipment for EEE/Kindergarten, and math tools.

The WINTER GEAR DRIVE is still happening.  The need is as great as ever for winter gear for all age children and adults.  Box in front of office.

IMAGINATION PLAYGROUND is at SCS again!  This interactive mobile exhibit on loan from the Green Mountain Children's Museum will be shared by all of our primary classrooms through November.

The CVU ROBOTICS TEAM treated middle school students to demonstrations of various robotics and a 3-D printer!

The 2 Vermont based stars of the documentary WRETCHES & JABBERERS visited with 6th graders culminating their lesson of a Skills4Life Bullying & Harassment unit.

7th graders enjoyed STEPAFRIKA at the Flynn as a powerful conclusion to their world music culture unit.

David Southworth's 7th graders had the opportunity to take control of a CAMERA ON BOARD THE INT'L SPACE STATION and took some great pictures!

Officer Thomas Nash is giving presentations to all middle school students on INTERNET SAFETY.   We will also be sponsoring a parent education night with him on January 29.

Teachers and staff have attended PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT on the topics of suicide prevention and youth stress and anxiety.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

HOLIDAY FAIR:  Sat. 12/7, 9:30a - 1:30p.  Adult and child made crafts and goodies. and games! Great place to do your holiday shopping - fun for the whole family!

HELP WANTED:

• Setting up and decorating for the Holiday Fair:  Friday, 12/6 from 3p - whenever.
• Clean-up and breakdown after Holiday Fair:  Saturday, 12/7

C:  Leslie Borrok (leslie@borrok.com)

THANK YOU TO:

• Amy Knight for coordinating the Newberry Cup Bake Sale.
• Everyone who donated baked goods or helped at the Newberry Cup.
• Everyone who supported and helped distribute Genevieve Gift Wrap.
• Leslie Borrok and Lisa Merrill for coordinating the directory and Kim Schmitt, Valerie Richardson, Corinne Levinthal and Elaine brand for their tremendous amount of work on the directory.

NEXT PTO MEETING:   TUES. DEC. 10 @ 6P.  Pizza and babysitting provided and we will have a cookie swap - bring 3 dozen of your favorite cookies!

A Writing Celebration!

We said good-bye to our UVM Sophomore student, Celia, this week and said hello to our student teacher this spring, Miss Blair.  Miss Blair will be joining us beginning in January and will be with us until May.  We are excited to have her join our classroom community!
We are planning our Writing Celebration for this Thursday at 1:30 pm.  We will be sharing our narrative stories and would love to have parents join us.  We have been working hard and have some great stories to share that show what powerful writers we have become!
Next Friday, November 22nd, we will be having a pajama party and read-a-thon.  Students are invited to bring some of their favorite books from home for this event.  We will be spending the day reading in our pajamas!
I am still looking for volunteers to help with the Holiday Craft Fair.  A huge thank you to Anne Marcoe for coming forward to help!  I would love to have a couple other parents help out to prepare for this event.
Wow!  I was so impressed with the number of children who chose to do the Active Schools extra homework this week.  We have been sharing our new routines the past several days and will continue with that through the end of next week.  I must say, we have some very interesting new exercise routines!
Have a terrific weekend!

This free slideshow design made with Smilebox

Imagination Playground Fun!

Slideshow made with Smilebox

Firefly Second Grade had a terrific time at the Imagination Playground this week.  It was wonderful to see all the creative ways our second grade class were able to use and play with this playground.  It was also terrific to see how much team work was naturally occurring to try to create a structure that reached the ceiling.  We will continue to visit the Imagination Playground periodically throughout the months of November and December.
We have been working hard to persevere during our Math lessons this week.  We have been using an open number line to add and subtract two digit numbers.  We have also been using the open number line to solve problems. We have spent some time during Number Corner building arrays and creating equations to represent those arrays.  We have also been working toward greater fluency with our math facts.
Our narrative unit in Writers' Workshop will be coming to a close very soon.  We are working hard to edit our writing and include more powerful language.  When we are finished with this unit we will be sharing our writing with other classes.
I have not had anyone contact me with interest in helping out with our Craft Fair projects.  I am hoping to get a couple of parents to help out with this event.  Please contact me if you are interested or I may have to reconsider participating in this event.
Have a terrific weekend!

Imagination Playground Coming to SCS

This digital slideshow customized with Smilebox

The Imagination Playground is back for the months of November and December!  The Imagination Playground is a mobile play system made up of big blue blocks in many unique shapes and sizes. The mission of Imagination Playground transform the lives of children around the world through active, creative play.  Firefly will be visiting this playground several times during the next two months.  We had a terrific time last year and look forward to having another opportunity to enjoy this again this year!
We had a terrific "Harvest Party" on October 31st.  We played games and enjoyed snacks and beverages sent in by parents.  A huge thank you to those of you who contributed to our party.
A reminder that this Friday, November 8th is picture re-take day.  If you would like your child to have his/her picture taken again, please return their photos to me before November 8th.
Firefly First Grade will not be participating in the Holiday Craft Fair, but I would like our class to participate, so our class will be sharing a table with the Dragonfly Team.  If you are interested in helping out making crafts for this event, please send me an email.  We have some ideas for things to make, but are open to other ideas you may have.
Have a great weekend!

Champlain Students Read Aloud Night

October 25, 2013

Dear Families,

Pam Cyr and Joey Adams (teachers at SCS) teach a “Children’s Literature and Expressive Arts” class at Champlain College. We have invited our Champlain students to visit Shelburne Community School on November 4, 2013. The purpose of this visit is to immerse our students into our bountiful resources of literature, and provide them with an opportunity to read aloud literature to children.

We would like to invite your child to join us on November 4th, 6:00-7:00 p.m. at the SCS library.  Our Champlain College students will read aloud picture books to the children, and we will enjoy cookies, apples, and lemonade. Some of our Champlain students have even created math games to play with children!

Please email one of us  by Saturday, November 2nd if your child will be able to join us (jadams@cssu.org or pcyr@cssu.org). We really appreciate your child's participation in this important event for our students.

Warm Regards,

Joey Adams

Hands On Nature

It was great to connect with everyone for parent conferences and share the work your amazing children are doing in Second Grade.  Every student in our classroom has a lot to celebrate with their learning!
We will finish up our unit about closed syllable exceptions next week and will move on to a unit about suffixes in Fundations.  We will also be finishing up our Small Moments writing unit in the next couple of weeks. This week Mrs. Bushey visited our class to teach us more about what powerful writers do.  We will continue to work on our "Tricky Words" unit in Reader's Workshop and will focus on strategies we can use when we come to an unfamiliar word.
Our current math unit will finish up with an assessment of students' understanding of place value.  We will then move into a unit that will focus on addition and subtraction within one hundred.
We will continue with our science unit about the earth, the moon and the night sky.  We began the unit learning about differences between the day and night sky. We will begin to look at changes in the moon next week. 
A huge thank you to our Hands On Nature parents for another fabulous lesson about leaves.  We learned that leaves come in a variety of shapes and sizes but they are all designed to make food
for the plant, using sunlight, water and air and their green pigment, chlorophyll. We had a terrific time making leaf prints and creating leaf creatures.
Congratulations to Lily O'Brien for completing both addition and subtraction in Fastt Math.  Mr. Madden came to our classroom this week to present Lily with her certificates and remind our class of the importance of getting our math facts into long term memory.
Firefly Second grade will be having a "Harvest Party" on the afternoon of October 31st.  We will be enjoying snacks and playing some games.  Please go to the Celebrations sign up on the Firefly webpage if you would like to contribute something for our party.
Picture retakes have been post-poned again due to the fact that photos from our original photo day have just arrived today. Our new re-take date will be November 8th.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Free photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Oops, this never got posted!

h

Slideshow design created with Smilebox We continued to learn about good strategies readers use and practiced those strategies through our reading journals this week.  We also learned about authors' intent and did some close reading during Writer's Workshop to learn about what master authors do to make their writing powerful.  Everyone is working very hard on their small moments to use the learning we have gained through our mini-lessons. We continued to work on fact fluency with addition and subtraction during math this week.  We currently have many work stations that reinforce the development of fact fluency.  In addition to that, we have been learning about measurement and have been practicing measuring accurately using unifix cubes.  We have been measuring both length and perimeter. We finished our All About Me/Community unit today with a discussion of how to build unity in our community.  We will begin a new Science unit on Monday about the earth, moon and the night sky. A final reminder to sign up for parent conferences that are scheduled for this Thursday.  The weeks following conference day are very busy and it will be difficult for me to schedule a make up conference. Have a great weekend!

October PTO Meeting Minutes

PTO Minutes– October 8, 2013

Principals Report

▪ UA Curriculum night will take place on October 22nd

▪ Building committee formed to look at upgrades to facility and maintenance of big ticket items. Forum on November 12th

▪ Great attendance by the SKAT program 86 kids attending per week (separate from after school athletics)

▪ Part 2 has 70+ kids after school, starting to increase programming

▪ Professional development: Math Studio for teachers

Treasurers Report

▪ Genevieve fundraiser is behind estimates: estimated 8k net fundraising vs 13k in 2012

▪ Delayed the budget approval until November to adjust Genevieve fundraising numbers

▪ Discussed team donations: should they go through the school directly and not through PTO

▪ Discussed possible reasons why there was a reduced gift wrap sale this year

▪ Don't forget box tops and Hannaford Helps Schools (end Dec 1)

Fundraising Update

▪ Genevieve Gift Wrap – estimated 8k net fundraising vs 13 k in 2012

▪ School Directory Business Listing - has brought in an estimated $1,717.42(plus $750 from Volvo & Health Living still to

come in)

▪ Amazon School Rewards Program - we will be placing a link on the school website where people can click on it, order

things off of Amazon and SCS will earn money off of every $$ that is spent. More information to follow shortly.

▪ Donate Online – you can now donate online to the SCS PTO through Paypal https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?

cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=83QQ22GDZFRLJ

Fund Spending Update

▪ School Directory - Printing Estimate $1400

▪ Visiting Artist Program - we will not be using Jon Gailmor this year and instead we will be doing a program with the

Flynn Theatre and integrating the arts into the classrooms

▪ Fall Grant Committee Meeting – will take place on November 4th

participating in this committee meeting, which awards grants to teachers and staff, is welcome to come.

Mark Your Calendars

▪ Walking Wednesdays - every Wednesday in October (meet at 7:30 at Jaime 2 Coats or the Parade Grounds)

▪ Newberry Cup Bake Sale – October 12th

▪ UA Curriculum Night – October 22nd

▪ Genevieve Gift Wrap Distribution – October 22nd

Help Wanted

▪ Flower Gardens (lisawvt@hotmail.com)

▪ PTO Bulletin Boards (sweeneyrs@gmail.com)

▪ Newberry Cup Bake Sale (amybknight@gmail.com)

▪ CY Mentor Program (aliceandy@myfairpoint.net) - Alice Brown is the new coordinator, a great opportunity to help kids

that can benefit from an extra adult relationship in their life.  Mentoring takes place once a week during the school day

Sign Up to Volunteer Online - you can sign up to volunteer any time online:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlIV5TlL1TUvdDA0MXhsUDNqbnNuYUFNOS1XU1o2TXc#gid=0

Other Business

▪ Parent Education Nights – Amy Buckley, the new SAP Coordinator is working with the Burlington Police to hold a event

to discuss cyber bullying and monitoring. This even will be appropriate for all ages.

▪ Coat Drive – kids and adult’s warm winter gear is still needed. The drop box is right in front of the Front Office

▪ Parent Survey – a survey will be sent out shortly with questions to parents on how to raise funds, what sort of events

people want to see, and where should the money go

▪ After School Programming - Matt Wormser discussed different opportunities for parents to help lead after school

programs, 1, 4, 12 week curriculums? Math club, Spanish, cooking, anything! What sort of after school enrichment can

you help support?

▪ Facebook – be sure to “like” us on Facebook and keep up to date with everything happening at the school

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shelburne-Community-School-PTO/112842845467209

Thank You’s 5

▪ Genevieve Gift Wrap - Ginger Williamson and Zynnia Seidita for heading this up and Jennifer Cairns, Dawn Fragola,

Lisa Merrill and Jana Cowan for their help getting the sheets reconciled

▪ School Directory – Dawn Fragola and Corinne Levinthal for their help soliciting business listings

▪ PTO Bulletin Board – Rita Daley and Teresa Shuptrine

UA Curriculum Night

Save the date:  October 22, 2013 6:30- 7:30 pm Unified Arts Curriculum Night An opportunity to meet the unified arts teachers, visit the classrooms, and learn about each program through student work, and hands on activities. This evening is for parents and students. More details to follow.

Text to Self Connections

Our Reader's Workshop focused on schema and text to self connections this week.  We spent time using post-it notes to write down our connections to the stories we were reading.  Next week we will talk about visualization as a strategy good readers use.  We have been learning how to edit our work during Writer's Workshop.   We are now using checklists to help guide us through this process.  We are getting our Small Moments ready for our portfolios so we can share those at conferences on October 17th.
This week we focused on place value in Math.  We have been learning about ones, tens and hundreds.  We are playing a variety of games during work stations that reinforce this learning.
We continued to work in groups during our Social Studies Community Unit this week.  This unit is giving us a chance to get to know our first grade Firefly friends better and is also giving us an opportunity to model  teamwork skills for our first grade friends.  We will continue to grow our teamwork skills through this unit as they will be very helpful to us in every part of our lives.
This week's Friday Folder includes book order forms for the month of September, October and November.  If you are interested in ordering please look in this week's Friday Folder for this information.
Please remember to sign up for a conference.  Conferences are coming up quickly on October 17th!

Free slideshow created with Smilebox

All About Me Shares

Make a picture slideshow

Our team finished our "All About Me" balloons and shared with our peers this week.  We will be hanging our balloons in the kiva area so please be sure to check them out when you come to school for conferences.  We continued our All About Me/ Community unit this week by talking about communities and began team building activities through cooperative learning.  We will continue to develop our team work skills through cooperative learning next week.
We are finishing our first unit in Fundations and will begin Unit 2 next week.  We have been learning about digraphs and blends and will begin learning about bonus letters and glued sounds soon.  In Writer's Workshop we are continuing to write "Small Moments" pieces.  We learned about non-fiction text features in Reader's Workshop and will move on to text to self connections next week.  Our guided reading groups have started up and we are having lots of fun getting back into routines and learning in those groups.
We completed unit one in math this week.  This unit spent a lot of time on fact strategies and fluency.  Our next unit will move into working with two and three digit numbers.
Please check this week's Friday Folder for our October share and have a great weekend!

A Very Exciting Week!

Whew!  Firefly Second Grade has had many wonderful learning opportunities this week.  What a terrific week it has been.
We began our week with some taste testing of one of Mrs. KillKelley's favorite treats-fried green tomatoes.  Almost everyone was willing to give them a try and many friends really liked them and have decided they are one of their favorite treats too!
We had the perfect day for our field trip to Shelburne Farms.  Our team had a fun morning exploring Shelburne Farms and visiting the farm yard.  It was great to see all the animals and spend some time doing team building activities.
Our time with visiting authors Philip and Erin Stead was packed full of learning about how authors and illustrators create their masterpieces.  It was nice to be able to follow this up with a picnic with friends from other teams on the town green.
Fire Prevention day taught us many important things to remember if there is a fire.  We talked about the difference between "tools" and "toys" and what the safest things are for us to do in a fire.  Then we had an opportunity to crawl through a smoke house and practice "Stop, Drop and Roll".
A huge thank you to our Hands On Nature parents for a terrific lesson about insects.  We enjoyed a puppet show and learned about what makes an insect an insect.  We also learned about similarities and differences of various insects and spent some time outside observing a variety of insects and bugs.
Tim Guiterman joined us today to kick-off our Active Schools program for the school year.  We learned a variety of exercises we can do to make our heart rate go up and prepare us for learning.  A big thank you to Tim for his help with this program. 
Thank you to everyone who came to Curriculum Night.  For those of you who were not able to fit it into your busy schedules, a curriculum packet is coming home in this week's Friday Folder.  In addition to that, the Curriculum Night Power Point Presentation has been posted on the Firefly webpage for your viewing.
This week's Friday Folder includes a Number Rack for your child to keep at home to help them with their math homework and math practice.  I have included a picture of a completed Number Rack in this week's slideshow.  They are mostly already assembled, but I would suggest taping the pipe cleaners to the back to make sure they don't fall apart.
Please remember that our new school start time is 8:05 am.  We will start our Morning Meeting promptly at 8:05, so if your child is late, he/she will miss this very important inclusive way we begin each day and set the tone for the remainder of our day. 

Personalize your own digital slideshow

Next Week is a Busy One!

Firefly has a busy week ahead of us.  Tuesday we will get fingerprinted at the cafeteria, and have Curriculum Night in the evening.  Wednesday is Fire Prevention Day,  Thursday is picture day and we have our field trip to Shelburne Farms and the Town Center to see visiting authors Phil and Erin Stead.  On Friday we have Hands On Nature and will be learning about insects.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for Shelburne Farms and has a lunch from home that day as we will be enjoying a picnic on the Town Green after meeting Phil and Erin Stead.  Also, please remember to return your child's picture order before Thursday-they are coming home in today's Friday Folder.
This week we learned about sorting and graphing and worked toward becoming more fluent with our number facts through the use of a number rack in Math.  We finished reviewing letter formation in Fundations and have been working hard on Small Moments in writing.  We have been reviewing what good readers do in reading and have been reading a book together called Mrs. Noodlekugel. We will begin guided reading groups the week after next.
Please sign up for a fall conference on the Firefly webpage when you have time.  The conference schedule is now available.  I will be doing conferences on Thursday, October 17th.  If you have a need for an early morning conference, please go on as soon as possible to sign up as there are several early morning conference slots available.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the slide show!

Make a free picture slideshow

September PTO Minutes

Convene at 6:05

Introductions with many new faces

Biggest meeting yet!

Reviewed/Approved minutes

Principals Report:

-school recognized as a top performer in the state

-Part 2 after school is off to a great start: 71 kids in the census already, a nearly 50% increase

-lots of professional development over the summer

-enrollment stable @763

Budget

-reviewed line items

-budget approval in October

Team Reps Update:

-straightened out curriculum nights

-signed up team reps

Fundraising Update:

-directory sales are up to $1620 already 

-can now donate online through Paypal 

-looking to a new fundraiser for Red Barn potentially

     Ideas: Yankee candle, Equal Exchange, Plant Sale w/Red Wagon, Amazon storefront

-Price Chopper tools for school

-Hannafords helps schools

-Genevieve fundraiser starts 9/10, ends 9/24 use team name not teacher

     -now have photo cards!

     -80% of profits go to the teams

Sally Stevens talked about visiting artist program

-Flynn Artists/integrating the arts

-brought in two artists from the Flynn using a grant

-One hour of planning, 4 hours of in class help

-$3500: $1000 PTO and $2500 grant

-fund using visiting artist program 

Mark your Calendars

Walking Wednesdays on the town green at 7:30 (in front of Jamie Two Coats)

12 Oct: Newberry Cup Bake Sale

22Oct: UA Curriculum night and Genevieve Gift Wrap distribution

Help Wanted

-School directory data input (Leslie@borrok.com)

-Flower garden help (lisawvt@hotmail.com)

-PTO bulletin boards: sweeneyrs@gmail.com

-Newberry Cup Bake Sale: amybknight@gmail.com

-gift wrap distribution on 10/22: campwestwick@gmail.com

-ALSO REMEMBER: you can sign up for helping at any event at any time online.  Access through the PTO website: www.cssu.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=365 

Other Business:

-the cold weather clothes donation box will be out soon.  The sooner you donate the better.  Lots of folks use all of these donations

Thanks yous:

Rita Daley and Teresa Shuptrine for the bulletin board

Valerie Richardson and Teacher's Breakfast helpers! 

First Day Greeters

Everyone who filled out a volunteer form

Field Trips and Other Events

A huge thank you to everyone for getting the family information sheets in already.  They are very helpful in making sure everyone gets to the right place after school every day.  Please be sure to get your health and permission forms in within the next week.  Without permission signatures, students will not be able to go on upcoming field trips and I will not be able to post any pictures on our team blog.

On September 19^th the Firefly Team will be visiting Shelburne Farms for a team building activity.  We would love to have some parents join us for this event.  We will be leaving the school at 8:15 and returning by 10:45.  If you are interested in joining us, please let me know by email before September 19^th.

Upon returning from our Shelburne Farms Field Trip, Firefly Second Grade will then be walking to the Flying Pig bookstore for a visit from authors/illustrators Phil and Erin Stead at 11:00.  Please be sure to pack your child a lunch from home on September 19^th.  We will be returning to school at noon and will be eating our lunches in the Firefly space.  There will be an order form in next week’s Friday Folder for books written and illustrated by Phil and Erin Stead.  If you would like to order a book for your child, please fill out the form and return it by Monday, September 16^th.

PTO gift wrap will also be coming home in next week’s Friday Folder.  This is a big fundraiser for the PTO and generates a lot of money for SCS teams.  Please be sure to return this to school by September 24^th. 

There will be a ½ Curriculum Night taking place on September 17^th.  We are inviting families to meet in the Firefly space at 5 PM to share information specifically about the Firefly team.  At 5:30, the presentation will move to the cafeteria where all ½ teams will share information about curriculum , school wide policies and procedures,

Please check this week's Friday Folder for a  revised schedule for Firefly Second Grade.  There have been some minor changes in our lunch/recess schedule this week.  Our class now goes to lunch at 10:55 every day, followed by recess.

Have a great weekend!