Growing lifelong learners through joy, curiosity, connection & community.
Dear Stowe Elementary Families,
We are getting into the groove of learning here at SES. Last week, I shared Stowe Elementary School’s commitment to students through our north star: growing lifelong learners through joy, curiosity, connection & community.
Today I want to highlight the work that is happening across the school to build intentional community. Classrooms are working hard to build a warm and inclusive community for each learner and establish a culture of learning. Many classrooms are building classroom agreements collaboratively with students to support how children will learn and support each other throughout the year. Teachers are building opportunities for students to share their strengths and unique qualities and support children in finding connections within their learning environment. We believe deeply that scaffolding intentional opportunities for children to connect and build community has a positive impact on students developing a growth mindset and taking on academic challenges and leadership opportunities throughout the year.
Last Friday we gathered for our first community meeting of the school year. We gather as a whole school every Friday and invite caregivers and families to join us. Each week, students have opportunities to share jokes with their community and our fourth and fifth graders take on the responsibility of facilitating portions of the meeting. We honor birthdays and invite each classroom to share about their learning throughout the year. In the coming weeks, our fifth graders will begin sitting with their kindergarten buddies. I look forward to sharing more about how we build community within our classrooms and across our school throughout the year. I hope that you will make time to join us for a community meeting at 8:20 on Friday mornings.
Open House
Please mark your calendars, Open House is scheduled for September 21st, 5:30-6:30. Open house is a time for families and caregivers to come into the school, meet with teachers and make connections with other families. It is also a time to see your child’s classroom and examples of your child’s school work.
Chorus
Chorus will begin on Monday, September 11th for fifth graders and Tuesday, September 12th for third and fourth graders. This group is open to any students who enjoy singing and I encourage all of our young musicians to give it a try! The ensemble will rehearse in the music room from 7:45-8:25. To maximize our rehearsal time, it’s important that students are prompt. Our first performance of the year will be the Winter Concert on Tuesday, December 19th. Please reach out to Dana LaClair with any questions. dana.laclair@lamoillesouth.org
We are Hiring!
We are still in the process of hiring and have several open positions. Do you know anyone who may want to join our team in the following positions?
A Special Education Paraprofessional works with children who have an IEP to support their instruction and inclusion in our school. The classroom teacher, special education teacher, and specialists will provide training and support to prepare you to support the child.
A Math Program Aide works to support our math curriculum here at SES. They are an integral part of our team working with individual and small groups of children both in and out of the classroom.
A Special Educator is an integral part of each grade level team. The ideal candidate will have experience working directly with students, helping develop and implement positive behavior plans, and supporting students to access and benefit from the general education curriculum. This teacher will work in collaboration with general education teachers, parents, related service providers, and paraprofessional staff.
If you know anyone who may be interested in any of these positions, please have them contact Megan Herman (megan.herman@lamoillesouth.org).
Important upcoming dates
9/21 – 5th Grade Maritime Museum
9/21 – Open House 5:30-6:30
9/25 – Yom Kippur, no school
9/27 – 5th Grade Class trip to Hosmer Point
9/29 – 4th Grade Shelburne
9/29 – 1st Grade trip to Burtts orchard
10/4 – Picture Day
10/9 – Indigenous Peoples’ Day, no school
10/24 – 4th Grade Flynn Theater
10/27 – Early release
11/10 – Veterans Day, no school
11/20-11/24 – Thanksgiving Break
Community Postings
Working Communities Challenge
Working Lands Enterprise Initiative grant for forest, farm, and food enterprises, including producer associations, farms, food cooperatives, business assistance provider organizations, etc.
- Application open fall/winter for projects starting spring/early summer 2024
Support
Challenging Behaviors in Young Children: Free parent/caregiver workshop series
- Tuesdays, 9/19 and 9/26, 6-7:30pm
- Lamoille Family Center, 480 Cady’s Falls Road, Morrisville
- Register or 888-5229
Chicks with Stix
Hello and Happy Almost Fall!
Chicks With Stix returns this fall at Stowe Arena and we hope to see you there! It’s my hope to reach last year’s players, an additional outreach to the current gals who are registered SYH players and a few more we’ve met along the way. We’ve expanded the age range from 6-13 due to interest levels, too. It’s not a perfect science and I appreciate your understanding! If anyone in your casa or community is interested in Learn to Play, Learn to Skate or the 4-week Bruins Academy program, I’m happy to help there too (I wear many hockey hats!). Last year we had 50 girls on the ice on Monday nights and it was a BLAST!
Please also mark your calendar for these two FREE events for Girls Hockey that are in SEPTEMBER and we really hope to see you there. There will be additional team building events including Norwich and UVM Women’s Hockey games. Always optional but we are so fortunate to have high level women’s hockey in our area and players who want to engage with us.
1. UVM Girls Hockey Clinic on 9/16 4:45-6:45 at UVM’s Gutterson Arena for CWS and SYH girls! Includes 1 hour on the ice playing games, skills and drills with the ENTIRE UVM Women’s Hockey Team! All ages welcome. Thanks to our generous sponsors, Bardo Consulting and Gail Oberg- Element Real Estate, dinner is included afterwards! FREE! But you have to RSVP this week so we can plan accordingly!!! Flyer attached. RSVP here.
2. TRY HOCKEY FOR FREE on 9/24 3-4 at Stowe Arena. It’s technically co-ed but we want to utilize this as STICK TIME FOR OUR GALS! We’ll have SHS girls hockey players helping out on the ice, free USA Hockey Jerseys and more. Please join us. Must RSVP here so USA Hockey knows we mean business and for our insurance!
3. CHICKS WITH STIX kicks off the first week of November. Monday nights 5-6pm with a few holiday breaks. Flyer attached. Register online here.
4. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also plug our Learn to Skate, Learn to Play and 4-week Bruins Academy that are all open for registration right now.
We DESPERATELY need you to RSVP as it helps us make these events the best they can be versus not at all. We’ve seen the greatest increases in the Stowe Youth Hockey girls hockey players and even have 8U, 10U and 12U girls teams this year. And coaches-who-are-girls as part of our volunteer coaching staff. Thank you again!
