Week of February 26th, 2024
Important Dates:
March 6th - Groton Town Budget Meeting 7 pm
March 7th - Kindergarten Information Night 6:30-7:30 pm & PTO Meeting @ 7 pm
March 8th - Kindergarten Registration Opens & Half-Day 12:15 pm Dismissal
March 10th - Daylight Savings Time Begins (Spring Forward)
March 11th - New Florence Roche School Information Meeting @ 6:30 pm at the MSN PAC
March 15th - Trimester II Ends
March 22nd - Half-Day 12:15 pm - Parent Conferences
Highlights
Leap Frogs for Leap Day!
Thank you to our wonderful PTO for providing each student with a "Leap Frog" and a fact sheet about what is a Leap Year to teach and build their knowledge of this special date on our calendar!
Ti-GRRR Cards
G ~ We believe that one can develop a GROWTH mindset and learn new things.
R ~ A RESPECTFUL school community member is considerate of others.
R ~ A RESPONSIBLE school community member takes care of themselves, others, and their environment.
R ~ A RESILIENT school community member takes on challenges, learns from mistakes, and experiences growth through this process.
Ryan Wells (4F) showed Respect for others when he suggested we create a Valentine Bag for a student who left the district to be homeschooled. He thought she would like to know that her classmates were thinking about her on Valentine’s Day. Super kind Ryan!
Grace Howell (KO) has been showing amazing focus and readiness skills with her consistent effort in learning all there is to know in Kindergarten! Her Perseverance has helped her grow as a reader and writer. Keep up the hard work!
Colette Marton (1A) always makes sure her friends and classmates feel like they belong. If someone needs a playmate, she is the first to notice it and ask if they want to play. Nice work Colette being so kind and Respectful!
Kylie Sears (1A) will ask for assistance whenever she needs it and is always a strong advocate for herself. She is a wonderfully Responsible student and a caring friend to all of her classmates!
Theo Lambert (2C) showed Respect during indoor recess yesterday by being a great friend! He included a peer in his game and helped them learn how to play it. Theo went out of his way to show kindness to a classmate!
Mallory Klane (3D) has shown Growth by communicating her feelings to another student, respecting their opinion, and being Responsible for the outcome of the conversation. #leadershipskills
Henry Creek (2C) showed Respect and kindness to a classmate and went out of his way to be helpful by inviting a friend to join his game during indoor recess. He showed wonderful patience and as a result, everyone involved had fun!
Culture & Climate Survey - Deadline Extended to March 4th
On February 15th, all parents were emailed the Community School Climate Survey for each student attending GDRSD. Your feedback matters and is very important to the process. If you have completed the survey(s), we thank you. If you have not completed the survey(s), please consider doing so as soon as possible. To date, we have 23% completed surveys. We would like to have a much higher return percentage. We have extended the deadline to submit your response to Monday, March 4th. Reminders have been sent to all parents with incomplete surveys. Thank you.
PTO NEWS
- March 7 - PTO General Meeting, 7 pm. Find out what we've got planned this spring! School Committee members will also be there to answer questions on the override.
- March 8 - Trivia Night! Grab a sitter and join us for a great adult night out! Register here by 3/1:Trivia Night 2024 Registration - Google Forms. Check out the online Silent Auction, going live on 3/1: http://www.32auctions.com/SUPTOTRIVIA
- March 15 - Author Day! Ralph Masiello will be joining us for the day! You can check out some of Ralph's work here: Amazon.com : Ralph Masiello. Ralph can provide books in person on that day, and he can even autograph them for your student if you order through this order form: Ralph Masiello Order Form. Completed forms can be emailed to swallowunionpto@gmail.com and cash/checks can be sent into school in your student's folder.
Registration for the FY25 school year is still open.
The link to the registration form can be found here: https://www.gdrsd.org/o/becc/page/preschool-registration
If you would like to apply for a scholarship for the upcoming school year, please contact Anne Tucker at atucker@gdrsd.org for more information!
Memorial Day Celebration ~ May 24, 2024
Swallow Union will be holding a Memorial Day assembly in honor of our veterans who have served our country. This celebration will include having local veterans in our community attend a whole school assembly, which will then be led in song by Mrs. Mohan.
We wish to connect our community service members with our students to thank them for their service in keeping us safe and to honor and celebrate our amazing country with pride and patriotism.
If you are a parent, caregiver, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or extended family member of a student at Swallow Union please reach out to Jill Jarvis, jjarvis@gdrsd.org, so we can be sure to send you a formal invitation. We are also seeking veterans within the community who would also be willing to attend so please reach out with their names!
SEPAC Events
G-D Special Education Parent Advisory Council
Message from GDEF ~ Please consider a donation.
The Groton Dunstable Education Foundation (GDEF) is a local nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting innovative and inspiring grants to enhance the quality of our students’ education. In the last academic year, GDEF awarded 12 grants across district schools totaling over $16,000 (information about all funded projects can be found here). If you or any loved ones are looking to make a year-end donation that will have an impact on your children's education, please consider donating to GDEF here. Your donations are directly returned to the hands and minds of students in the form of science, arts, technology, math, literacy, social-emotional learning, and civics programming.
Thank you for your support, The GDEF Board of Directors
The GDEF recently and graciously granted us funding to buy 16 wordless picture books for each of our Kindergarten classrooms. These books are an example of all the ways GDEF supports our students! Thank you for enriching our learning community!
School Start Time
The school day begins right at 8:55 am and both bus and parent drop off areas are completed at this time as well. If you bring your child to school after this time, please park in the parking lot and walk your child into the office to be signed in. Please do not drop your child off at the front door alone and please refrain from parking in the fire lane for safety reasons.
Absences
If your child(ren) will be absent for any reason, parents/guardians are responsible for notifying the school by calling in the absence. All student absences must be reported by 8:55 am by calling (978) 649-7281, choose option #1 and provide your child(rens) name, teacher, and reason for absence. Anyone who calls after this timeframe may receive an automated call regarding your child’s absence from school without notification. This is in place to ensure all students are accounted for either at home or in school.
Wellness Policy
Below please find the District’s Wellness Policy that we follow in order to ensure we are reinforcing healthy habits as well as student allergies. Teachers will be working with their Room Parents, School Administration, School Nurses and our PTO to ensure food that comes into school for school sponsored events (not including PTO sponsored events) such as special classroom events and school-wide gatherings, adhere to this policy. Thank you in advance for helping us with this throughout the school year.
