Melville Message Community Update

In partnership with families and community, the mission of Melville Elementary School is to provide all students with a strong academic foundation through diverse and challenging instruction in a safe and nurturing environment enabling them to achieve their greatest potential while developing self-confidence, respect, responsibility, compassion and a love of learning.

What a great day students had on Wednesday. We kicked off our day with a Laser Show!

Teachers and students hard at work!

This program will continue to run until the end of the year. It has been so successful that we are adding on another day. Please review the April calendar below.

On April 24th Chartwells will be hosting a Global Eats program during all student lunches. In April we will celebrate Italy and students can sample some Italian food.

Nurse Trainor is reviewing all recipe information to ensure it is allergy safe. If you are unsure if your child has allergies on file with the health office, please reach out to Nurse Trainor. If you would like to OPT OUT and not have your child sample the cuisine, please email: Nurse Trainor at trainora@portsmouthschoolsri.org or me at lauried@portsmouthschoolsri.org.

Dear Elementary Families and Caregivers,

We wanted to bring to your attention an exciting astronomical event that will be occurring on April 8th, 2024 - a solar eclipse.

During dismissal time at our elementary schools, we anticipate that the solar eclipse will be visible. As a school, we are committed to ensuring the safety of all our students during this event.

To make the most of this educational opportunity while ensuring the safety of our students, we have put together a plan:

• We are providing Eclipse glasses to our students to wear during dismissal as an extra layer of eye protection. We will review with students how to wear them and the importance of keeping them on.
• Supervised Viewing: Teachers and staff will accompany students during dismissal to ensure they are safely observing the solar eclipse, using appropriate solar eclipse glasses, as they are dismissed.
• Education: Prior to the event, teachers will incorporate lessons about solar eclipses into the curriculum, providing students with background knowledge and safety instructions.
• Individual classes may decide to take their class outside to safely view the eclipse. This is a classroom based decision determined by the teacher and their knowledge of what their students can manage.
• Safety is our top priority, and we want to ensure that all students have a safe and enjoyable experience during the solar eclipse. We kindly ask for your support in reinforcing safety guidelines with your child.
  

If you opt to have your child dismissed early from school on this day, then we ask that you plan for the early dismissal and send in a note that morning. Please do not call in to dismiss your child.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to experiencing the solar eclipse with our students on April 8th.

Warm regards,

Danielle Laurie

NASA article about the Eclipse

We are excited to kick off the Month of the Military Child during April to honor our young American heroes. We are asking our military students to complete the banner that was sent home and return it to school by April 1st. These banners will be displayed as part of a bulletin board to celebrate our military children. Students can draw a picture on the banner, write one sentence or write a few! They can even include a family photo if you would like. If your child did not receive a banner, please let us know and we will send one home. For Melville families, please email Mrs. Powell at powelld@portsmouthschoolsri.org and our Hathaway families can email Mrs. Almeida at almeidan@portsmouthschoolsri.org.

We have some fun activities planned this month to recognize all of our military students. During the week of April 1st, we will recognize each military child over the morning announcements and each child will receive an American Flag necklace to show our appreciation. We would love to have our military parents/guardians come to school and read in your child’s classroom. Your child’s teacher will reach out to you to schedule a convenient time during the month. In addition, we have planned the following school wide spirit days:

Week of April 1st: Students receive their American flag necklaces

Friday, April 5th: Wear a military branch of service t-shirt or hat

Friday, April 12th: Purple Up Day for military kids! Wear your purple proudly!

Friday, April 26: Wear your patriotic colors or a flag shirt

Thank you for all that you and your family do!

Trimester 2:

• ASPEN Family Portal open to view the Report Card: March 20th
  
• IEP Progress Reports open to view in Aspen: March 22nd

Trimester 3:

• Mid Trimester Progress Reports will be sent home by May 31st. Each grade level will communicate with families when and how they will be shared.
  
• Family Portal Opens to view Report Cards and IEP Progress Reports: June 18, 2024
  

If your child will NOT be attending the Portsmouth Public School System in the Fall of 2024, then please complete this form and send it back to the Main Office. If you need a hard copy sent home, then please email meloffice@portsmouthschoolsri.org

If you plan to attend please sign up using this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084DAAA72DAAFEC16-48612785-disco

IMPORTANT: This is not a drop off event, and you must be in attendance with your student(s).

You will be ENTERING and EXITING Door 10, which is connected to the GYM.

You WILL NOT be able to enter through the main doors.

There will be a sign in sheet- after you have signed in: knock on door and I will let you and your student into the gym.

DIRECTIONS:

1. If you are looking at Melville you will enter the parking lot on the LEFT not the main entrance with the bus loop.

2. You will park and walk all the way to the fence straight ahead at the end of the parking lot.

3. Once you have walked to the fence take a RIGHT as if you were walking to the back of the school.

4. There will be a long hall-way like cement path and at the end of that will be DOOR 10.

If you have any questions please feel free to send Mr. Soares an email: soaresr@portsmouthschoolsri.org

Looking forward to seeing you!

We have many opportunities coming this SPRING for families to volunteer.

• Whale of an Evening 5/3-CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER. For this event you do not need to be VIS Approved as this is an out of school adult only fund raising event (see flyer below).
• Melville Fun Run 5/21 (rain date 5/23)- For this event you will need to be VIS approved. Sign up will be coming.

• Field Day 6/3 (rain date 6/4) - For this event you will need to be VIS approved. Sign up will be coming.

Please send in your Clement's Receipts. Our MPTG collets them and over the year Clements gives Melville back a percentage of what was spent. This year Clements gave our MPTG approximately $600!

We go outside as much as possible and we want our students to be safe, warm, and ready to play! Please help your children select weather appropriate clothing as we are in the coldest months of the year.

If you would like to order a yearbook then please do so by following this link and use the SCHOOL ID.

Yearbook Order: https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/

School ID: 12072424

If you do not order a yearbook, then we may not have enough available to purchase at the end of the school year when it comes out. We order some extra, but the only guarantee is to pre order, so I highly recommend ordering one ahead of time.

If you have a child in grade 4 and need financial assistance to purchase a yearbook, then please email me directly at lauried@portsmouthschoolsri.org and we will make sure your child gets a yearbook.

You can learn more by visiting this site:https://feinsteinfoundation.org/jr-scholar-card.html

Fire drills occur on a regular basis. State law requires each school to conduct eleven fire drills, two lockdown drills and two evacuation drills each year. Shelter in Place drills are conducted throughout the school year. Children are given instruction on all procedures. Children are expected to behave in a calm, orderly manner during these exercises. Please review the importance of such exercises with your child and emphasize the need for appropriate behavior.

A lockdown is an alert to a school community that students and staff should not leave the classroom and should gather in one area of the room until provided with further direction.

An evacuation requires all students and staff to exit the building and meet at a designated safe place.

A shelter in place is an alert to a school community that movement outside of classrooms is being restricted for a brief period of time. It is typically used when a student or staff member is requiring some sort of attention (sometimes medical) and the school is trying to keep that area clear and/or protect that person’s privacy. If there were a serious safety concern the school would not issue a shelter in place.

We will send notification of lockdowns, evacuations, and shelter in place drills and events via email.

Here is the presentation that was shared at a Parent Safety Forum that was hosted in conjunction with the Police and Fire Departments. The Run, Hide, Fight FBI philosophy guides our safety training.

The P3 Sandy Hook Promise Anonymous tip line is a resource that we encourage anyone to use if there is ever an immediate safety concern.

If you are interested in volunteering or chaperoning this school year, then you will need to complete the volunteer approval process. Mrs. McEvoy in our office is a notary and can be of any assistance, so please do not hesitate to reach out!

Please use meloffice@portsmouthschoolsri.org to notify the main office of changes to your child's dismissal routine or of your child's absence.

We love to celebrate our students. If they have special news that you would like us to share, e.g. State Wrestling or Cheerleading Championship accomplishments, then please email me at lauried@portsmouthschoolsri.org and we will be sure to include their recognition in our morning announcements.

We will have our Planet Aid bin again this year...please continue to fill it with clothes and shoes.

In keeping with the spirit of giving, our Feinstein Jr. Scholars are excited to start an in-school food pantry that our students and families can donate to and access when needed.

Please help us as we continue to support our community by sending in food items with your child from time to time. Please email

Mrs. Powell: powelld@portsmouthschoolsri.org or

Mrs. Pascoe: pascoen@portsmouthschoolsri.org

if you would like to access our food pantry during the school year.

Securly Home is an app that allows parents to monitor their child’s Chromebook activity at home and add rules for home use. Please take some time to review the slideshow from the informational parent meeting hosted for families.

We encourage you to sign up now for Securly Home!

Google Slideshow

April ☔

2nd–Staff Professional Development Day (No School for Students)

10th-MPTG Monthly Meeting, 6PM-7PM, Melville Library

15th-19th– Spring Recess (No School)

🌷May

3rd -Whale of an Evening (more information to follow)

6th-10th-Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week

8th--MPTG Monthly Meeting, 6PM-7PM, Melville Library

16th - TBD tentative date for Spring Parent Teacher Conferences 3:30-6:30

21st-Fun Run (rain date 5/23)

24th-Grade 4 Field Trip- State House

27th-Memorial Day (No School)

29th-Grade 2 Family & Caregiver Celebration

30th-Kindergarten Family & Caregiver Celebration

31st-Grade 3 Wax Museum and Family & Caregiver End of Year Event

June 🌞

3rd-Field Day (rain date 6/4)

5th-Grade 1 Family & Caregiver Celebration

5th- Kindergarten Field Trip-Coggshell Farm

6th-Grade 4 visits PMS

6th-Grade 1 Field Trip-Casey Farm Field Trip

7th–PHS Graduation (Tentative Date)

10th-Pre Kindergarten Graduation

12th-FINAL MPTG Meeting, 6PM-7PM, Melville Library

13th=Grade 2 Field Trip to BIOMES

13th-Grade 4 Stepping Up Ceremony with Family & Caregivers

14th- or 180th day – Last Day of School – All Students

17th,18th, 20th, 21st– Snow Makeup Days

19th – Juneteenth (No School)

🎆 July

14th- Charity Polo Event

Email: lauried@portsmouthschoolsri.org
Website: https://www.portsmouthschoolsri.org/Domain/11
Location: 1351 West Main Road, Portsmouth, RI, USA
Phone: 4016831650
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009159177892
Twitter: @MelvilleSchool