ESS Home Scholar Gazette
Week of 05/18/20
Greetings!
Dear ESS Families,
It has been a spring like none other and has called on all our creativity and patience to make this experience positive and meaningful. This pandemic has us living in conditions that are not normal to us and in many ways has brought us much closer to that which matters most, our families! It is our sincere hope that you and your loved ones are able to use this time to connect and teach each other. Like generations before us, we may look back on these difficult days as cherished times of togetherness, resilience and growth. We are proud of the commitment to learning our teachers and the district continue to provide to all our students. We want to praise the children for their hard work and perseverance in navigating online learning. In addition, we would like to thank all of you for your endless efforts to support your child’s academics and social emotional needs during this challenging and unexpected time home. We are grateful for our work together!
With great appreciation,
Mark Lord
Bethany Calado
Reminder - May 25th will still be no school
Kindergarten Registration
Kindergarten Registration is OPEN for the 2020-21 school year.
Please go to our website @ www.enfieldschools.org
And click on the GREEN Striped link BELOW the RED Circle.
This will bring you to our registration site:
You will need to first create an account.
This account is meant to be created by an adult family member.
It is important to create only one account per household so that the system
will be able to save and access your information correctly.
Enfield Family Resource Center
PBIS Spotlight
Mrs. Tait & Ms. Hijeck
We want to start with a giant THANK YOU for your patience this week as we worked through the new daily assignments platform on TEAMS. You were all fantastic throughout the process and we are so grateful for the teamwork that is evident in our learning community. It shows that we are all willing to be life-long learners ourselves in order to provide a quality educational experience for the children! It’s an honor for us to work with you in this way, to be “invited” into your homes, and to be true partners with you during this time. We had great responses and participation in this week’s PBIS and Second Step lessons. Many thanks for taking the time to make this learning important in your household. In these difficult times, we cannot overlook our children’s social and emotional health. We hope the lessons provide an opportunity for students to express things they may be feeling and a place for your family to talk about any situations that may be challenging during such an unusual time in all our lives. This week, we also wanted to continue to discuss coping thoughts (one in particular) and how they are helpful. This week’s Coping Thought is: “Mistakes are proof that you are trying.” During this tough time of social distancing, it’s very easy for us to focus on trying to perfect what we can control and noticing all the little flaws along the way. This can lead to unnecessary stress and mental fatigue that is, frankly, not worth it! This coping thought is appropriate for both adults and children, as it reminds us not to focus on perfection, but focus on growth. When we give ourselves credit for trying, we’ll notice our progress appears even sooner than if we only give attention to not getting everything right. Keep practicing this thought; our minds and our bodies will thank us for it!
District List of Available Activities
School-Wide Activity
Teacher Spotlight
Miss Chesworth - Kindergarten
Hello ESS Families!
I hope you are all doing well! As we spend more time at home, many of us are taking up new hobbies to keep busy. Some of my family members have been baking and cooking new recipes. As much as we all enjoy it, the one thing none of us likes are the dishes we have to wash afterwards! In honor of National No Dirty Dishes Day on May 18th, I thought I would share some of my favorite snacks for kids that require (almost) no dishes at all. Each recipe is quick and easy to make, so the kids can help you prepare them too!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi Rolls
This is version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is so much fun, turning your lunch into little bit sized rolls in only a few quick steps!
https://www.eatingonadime.com/peanut-butter-and-jelly-sushi-rolls/
Apple Boats
With just a few ingredients you could make your afternoon snack into a fun boat! To make this recipe even easier, I like to skip adding puffed rice.
https://childhood101.com/simple-kids-snack-ideas-crunchy-apple-boats/
Rainbow Fruit Skewers
Practice ROY G BIV while making fruit skewers for an easy snack. This snack is great for eating outside on a nice day.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rainbow-fruit-skewers
Fish in the River
A creative way to enjoy goldfish, this snack only takes a few minutes to prepare but is so much fun to eat!
https://www.food.com/recipe/fish-in-the-river-156929
Banana Peanut Butter Bites
These make an amazing, healthy dessert and only take a few minutes to throw together. These will become your new favorite snack, I guarantee it!
https://sugarbeecrafts.com/banana-peanut-butter-bites#_a5y_p=1941648
I hope you enjoy these snacks as much as we did! Happy National No Dirty Dishes Day.
Miss Chesworth
Ms. Nicol - First Grade
Grade 1 Families,
The Grade 1 Teachers would like to send out a heart-warming thank you to all the families at ESS for your dedication in being at the forefront of your child’s learning. We miss the day to day interaction with our students and seeing their expressions when the “light bulb” goes off knowing they understand what we have taught them. With much training, lesson planning and meetings, the best part of our day is seeing our students during class meetings where we can see their smiling faces as they talk to one another. Children’s socialization has been on hold and we know it’s a critical part of emotional development. They miss each other as much as we miss them!
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! The teachers of Enfield stand by this motto as well. For the past week, you have seen some unfamiliar faces of teachers in the district, teaching your children. This is proof of how we support each other and persevere through this together to bring your child the best education! As we continue to provide you with online learning, you will see many teachers at ESS, especially in Grade 1. Your child will be learning from all of us! Your child will learn phonics and writing from Mrs. Moffett & Mrs. Lajoie, reading from Ms. Nicol, Ms. Hulevitch and Mrs. Jennings, and math from Ms. Scully & Mrs. Baroni. Also, Ms. Scully we will be providing you with social studies May 13 - May 29, followed by science for the remaining school year. As we have taught our students, “We Are A Team!” If you have any questions about lessons, then you will continue to email your child’s teacher.
Ms. Nicol & The Grade 1 Team
Mrs. Trifone - Second Grade
Greetings ESS Families!
We made it to more than halfway through May! I hope this letter finds you safe and healthy.
For my children, and I’m sure yours, distanced learning has grown old. More reminders are needed for them to stay focused and get their work done, especially when the weather is nice and they want to play outside. We make lots of “deals,” such as if they finish 2 assignments, they can play outside for 20-30 minutes, then come in and get back to work. My second grader loves doing her work out on the deck, so she gets the best of both worlds!
Hopefully you and your child are becoming more familiar and comfortable using the Teams platform. I know we have had some “hiccups,” and we thank you so much for your patience and flexibility as we work through them!
Here are some Memorial Day themed crafts and activities for you to try if you wish:
“Egg Carton American Flag” craft:
https://www.craftymorning.com/egg-carton-american-flag-craft-for-kids/
“Cupcake Liner Poppy” craft:
https://laughingkidslearn.com/red-memorial-poppy-craft-using-a-cupcake-liner/
On the following page is a patriotic scavenger hunt!
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher with any questions and/or concerns. We are here to help! Hang in there and be well!
Mrs. Radkovich - Math Support
Hello Enfield Street School Families – Hope everyone is doing well and able to navigate their way through the online learning. It’s been quite the learning experience for all of us. At least it won’t be long before we’ll be heading into, a much deserved, summer vacation.
Since this is my last entry, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that I will be retiring at the end of this school year. It’s not the way I wanted to end my career but I know I’m taking many fond memories of the students I’ve taught and the years spent in the Enfield Public School system. It’s been an honor and privilege to end my career at Enfield Street School. I was transferred here three years ago when Nathan Hale closed, and I couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming school with wonderful staff, students, and families. It has been a joy working with your children and helping them grow their math skills. I will definitely miss their youth and innocence but will always cherish the time I had teaching.
Be safe and be well….I will miss you all!
Specialist Spotlight
Miss Berube & Mrs. Zakoscielny - Music
Hi Friends!
Miss Berube & Mrs. Zakoscielny miss you so much! Miss Berube has been keeping busy taking online ballroom dance lessons with her dance partner, watching sunsets, and hanging out with her cat Leila who is LOVING all of the extra snuggle time! Mrs. Zakoscielny has been busy walking a few miles a day and spending time outside in the sunshine with her husband and two year old son Elliott. Her cat, Mazie Mae, follows her everywhere wanting attention all the time. Mrs. Zakoscielny is getting a little better at cooking and is hoping to try some more new recipes like spinach and herb chicken, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies & watermelon sorbet.
We know a lot of people don’t have instruments at their home. Below you will find a website to create your own with very few materials. We hope to see some of your fabulous creations!
https://artsycraftsymom.com/diy-musical-instruments-for-kids-to-make-and-play/
We have been keeping ourselves very busy at home while in quarantine to help us stay happy. We thought we would share a list of things you could do to keep yourself busy and have fun!
•Play board games and card games
•Walk in your neighborhood
•Go hiking at a park
•Create obstacle courses and see how fast you can complete them
•Start to learn how to play a musical instrument using Youtube or Fender.com
•Ride a bike
•Play sports with your family (Ex. kickball, baseball, soccer, basketball)
•Collect things in nature and turn them into art
•Enjoy a pretty sunset
•Blow bubbles
•Make chalk drawings on your driveway
•Take your pet for a walk
•Watch a movie with snacks
•Paint
•Make cards for friends or family and mail them
•Help with chores
•Create something with playdough
•Play a game on your phone/tablet (Mrs. Z’s new favorite is Sort It 3D)
•Read a book
•Research new recipes on Pinterest and try to make them with an adult
•Sing and dance to your favorite songs
•Run in an open field
•Call/video chat with family you can’t see right now
•Learn a new language
•Take a virtual field trip
•Watch live videos from zoos (San Diego, Bronx, Roger Williams, Cincinnati, Forrest Park)
•Jump rope
•Watch The Piano Guys perform on Youtube
•Paint kindness rocks and put them around town where someone else can find them
•Have a cookout/picnic
•Sew a cloth mask
•Write a story
•Yoga
•Make s’mores over a fire
We hope everyone stays safe, happy and enjoys this time with their family. Keep singing and dancing!
Love,
Miss Berube & Mrs. Zakoscielny
Helpful Links
www.Newsela.com -This site has hundreds of articles for children to read. They begin at grade 2. This is a wonderful resource to challenge an advanced reader.
Don’t forget to practice your facts. Do you have a deck of cards? These 16 games are a fun way to practice at home.
https://www.weareteachers.com/math-card-games/
Starfall
For social studies and science videos check out brain pop junior. They are offering free access because of school closures.
This is a link for Math Strategy practice. It is lengthy, but has some great things that you can print off for all grade levels. https://community.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=n2ZHaEprrfs%3D&tabid=6036&mid=14879
Scholastic Grade K
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-prek-k.html
Scholastic Grades 1 & 2
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-1-2.html
Spin a Word Game https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3q9lZGd46F0OTQwMTMxNzktYzVmYi00NTUyLWExYmQtMDc0ZTZhYTdkMzM2
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS
This link will take you to a great resource for Virtual Field Trips! https://www.weareteachers.com/best-virtual-field-trips/
You can access everything from zoos, planetariums, national parks, volcanoes, museums, aquariums, and even Mars – there seems to be something for whatever interests your young learners! It might be a nice break for the whole family!