Caregiver Update

Watch us SOAR!

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Dear Clough Caregivers.

Hope everyone enjoyed Sunday's snow day! Maybe you got to get outside and play or maybe you opted to snuggle up and stay warm inside. I know this is just the start of our winter weather...hoping we don't have too many snow days ahead of us. I wanted to let you know that I will be adding a section to these updates called "Specialist Snippets." Several of the specialist teachers will take turns sharing what is going on during art, music, gym, library and technology. Hopefully this will help you have conversations with your child about what they are learning and doing in specials.

I added some photos above. We had a principal for the day before the break and it happened to be on the day that Trax from The Railers visited! We also said goodbye to Mrs. Grady, one of our amazing cafeteria staff. We wish her the best as she enters this new adventure...retirement. We were excited to come back from break and have one of the Harlem Wizards join our whole school assembly. See the flyer below...we hope you will come cheer on the MURSD Dream Team as they play against the Harlem Wizards! You might even see a principal you recognize on the court! Our 4th grade chorus did an awesome job last Friday night singing The National Anthem at the hockey game. It was fun to see so many Clough friends at the game. And if you stayed until the end like some of us...you got to see an exciting finish with the Railers winning in a shoot out.

Congrats to the following students who were nominated for Choose To Be Nice awards and received their awards during our whole school assembly:

Havyn Kutkowitz in Mrs. Pilkington's class

Michaela Barrett in Sra. Martinez's class

Vin Lawson in Sra. Molina's class

Conor Gagne in Mrs. Thibault's class

Maizy Verdura in Mrs. Poxon's class

Belinda Dunner nominated by Nurse Bellefontaine

Lina Larocca in Mrs. Willinski's class

Congrats to the following students who will have their artwork displayed at the Upton Public Library:

Ryan Kahler

Logan Greist

John Anderson

Gracelyn Carney

Lucy Keller

Roisin Rice

Niamh Rice

Amber Krupa

Nate Landry

Jaxon Tepper

Hadley Fritz

Alexander Best

Skylar Murphy

Paul Langley

Abigail Cushing

Wyatt Teter

Julianna Callahan

Samantha Carlstrom

Dylan Cedrone

Gavin Falvey

Hope to see you at our PTO meeting tonight at 6:30. We will be talking about the science of reading and foundational literacy skills with our instructional coach, Maria Desruisseaux, and our reading specialist, Brianna Zalusky.

Stay warm!

Liz Garden

Principal

Information Session About the Integrated PreSchool Program

A virtual Information Session will take place on Friday, February 2, 2024 from 10:00-10:30 AM via Zoom, Join Zoom Meeting. Parents/caregivers interested in submitting applications for the 20243-2025 school year are encouraged to attend. The early education teachers from Memorial School in Upton and H. P. Clough School in Mendon will make a joint presentation and respond to general questions from parents/caregivers. The presentation will be recorded and posted to the district website.

Children who will be 3 years old by August 31, 2024, are eligible for the morning program that meets at both schools four days per week, Mondays through Thursdays from 9:00 - 11:30 AM. The cost of the program is $340 per month for ten months.

Children who will be 4 years old by August 31, 2024, are eligible for the afternoon program that meets at both schools five days per week, Mondays through Fridays from 12:30 - 3:00 PM. The cost of the program is $425 per month for ten months.

Applications will be made available on the district website at https://www.mursd.org/page/pre-k-program and must be submitted via email to acurry@mursd.org (Clough) or cdemoga@mursd.org (Memorial) by Monday, February 16, 2024. Applicants will be selected by lottery and parents will be notified by Friday, March 1, 2024.

Specialist Snippets

Here are a few updates from what has been happening during specials...

Art: Students have been working in the Sculpture Center. Kindergarten focused on paper sculptures. Grade 1 created mini art museums. Grades 2-4 focused on cardboard attachment techniques. We will be transitioning to the Painting Center next.

Music: In kindergarten and first grade the students are learning how to be tuneful, beatful and artful using John Feierabend's First Steps in Music curriculum. Students are also traveling to Germany to learn a new dance called "Ach Ja."

Second grade students are studying Switzerland and the Opera William Tell by Rossini. They are learning to identify the form of the Overture through dance and analysis. Students will be traveling to Germany next. For music literacy, students are working on unit 1 of John Feierabend's Conversational Solfege

Third grade students are studying Russia and France. They are working on two different dances called "Sasha," from Russia and "The Shepherd's Dance," from France. They will learn a hand game from France in the coming weeks. For music literacy, students are working on unit 2 of John Feierabend's Conversational Solfege.

Fourth grade is currently studying France. They have learned a dance from France called "The Shepherd's Dance" and will be learning a hand game from France in the coming weeks. They are also working on their ukulele skills. For music literacy, students are working on unit 4 of John Feierabend's Conversational Solfege.

Technology: Students in grades K-2 are working on coding skills. They are learning how to create a program, find bugs in programs and debug programs. Students in both 3rd and 4th grade are involved in Project Lead the Way, a project-based STEM program. Grade 3 is working on a module called Programming Patterns and 4th grade is working on Input/Outputs: Computer Systems. Both grades will complete a project in Scratch.

Choose To Be Nice

We will be talking to students throughout the year about different core values such as kindness, respect, teamwork, acceptance, patience and several other important values. We are utilizing the Choose To Be Nice program for resources and activities. They have resources for families that can be found here:

https://choosetobenice.com/home-community-resources/

Here's a home banner of our Choose To Be Nice pledge. Families can take the pledge together and sign their own banner!

They also have a spot on their website where you can order Choose To Be Nice gear: https://choosetobenice.com/the-shop/