PUTNEY CENTRAL SCHOOL
An exceptional PK-8 School located in beautiful southern Vermont
Dear PCS Community,
Thanks for another great week with us here at PCS! We're pretty deep into Willy Wonka fever this week, with a schoolwide showing on Wednesday, a great opening night on Thursday and Wonka bars fill our halls! The Spring musical is really becoming a tradition here - major thanks to Katy, Mr. T., Sarah and the many hands that it takes to pull off such an incredible production!
Here is some information heading into the weekend:
Upcoming Dates:
TONIGHT and tomorrow - Willy Wonka Jr. at Landmark College theater
April 17 - PreK open house
April 22 - 26 - Spring Break (no school)
Wonka Shows:
There are still tickets available for evening shows this weekend - you can purchase at the door or at the General Store or the Putney Diner
Family Climate Survey:
If you have not yet completed the family climate survey, please take a minute to do so. We really appreciate the chance to hear what is going well and areas for growth from your perspective. Here is the link
PreK Registration:
If you know of families in Putney with students who will be 4 years old by September 1st, the time for them to register for PreK is now! We still have some open spots for next year, so please encourage folks who might be interested to reach out any time.
Lost and Found:
Our lost and found collection has ballooned with the change of seasons. If you can, please try to stop in and check it out for missing belongings. We will donate items that remain in there as we get closer to summer.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Jon
Upcoming Activities, Community Events and More!
GOTR and Heart Sole practices begin on March 19th
Staff Highlight
Aidy Holding- Planning Room Coordinator
Aidy lives in Putney with her boyfriend, his three year old, and their three cats. This is her sixth year at PCS, having previously worked as a classroom para in 5th and 2nd grade. In her spring-chicken years, Aidy traveled to Morocco, England, Wales, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
When she is not supporting our students she's always with her family. You could find her swimming in the coldest rivers, eating dill pickles, making soups and broths, or being really good at very difficult video games.
Literacy Corner
What does teaching literacy look like in our first grade classrooms?
First grade is super exciting because it is when many children begin to put together the literacy pieces and begin to read themselves.
Our literacy time is spent on so many activities. Every day we
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do word play (phonemic awareness) where we play with sounds in words–pulling them apart and putting them back together orally–for example, Say clap. Now say clap without the /c/.
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practice old spelling and reading rules and letter patterns and learn new ones. For example, did you know a digraph is two letters that come together to make one sound–like /ch/ or /th/? Did you know the ck spelling pattern always comes directly after a short vowel? Our first graders do!
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practice reading decodable texts–pieces of reading with words we can sound out using skills we’ve been taught.
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practice and learn sight words–words you cannot sound out like the or was.
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listen to, talk about, and write about good books–this helps us gain vocabulary, verbal reasoning skills, and language knowledge.
We use the UFLI curriculum for learning to read and spell and the EL curriculum for reading comprehension and writing.
Counselor's Corner
April 2024
Counselor’s Corner
It’s been a busy month! I wanted to take a moment to highlight Kindness Week, which resonates deeply with our school community.
PCS celebrated our annual Kindness Week during the week of March 25th. This week-long event is designed to spotlight the power of kindness and its profound impact on our school community.
During Kindness Week, our students engaged in various activities and discussions centered around empathy, compassion, and understanding. PCS believes cultivating a kindness culture is integral to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where every student feels valued and respected. We had our first ever Face Painting Extravaganza where students had the opportunity to paint their faces with the help of our talented middle school leadership students.
Calling all superheroes-in-training! Every student had a chance to create their very own Superhero Cape. A heartwarming moment from our Kindness Week was our students coming together on the soccer field wearing their vibrant superhero capes. In a beautiful display of unity, our students arranged themselves to form a giant peace sign. It was a powerful visual representation of our collective commitment to kindness.
What’s new is Social Emotional Learning?
In our primary classrooms, we have starting using The Superflex Curriculum, created by Michelle Garcia Winner, designed to help children understand and regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in social situations. The Superflex Curriculum provides a framework for teaching these skills in a fun and engaging way, using the concept of Superflex and his team of Unthinkables to represent different social challenges.
I’m thrilled to reconnect with all of our sixth grade students in the classroom and dive back into the enriching experience of teaching Social-Emotional Learning. I’m using the Second Step curriculum, a research-based program designed to promote social-emotional competence and reduce problem behaviors. Second Step lessons help students develop empathy, communication skills, conflict resolution strategies, and bullying prevention.
As always, don’t hesitate to contact me at mlazarus@wsesdvt.org if I can help you in any way. Wishing you all my best!
Counselor Marisa