South Row's School Link

Hello,

As we complete day 94 of the 2021-2022 school year I want to point out some of the many things there are to celebrate at South Row. Our relationships with our students have tremendously helped their transition back to school, even with some of the current protocols and restrictions in place. This is a tribute to the consistency with which you all provide a safe and supportive environment for our students. The partnerships that you have formed with families have additionally contributed to this successful transition. Likewise our mid-year data shows students making progress across the board in both Math and Reading. I can't thank you enough for your dedication and ability to continually provide effective and targeted instruction that meets the needs of all students even with all of the changes you have had to endure. Your flexibility is amazing!! THANK YOU!!

Be safe! Enjoy the snow!! As you can see above...we have our own "Math Fact" blizzard going on at South Row and it's been quite a storm!!

Terri

Please click on the below PDF link for an update from Dr. Lang on an update to CPS COVID Mitigation Strategy- At Home Rapid Antigen Testing. This letter was sent out to the CPS Community on January 25th. Please review it if you haven't had a chance yet.

MONDAY

• Aide Meetings, 10:30 & 2:05

TUESDAY

• First Day of Black History Month
• Kindergarten Conferences - Dossin
• Tier 1 Meeting, 8:00AM, Virtual
• Response Team, 10:00AM, Virtual (Canceled this week)
• Spotlight on South Row at School Committee, 6:00pm

WEDNESDAY

• Pool Testing - Updated Schedule
• Groundhog Day
• Kindergarten Conferences - Patriquin
• Reading meeting, 11:30am

THURSDAY

• Kindergarten Conferences - Rigby
• SPED Department Meeting, 2:30PM, Link will be sent by Mary Jane

FRIDAY

• Kindergarten Conferences - Sbordy
• Door Decorating Visits and Judging Click on the link to view the schedule and information
• School Spirit Day (Chelmsford & South Row)
• Technology Meeting, 11:00AM

• February Data/Team Meetings w/ Admin will take place this month. Click on this link to view meeting times
• Current Kindergarten Parent/Teacher Conferences, Week of January 31st (Tuesday-Dossin, Wednesday-Patriquin, Thursday-Rigby, Friday-Sbordy)

• February Grade Level Meetings, Virtual, Week of Monday, February 7th
• International Festival Committee Meeting, Monday, February 7th, Virtual, link coming soon
• School Council Meeting, Monday, February 7th, Virtual, link coming soon
• PTO Meeting, Monday, February 7th, Virtual, link coming soon
• Early Release Day - Teacher Professional Development, Wednesday, February 9th
• February Therapy Dog Visit - Tuesday 2/15 - Tice, Rigby, Frasca, Bullock, Krauch
• 4th Grade - MIddle School Performance Field Trip - February 18th
• Science Fair Registration deadline February 18th
• February School Vacation - February 21st-25th
  
• Science Fair Projects due - February 25th

• Assessments:
• Gr 1-4 Narrative Prompt due by 3/11
• ACCESS testing is taking place January 6th - February 10th (deadline has been extended through March 4th)
• Access to DIBELS/RAN Data: Login directions below:
  • https://acadiencelearning.org/
    
  • Click on Acadience Data Management at the top middle of the page
  • Log in- Username: your school email address/Password: the name of the school that you work at (ex. Southrow)
  • Click on Class and Student Reports on left hand side of page
  • Click on Classroom, Group or Grade Level Report on the right-hand side
  • Generate Report

  
  

• Kindness Matters Day, Monday, February 7th
• Red, White, and Pink Day, Monday, February 14th

Valentines Day Cards: Please inform families on how you plan to handle valentines day cards (virtual and or paper copy). More information below:

Valentine’s Day: As long as everyone is included you can move forward with a Valentine exchange in your classrooms. Valentine’s Day cards will also serve as our kind act for the month of February. Should you feel more comfortable doing Valentine’s day cards digitally ( as we did last year) please click on these two links (Link 1, Link 2) to see a few resources. As always, students can opt out from doing valentine’s day cards and we ask that you be sure to engage students in activities that are inclusive for all. Students will also be encouraged to wear red, white and/or pink on Monday, February 14th (spirit day) if they are interested. We do recommend collaborating with your teams as you plan activities to share ideas and solicit feedback and insight from one another.

February Staff Meeting: Canceled. We look forward to seeing you at Grade Level Meetings.

Here are the cumulative Math Fact Challenge minutes for the end of week three:

Kindergarten - 2930 minutes

First Grade - 3200 minutes

Second Grade - 2450 minutes

Third Grade - 4120 minutes WOW!!

Fourth Grade - 1760 minutes

This Thursday's Meeting Day: With kindergarten conferences taking place, the conference room is unavailable. All meetings will be remote. Classroom teachers that may need a space to "remote" in should contact the main office for a space to engage in the meeting. Thanks for your understanding.

ClearTouch TV in the Conference Room: The clear touch will only be available in the conference room on Thursday. Please be sure to plan ahead (ask an SST member) if you have a meeting on a different day and need to borrow a clear touch tv for this space.

Door Decorating Challenge Next Steps: Thank you for participating in door decorating. We have recruited 9 VIP judges to help with the competition. Former South Row Principal, Dr. Molly McMahon plans to attend as one of the judges! Judging will take place on the morning of Friday February 4th around 9:30. Judges will use a rating sheet while they view doors. The door with the most points will win the challenge. If there is anything special you would like for us to know about your door that might impact the scoring, please reach out to Jayson or Terri. The winner will be announced Friday afternoon. Please click on this link to view the schedule for taking your class on a tour to view the doors.

From Mrs. Cooper in the Music Room:

• Students K-4 celebrated Kindness Week in the music room by singing the song Kindness is Contagious and talking about how “it all depends on you!”

• -Chinese New Year in the Music Room! Next week is the start of the Chinese New Year! Every class, every grade will be celebrating in Music class. If your family celebrates and would like to send in a show and tell item or would like to share something about how your family celebrates, please send it in on your student’s Music Class day. All students will be learning about the Lunar New Year, the Story of Nian, the 12 Chinese Zodiac Signs, see an authentic Dragon dance, as well as doing an activity with the book “The Runaway Wok” by Ying Chang Compestine.

Fourth Grade Doors (Arrival and Dismissal): We will continue allowing grade 4 bus students to enter the MAIN building to go to the PODS with the cold weather during the winter months. Staff that have morning responsibilities supporting bus students in going to and from the pods and arrival/dismissal please adjust your location to support these students. At car drop off/pick up we will continue to allow students to choose if they would like to walk outside or enter by the grade 3 hallway. Thanks for your help in supporting students at these important times. We will revisit any changes in the spring.

Do Not Disturb: While on a break, some students might be wearing a sign or tag that indicates they are on a break. This sign is part of a behavior plan for those students. We are kindly asking staff (and students) to refrain from interacting with these students while they are on an independent break in order to support their programming.

(Breaks, Timeouts, Rewards)... You may see from time to time students in the hallway on a break, time out, or reward. If they are on a break or a timeout staff should not interact with them but if they are on reward, staff should be sure to interact, praise , thumbs up and even play with these students for earning rewards!! Click on the link below to view what the signs look like. Link 1, Link 2. Feel free to utilize these resources for your students.

Sensory Path/Movement Break: Do you have a student who may benefit from the Sensory Path? Feel free to use this video to train them how to use it independently. It can be a great support for some students! Additionally, Katie Belfiore updates exercises at our "four corners" in the main building should a student in your class benefit from this type of movement break, we encourage you to check them out!

February Grade Level Meetings: February Student Grade Level meetings will be virtual again. We are hoping to be back in person in March. Please be on the lookout the first full week of February for the video recording. We are excited to be introducing Student Council readers in February. These students will read the story for grade levels either virtually or eventually in person. We are so proud of these leaders.

Staff Vacancies: We currently have two positions open in our building. 1 ABA Paraprofessional Position and 1 Recess/Lunch Aide position. Should you know of anyone interested, please have them apply through school spring and/or reach out to Terri or Jayson directly with questions on the positions.

A special thank you: Thank you to Marguerite Lemmerman to designing our "Great Kindness Challenge" stickers for all students this week. They were a big hit. We would also like to thank Abbey Ciardi for updating our South Row sign with many positive messages this week. Check some of them out below.

Looking ahead: Due to a grade 4 field trip to Center School on Friday, February 18th, 2022 we will be doing a specialist swap. Please see the change below.

• Grade 2: 10:10-11:00am
• Grade 4: 11:05-11:55am

2022 Science Fair: Please click on this link to view Science Fair information. Please pump it up with your kiddos! =).

PTO Meeting Sign Up: Consider signing up for a PTO meeting this year. This is a great way to engage with parents and our community at large. Click on this link to sign up. Thanks for considering!

Student PRIDE Shout Out: Use this link to recognize a student via a PRIDE shout out.

Dear South Row Staff,

Thank you for your patience and support this month. I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of appreciation and support that I have received from the parents and staff in the South Row community. We truly have something special here!

Covid Response Changes

There are some changes coming in terms of Covid response at the school. Dr. Lang sent out a communication to families and staff on January 25th. Here are a few key points:

• Our district will be transitioning from the Test and Stay program to providing weekly at-home rapid antigen tests for all interested students and staff.

• We will discontinue contact tracing and the Test and Stay program once we receive and distribute at-home rapid antigen test kits to individuals that elect to participate in this new program.

• Pool Testing will continue. Pool testing is available for vaccinated and unvaccinated students and staff. If you are already enrolled in pool testing you do not need to sign up again.

• Students and staff may opt-in to receive at-home rapid antigen test kits regardless of vaccination status, even if they do not participate in pool testing.

• More information will follow regarding dates these changes will take effect as well as distribution of the tests.

Important Links:

Student and Staff Opt In/Register for At Home Antigen Testing Program

Staff Pool Testing

Feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Shannon

*** Use this link to give a colleague a Staff Shout Out**

Sally Warren:Thank you so much for letting my class use your room on Wednesday! It was greatly appreciated! - Jen Sanborn

Lauren Sbordy, Jen Sanborn, and Sally Warren: A special thank you to Sally, Lauren, and Jen for working together as room repairs were needed. We appreciate your flexibility. Also a special thank you to classroom teachers who welcomed Sally into your classrooms this week! - Terri and Jayson

Debbie O'Neill and Kim Sepe: Thank you for going above and beyond to support our students, staff, and families day in and day out. We appreciate ALL you do for all of us! - Terri and Jayson

Anne Stagnone, Cara Bullock, and Beth Mathews: Thank you for being willing to provide a brief recording for part of our "Spotlight at South Row" segment for our upcoming school committee meeting presentation. You all did an amazing job and we really appreciate your help! - Terri and Jayson

January:

Sonya Eldakkache

Jennifer Heater

Deirdre Kelley

Michelle Martin

Lauren Sbordy

February

Pamela Dixon-Masson

Kim Lefebvre

6. Supporting Students Who Are Behind in Reading

“For the millions of students who struggle to read at grade level, every school day can bring feelings of anxiety, frustration, and shame,” says Madeline Will in this Education Week article. By the upper-elementary grades, reading is so important across the curriculum that low proficiency makes school success extremely difficult. This can result in what psychiatrist Donald Nathanson calls the “compass of shame”; students:

- Attack themselves with verbal put-downs, sometimes self-harm;

- Attack others, lashing out at classmates or teachers;

- Withdraw, avoiding participation in class or skipping classes or school;

- Act out.

What these students need may be a dose of systematic phonics so they can decode words, or vocabulary, background knowledge, and oral language skills so they can make sense of what they’re reading. Unfortunately most struggling students are so deep in shame and self-doubt that they don’t ask for help.

Will summarizes some of the do’s and don’ts for supporting students whose reading skills are underdeveloped:

- Build a classroom culture where it’s okay to make mistakes and not okay to snicker at a poor reader.

- Don’t assume that disengagement means a student is lazy or doesn’t care.

- Don’t assume struggling students can’t understand grade-level content.

- Provide scaffolding and support so students can access grade-level content.

- Weave students’ interests and strengths into reading lessons.

- Give struggling readers books that are interesting and age-appropriate.

- Group low readers with more-proficient students some of the time.

- Don’t require below-level students to read aloud in front of their peers.

“What Teachers Can Do to Help Struggle Readers Who Feel Ashamed” by Madeline Will in Education Week, January 4, 2022

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Snow Play Date

You may have heard there is some snow coming tomorrow! ;-) We are planning to have a snow play date with sledding, snowperson making, and hot chocolate from 10AM to noon on Saturday, February 5. There is some rain and some warm days in the forecast for the coming week, but there should be enough snow from this storm that there will be plenty left by next Saturday. Look for an email midweek to confirm that conditions are favorable.

Help Wanted

There are a few roles that we are seeking volunteers for:

Bylaw Review Committee

Our bylaws state that every 5 years, we must conduct a bylaw review, and this is the year. This involves a committee reading the bylaws, and if necessary, proposing amendments that will be voted on at a PTO meeting. The committee MUST consist of at least 3 people, including one member of the Board and one staff member and one parent, neither of whom may be current members of the Board. The time commitment could be as little as one meeting, depending on how many proposed changes are found upon review.

Board Positions

Our May meeting with Board elections will be here before you know it! Each Board position (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) are elected annually, so if any position interests you, don't hesitate to reach out to southrowpto@gmail.com to learn more.

Please send photos to Mr. Ramalho (ramalhoj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us) to be featured in our School and Home Link newsletters!

Mrs. Terri Gilbert

Principal

gilbertt@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Mr. Jayson Ramalho, M.Ed.

Assistant Principal

ramalhoj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Email: gilbertt@chelmsford.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/Domain/15
Location: 250 Boston Road, Chelmsford, MA, USA
Phone: 978-251-5177
Facebook: facebook.com/SouthRowElementary
Twitter: @CPSSouthRow