
February 17, 2023
MKG Messenger ~ Eagle Strong!!
The Principal's Office
I would like to take this opportunity to THANK the MKG families and staff for a successful week of conferences. The feedback on students' progress and growth as well as a positive partnership between home and school are critical for success!! I want to wish everyone a safe and healthy winter break.
The Internet Safety Night has been rescheduled for March 14, 2023 for grades K - 5. This will be a virtual event. More information will be coming out soon.
PIZZA BOWL: I have been asked to share the information below regarding the Pizza Bowl at MHS.
Thank you for your interest in the Pizza Bowl! We will be postponing the event due to lack of availability with our local vendors. We are happy to keep your ticket and money to use towards the next date (TBD).
If you have purchased tickets and would like your money returned, contact Shannah Milani (the class advisor for 2024) at smilani@middleboro.k12.ma.us.
We appreciate your patience,
Shannah Milani
Reminders:
No School Monday, Feb. 20th: President's Day
No School Tuesday, Feb. 21st - Friday, Feb. 24th: Winter Break
2023 MCAS Testing Schedule:
English Language Arts Grades 3 - 5
Session 1: April 6
Session 2: April 12
Math Grades 3 - 5
Session 1: May 3
Session 2: May 11
Science Grade 5
Session 1: May 16
Session 2: May 18
Family Resource Information:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR INCLEMENT WEATHER: Please clink on the link below for important information regarding the procedures for the delay or cancellation of school.
Staff Spotlight: Ms. Howard is our amazing new staff member at MKG. She has a passion for teaching and is dedicated to helping our MKG students to be the best they can be. She has been so kind, friendly and hardworking and is ready for any challenge that is presented to her. We are lucky to have Rachel here at MKG!
Assistant Principal
It has been a great week of teaching and learning at MKG! The calendar states that it is February, but this past week has felt more like April. Students have enjoyed being outdoors and enjoying the unusually warm temperatures.
It was wonderful that many families were able to attend Parent Teacher Conferences this past week. It is an opportunity to discuss progress, revisit goals, and think about next steps moving forward. Congratulations to staff, students, and families for all their efforts.
Finally, enjoy February Vacation. MKG is looking forward to the Book Fair upon our return to school on February 27.
Nursing
Healthy Reminders for Illness and School Attendance, from Middleboro Public School Nursing:
As much of the area is experiencing an increase in seasonal illness, Middleborough Public Schools in partnership with our State and Local Public Health Departments would like to share the following healthy reminders: Please:
Practice frequent hand hygiene with soap and water or hand sanitizer.
Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, or if a tissue is not available, cover sneezes with an elbow
Open a window, even a few inches to help circulate fresh air when this is an option.
Clean high touch surfaces in your home frequently .
Please keep your child home from school if he/she has:
A temperature of 100.1 F or higher during the previous 24 hours: Students are to be fever free without use of medication for 24 hours before returning to school
Vomiting or diarrhea. Students are to have no vomiting and no diarrhea for 24 hours before returning to school.
Signs or symptoms of flu/Influenza include body aches, chills, headache, fatigue
If your student is ill, please keep your student home from school and please avoid social gatherings. This will help with recovery and reduce the chances of spreading illness to others.
Please contact your pediatrician or healthcare provider if your child needs medical care.
Please notify your School Nurse if your child tests positive for Covid-19 or Influenza. This will help us assess and possibly detect illnesses in others sooner
Please notify your school with any changes in any of your emergency contact phone numbers and/or emails so that we may reach you promptly if your student is ill and needs to be dismissed from school to recover at home. We share your commitment to reducing any chances that children with contagious illness may be exposing others to illness at school.
Thank you.
Resources:
Link to Mass DPH Letter on Staying Healthy this season, from November 1, 2022:
Letter on Staying Healthy This Season from DPH and the Massachusetts Chapter of the AAP (Also Available in Spanish)
MPS District Website, Health services page includes a general list of when to keep your student home: https://www.middleboro.k12.ma.us/Page/5726
Grade 1
It has been another fun filled week in first grade! We had a great time celebrating Valentine’s Day!! We passed out our cards to our classmates and teachers to let them know how special they are to us! We did Valentine’s Day letter writing, read stories about friendship, and fun Valentine crafts!
In reading, we are beginning our study of nonfiction and our students will explore nonfiction text features. We will be learning about how to use nonfiction texts to research and find information! This week we learned that a symbol is something that is used to represent something else and that symbols can be a picture,
shape, color, or an object. Our students are now noticing symbols all around them. We are going to be studying American symbols which are unique to the United States such as the Statue of Liberty, White House, the American Flag, and the bald eagle. In math, we learned several strategies for adding tens and ones such as using a 120 chart and using models to add tens.
It was wonderful to see everyone at parent conferences. We loved sharing all the ways your student has grown as a learner. We are so proud of all the hard work students are doing in first grade! A big thank you to the PTA families that stocked our teachers room with goodies! We appreciate it! Just a reminder that the book fair is the week that we return from vacation so please check the fliers that went home to see what day your student’s class is attending. Have a great February vacation! We can’t wait to see you after break!
Grade 2
The second graders have been working very hard this week and we are proud of their accomplishments! Most classes have wrapped up their unit on time, money, and graphing. After the break, we will move into or continue working on addition and subtraction of three-digit numbers. We ask that you continue to work with your child on reading an analog clock and counting groups of coins. These are skills that require lots of practice and can be incorporated into daily life. We are enjoying our "Trip Around the World". The classes have each been 'traveling' to new continents and learning about the landforms, bodies of water, living things and different cultures there. There is so much to learn!
For Valentine's Day, the students were excited to share kindness with each other. As a grade level, students also learned about the first responders of Middleboro. Each class made a Valentine's Day project which was brought to the stations of Middleboro Police, Middleboro Fire, Brewster Ambulance, and the Massachusetts State Police barracks. The community helpers greatly appreciated the positivity and appreciation they felt from our second graders! Here's a link to a write up in Nemasket Week, which you can find in print at various locations around town. https://nemasket.theweektoday.com/article/students-show-love-first-responders-valentines/62220
Grade 3
Happy Friday from Grade 3! We hope you all have a fantastic February Vacation! Thank you for attending parent-teacher conferences this week. We enjoyed meeting with you! When we return from break, we look forward to the Scholastic Book Fair and celebrating Read Across America week!
Here's a list of fun things to do during February Vacation:
-Have fun reading a favorite book.
-Do a book talk with a sibling or friend.
-Practice math facts with a friend. Have a fact competition!
-Play a reading or math game on the MKG Computer Lab website.
-Practice typing skills on www.typing.com.
-Enjoy time with friends and family!
-Write about your vacation adventures in a journal.
See you on February 27th!
Grade 4
Hard to believe it will be March the week we return and other than a day or two here and there, no winter weather! It was a pleasure to touch base with so many families during conferences this week. Your children benefit the most from a partnership between home and school. :-)
Vacation is a great time to explore and learn with your child. Head to the library or bookstore and have your child share their favorite reads. Watch the movie version of a book your child has read and compare. There are so many great museums to visit; many of them have free passes available at the library. You can check them out right from your phone to see what passes are open.
There are also great connections to be made without even leaving the house. Cooking and baking are natural activities involving measurement and practical use of fractions. Does your child want a bedroom refresh? Give them a small budget and let them shop for the best deals for their budget. They will quickly realize the value of money!
Of course, there is always the great outdoors! Go for a hike, explore your neighborhood, walk the Freedom Trail in Boston. The possibilities are endless.
However you spend vacation, take some time to enjoy the company of your child. Time truly does pass much too quickly and before you know it they’ll be teenagers who don’t want to spend time with you anymore. Enjoy this time together!
The world is yours to explore… now go do it!!
Grade 5
After the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter, grade 5 thinks he got it wrong. With unseasonably warm weather, a certain excitement was in the air this week. Combined with Valentine’s Day and the impending vacation, students were full of energy.
We had a special virtual visit from a Park Ranger in Acadia National Park in Maine on Tuesday afternoon. She presented a program that details the unique ecosystem, animals, and plants that live in the park. She also conducted a bit of Q & A, where students from each class asked her questions. We will have another session in March from Acadia about owls.
All classes are winding down on projects and assignments for Term 2. Parent - Teacher Conferences were held all week and report cards will be posted later in March. Thank you to all who were able to attend a meeting to discuss your child’s progress.
If you are looking for some fun activities during the break, the Highland Street Foundation is offering lots of free places to visit during their Winter Camp. Check out the full list of daily events:
Physical Education News
Hello students and families! Our physical education classes are finishing up with the last units in our winter rotation, and are looking forward to getting back outdoors for some of our upcoming spring units! Ms. Venini’s classes will be finishing their basketball skills unit and beginning batting and fielding skills through baseball, softball and kickball lessons. Ms. Venini is hopeful that her classes will be outdoors and wants to remind everyone to dress for our very unpredictable weather patterns! Layers are always a great idea for outdoor PE and sneakers are definitely a must! Mrs. Young’s students will be finishing their volleyball unit and beginning a racket skills unit through tennis, badminton and pickleball lessons. Students will be making observations about the similarities and differences between their recent volleyball unit and the net games that use rackets instead of hand striking. In addition, we have had many students asking, our gymnastics units are around the corner! We chose to hold off a little bit this year to avoid conflicting our equipment with after school basketball, and in hopes that we may have more gym space if it’s nice enough for other PE classes to be outdoors, but rest assured, it is coming up soon!
We want to encourage our students and families to set some activity goals for break next week! It is recommended that our students get 60 minutes of physical activity every day, which we think is a great goal for everyone! Mrs. Young plans to accomplish this goal through daily walks with her dogs and her family! Ms. Venini plans to do some hiking and walking with her son, and visit her basement fitness room! We can’t wait to hear about how you all chose to stay active over your break together! Take care and stay healthy!