First Branch Unified District

Weekend News

September 25th, 2026

Chelsea Open House on Wednesday Night! The rocks in the top photo show how Chelsea Campus works together to celebrate community values of being kind, strong an well!

Bus Routes were updated. Please review here! Hard copies are in students' backpacks today. Alma email also went out. n email to Alma

Upcoming Events:

10/3: Friends of First Branch Fundraiser at Fieldstone Farm Brooks Hubbard Concert

10/5-10/16: Parent/Teacher Conference Window

Tunbridge Campus Conference Link

10/9: No School, In-Service Day

10/12: No School, Indigenous Peoples' Day

10/13: Tunbridge Campus Picture Day

10/14: Chelsea Campus Picture Day

10/16: Chelsea Campus, 5th-8th Grade Mountain Day

10/16: Twilight Campfire at Tunbridge Campus 5:00 pm-7:30 pm

10/18: Elementary School Apple Fest at Tunbridge Campus

10/20: Friends of First Branch Meeting

10/23: Early Release Day, Noon Dismissal, No Prek

10/30: Educational Day, Women's Hockey at Dartmouth for K-4th Grade

11/1: First Branch Community Support Holiday Letter Due.

11/3: Picture Retakes Day

11/4: Early Release Day, Noon Dismissal, No Pre

11/5: High School Info Night at Chelsea Campus 5:30-7:00 pm

11/20: Tunbridge Campus Feast

12/2: First Branch Elementary School Winter Concert " Cookie Awards"

12/10: Chelsea Campus Feast

2026 Soccer Schedule

Grades 3rd-8th: Click Here!

Grades K-2nd. Click Here!

REMINDERS:

BUS ROUTE SCHEDULES:

T1, T2, CHELSEA 1

Tunbridge Campus opens at 7:15 am.

Crosstown Buses depart at 7:40 am; be there by 7:35.

Chelsea Campus opens at 7:30 am.

Another day, and we added another chicken to Tunbridge Campus....just kidding. Students are helping Ms. Marion add more birds to the wall.

Dear First Branch,

What a wonderful week! From soccer games to Open House, and now a school dance tonight at Chelsea Campus for our 5th–8th grade students, there has been so much happening in our school community!

We have truly entered fall, and with it, the return of the germs! 🍂 Please make sure students bring a water bottle to school each day and continue practicing good hygiene both at home and at school. Ensuring a good night’s sleep is also critical to helping students feel their best and be ready to learn.

We are here to help proactively with a variety of needs from helping a student establish a morning or evening routine to supporting families with weekend supplemental food bags through our local food shelf’s Backpack Program. Please reach out if there is a way we can help our school nurses, counselors, or student support folks. (Nurse Rachel, Nurse Jane, Ms. Higginson, Ms. B, Ms. Mindy, Ms. Ashley!)

This week, we also welcomed the dental team from Health Hub to our schools to support students with their oral hygiene and dental health. Students received X-rays and cleanings right here at school! Many thanks to Health Hub for providing this important service to our students. 🦷

We also want to remind families that we offer free breakfast, snack, and lunch each day to help provide students with steady energy throughout the school day.

Finally, we love featuring photos from our community! 📸 Please keep sharing photos from sporting events, weekend activities, and the many ways our students are learning and growing outside of school.

We are also looking for two digital cameras that students could use to photograph our school days. Sometimes these are sitting unused in a drawer at home. If you have an older digital camera you no longer need, we would love to take it off your hands—and help you clear out a little clutter in the process!

Wishing everyone a fun and healthy weekend!

Be Well,

Janet Cash & Dan Rivers

Co-Principals, First Branch

First Branch

Community Support

Holiday Letter 2026

Due Date Nov 1

Friends of First Branch

(Parent, Caregiver, Community Group)

Hello!

I hope your school year is off to a good start. Please consider joining us at an upcoming event - there are a variety of opportunities to support our students, staff and community in the next couple of months -

Fieldstone Farm Brooks Hubbard Concert Catering

Saturday, October 3rd

This is one of our big annual fundraisers. We will have volunteer slots for cooking, setting up, and serving at this wonderful Tunbridge event. Supervised middleschoolers can make wonderful servers!

Save the Date! Detailed Volunteer Sign Up Coming Soon!

Elementary School Applefest

Thursday, October 8th, 12pm-3pm

Join us as a volunteer helping to run a station for our students for this elementary school fall tradition, right before the October long weekend.

email eminnucci@wrvsu.org to volunteer!

Friends of First Branch Meeting

Tuesday, October 20th, 6pm

Meet with us in the Elementary Library and get involved in planning special events, fundraisers and celebrations of our students and staff.

If you'd like to attend by zoom email friendsoffirstbranch@wrvsu.org.

(As this is our first email of the school year, if you find yourself wanting off our mailing list, please reply to let me know :)

Thanks,

Eliza, and the Friends of First Branch planning crew

🐾 Tunbridge Campus

This week, for our "Lunch With a Community Member Series," Deputy Sheriff Howe came with his K9 partner Kye to have lunch with us and show us how Kye does her job!

Art with Ms. Dee! Cutting foam into a "pet" takes a lot of thought! How much do I cut? Did I cut enough? How does this look from the front and the back? Keep going, Tunbridge Tigers!

We love when learning crosses over into other areas! 4th grade worked on poetry in the woods with Ms. Eliza, and poetry is the focus of the first EL Module!

Open House

"Active Family & Community Engagement"

Our Open House was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate learning, curiosity, and community! Students proudly shared their learning journeys with caregivers and peers, demonstrating not only what they had learned but also how they were growing as learners.

Throughout the evening, students showcased their evolving curiosity, creativity, flexible thinking, communication, collaboration, and resilience, bringing the Portrait of a Learner to life through their work and experiences.

The evening also brought our community together through a potluck, giving families, students, and staff time to connect and enjoy one another’s company. Our Little Free Library provided another opportunity to celebrate literacy and encourage the joy of reading beyond the classroom.

It was a meaningful evening that highlighted who our learners are, what they are discovering, and how their curiosity continues to shape their learning journey.

Expanded & Enriched Learning Time & Opportunities

5th Grade Students

White River Partnership

"Fresh Water Snorkeling"

By: Joe Spinella, 5th Grade Teacher

On 9/14 students in fifth grade participated in a snorkeling activity that involved using the Forest Service equipment to explore a pool in the Third Branch of the White River. Students looked for fish and explored the habitat. In the second station, students used kick nets and pole nets to catch Benthic Macro-invertebrates. These creatures are used as indicator species to determine the health of the river in addition to being food for Eastern Brook Trout.

Chelsea Campus

"Life in the Middle"

Week 4

Click Here

Curious about travel? Ms. Mindy has information on the EF Educational Tour Program. Click here to learn more. These documents were at Chelsea Open House this week.

Health HUB:

HEALTH HUB FLU SHOTS:

Our school will be hosting a flu vaccine clinic for students and staff through HealthHUB on Thursday, October 1st.

Please click the link below and complete the electronic flu vaccine consent form.

Please complete this form for EACH person you would like to receive the yearly flu vaccine.

Please complete the consent forms prior to Thursday, September 24th so we can order the appropriate amount of vaccines. This will be billed through your insurance by the South Royalton Health Center as an immunization administration.

If you do not have insurance, you may self-pay $ 20 same day for the vaccine administration.

Flu Vaccine electronic consent form: https://wv3.io/kS9JQzba

Vaccine Information Sheet: https://www.immunize.org/wp-content/uploads/vis/flu_inactive.pdf