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J.R. Briggs Family Newsletter End Of School 2019

FRIDAY IS A HALF DAY, AND THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
Just My Thoughts

This school year has certainly zoomed past us in a blur. To think, it feels like such a short while ago we were all connecting for the first time at 'sneak peek' and the warm air of summer was everywhere. Now, we are all enjoying field day and field trips, and the warm air of summer is finally again in the air.

The year has been full of adventure and events, but the constant presence of students and staff have made this school year a blast. There are so many people to thank, and I don't want to miss anyone, that I am simply going to say thank you to everyone. Those of you that work in the school, thank you. Those of you that raise the children of JRB, thank you. Those of you that are students in the school, thank you. Those of you that are community members who listen to our needs and help us in many ways, thank you.

As we head toward summer, please know that we still think about all of you. We continue to think about how we can make things better as well. If you have any ideas or thoughts regarding the JRB community, please feel free to reach out to nnorth@awrsd.org.

Have a safe and spectacular summer!

Staffing News

It is with mixed emotions that I confirm what many students might have already told you at home, Mr. Marc Theriault is moving from our 5th-grade to Overlook Middle School as the Physical Education Teacher. He will be missed by many, but he will also be able to catch up with students as they have him in future years. We wish him the best of luck.

Additionally, Mrs. Katie Galeota has been named our new Kindergarten Teacher. She has served the school as a preschool teacher for a number of years, but is anxious to begin the next step in her career. She will be missed in the PreK wing, but she will certainly make a huge impact on the K team!

This does leave us with a few vacancies to fill. We will work hard to find the best possible fit in each of the openings. Additionally, some of you will have "New Teacher" written on your child's upcoming report card. This is obviously how we will list the students that will be in the open section. Once new hires are made, we will let folks know about it through our social media outlets.

First Grade News

As the year comes to a close, we reflect on how much our first graders have grown over the school year. We see so many changes, both academically and socially, from September to now. We send our students to second grade confident they will be successful and ready for the new challenges ahead. We would like to thank all of our parents for your support and encouragement throughout the year. We hope you all have a wonderful summer and remember to keep reading!

The First Grade Team

Second Grade Information

Dear Families,

It has been a great year that has been filled with much joy and happiness. We have covered a lot of material and have gotten the opportunity to participate in many fun projects. We were lucky enough to go to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and see the Glasstastic Exhibits. We also started to develop the skills needed for 3rd grade. As your child gets ready for 3rd grade this summer, they can rest assure that it will be a wonderful upcoming school year. They can look forward to meeting new friends, learning how to multiple/divide and utilizing Google Classroom. There are some very important things that you can do this summer to help them succeed. Take the time to listen to your child read every day, practice their math facts and encourage your child to write often about their summer fun days. All of these things will help your child lead to big successes the next school year. It has been our pleasure getting to know your children this school year.

Have a fantastic summer,

The Second Grade Team: Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Losordo, Mrs. Melanson, and Mrs. Munroe

In 4th-Grade...

Mrs. Smith's class added pollinator-friendly plants to our science garden this week, the culmination of a year-long study of ecosystems and plant and animal structures.

Art Room News
Music Room Communication

Congratulations go out to all of our musicians and vocalists who performed at Fine Arts & Technology Night, as well as our first Recital Night on Monday evening!

It was great to see so many families visit the music room during Fine Arts & Technology Night. Kindergarteners, 1st and 2nd graders played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on Boomwhackers, while 3rd, 4th & 5th graders played songs they composed during music class on the piano keyboards.

Mrs. Lordan wishes all of her students a safe and happy summer! If you sing or play an instrument, don’t forget to practice over the summer! See you in August!

The Year That Was In The Library

Although the JR Briggs Library is closed for the summer, students are able to take out books from the Stevens Memorial Library in Ashburnham. The summer reading program, A Universe of Stories, begins on Monday, July 17 with a Kickoff Party at the library from 1-3 PM. The program is open to everyone from ages 0-18, and if you can’t make it to the kickoff party, you may still sign up at the library at any time after June 17th. For more information, go to the library’s website https://ashburnhamlibrary.org or call 978-827-4115.

For those parents and students who might like some reading suggestions in addition to teachers’ summer reading lists, check out the updated reading lists on the American Library Association’s website https://libguides.ala.org/recommended-reading or the Goodreads lists at https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/elementary.

Have a great summer, and keep reading!

The Tech Times

The end of the year has come quickly in the tech lab with the 5th grade feverishly putting the final touches on their rover derby projects. Last week, the rover derby went off without a hitch with students presenting to other grade levels as well as judges ranging from an astrobiology student to a civil engineer. While all classes worked hard and put forth a tremendous effort, after deliberating with the judges a final winner, or in this case winners, were determined. Congratulations to the classes of 5T and 5Be for their tremendous effort throughout the rover derby.

3rd and 4th grade have been creating slideshows about their perfect summer vacations while 1st and 2nd grade drew their favorite summertime activities in Pixie. Kindergarteners have had a chance for some final engineering with Legos. I encourage everyone to continue working on their engineering/making and technology skills throughout the summer. The following are a few links to sites for project ideas and programming resources:

www.instructables.com

www.diy.org

Scratch.mit.edu

Have a wonderful summer and see you next year!

Camp Cody For 5th Graders

If you have a 5th grader that attended Camp Cody this year that has an interest in attending one of their regular sessions over the summer, the office has come very generous gift cards that can be used. Please contact Nat North (nnorth@awrsd.org) for more information.

Title 1 Parent Survey

If your child/children participated in our Title I program this year (students would have worked on math with Mrs. Myracle or reading/writing with Mrs. Robinson), we would very much appreciate it if you could fill out the Title I parent survey below.

HELPING JRB

The John R. Briggs School participates in many programs that help us get additional funds to use at the school. Brenda Brown, one of our para-educators, organizes most of these programs on behalf of the PTA and School Enrichment Fund. Below is a list of the many ways you can help!

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”

J.R. Briggs’ students help save our landfills and earn money for our school! Here are a few of the ways our students help their environment and earn money or supplies for their school. Please help your children help their school. Continue to save these items throughout the summer. Children can bring them to their class or lobby where collection bags/boxes are located when school begins again in August/September.

“Hannaford Helps Schools”

Purchase select products at Hannaford and receive a “School Dollars” ticket. Each “School Dollars” ticket turned in between September 1, 2019 and December 1, 2019 earns money for the J.R. Briggs Enrichment Fund. The J.R. Briggs Enrichment Fund is used to provide field trip scholarships and sponsor school-wide performances. Send in your “School Dollars” ticket with your child to JRB!

“BoxTops for Education”

Each BOXTop clipped from a wide variety of products we use every day earns JRB $.10 for the PTA. The 2019/2020 school year’s goal is 10,000 box tops ($1,000.00). The PTA uses the BOXTop funds for classroom grade-level grants and PTA sponsored events. The class that collects the most BOXTops, both upper and lower wing, earns a “Healthy Treat” in January and again in May/June.

Ink Jet Cartridges

Return your empty ink jet cartridges (not laser jet cartridges) to school. Money collected from recycled cartridges is used to purchase hardware and software for the computer lab.

Cell Phone/Ipod/Camera Recycling

Your old cell phones, cameras and Ipods can be recycled through JRB. Proceeds from this recycling project are given to the Nature’s Classroom Scholarship program. There is a collection box in the office for your old phones, Ipods, MP3 players, cameras, etc.!

Coke Rewards Caps

Collect and bring in Coke product bottle caps from singles and cardboard codes from 12/24 packs of soda cans from many Coke brands. Points collected earn $.05 each for the school through the JRB Enrichment Fund. Go to www.mycokerewards.com to view a list of participating products.

Extended Day News

There is NO AFTERNOON EXTENDED DAY on Friday June, 14th!

The Extended Day Summer Packet is availble for you to review. The packet provides you with a list of guidelines, a calendar of events, and contact information. Please use the button below to view the packet.

Dates To Know...
  • June 14- 1/2 Day, Last Day Of School
Make This Summer Spectacular

Good luck to any staff that is moving on from JRB and our District. We hope your future is everything you've hoped for.

Continue to follow us through our social media outlets. We love trying to show you what is going on at school as much as we can.

As always, please reach out to us if you need anything. We are readily available via email, so do not hesitate to click below.

Here, at JRB!

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