Clayville Elementary School

December 2023

Earlier in November, Superintendent Andries and first grade teacher Lisa LaRose joined me in traveling to Washington, DC, to accept the National Blue Ribbon School award on behalf of Clayville. We are so honored to have received this award and so proud of Clayville's teachers, staff, students and families!

Back in Scituate, our school and others are having issues with our drains and septic systems caused by large quantities of paper products. Please talk to your children about how much toilet paper is necessary and how important it is to keep paper towels out of drains. We'll have the same conversations at school.

We will continue to collect donations for Give-A-Gift through Friday, December 8th.

Last but not least, Mrs. Theroux would like to remind everyone to come to school with coats for outdoor recess. We're outside for 20 minutes on most days, in addition to transitions to and from schools, and it gets cold! Thanks for all of you help and support.

All the best,

Sarah Hess

Principal, Clayville Elementary

We've been practicing Mindful Morning Moment during morning announcements this week. This mindfulness practice is intended to support our Second Step curriculum unit on emotional regulation and our students as they learn a robust variety of self-regulation techniques to draw on in times of need. Below are the mindful breathing exercises we've tried so far. Please ask your kids to demonstrate for you!

We're often told by parents that they have trouble getting any details out of their kids when they ask questions like, "How was your day?" or "What did you learn today?" We've been there with our kids! These are questions you can ask about specific Clayville experiences/details that will hopeful get your kids to open up more about school.

1. Has your class won the Golden Spatula recently? What do you have to do to win it?

2. Can you teach me the Mindful Moment you learned this week?

3. Do you go outside for recess when its cold? Are you bringing enough warm clothes? (Side note - we do go outside when it's pretty cold and it's much more fun with coats, hats, gloves, etc.!)

We're always looking to build our programs and systems to support students as best we can. One way we might do that in the next year is by building our parent volunteering program. We've begun generating ideas, but cannot commit to any details until we know more -- especially whether there is any interest on your end! Before we invest time in building the programs/systems, are you -- or is there a Clayville grandparent, aunt/uncle, or older sibling who might be -- interested in volunteering at Clayville? Volunteers would need to provide a BCI, attend a brief FERPA training, and be available to volunteer regularly (at least twice a month).

Mrs. LaRose and her Fabulous Firsties have been hard at work! We’re focusing on learning our math addition facts through fun partner games. We’re also furthering our animal study by collecting and creating information on our favorite bears. Add to that calendar helpers taking over Number Corner time and speeding up our self selection of books and you have the makings of a class on the move!

Students from the Scituate elementary schools' chorus performance at the Hope Tree Lighting this past weekend. Despite technical difficulties with the CD player, students did a beautiful job singing acappella. Organizers described our chorus as, "impressive, mature, and easy going about it all!" and shared that our students "made the night wonderful, magical, and memorable!"

During the month of November, students in grades 3-5 participated in teamwork and cooperation games. The focus was on communication and togetherness. The whole class worked together to accomplish a goal. Below are photos of the 5th grade working together to write in "human letters" - It says Mr. L. The other photo is the cup stacking challenge, how high can they get it?!

Students in grades K-2 participated in chasing, fleeing, and dodging games. The focus was on spatial awareness and moving in safe ways around the gym. During the last 2 weeks of November we will play games related to Thanksgiving and giving thanks.

Email: sarah.hess@scituateschoolri.net
Website: https://nses.scituateschoolsri.net/
Location: 3 George Washington Highway, Clayville, RI, USA