Reading Elementary Rockets Report: RES PRINCIPAL'S BLOG - ROCKETS REPORT- Sun., Nov. 12, 2017

Dear Reading Elementary "Rockets" Families & Community Members:

Thursday was "Rice Bowl" day and the students and staff were so excited! The base is a bowl of nutritious brown rice, and on top you can choose your own toppings from ground turkey, sausage, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cottage cheese, mangoes, avocados, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, hot green peas, and so much more! We are so blessed to have Heather as our chef. You'll see from some of the photos below how much the students love it!

Kudos and heartfelt thanks to:

All the parents who came in for parent conferences!
Donna Martin Stahl for helping serve rice bowls!
The PTO parents who spend countless hours behind the scenes supporting our school and met Wed. evening!

Other Items of Interest:

PTO Help - The PTO will be having their annual Pie Sale on Sat., Nov. 18 followed by the 1st annual Chili Cook-Off. Help is needed from the community and parents to make this happen. Please contact Tatiana McCarthy if you can help. Stop by the town hall and buy a pie!

Calling all Chili Makers and Eaters!

School Nurse News -

Dear Families,

It is the time of the year when there are more germs being passed between children and families. Please, be supportive in keeping our school community healthy by keeping children home when they are sick. We appreciate it when you notify the school of illness for it helps us be alerted of symptoms in the school community.

Please keep your child home with fever, vomiting, diarrhea for an additional 24 hours with no symptoms. In addition, rashes from viruses and bacterial infections need treatment and time to not be contagious. Coughing is a common way to spread germs to others especially if the child has an infection.

Handwashing is one of the best preventive routines to keeps away illness. We promote handwashing throughout the day at school. Your efforts to encourage handwashing at home will benefit your family’s health.

We appreciate everyones efforts to stay well. We all want to be healthy, and learning is limited when one is sick.

Stay Well, Jean Chick, RES School Nur

Thanksgiving Community Dinner - The annual RES Thanksgiving Community Dinner will occur, Tue., Nov. 21. We hope you'll be able to make it! Due to limited space, we're staggering the seatings this year.

Winter Sports - After a great deal of though and discussion, the RES staff have unanimously requested that RES not participate as a school in Ski Runners. We decided this based on four main factors: academic learning time, equity, cost, and transportation.

First, class time is limited. Every student in our school participates in at least 2 hours of swimming lessons that occur over a period of 4-6 weeks depending on the grade. Swimming is a life skill. Ski Runners as announced is 8 weeks, so that would be a total of 14 weeks of interrupted learning. That's a lot of time away from classrooms. One of the biggest reasons is equity. Scholarships are limited and we have many families that simply cannot afford their portion of the fees, much less equipment and clothing for the sport. Transportation is another key challenge as most parents work, and getting the students to the mountain for eight weeks was difficult, especially since using a school bus is expensive for eight weeks.

We value winter sports not only as a Vermont tradition, but as a component of a 12 month healthy lifestyle. We plan to have the students participate differently this year through three "winter outings" in Jan., Feb., or March. We are still working out the details and will keep you informed.

We understand that a few families will want to still participate in the proposed Ski Runners program which are scheduled from 2 - 4 PM. If a parent chooses to transport their child to participate in the program, the student should leave by 1:30, and miss 50 min. of academic time. The student will need to arrange with their teacher to make up that work. Please send in a note or e-mail Mrs. Hatt in advance if this is the case so she can notify the teachers. We appreciate your support and flexibility as we work together to support all students in learning! If you have more questions, or would like to discuss this further, please don't hesitate to contact me or your child's teacher.

PBIS Celebrations - The RES Student Council met and decided on the next few celebrations. We'll announce more in the next blog!

R - "Wear Red" Day - all students will wear as much red, or similar to red as they can - Fri., Nov. 17.
E - Everyone wears slippers AFTER they get to school in street shoes! Mon., Nov. 20!
S - Everyone wears a sports jersey/t-shirt of a sport they love! Fri., Dec. 1!
P - PJ Day - Fri., Dec. 8 - everyone wears PJ's - shoes required!

Digital Kids - As many of you know, I'm taking three graduate courses for my librarian/ed tech. endorsement. This is an article shared with us in class that I thought you might find interesting.

Basketball Team - Due to lack of response, we will try this again in the new year.

Ski Pass for 5th Graders - Many thanks to the Slukas who shared this link. We're happy to provide the documentation needed.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP READING SCHOOL

Sign up for Price Chopper School Tools - check out the homepage!
Send in Box Tops for Education!
Read to some of our students!

LUNCH & BREAKFAST MENU FOR NEXT WEEK:

Is your lunch account current? All accounts should be paid in full each month. Thank you for helping us keep our costs down!

Mon., Nov. 13, 2017 - Turkey Meatloaf Muffins, Apples, Broccoli, Potatoes, and Couscous; Breakfast: English Muffins & The Regulars
Tues., Nov. 14, 2017 - Florida Chicken, Pineapple, Peas & Green Beans, WG Rice; Breakfast: Hard Boiled Eggs & the Regulars
Wed., Nov. 15, 2017- Minestrone Soup, Pears, Icebeg Lettuce, Mixed Vegetables & Whole Grain Pasta in Soup: Breakfast - Pancake & the Regular
Thurs., Nov. 16, 2017 - Tuna Casserole, Oranges, Spinach Salad, Carrot Shred, Whole Grain Pasta; Breakfast: Hard Boiled Eggs & the Regulars
Fri., Nov. 17, 2017 - Roast Beef Sandwiches on Whole Grain Bread, Kiwis, Sweet Potatoes, Corn; Breakfast - Omelet & the Regulars

Happening this Week:

Mon., Nov. 13 -

Art is the Special

Tues., Nov. 14

PE is the special - students should wear tennis shoes & comfortable clothes to be active in!
PK/K Trip to Lebanon Opera House

Wed., Nov. 15-

Spanish is the Special
Report cards will be sent home for some classes - some teachers are holding until they meet with you during conference
RES Board Meeting 6 PM - Multi-Purpose Room