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MEMORIAL SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
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31 West Main Street Newton, NH 03858
603-382-5251
Interim Principal, Deborah L. Bulkley
Assistant Principal, Donna B. Johnson
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Principal's Message
Deborah Bulkley
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Dear Parents,
November is a choppy month for teachers with our workshop day one week, Veterans' Day the next week, and then the extended Thanksgiving break to further shorten the month. Fortunately our students take it all in stride and keep giving us outstanding effort to keep the focus on learning. 5th grade managed to still fit in a field trip to the scene of the Boston Tea Party and we had a fall concert courtesy of our talented 3rd grade students.
We have parent conferences coming up on Thursday, December 1st and Monday, December 5th after the end of the school day. Some teachers are using an on-line sign up list and others are using paper notices sent home with students. Please make sure you check your email to see if you have received any notification from your child's teacher about this. This is a great opportunity to connect with our school in a meaningful way. There is increasing evidence that family engagement improves student academic achievement as well as social skills. Families are a core part of the learning process and it takes commitment from both families and schools to work together. We truly hope you take advantage of this opportunity to come in to meet with your child's teacher to discuss his or her progress so far this year. The following tips are designed to help you share and learn more information about your child during the limited time available.
Tips for Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences
- Expect a two-way conversation!
- Provide us with information about what motivates your child.
- Share concerns and information about home that may impact your child's performance in school.
- Ask questions about your child's social and emotional growth as well as academic growth. We teach the whole child, not just the brain.
- Ask questions you have about school routines and situations that your child may have talked about that left you wondering!
- Ask if your child is on grade level.
- Ask to see examples of his or her work.
- Ask about your child's strengths as well as areas that need improvement.
- Ask what you can do at home to support learning.
- Ask about how you can help your child do his or her best work in school.
- Ask about how much you should and shouldn't be helping with homework and projects.
- Bring in written questions listed in order of their importance to you if you think you will forget what you want to ask.
- Write down answers to these questions and other important information shared.
- Share this information, if appropriate, with your child.
Conferences are not just about the report card and grades on assessments. This is your opportunity to share with your child's teacher more about how you see your child. This is also a chance to listen to a teacher who has seen and taught dozens and likely hundreds of other children and has unique insights and helpful advice to share.
Finally, we wish all of our families a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We encourage you to share with your children the stories behind family traditions and stories of past celebrations. My favorite part of the holiday is not about the food as much as hearing what my three adult children remember from years past about the relatives and friends who gathered to share the day. We always have lots to laugh about as we recall cooking the turkey upside down or the trip to the ER to treat a sprained ankle.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Deborah L. Bulkley, Interim Principal
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News from 3rd Grade
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As the month of November quickly passes by, third grade students are wrapping up their study of The Pilgrims. Our Pilgrim and Wampanoag Native American research is done and we wrote paragraphs comparing the two cultures. This week we also began creating our own villages in art!
Third Grade students also had a concert this month, where we sang songs about The Pilgrims and Thanksgiving as well as songs about America and a few songs from Annie the musical. We also performed for the senior citizens that attended our Thanksgiving Feast.
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Library News
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NEWS
from
LIBRARY VIRTUAL LEARNING COMMONS
by Mrs. Mulcahy
 The Bookaneer Book Fair from Scholastic is coming to Memorial School Library! It is at our Library November 29, 2016 through December 7, 2017.
Spre
ad the word - remember, a little parrot told you.
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News from our School Counselor
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School Nurse
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Outdoor recess clothing:
Our students will be playing outside every day, sometimes twice a day for recesses. We are now approaching the colder seasons of late fall and winter, and some of our students are forg
etting to bring a warm coat. We suggest that you remind your child of the outdoor temperature to insure that they are warm at play. Please be aware that after wet weather, we may have some puddles on the playground. You are encouraged to send a spare set of dry clothing to school for your child to change at school should they become wet during outdoor recess. Please label the clothes with your child's name, so they can keep the bag in their cubby here at school. Thank you!
Cold and Flu season is here
This is the season for an increase in the number of cases of colds, flu, intestinal, & GI viruses, conjunctivitis, and even strep throat and pneumonia. Parents are asked to consider the following suggestions from the school nurse in order to limit the exposure of healthy children to those who are ill, and to ensure that those who are ill will have as rapid a recovery as possible:
1)
If your child has a fever (99.6* or above), please keep your child at home for an additional 24 hours of fever-free time (OFF fever-control medicines) to ensure adequate rest and the opportunity for the immune system to recover. Your child may still be contagious if he/she has a fever at night, but is fever-free in the early morning.
2)
If your child has vomited during the night, keep him/her home for at least another 24 hours until you know that he/she is eating regular foods without difficulty and is no longer experiencing nausea or abdominal pain.
3)
If your child has a persistent cough not controlled by over-the-counter medications, please contact your health care provider, as they may have an underlying bronchial or lung infection or pneumonia.
4)
If your child has one or both eyes with a red appearance to the sclera (white area), and/or drainage from the corners which is yellow, and/or yellow crusts on lashes and lids which are itchy and/or swollen, please keep them home and consult your health care provider.
Conjunctivitis is very contagious, and children with this infection must be on medications for a minimum of 24 hours and no longer draining from the eye to attend school.
Frequent hand washing is the number one prevention for the spread of germs and disease within your family as well as in school. Concerns regarding your child's illness, or duration of his/her symptoms should be addressed to your family health care provider. Thank you for your assistance to help ensure the health of all students (and staff) at our school.
Giving Tree
We will sponsor a "Giving Tree" in our school lobby the first week of December. On the tree, we will place paper ornaments with an item from the Holiday wish lists* of
 families in need. For example, a paper ornament will list an item such as a toy, or winter clothing needed by either a boy or girl, and specify the size or the toy but NO NAMES of families or children will be used.
***If you need help or personally know of a family in need of help, please contact Mrs. Koutelis at 382-5251, ext. 106 or by email [email protected], and submit your name and "wish list" in confidence. We will need the wish lists by November 22nd.
Thank you in advance for your generous response to our food drive and for helping us teach children to reach out to others in need.
Thank you,
Sheila Koutelis, RN
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Dreambox
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Dear Parent/Guardian,
Memorial School has purchased DreamBox Learning's Math Program, an online, Intelligent Adaptive Learning(tm) program that helps all students achieve better, faster math proficiency.
DreamBox is an online program - there's no software to download! All you need is a high-speed Internet connection and Adobe Flash. Adobe Flash is free and is included with many Internet browsers.
To access DreamBox on iPad, go to
http://www.dreambox.com/ipad
, or search for "DreamBox Math" in the App Store. Download DreamBox Math Green and DreamBox Math Blue to ensure your student has access to the full catalog of DreamBox Learning Math lessons. When prompted in the app, use this School Code: 4f3h/memorials
Review your student's academic progress with a DreamBox Parent Account. Please follow these steps to create your free Parent Account:
2. Have your student login to their profile just as they would at school.
3. Click Setup Parent Access at the bottom of the page.
4. Follow instructions to create a new login and password.
5. Read Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
6. Click "Submit".
Log into your home account after set up:
2. Enter your email address and password.
3. To see student progress, click the "Family Dashboard" button.
If you have any questions, please contact DreamBox Client Care by calling them at 877-451-7845 (weekdays 7am to 5pm, Pacific Time), or email
[email protected]
.
You can also contact our technology teacher, Jodi Tamayoshi, at
[email protected]
with any questions.
Sincerely,
Donna Johnson
Assistant Principal
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Memorial PTO
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Every time you shop on amazon, enter the site atsmile.amazon.com. With Newton Memorial School PTO selected as your charity 0.5% of every purchase is automatically donated! Amazon will keep track of your support.
Amazon has donated more than $32,110,600 to charitable organizations since starting Smile.
Thank you for supporting Newton Memorial School PTO
this holiday season!
**************************************************************************
The PTO is also having a dine out fundraiser on Friday, December 2nd at Margarita's in Exeter, NH. Click here for a printable flyer.
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Box Top News
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THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT!
Wow I just discovered something new and exciting. If you have a smart phone BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION has an app for it!
Now for the really exciting part-you can earn extra points by using the app! It is super easy. Go to the "OFFERS" section of the app
to view product pictures. Purchase any of those products and scan your store receipt showing that purchase and instantly get BONUS
points for your purchase added to our school's total for the year. Don't forget to clip the real Box Top to send in to school for your class
totals. Go to the APP Store to download the free BTFE app. Congratulations to Ms. Gwynne's class for collecting the most Box Tops Sept-Nov 1.
Keep on clipping!
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Gale Library News
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Busy November at the Gale Library, Newton
November is Fine Free Month at the Gale Library, so find those overdue books, and return them with a donation of nonperishable food, paper products, or personal care items and your fines will be removed. Donations will be turned over to the Newton Food Pantry to help those in need during the holidays.
Our Math Club Crazy 8's will continue on
Monday, Nov. 28 from
6-7 PM. Call to sign up for this program as space is limited.
Children are invited to drop in to the library to vote for their favorite picture book for the NH Ladybug Award until
Wednesday, Nov 23. The Ladybug Picture Book Award is designed to honor the best in recent children's picture books. Children's librarians from around the state selects the titles then children and adults can read and browse through the books and vote for your favorite.
Children of all ages are invited to play Bingo for Books on
Monday, Nov. 21 at 6:30 PM. Children love the excitement of waiting for that last number to call Bingo and win their own book.Come play, have fun with your friends, and win your choice of books to keep.
Libraries across the country are celebrating International Game Day @ Your Library and the Gale Library will join them during the week of
Nov. 21. Games and puzzles will be on the tables for drop in play or plan to bring your friends from
12-3 PM on No School Day,
Nov 23.
The Friends of the Library are accepting baskets and gift certificates for their annual Holiday Basket Raffle starting Nov. 15. Drop in to the Gale Library to view some great baskets loaded with goodies for everyone on your list. Tickets for the raffle can be purchased for $1 each or 6 for $5. Winners will be drawn
Friday, Dec.16th at 1 PM, just in time for Holiday giving.
The Gale Library will be closing at
4 PM on
Wednesday, Nov. 23, and closed
Friday, Nov. 25 for the holidays.
For more information, call 382-4691.
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Important Information on Absences and Dismissals
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STUDENT ABSENCE/TARDINESS
When a student is going to be absent or late for school:
- Please call the absentee phone number 382-5251, ext. 100. A phone answering machine is in operation all hours that the school is not open.
- If the parent does not call, the school will then try to reach the parent at home or work and, if necessary, the person(s) listed by you on your child's emergency card will be phoned to assure the safety of your child.
- If the school is still unable to ascertain the whereabouts of a child after these steps, the Newton Police Department will be contacted to conduct a well-child visit at the home to ensure the child's safety.
- Any student arriving after the 8:40 a.m. tardy bell must use the main entrance and check in at the office for a "tardy pass" before reporting to his or her classroom.
- To be eligible to participate in an after-school curricular or extra-curricular activity, a student must be present in school on the day of the event unless there are extenuating circumstances and approval has been granted by the activity leader or school administration.
STUDENT DISMISSAL
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Snowmobile Safety Classes
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Internet Essentials
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