First Branch Unified District

Weekend News

October 2nd, 2026

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
Chelsea Campus Conference Link

10/8: Elementary School Apple Fest at Tunbridge Campus (Mistake Last Week By Mrs. Cash)

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: Capstone &Headstart Family Outing (Pumpkins!)

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 PreK

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:

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.

Dear First Branch,

Happy October! We hope you’ve had a chance to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage that is peaking across our part of Vermont. We look forward to welcoming families into our buildings next week for Parent-Teacher Conferences.

A reminder that next week is a four-day school week, with no school for students on Friday due to a staff in-service day.

Thank you to all of our families for navigating a different Thursday morning commute due to the Route 110 closure. We greatly appreciated everyone’s patience and flexibility.

Have a wonderful weekend!

This week the SU launched After School Super Snack at Chelsea Campus. Please see the flyers below. These are free meals for our students!

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

Portrait of a Learner: "Flexible Thinking"

By Sara Humphreys

Here in First Branch, students across grade levels engage in Bridges Math Workplaces. Math Workplaces are hands-on games which provide all students an opportunity to develop, explore, experiment with, share, and self-assess mathematical strategies and they build and build upon their foundational math knowledge. In first grade, learners use a variety of math tools and manipulatives (some of which are self-designed, like our Number Racks), and others which are used to help students “bridge”, connect, and make meaning of more abstract concepts in a hands-on, tangible way.

Math Workplaces also allow students to develop their own strategies and begin to identify which tools and strategies best help them as individuals and as learners. They provide valuable, multisensory opportunities for students to develop numeracy skills, understand how mathematical operations are connected, and share their thinking to learn new approaches and strategies from each other, through mixed groupings and flexible partnering.

During first grade Math Workplaces, you can see students becoming proficient at their 10 facts (ways to build 10), developing an understanding of the commutative property (no matter what order you add your numbers, you still get the same sum!) and connecting the operations of addition and subtraction (parts put together equal a whole, and when you take part away from a whole, you have the other part). Their explorations involve constructing and deconstructing numbers (especially 10!) though use of unifix cubes, popsicle stick bundles, number racks, and a variety of other hands-on manipulatives.

First graders are learning how to group numbers (or subatize) in a way that allows them to count quickly, efficiently, and more accurately, skills which will help them as they apply their foundational math knowledge throughout the subsequent grades. One example is learning to “cross the gate” by using popsicle sticks to represent tallies, and therefore count by 5s instead of counting every single stick.

Perhaps most importantly, first graders LOVE math workplaces! They have shared that Math Workplaces make learning math fun and help them find the “just right way” for them to learn and grow as mathematicians- all of which supports our ultimate goal of cultivating lifelong learners. Bridges Math Workplaces, for the win!

Chelsea Campus

"Life in the Middle"

Week 5

Click Here

Preschool News:

Friday, Oct 2nd: Our First Forest Friday

Thursday, Oct 8th: ECHO Center STEM Learning Visitor- Ms. Kate

Thursday, Oct 22nd: Preschool Field Trip to Chicken Wiggle Farm

Health HUB:

First Branch Virtual Backpack:

2 026-2027 First Branch Unified District Student/Family Handbook

2026-2027 Bus Routes

Backpack Program

First Branch Guide of Support

School Calendar

Registration Info for One Planet

Community Events & Opportunities:

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.

School Menus:

We Are Here to Help!

Our main offices are the best place to start!

Tunbridge: 802-889-3310

JASMYN Sprague, Admin Assistant

Chelsea: 802-685-4551

JAZLYN Locarno, Admin Assistant