Newsletter | Putney Central

PCS NEWS 10/4/24

Dear PCS Community,

Thank you for another beautiful fall week here at Putney Central School. Some highlights of the week include a transformative week-long trip for our 5th grade students at Keewaydin Environmental Education Center, really inspiring circles and reflection around kindness and care from our middle school students on Wednesday, some beautiful times in the forest with our K-4 classrooms, and seeing countless students take really wonderful steps academically. Thank you as always for your ongoing partnership and support.

Upcoming Dates

Oct. 9 - "Caregiver Conversations" with Marisa 5:00 - 6:30 in the PCS Library

Oct. 10 - Leadership Council Meeting, 5:00 in the PCS Library

Oct. 11 - Coffee Talk with Jon, 8:00 AM in the PCS Library

Oct. 11 - Forest Day (whole school is outside in the forest, with presentations put on by out 8th graders)

Oct. 14-16 No School in observation of Indigenous People's Day, and then Teacher In-Service

October 17 + 18 - Picture Days

Oct. 18 - Walk to School Day

Oct. 28 - Nov. 1 Spirit Week (more information forthcoming)

Caregiver Conversations with Marisa

On the evening of Wednesday, October 9th, Marisa will host her first in a series of parent and caregiver conversations, titled "The Great Rewiring of Childhood and the Epidemic of Mental Illness", based on the book Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Please feel free to spread the work to anyone outside of Putney as well. You do not need to have read the book to join in! The group will meet from 5:00 - 6:30 in the library.

School Photos

Once again this year, Marie Teagardin will take our school photos! Marie does a truly fantastic job. Students PK-3 will have photos taken on Thursday Oct. 17th, and students in grades 4-8 will have photos taken on Friday, Oct. 18th. Coming soon, you will all get a code to be able to see and order photos online. All students will automatically get a class photo, regardless of ordering.

Walk to School Day

Our annual Walk to School Day will take place on Friday, October 18th. This is the day where our whole school will gather at Green Mountain Orchards at drop-off time (7:45 - 8:15), have warm cider and donuts together, and walk through the woods to PCS to start our day. All caregivers are welcome to join for the walk! Buses will drop students off at GMO, and parents can drop off there as well. After the walk, there will be transportation available for parents in the school van back up to GMO to get their car. We hope you can join - this is without a doubt one of my favorite PCS days!

Coffee Talks

We will host our first "Coffee Talk with Jon" on Friday, October 11th at 8:00 in the library. Please come for coffee and conversation - there is no set agenda, but this is a chance to connect around questions, things on your mind, or to just be with other caregivers in the PCS community.

Leadership Council

Our October Leadership Council meeting will take place at 5:00 on October 10th in the Library and on Zoom. The focus for this coming month will be around the development of our school budget - what does our budget look like now? What is the short- and longer-term thinking of the PCS-specific budget? How are community values represented in the PCS budget? Please attend to learn, contribute your thoughts, ask questions, etc. In addition, I will provide a general update around the start of the year, and we will hear from WSESD Board Representative Kim Price about things happening at the board level. Please consider joining if you are able.

I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Jon

1/1

Upcoming Activities, Community Events and More!

Staff Highlight

Ali Bissonnette- 2nd Grade Teacher

Ali Bissonnette (Miss Ali to most), new second grade teacher, has been teaching young children for 16 years with this being her 10th year in 2nd grade (she thinks). Ali grew up in southern, NH and went to Keene State College. She graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Communication. Fortunately, she got a job right out of school teaching pre-school. She has also taught Kindergarten and third grade over the years. Ali moved to Brattleboro in 2013 and feels right at home there. She spent the last 11 years teaching in this district and loves being a part of this community so very much. In Brattleboro she lives with her son, who also attends PCS, and her kitty named Stewart. Ali is also currently enrolled in graduate school working towards her masters in clinical mental health counseling and hopes to be a school counselor some day. In her free time she enjoys doing anything in nature, hiking, reading, and being with her son and friends.

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

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/.
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!
practice reading decodable texts–pieces of reading with words we can sound out using skills we’ve been taught.
practice and learn sight words–words you cannot sound out like the or was.
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

October 2024

Dear PCS Families,

We’ve been busy with social-emotional learning this month. We have been diving into the important topic of emotions and feelings. Understanding our emotions is a key part of growing up, and it can help us build stronger relationships and navigate the ups and downs of life.

We’ve also been learning about the brain in some of our elementary classrooms. Understanding how our brains work can give us insights into our feelings and how we respond to those around us.

Here are some strategies that we talk about with students to deal with uncomfortable feelings:

Pause and Breathe: When emotions run high, take a moment to pause and take deep breaths. This can help respond rather than react.
Talk it Out: Encourage your child to talk about their feelings with someone they trust.
Practice Mindfulness: Activities like yoga or meditation can help to understand and regulate emotions.

Why Understanding Our Brain Matters:

Our brains play an important role in how we experience and manage our feelings. Here are some key points about brain function and emotions that we’ve been learning.

The Emotional Brain: The amygdala is the part of the brain that processes emotions like fear and excitement. Understanding its role can help us recognize why we sometimes feel overwhelmed.
The Thinking Brain: The prefrontal cortex helps us make decisions and regulate our emotions. Learning to engage this part of our brain can improve our emotional responses.

As we enter October, we’re focusing school wide on an important topic: bullying and cyberbullying, in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month. In our middle school, we’ve been engaging in powerful restorative justice circles about these topics. We will have a school wide Spirit Week in celebration of National Bullying Prevention Month! From October 28th-November 1st, we will focus on fostering a positive school environment and raising awareness about bullying. Each day will have a special theme that encourages kindness, inclusion, and respect.

Upcoming Events

Caregiver Conversation: Join us on October 9th from 5-6:15 in the PCS Library for an insightful conversation about the impact of modern changes on childhood and mental health. You're welcome to read the book Anxious Generation or the accompanying article beforehand, but it's not required. Everyone is welcome, whether you've read the material or not!

Remember, it’s okay to feel a wide range of emotions. By learning about them together, we can help our children grow into emotionally intelligent individuals.

All the best,

Marisa