Week of October 7th, 2019

​Dear Center School Families,
Here’s some happenings and reminders for the week ahead in our school community:

• Helping Hands kicks off Tuesday morning with our 5th graders.  Here’s the details for the endeavor. HelpingHands 2019-20 (1).docx   Many thanks to all who contributed to the food drive for the Longmeadow Food Pantry.  We collected just short of 300 pounds to begin to restock the pantry for the months ahead!  Well done!
• Lost and Found: Unhappily the lost and found is incredibly full at the start of the year.  Please encourage your child to check the area outside the cafeteria for lost clothing items and lunch containers.   It’s helpful if you mark your child’s name on items and we can return them to homerooms. Items that remain for a month will be donated.
• Reminder about drop off and pick up: Longfellow Street is not a place to pick up or drop off students.  We’re seeing students crossing on Longfellow where there’s no crosswalk. This is a significant safety risk for students. Thank-you for working with us to keep our children safe.
• Allergies and nut-free classrooms: 10 of our classrooms are “nut free” classrooms.  You received a letter from Nurse Rodrigues at the start of the year if your child needs to refrain from having a snack with nut products or other allergens that will pose a serious health risk to students in his/her classroom.  We deeply appreciate you helping us provide a safe environment for all children by reading the label on your child’s snack choice.
• MCAS Parent Reports: Families of students who took the test last year will receive the reports that were mailed on Friday. http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/parents/ Please reach out with questions. 
• Challenge Success: October 15th .  ChallengeSuccess 10-15-2019.pdf 
• October 9th: No School Yom Kippur
• October 14th and 15th : No School: Columbus Day and Professional Development Day respectively
• October 26: Halloween Hustle
• October 31st: 2:00 p.m.  Center’s Halloween Costume Parade on the Green.
• LEEF GALA: https://one.bidpal.net/2019leefgala/ticketing

Longmeadow Public Schools adheres to the CASEL framework https://casel.org/what-is-sel/to guide us in fostering the social emotional competencies of our students.  We have formed a committee of educators at Center whom are working to articulate to our families the alignment of our PeaceBuilders program with the CASEL framework. The committee is excited for the work and anticipate sharing valuable resources by midyear.  In the meantime, please be sure to take the time to read the monthly newsletters sent home regarding PeaceBuilders practices and visit the CASEL website to deepen your understandings of the competencies.

Teachers and interventionists have completed most screenings for the start of the school year.  At Open House, teachers explained the WIN block and our RTI model.  Here’s a great resource created by our staff and students to enhance your understanding: https://sites.google.com/longmeadow.k12.ma.us/centerstage/home
Conferences are November 14th and 15th and know our teachers are  available and responsive at any time to answer questions and/or share insights with you about your child’s learning. 
Thank-you for taking the time to read this message and for your ongoing partnership and support!
 
Sincerely,
Donna Hutton, Principal