Spofford Times Newsletter 

 Dear Parents,    

 Last week our students had their spring band and choral concerts.  Both evenings were a terrific success and it was so exciting to see the students perform musically at such a high caliber.  I am so impressed by the dedication and talent of our students! We are very fortunate to have such  a strong band and chorus in our school. 

I want to thank our Band and Chorus Directors, Andrea Monty and Kristen Galardi for their hard work with the students.  Mrs. Monty's and Mrs. Galardi's time and effort at developing the music abilities in our students is a gift to our school and community. Additionally, I want to congratulate Brendan Wages, Michael DeCarlen-Bumiller and Jocelyn Cooper for the music scholarship awards they received from the Taylor Scholarship Fund.    

As we move to the end of the month, we will be again preparing for the  May MCAS administration for mathematics and science.  

I  have included the dates for you below: 

As we approach the warmer weather, I am publishing the dress recommendations from our Parent/Student Handbook for you: 

From our handbook, page 23:  

Dress Recommendations
It is expected that students will take pride in their personal appearance. Fads in dress, hair and makeup sometimes tempt students to persuade their parents that "all the kids are doing it." Student dress should be within reasonable limits and not be extreme. Personal appearance, dress or grooming must not disrupt the education process or threaten the health or safety of any individual.  

Specifically:   

- No clothing or jewelry may be worn that causes disruption or disorder within the school.
 
- It is not appropriate to wear clothing to school that is designed for beachwear (i.e., halter and tube tops,
bare midriffs, short shorts & skirts, and flip-flops).
 
- No hats or caps may be worn within school buildings.
 
 
- Please label clothing such as jackets, sweaters, raincoats and hats and other belongings; i.e. lunch
boxes, boots, sneakers, etc. Labeled items are more easily returned if lost.
 
- Apparel with "double meanings" is inappropriate for school wear, such as concert T-shirts depicting illegal
or anti-social behavior and buttons or pins with profane or vulgar words.
 
- Parents will be notified by the principal if a student's clothing does not meet school expectations.   

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

News From the 5th Grade:

Well, it has felt that summer has arrived but we still have many things to accomplish before the end of the year! 

This wonderful weather has been very inspiring for some beautiful poetry by our 5th grade students!  It's amazing what some sunshine and singing birds can help create!  Using the five senses to look around and appreciate what is around us.  The students have examined a variety of poems and how to incorporate the 6-traits into their own writing.

We are hoping that many of you were able to view The Books In Bloom display at the library in April. Many classrooms across all grade levels participated.  It was a great way to join our school with the community! 

MCAS is be coming again soon.  We are all anticipating the upcoming Math and Science MCAS.  Once again we are all confident in the student's abilities and they will do great! 

We recently had Mr. Whaley come to present Electricity to the 5th grade.  This is a real treat for all!  The assembly and workshops that we participate in is a great enhancement to our curriculum in science. He makes science fun!

In the spring, 5th grade will be going on two field trips to enhance our curriculum!  We will be visiting Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH.  At Strawberry Banke the students see what it was like to live in a Seaport during Colonial Times, which correlates with our Social Studies Curriculum.  Our second field trip will be the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Museum!  This is a first time visit and we are all excited to add this to our year!  We anticipate that this will be a great enhancement to our Space study! 

I implemented Fluency Bags during the 2010/2011 school year in a few 3rd and 4th grade classrooms as a "pilot" situation.  The idea of a weekly practice of reading fluency at home is not uniquely my idea - and I created a variation of lots of ideas together to get the idea off of the ground.  The idea of the weekly practice was well received within the "pilot" classrooms and the third grade teachers wanted to make the idea a consistent approach in all classrooms at that grade level this year.  I was thrilled. 

            Many fourth grade classrooms followed suit - and I have tweaked various aspects of the bags throughout the year and compiled lots of ideas for major improvements that I would like to implement for the upcoming 2012/2013 school year.  My ideas include improvements that will make the fluency choices (what the children are reading aloud) more managed and consistent from classroom to classroom - and a more comprehensive student and adult feedback system that is specific to isolated aspects of fluency and reading abilities.  I have already begun to change and create new things and feel so inspired by this idea of weekly practiced reading fluency being a continued focus and a wonderful home-to-school literacy connection. 

I would like to "pilot" some new feedback sheets and information in the coming weeks - which means that you may be seeing some slight changes to the Fluency Bag routine in some of the classrooms.  As the year winds down - I am hoping to be able to make decisions about major changes and come up with a new and improved product for September!  I would love to hear your feedback and am open to any suggestions and/or comments that you may be able to send my way.  Your thoughts are very important to me and may help me to make integral decisions about the management and content of the new and improved Fluency Bags.  Thank you for your support and efforts with your developing readers!  

Betsy Gadbois - Literacy Specialist/Spofford Pond School

Site Council Members Needed!

The Spofford Pond School's Site Council is looking for 2 new parents to join the council. The Site Council, which meets monthly, is comprised of parents, teachers, a community representative and the school principal. Responsibilities include conducting the annual parent survey, developing the school improvement plan and addressing issues specific to Spofford. It is a great opportunity to learn more about what issues the school is facing and to advocate for improvements to our school.  Parent members serve a 3-year term. If you are interested, please contact Joni Stone, PTO President, at joni.stone1@gmail.com by May 4. More information about site councils can be found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/advisory/schoolcouncils. 

April Showers, earthworms, blooming flowers and trees, maple syrup, red-winged blackbird and robin sightings, opening day at Fenway. Spring is definitely upon us.

In keeping with the season, students are currently working on their baseball/softball skills. More specifically the focus has been on the ability to strike or hit a ball with a bat. Some say that this is one of the most difficult and complex feats in all of sport. After giving some basic instruction on the mechanics of hitting, each student then gets the opportunity to take some batting practice. By using an oversized plastic bat and a nerf ball, students have been very successful connecting with the ball. Soon we will apply our newly improved skills to the classic game of softball itself.

Keep swinging for the fences,

Mr. Aho

FOOD AND PAPER GOODS DRIVE

(Canned goods, condiments, toilet paper, paper towels)

TO BE HELD AT TOWN MEETING - TUES ,MAY 8

FOR LOCAL DONATION (Boxford, North Andover)

Look for collection boxes at the entry to Masco

For more info:  susan@toleos.com