Week of March 4th, 2024
Important Dates:
March 10th - Daylight Savings Time Begins (Spring Forward)
March 11th - New Florence Roche Informational Meeting @ 6:30 pm at the MSN PAC
March 15th - Trimester II Ends
March 22nd - Half-Day Dismissal at 12:15 pm - Parent Conferences
April 5th - Half-Day Dismissal at 12:15 pm
April 8 & 10 - Grade 4 ELA MCAS
April 9 & 11 - Grade 3 ELA MCAS
April 11th - 2nd Grade Concert @ 6:00 pm
April 15th - 19th - Spring Vacation
April 25th - 3rd Grade Concert @ 6:00 pm
April 26th - Half-Day Dismissal at 12:15 pm
Highlights
Perhaps it is the buzz of spring on the horizon, longer daylight, or March Madness, but whatever it is, I am proud to say that Growth is everywhere! Our students are demonstrating positive steps toward their personal growth as learners. We see this through various forms of data, formal and informal - reading and math scores, writing samples, communication skills, interpersonal skills, participation, application of work habits, and perseverance. Phew. So much growth to celebrate and so many ways we measure success. We are celebrating our student’s achievements and continuing to work as a positive, supportive, and safe school community!
On Wednesday, our 3rd and 4th graders received a lesson on distracted driving developed by the Safe Roads Alliance and End Distracted Driving as part of their Kids Speaking Up for Road Safety program. Special thank you to Nicole Pelletier, K-12 Health & PE Coordinator, and our SRO Robert Wayne for bringing this to our district and for making it meaningful for our students. For more information please check out their website.
Thursday evening the Kindergarten Team and Mrs. Jarvis welcomed incoming Kindergarten families for the next school year. We all feel strongly that the most important partnership to successfully support the growth and development of our students lies with a healthy and highly communicative partnership with our parents and caregivers. Kindergarten Information Night is the start of that relationship and we truly enjoy and get excited when we connect with our new and current families as we prepare to welcome in our Kindergartners!
On Friday, SU held our annual Community Reading Day and welcomed several members from our schools and town communities to be guest readers in our classrooms. We truly value and appreciate those who volunteered their time to be visible to our students! In doing so, we help to broaden our students' understanding that they are not only a part of the SU school community but also a huge part of htier community at large. A special thank you to Mrs. Jennifer Dinneen, Math Interventionist & PTO Teacher Member for organizing this day to celebrate Reading. My favorite part is the smiles and joy that comes from the community readers - thank you all!
ABOVE: Kristin DeFrancisco, Assistant Superintendent of Schools reads to Kindergarteners in Mrs. Olson's class.
ABOVE: Karen Debriceni, Dunstable Librarian reads to Kindergarteners in Mrs. Mulligan's class.
ABOVE: Lacey McCabe, Mother and Dunstable School Committe Representative reads to 1st graders in Mrs. Caulfield's class.
ABOVE: Brian O'Donahue, FloRo Principal reads to 1st graders in Mrs. Schott's class.
ABOVE: Laura Taylor, FloRo Principal reads to 3rd graders in Mrs. Desmond's class.
ABOVE: Phyllis Hamel, SU Retiree & Dunstable Resident reads to 3rd graders in Mrs. Keegan's class.
ABOVE: Officer Matt Nault, Dunstable PD reads to 2nd graders in Mrs. Bushnell's class.
ABOVE: SRO Robert Wayne reads to 2nd graders in Mrs. Codyer's class.
ABOVE: Brian West, Dunstable Resident & Business Owner, reads to 2nd graders in Mrs. Rozzi's class & gifted with a huge thank you card.
ABOVE: Representative Scarsdale reads to 3rd graders in Mrs. Murphy's class.
ABOVE: Mrs. Wendy Salavatore, GDRMS Principal reads to the entire 4th grade.
Additional readers (not pictured): Karen Gartland, PreK-8 Math Director & Carolyn Scafidi, Teacher & Educational Advocate
BOOKMARK CONTEST
First Place Winners
Grade 2-4 Theme of "Every Story Matters"
Grades K-1 Theme "The Adventures of Reading"
Pictured Above: Ivy Seero (3D) and Hazel McCarron (KO) with Mrs. Erin Kelley, Library-Tech Teacher
Runner-Up Winners:
Pictured Above: Ted Roberts (2R), Aeron Martin (1S), and Mason Nieto Williams (4J)
Ti-GRRR Awards
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.
Reilly Foley (KL) during lunch noticed a friend had spilled some of the food and he was the first one to step in and help by bringing over some paper towels! Way to show kindness and Responsibility Reilly!
Abby Deery (4J) has displayed tremendous Growth in all subject areas specifically in writing. Her first literary essay shows her thoughtfulness as a reader and her growth as a writer who gives evidence to prove her claim. Keep growing!
Jamela Hernandez (KM) has been working very hard on her letters and numbers since the beginning of the year and her hard work is paying off! Along with her tremendous Growth, her pride and confidence as a learner is also growing!
Youssef Zadaki (4J) has demonstrated tremendous Growth in writing. His last essay was his best piece of writing to date. Mrs. Jankowski is very proud of how independent he has become. Keep growing!
Luke Reisberg (2C) is always respectful to Mrs. Codyer's classroom. He is a super helper when it comes to keeping it clean and tidy! He is often seen picking up misplaced items and pushing in chairs and this helps make their classroom a happy place to learn!
SU Music Concerts will take place in April and May!
Grade 2 performs on April 11th at 6 pm at SU.
Grade 3 performs on April 25th at 6 pm at SU.
Grade 1 performs on May 2nd at 6 pm at SU.
Grade 4 performs on May 30th at 6 pm at SU.
4th Graders will also perform at the GDRSD Fine Arts Festival in the Middle School South PAC at 7 pm on May 20th!
The Kindergarten "Informances" will take place in the music classroom from 11:30 - 12:00. KL is on June 4th, KM is on June 6th, and KO is on June 7th.
PTO NEWS
March 8 - Trivia Night! Walk-ins welcome! 7 pm at the Pepperell VFW. Can't make it? Check out the online Silent Auction, which closes at 8:30 pm on 3/8: http://www.32auctions.com/SUPTOTRIVIA
For our Groton families - the FloRo Spring Spirit Wear sale is going on now until March 14! The shirts are grade-specific colors and are great for color war days, field day, and every day that you want to share some school spirit. Each grade has been assigned a color and this color stays with the class throughout all 5 years at FloRo. The grade colors for 2024-2025 are: Kindergarten- Red; 1st Grade- Blue; 2nd Grade- Yellow; 3rd Grade- Orange; 4th Grade- Green. This shirt sale only happens once a year. Orders will be delivered to Swallow Union once they are received. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Beth Pendal at president@florobopta.com or Joey Tomaino at vp@florobopta.com. Purchase your spirit wear by Thursday, 3/14. https://florenceroche24.itemorder.com/shop/home/
March 15 - Author Day. Ralph Masiello will be joining us for the day and presenting to each grade separately! Students enjoy reading the author's books ahead of time and getting them signed, you can check out some of Ralph's work here: Amazon.com : Ralph Masiello
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!
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.
