Inside this issue:

Responsive Class-room & Where in NES am I?

2

News from our Classrooms

3-7

PTA News 8-10

Announcements 11-13

Nurse Notes 14

Important Dates & Contact Info

15

Responsive Class-room Flyers

16-17

Upcoming Events & Flyers

18-20

October 29, 2010 Volume 1, Issue 5

The N.E.S. Newt-paper Newbury Elementary School Newsletter

We are getting ready to send our Grade 6 students off to the W. Alton Jones Environmental Camp on Monday, November 1st for the week. The Environ-mental Camp’s stated mission is, “To provide youth with exciting learning ex-periences in the natural environment which lead to a heightened sense of re-sponsibility towards improving the quality of life on our planet.” We will miss having our school leaders around but know they will have a wonderful time down in Rhode Island bonding as a class, cooperating to accomplish group challenges, and learning about the environment. For more information visit http://www.uri.edu/ajc/eec/index.html

Teachers at NES continue to “catch students contributing to our community”. Students can be given a pass from a teacher when they are “caught in the act” and use the pass to see Ms. Leonard, explain what they have done to help our community, and select a prize from her prize bucket as a small token of our appreciation to making NES an even better place to learn and play. The number of good deeds has been heartwarming!

We are certainly getting excited for our annual Halloween Parade on Friday, October 29th at 10:15 and hope you can join us. A reminder this is an early release day for the students. The PTA is hosting a Halloween Party from 5-7 that evening. The PTA is busy planning an election for our School Council to select 8 par-ents to serve with information being shared from the Blackboard Connect sys-tem. Teachers serving on the School Council for 2010-2011 include:

Sarah Byrnes, Grade 3 Robin Harper, Grade 1 Mary Jo Lagana, Pre K Nancy McKinney, K Kristin Mollineaux, Grade 1 Laura Paige, Math Specialist Margot Ryan, Reading Specialist Andrea True, Language Based Program Teacher

Be looking for information about the Book Fair November 15th-19th.

Michael Tracy, Principal

Hello NES Community! On Tuesday I had the fantastic opportunity to attend a Responsive Classroom training with Ms. Byrnes (3rd grade) and Ms. Arsenault (4th grade). We were able to get some great ideas about using our Responsive Classroom curriculum in our classrooms, as well as connect with staff from schools all over New England and collaborate on new ideas. You will find some informational flyers about responsive classroom at the end of the Newt-Paper this week! We continue to use our Responsive Classroom to teach students social skills and support their academic work with collaboration and positive interactions. Our focus on C.A.R.E.S. has been really helpful in this work. All students in the school had assemblies to discuss their ideas for school rules, then voted on the most important school-wide rules.

We are asking students to make posters to display our school-wide rules to hang in the common areas of the school. We are holding a contest, and the winning poster will be displayed in the Main Office! The win-ning display will: Include all 4 rules, Be Creative, Be Neat, and Be Spelled Correctly. All posters are due in the main office by Monday, November 1st.

Keep up all of your wonderful work, Ms. Leonard

Page 2 Volume 1, Issue 5

Where in NES am I???

Look at the picture to the right—Can you find where I am in NES? Keep your eyes open to spot me—and check the next newsletter for the answer!

Anti-Bullying Tip: Is somebody bothering you or your friends? There are a couple of things you could do: 1: Move away from the person 2: Tell them you don’t like

what they’re doing, and ask them to stop

3: Tell an adult

NES SCHOOL RULES *Respect peers, teachers, and school property *Make good choices and be safe *Help others, and treat others as you wish to be treated *Use C.A.R.E.S.

The 6th grade ELA class is completing work on plot, first person writing, and the novel The Outsiders. Students have read several short stories to understand the elements of plot. In the process, students also have developed their understanding of simile, metaphor, theme, hyperbole, and other literary devices. While studying short stories, students have been writing their own first person experience. During their writing process, we have learned how to add sensory details, strong verbs, and adverbs. The Outsiders ties plot and first per-son together. With The Outsiders, we have studied literary terms, such as foreshadow and

flashback, while having class discussions on bullying, peers, and peer pressure. We will now use the Poem by Robert Frost “Nothing Gold Can Stay” to kick-off our poetry writing that will take us to the end of the year.

Our sixth graders are very excited about spending a week in Rhode Island at W. Alton Jones Environmental Camp. Sixth grade camp always provides lots of wonderful life-time memories. The campers live in heated log cabins and participate in many lessons about the environment, ecology, social science, history, and group team-building. Some of the favorite activities include the Egg Drop, the Underground Railroad, Living History, and the Low Ropes Challenge Course. The week just flies by! All the campers look forward to movies on the buses and the great NES “Welcome Home” celebration as the buses pull up to the school.

News from our Classrooms

6th grade Camp!

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6th grade ELA

Kindergarteners have made autumn trees with crayon and tissue paper. They are painting kernels of Indian Corn with their index finger. Ask them to show you how we warm up those pointers for painting. First Grade just finished Jack-O-Lantern collages. They were thinking of oppo-sites while they created short and tall, light and dark, in front and behind, happy and sad or scary and mad faces. We have some sunflowers to cut out next. The second graders have made beautiful autumn trees by ripping paper. That mean old art teacher wouldn’t let them use scissors! Next for them will be color mixing and painting fruit bowls. Just in time for Halloween third grade students have created creepy spiders to live in glitter webs. Art History is the topic for fourth grade. They have experienced “cave painting” and are now work-ing on mysterious symbols as they learn about the development of language. The art is in the mail for the fifth grade tile project. Square 1 Art will deliver the take home packets on or around November 8th. Orders need to be in by November 19th. Merchandise will be delivered by Dec. 10th. I will set up a display of merchandise when the take home packets arrive. If you have any ques-tions just let me know! Some 5th grade classes worked on Halloween rubbings just for fun. Sixth grade students carved and printed their own stamp…over and over again. The resulting pat-terns are breathtaking. In preparation for Environmental Camp we have learned about the art of Andy Goldsworthy. He is an artist who builds sculptures from natural objects found on site. We are hoping to build some of our own while at camp.

What’s up in Art?

Page 4 Volume 1, Issue 5

News from our Classrooms

Haunted happenings in the computer lab, starting with the annual trail of spiders who came and sat on Mrs. Raycroft’s chair. But that wasn’t all this year, one of the cats who always sits on my website, math Page 2, disappeared. Perhaps you can check my website at home

http://www.eraycroft.homestead.com and see if you can shed any light on his whereabouts, I know the children are looking too. First graders have really been traveling online on an annual haunted Halloween walk, keeping track of all the spooky things they find by using tally marks. This week we are turning all those tally marks into graphs. Mrs. Jakobson’s class found an alarming 477 spooky things in their class. 5th an 6th grade are also working on graphing in Excel and creating very disturbing graphs from the data on calories from the McDonalds site; comparing the calories and fat calories in 2 different meals. Looks like the fries are about the worst for fat calories, but you can save quite a bit by just taking the cheese from the sandwiches, good to know. Also check out my website for some good Hal-loween games to play.

Technology Lab

Math: We have been working in a unit called Number Puzzles and Multiple Towers. In this unit, students fo-cus on gaining fluency with multiplication strategies. Students will also be working on understanding division situations and developing strategies for division problems with 1-digit and 2-digit divisors.

Science: We just finished our first unit learning about behavioral and structural adaptations. This week we’ll be getting dirty again while examining DIRT as an introduction to our next unit, Ecology.

Social Studies: Fifth graders have been doing a little exploring in class. We’ve visited China with Marco Polo and have seen the wonders there. We then experienced a little of life in Europe and how the advancements of China improved the lives of these Europeans. We are now in the midst of exploration of the New World, with the Europeans visiting (ask the kids about how friendly the relationships were) with the Native Americans. Our lesson for this week: Life is very different for them today because of this interaction.

ELA: We are continuing our vocabulary work and are presently on week 4. We are also reviewing how to write a paragraph with all the components: topic sentence, details, and closing sentence. Parts of speech, correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation have also been a focus this fall.

In 5Dow we are almost close to finishing a book by Gary Paulsen called Hatchet. Our read aloud is titled No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. The students are really enjoying this book!

In 5Lucy we have been reading a great book by Deborah Wiles called, Love, Ruby Laven-der while discussing ‘plot’ and vivid details. Our book group book is Island of the Blue Dol-phins, by Scott O’Dell.

In 5Fremont-Smith, our book group is reading the book Bud, Not Buddy and will be finishing this up next week. Our focus has been on themes and discovering what life was like during the Great Depression. We’re in the holiday spirit for our read aloud with the ghost story Wait ‘till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn.

5th grade happenings

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 5

NES Physical Education classes are off to a great start! Kindergarten children have quickly adjusted to class procedures and are gradually being introduced to fitness activi-ties. Jogging around the gym is a favorite! We have spent time this fall learning about the concepts of personal and general space and using the information to play several low organization games. Overhand and underhand throwing and catching skills have been practiced with Nerf balls and bean bags.

First and second grade students are participating in more chal-lenging fitness activities that include a timed jog, and upper body and abdominal work. Throwing and catching skills have been practiced in game activities such as "Back Attack", "Whole Class Monkey in the Middle," various bean bag challenges and a big favorite "Haunted Mansion."

In addition to the "static"," (held position), stretches that grades 3 through 6 perform as part of their pre-jog warm-up, this year they have added "dynamic stretches". Dynamic stretches are warm-up exercises that create a stretch through action and movement. As always, strength work for upper body, core and abdominals are a consistent part of class fitness work. Grades 3 through 6 have completed the first Cardiovascular Fit-ness timed Jog/Walk of the year of 4 minutes. Eventually students will be at the 10 min-ute jog/walk level and ready to take on the NES Mile Challenge in May. Abdominal and upper body strength will be assessed at that time using standards from the Fitnessgram Fitness testing program. The health topic this past month has been basic heart anatomy and function. Game and skill activities have included basic football skills used in football lead up game activities and the ever popular game of Matball.

Our school-wide intiative of C.(cooperation),A.(assertion),R.(responsibility), E.(empathy) and S.(self control) is a constant theme in all grade levels. It is explained to our students that C.A.R.E.S. is a very useful tool that can be used in and out of school. The enor-mous amount of interaction that occurs in PE class is a great op-portunity to use and practice C.A.R.E.S. skills.

News from our Classrooms

Physical Education

Students have been studying number theory and algebra. Many prob-lem solving activities pertaining to these concepts and skills are under-way: • Students investigated various pool table dimensions and discovered

many interesting number patterns. Jacob Scopelites from 6D dis-covered that if the length was the square of the width, the ball would follow a zigzag pattern, and the width of the table deter-mined the number of segments in the zigzag.

• Some students have been working out a perplexing problem about how three fishermen share a barrel of fish, whereby the amount of fish in the barrel must be a number divisible by three plus one. Erin Savage, Skyla Lewis, and Maggie Gilbert from 6N wrote equations for “n” amount of fish and will show a Power Point presentation of their findings to Mrs. Dow’s fifth grade class this week.

• Other students have been exploring patterns within the powers of numbers. Ryan Cooper from 6C noticed that the powers of 18 end in 4, 2, 5, 8…. ; he shared this pattern on long register tape for the classes to see.

• Many students are interested in creating multimedia presentations for Family Math Night to be held on March 3rd. Those interested must submit a written proposal by Oct. 29th. Ideas are brewing about prime numbers, how surface area affects the speed of hockey pucks, the design and construction of a scaled structure, and even the geometry found in the anatomy of certain breeds of cats!

Sixth grade scientists have been learning about science processing skills and the scientific method while participating in many experiments and even designing their own investigations about surface tension and co-hesive properties of water. Students have been working in groups to write books to send to India, China, Uganda, and Ecuador. These books focus on the five themes of geography for Newbury, Massachusetts. We are sure that the recipi-ents will enjoy learning about this region. Our sixth graders are develop-ing great map skills as they travel around the globe!

News from our Classrooms

6th grade Science/Social Studies

Page 6 Volume 1, Issue 5

6th grade Math

Page 7 Volume 1, Issue 5

Kindergarten: In Kindergarten we are doing a variety of activities that emphasize singing, movement and listening. We use Beanie Babies to match vocal pitch, solo sing our names, explore movement games and songs with teddy bears, and play with jingle bells and rhythm sticks. We are also now learning some Halloween songs and games. A “star of the day” is chosen each week. Each child will have a turn! Watch for your child to come home with the “excellence in music” star. First grade: In first grade we continue using Beanie Babies to match vocal pitch and take turns solo singing our names at the beginning of every class. We have learned a line dance, “The Chimes of Dunkirk”, a hand clapping game, “Alligator Pie” and a circle singing game, “The Old Brass Wagon”. We also took the story, “Caps for Sale” and had fun adding musical parts to this story with xylophones, metallophones and unpitched percussion instruments. Now we are learning some new Halloween songs. Second grade: In second grade we still enjoy using Beanie Babies to match vocal pitch and solo sing our names. We have sung the, “Barnyard Song” with solos, danced to, “Everybody’s Body is an Instrument”, played xylophones and did a clapping game to, “It’s Fun to Be in Newbury”, played the tubano drums to, “Tiny Surfer”, and are presently enjoying many Halloween activities.

Third grade: In third grade we have been doing some singing and mostly have focused on receiving and learning to play our recorders. Every child should practice at home about four times a week for at least 5-10 minutes per day. This week we began playing, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. If a child can play this and the three notes B, A, and G are clearly heard, then the child receives his/her white belt. Fourth grade: In fourth grade we have been doing lots of lessons with Orff instruments (xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels). “Chattanooga Choo Choo” helped us to learn the sixteenth notes. We also learned about drumming with tubanos and unpitched percussion instruments added as ostinati. Now, we are playing various Orff instruments to Halloween songs. Fifth grade: We began the year with an Orff lesson, singing and dancing to the Simple Gifts tune, (also known as Lord of the Dance). We have also reviewed many rhythms in a variety of forms using a game

called “Zip Around”. In October we have sung and played many Halloween songs, including listening to Camille Saint-Saens “Danse Macabre”, following along to his orchestral composition with our own listening maps. If anyone owns “Danse Macabre” and they want their own listening map for home listening please feel free to ask Mrs. Peterson for a copy. Sixth grade: We began the year with a lesson called “Pizza Rondo” which reviews whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes. In this lesson we construct a multi-layered felt pizza and we sing and use Orff instruments. Next we did several lessons on African music. We learned a rock passing game, a dance and a song with movement and African instruments. In October we have done some Halloween songs and a Hal-loween Orff arrangement. Chorus and Choir: Just a reminder that our winter concert will take place on Tuesday, December 7th at 7:00. Remember to wear white shirts and black pants for the boys and black skirts for the girls. The chil-dren are asked to arrive at 6:30 and the concert begins at 7:00. We are looking forward to sharing our won-derful music with you! 4th grade beginner trumpets, flutes and clarinets: We have begun our instrumental lessons with our very own in-struments! Everyone is doing a great job. Don’t forget to mark down the minutes that you practice every day in your lesson book. If you practice four times a week then I will give you a sticker on the practice chart in my room. When you have five stickers, you will receive a bead. These beads will be put on the colored belts that are earned for playing songs and rhythms, (similar to the belts that we earned for recorder playing last year). Keep up the good work!

News from our Classrooms

NEWS FROM MRS. PETERSON IN THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Page 8 Volume 1, Issue 5

PTA News

On November 9th the PTA will be running an election for parent rep-resentatives to serve on the NES School Council. Monday November 1st a Blackboard Connect message will be sent out ex-plaining how the election will be run and will provide parents all the candidate information for review. This information will also be posted on the bulletin board in the school's front lobby. Wednesday November 3rd we will send out an absentee ballot for those that are not able to attend the election on November 9th. Parents will be instructed to send the ballot into school be-fore the election on the 9th. On November 9th the PTA will hold a special School Council election meeting from 6:30 to 8pm in the school library. Each candidate will have the opportunity to introduce him-self/herself and speak briefly about one or two key points as to why he/she would like to serve on the School Council. After all the candidates have had a chance to speak, the attendees will begin the voting. Everyone is welcome to attend this special election meeting. You do not need to be a PTA member to vote. The 8 elected parents will be announced on Wednesday November 10th by the PTA.

School Council Elections

2011/2012 School Year - The PTA is looking to identify future board members so a seamless transition may take place at the end of this calendar school year. If you are interested in being more involved and becoming a 2011/2012 PTA Board Member, please contact Maureen Heffernan at maureen.heffernan@comcast.net .

2011 -2012 School Year

Page 9 Volume 1, Issue 5

PTA News

Don’t forget!!! November is our school’s designated month for Coins For a CAUSE (Coins Add Up to Support Education) at the Institute for Savings Bank! Bring your coins into the Institute for Savings Bank and every time you use their coin counting machines, the 5% usage fee is donated to our school. The bank donates 100% of these fees collected during November to our school. Last year this program raised over $1000 for the NES PTA. So save your coins and be sure to stop in to count your coins during the month of November!

Coins for a C.A.U.S.E

Save the date! The annual Holiday Express and Pancake Breakfast will be held on Saturday, De-cember 4th from 8A.M. to 11:30A.M. In addition to a yummy breakfast there will be a holiday raf-fle, venders, crafts and fun for the whole family. The PTA needs volunteers to help at this event. If you are interested in helping, please contact Belen Wieler at bwieler.bwc@verizon.net.

We are looking for additional venders/crafters to be a part of this event. If you have a product or craft you would like to sell during the Holiday Express or you are interested in donating items to be included in the raffle, please contact Maureen Heffernan at maureen.heffernan@comcast.net .

Holiday Express and Pancake Breakfast

NES PTA Coupon Books are here! There are over $200 worth of coupons – ALL from local shops and businesses. The NES PTA coupon book is a win / win – support-ing our local shops and business and our students. 100% of proceeds directly support NES students. You can purchase your coupon book at the Halloween Party (10/29th), the next PTA meeting (11/9th), and the Holiday Express (12/4th) or at JL Coombs, MK Winston Jewelers, or The Book Rack, all located on State Street in Newburyport. With the holidays around the corner, this makes a great gift for neighbors and friends!

NES PTA Coupon Books

Page 10 Volume 1, Issue 5

PTA News

Below is a summary of upcoming opportunities to volunteer, support your children, and have fun within the NES Community. School Store: (Every Thursday During Lunch Hours) We're looking for regular volunteers to help us run the school store in the NES cafeteria every Thursday during lunch between now and year-end. You can sign up for the same 1-2 hour shift every week and get more connected to your child, NES, and another NES mom. NES Book Fair- Family Reading Night Volunteers Needed, (Wednesday, November 17th, 5-8P.M.): We still need a few volunteers to help us out with Family Reading Night on Wednesday, November 17th between 5-8 in the Little Gym. We also need bakers to provide some goodies. NES PTA Genevieve's Fundraiser Gift-wrap Distribution (Week of November 22nd-During and After School): We need volunteers the week of Thanksgiving both during and after school to help us distribute orders to NES families. We'll know the exact dates/times shortly. NES PTA Holiday Express: (Saturday, December 4th, 8-11:30A.M.): We need volunteers on Saturday, December 4th to bring some holiday cheer to the NES commu-nity. We'll need folks to: serve pancake breakfast, help Santa take photos, make holiday arts and crafts, bake goodies, setup and clean up and sell tickets. Please contact Belen Wieler-Hawes, NES PTA Volunteer Chair at bwieler.bwc@verizon.net or at 978.504.9250 to discuss or sign up for any of these upcoming events. Any of these activities work towards your 2 Hour Power-Pledge. As always, thanks for your help and support. We couldn't do it without you.

PTA Volunteer Corner

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to NES during the week of November 15 - 19! Information about the wonderful selections available and our hours will be coming home with your child during the week prior to the fair. Students will be visiting the book fair during their weekly library time. Scholastic Books provides us with a selection of new, current, and favorite books. From picture books to novels, there is something for everyone at the book fair. Don't forget to check out the Teacher Wish Lists, giving our teachers the chance to build their classroom libraries.

See you at the fair!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Page 11 Volume 1, Issue 5

NES Book Fair!

Website of the Week

SWITCHEROO ZOO http://www.switchzoo.com/zoo.htm

You've seen the books that have pages divided into three parts, and students can change heads, bodies, and tails of animals. This is the same concept, but even bet-ter! Animals morph as they switch heads and the audio is great. Each entry is accompanied by animal facts; have your students make up their own animal cards for their newly morphed creature. (PreK-3)

Supporting other Communities

Hello my name is Obeida Doherty. I am originally from Colombia, South America. I moved to the United States twelve years ago and have been a U.S citizen since February 2008. I am the mom of two boys who currently attend and love the pre-school program at NES. For the last twelve years I have devoted time and resources to help children who live in extreme pov-erty in remote areas of my home town; a beautiful but very poor village called "La Belleza", in Santander, Co-lombia. I do not do this job alone. I am assisted by the blessed generosity of friends and family and many strang-ers with compassionate hearts for the needy. Over the years, we have collected and sent countless gifts such as toys, clothes, shoes, back packs and more with great success. As you know the economy presently is very unsta-ble and we are afraid to fail at such an important task; but together we can make this happen again. We find joy in bringing smiles to so many unfortunate children and truly making a difference in their lives. This year we are going to be there in person to deliver the gifts; we will personally see their expectant faces and experience their joy first hand. I would like to invite all teachers, parents, students and other members of the Newbury Elemen-tary School to help us out by donating back packs, baseball hats, ear thermometers and any other small toys that are easy to ship. The Daily News has also taken interest in this program. With their work and the collaboration from the entire community of this great area, this could be the beginning of something absolutely miraculous. There is a donation box in the lobby at NES. Sincerely, Obeida Doherty obeida19@yahoo.com

Theater Workshop Presents: The Woodbridge Carol

December 10-12, 2010 Theater Workshop (TWS) is hard at work, preparing for their upcoming presen-tations of The Woodbridge Carol. Written and directed by Stacey April Fix, the play pays homage to Newbury’s 375 year history and puts a very unique, local twist on Charles Dicken’s famous tale. The Woodbridge Carol incorporates characters, such as Professor Scrooge, played by 4th grade teacher David Williams, and provides us with glances into his past, present and future. The cast includes over 70 NES students and two additional faculty members, Bonnie Langendorfer and Charlie LaBella. The audience will delight in a highly professional and entertaining show, complete with digital projections, specially designed costumes, and high spirited dances. On stage, there is even a historic replica of a Woodbridge School class-room! As always, there will be lots of laughs and fun too! Public performances will begin on Friday evening, December 10 and will continue with matinee and eve-ning performances on Saturday Dec 11, followed by a matinee on Sunday Dec 12. Tickets will go on sale Friday November 19. Contact information for tickets will follow shortly. The NES PTA receives 100% of ticket sales. This revenue contributes a major piece of the annual PTA budget. Therefore, by supporting TWS, you are supporting all NES students through PTA programs. Please plan to attend The Woodbridge Carol ; and, bring your family, friends and neighbors. You will be treated to high-level theater and delightful holiday entertainment featuring highly talented students and staff. If you have not yet attended a TWS production, you are in for a very pleasant surprise. Your per-ception of a “school play” will be forever changed! What a wonderful way to kick-off the holiday season! We look forward to seeing you all at the show!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Page 12 Volume 1, Issue 5

The Woodbridge Carol

Ski & Snowboard Program Registration

Registration forms for the 2010 NES Ski Bradford program can be picked up in the school office. Registration and payment are due by Thursday, Novem-ber 11. The program is available to students in grades 4, 5 and 6 and runs for 6 Friday afternoons beginning January 7, 2011. Students are transported to Bradford Ski Area at the end of the school day, ski/snowboard until 6 P.M., and return to NES at 6:45 P.M. Parent volunteers monitor the buses, the lodge and the slopes. For further information, please contact Lisa Proc-tor at gaj.proctor@verizon.net or Jen Cavanaugh at j_cavanaugh@comcast.net. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to participate

We are happy to announce that we received our first large donation towards the pur-chase of a dishwasher for the NES cafeteria. The Odd Fellows in Newburyport donated $1,000 after NES student Anna Teague and her father mentioned the dishwasher to her grandfather, who is a member of the group. Our sincere gratitude and thanks to Anna, Mr. Teague, and the Odd Fellows. For more information about the Odd Fellows, please see their website at www.massioof.org. Also, keep your eye out for the NES green bags that we are selling at school functions to help raise funds for the dishwasher.

We are fortunate to have Ron Toleos, the Recycling Coordinator for the Town of Newbury, on our committee. Ron is also known by the students as "Mr. Recycle." He is very involved in our efforts to reduce waste at NES and recently donated a new compost bin to the school. Many thanks, Ron! He would like NES families to be aware that the Transfer Station will now be open Wednesdays from 12 to 3P.M. for recycling only. For those of you who do not have a transfer station sticker you may now purchase a "parking sticker" for $20 at the Town Hall which will allow you to bring your recycling only on Wednesdays. Please keep in mind that these stickers are valid per calendar year. It was also announced in The Daily News on Monday, October 25, that starting November 14, Newbury will be moving to dual-stream recycling in which there will be separate bins for paper (including cardboard) and "commingles" (cans, bottles, and plastic). For more information about these and other recycling-related issues, feel free to con-tact the Recycling Committee Co-Chairs, Tammy Cotter <tammycotter@comcast.net> or Sally Milliken <MillDoo@comcast.net>.

Did you know that Mrs. Williams' second grade class is learning about composting? Their compost bin is located out-side her classroom door and students may place their food scraps in the bin.

NES Recycling Committee Corner

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The yearbook is holding a cover contest

All students are encouraged to submit a drawing that would represent Newbury Elementary. Students put your creativity to work. (6th graders make this a year to remember) Encourage your child to participate.

All designs must be submitted on an 8x11 sheet of white paper (this will be for the front and back covers) Please make sure that the art work is dark. (Can be in color or black and white)

One design will be chosen for the 2010-2011 yearbook. All entries must be submitted to the main office NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 19, 2010 Please include your name, age, grade and teacher on the back of drawing Winner will be announced by November 23rd. WE ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING ALL PHOTO’S OF CLASS ACTIVITIES AND SCHOOL FUNCTIONS. Please send digital prints to the attention of the YEARBOOK

Thank You

Yearbook Custom Cover Contest

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Page 14 Volume 1, Issue 5

Dear Parent or Guardian: As many of you have seen in the Triton district newsletter, the state mandated BMI Program is underway across the state, the district, and at Newbury Elementary School. A Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a measure that is used to show a person’s “weight for height for age.” It is calculated using an individual’s height and weight. Just like a blood pressure reading or an eye screening test, a

BMI can be a useful tool in identifying possible health risks. The purpose of the BMI Screening Program is to give you information about your child’s weight status and ideas for making healthy choices. At NES, we address our children’s health and wellness with a comprehensive approach that includes health screenings, vision and hearing screenings, scoliosis screenings as well as BMI’s. Massachusetts schools have taken heights and weights of students each year since the 1950’s. According to the state’s new BMI screening regulation which passed in April 2009, schools must now collect the heights and weights of students in grades 1, 4, 7 and 10. Each child’s height and weight will then be used to calculate their BMI. The results will be mailed home within the next several weeks. During your child’s screening, we make every effort to ensure your child’s pri-vacy is respected at all times. The results of your child’s height, weight, and BMI measurements are strictly confidential – the results will be kept in your child’s

school health record, and they also will be mailed to you. A BMI does not tell the whole story about your child’s health status. BMI does not distinguish between fat and muscle. For example, if a child is very athletic and has a lot of muscle, his or her BMI may be high even though he or she is not overweight. That is why we encourage you to share the results with your child’s health care provider. Your child’s doctor or nurse is in the best position to evaluate his or her overall health and can explain the results of his or her BMI screening. They can also talk with you about whether there are steps you can take to encourage healthy eating and physical activity. At Newbury Elementary we are very interested in making sure that all of our students are healthy. This year, the BMI screening has already begun and all children in grades 1, 4, 7 and 10 will have their height and weight measured and will have their Body Mass Index (BMI) calculated. Please feel free to call me at 978 465-5655 with any questions you may have about the BMI screening. Additional information about children’s wellness and fitness is available upon request or you may access the state’s resources at www.mass.gov/massinmotion/. Sincerely, Mary Goldsmith, RN School Nurse

Nurse Notes

Newbury Elementary Triton Regional School

District 63 Hanover Street Newbury 01951

Phone: (978) 465-5353

Fax: (978) 463-3070

E-mail: mtracy@trsd.net

hleonard@trsd.net

PTA Officers President Maureen Heffernan, maureen.heffernan@comcast.net Co-VP Michelle Walsh,mwalsh9@msn.com Co-VP Patty Olson, patricianeil@comcast.net Treasurer Wendy Wood, wendywood17@comcast.net Secretary Betsy Carter, betsycarter21@gmail.com School Committee

Dina Sullivan, Chair, dsullivan@trsd.net Deborah Choate, Vice Chair, dchoate@trsd.net Suzanne Densmore, Secretary,suzannedensmore@trsd.net Lane Bourn, lbourn@trsd.net Linda Litcofsky, llitcofsky@trsd.net Holly Janvrin, hjanvrin@trsd.net Mary Murphy, mmurphy@trsd.net Paul Lees, plees@trsd.net Robin Williams, rwilliams@trsd.net

October

10/29—PTA Halloween Parade 5-7pm November 11/1-11/5—Grade 6 Environmental

Camp 11/9—TAG meeting in Auditorium 5-

6pm 11/9—PTA meeting 6:30 11/10 or 11/12—Grade 3 York field

trip 11/11—NO SCHOOL 11/15-11/19—Book Fair 11/19—HALF DAY

Upcoming Events

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School Community The NES Newt-paper is published on a bi-weekly basis. If you would like to submit something to be included in the NES Newt-paper, please email your information to hleonard@trsd.net by the Tuesday be-fore the newsletter is published.