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Dear Moose,

November has arrived! Thanks for your patience this week with the sidewalk repairs. The use of the side entrance went smoothly. 

We have received word of the grand total for the Walk-a-Thon to benefit Puerto Rico. $3,193.45 was raised to support Puerto Rico through UNICEF! What an amazing amount! Thanks to Jamie Donta, Sally Galman and all of the students, families and community members that supported the efforts. Lots of bucket filling with this event!

Students in grades 3-6 will be receiving MCAS scores in the mail in the next few weeks. These scores are from the Next Generation MCAS that students took in the spring. This is the first year of all schools in the state taking this test. Our 4th graders took this test on the computer (with every other 4th grader in the state). With the scores, you will find a letter from the Acting Commissioner of Education, Jeff Wulfson. The letter explains the changes and the challenges in the reporting of the scores this year. I have also attached this letter to the RTN for your convenience. If you have questions regarding your child's testing results, please contact me.

We finished up conferences at SES this week. It was a delight to see many families here. Please continue to reach out to your child's teacher with questions or concerns (or happy things!) surrounding their experience at SES.

I am happy to announce that we will welcome back Marilyn Sylla and the Bamidele Dancers and Drummers as our Artist-in-Residence this year. Marilyn will come to SES from December 18-21st. A showcase of skills learned will be held on December 21st.  All students will have classes with Marilyn and artists. Special thanks to Grace Griecci and Jody Brush for organizing, as well as the SES PTO for supporting the Artist-in-Residence program at SES.

There is no school next Friday, November 10 in observance of Veterans’ Day. 

Enjoy the weekend,

Jackie

***PTO NEWS***

PTO Dinner and Games Night at SES

Date/Time: Friday November 17th 5pm-7:30pm

Location: SES cafeteria

Please help us celebrate the harvest season and raise money to support our school!  The PTO is organizing an evening of board games and a dinner of soups and breads provided by our very own Shutesbury Elementary School families.  Dinner will be $5/person or $15/family - all proceeds will be used to support PTO programming such as artists in residency programs, student scholarships, classroom wish lists, and much more. The evening will also include a chance to win a holiday gift basket - raffle tickets will be sold at the door. Come on out for an evening of family fun! To volunteer to bring food, set up or clean up go to: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508054fafa82e5-sesdinner  Also - don't forget to bring your favorite board game to play with your fellow SES friends!  

***MOOSE INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK***

Micah from 2^nd Grade!

JCB:  What is your favorite thing to do at school?
MW:  Math!  I love math!  I just like learning so I really like math in school because you do a lot of adding and that stuff which I really like.

JCB:  What is your favorite lunch?
MW:  Well, my favorite is potato soup.  I love that!  That’s my favorite food.  When we have it for dinner there’s always extras so I bring some to school.

JCB:  What is your favorite thing to do at home?
MW:  I have to admit that my favorite thing to do at home is playing on the Wii with my brother because that’s the only thing we get along with.  Otherwise we’re fighting.  When we’re playing together we’ll always play Super Mario 3D World.  My favorite character is Rosalina.  It’s a cross between Peach and Luigi.

JCB:  If you could be any animal what animal would you be?
MW:  That’s a hard one!  There are so many different animals.  I would want to be a hawk because it can fly and it has very good vision.  It could see a mouse scurrying on the bottom of a cliff from the top.

JCB:  Is there anything you’re looking forward to at school this year?
MW:  This is my first year here so I’m not really sure.

JCB:  Is there anything else you’d like the Shutesbury community to know about you? 
MW:  I’m not sure if this is even true….but when everybody is playing on the playground I have been able to outrun everybody.  Unless there’s a whole team, then I couldn’t get away.  And my friends say they can beat me, but they just give up chasing after me.

Photo credit to Martina Dooley-Carvalho.

News from the M.N. Spear Memorial Library

Fun programs for kids and families coming up soon.

Ukulele for Kids

Children ages eight and up are invited to learn how to play the ukulele with Julie!

Bring your own ukulele or borrow one of ours.

Please register by calling the library, 259-1213

Saturday, November 4^th, 11 am, at Town Hall

Movie Night featuring Spiderman: Homecoming
Rated PG-13

Suggested donation, $1 per person. Soda, popcorn and baked goods for sale, $1 each

Saturday, November 4^th, 6:30 pm, at Town Hall

Lego Club 

Children ages four and up are invited to join us for some creative Lego building fun.

We’ll bring thousands of Legos!

Sunday, November 5^th, noon - 2 pm, at Town Hall