Summer Street School

Newsletter November 2017 Issue 3

Dear Summer Street Families and Friends:

What a pleasure to return to school last week and find everything functioning so smoothly! This is a credit to Assistant to the Principal Lorie Kelly and the entire staff! By all accounts, Ms. Kelly did an outstanding job supporting teachers, addressing inquiries from parents, organizing professional development and committee meetings and teaching her fourth-grade students while I was away on my trip. Special thanks as well to Emily Schelzi, a former Summer Street teacher who co-taught Ms. Kelly’s fourth-grade class during this period.

Many people have asked me about my trip. My wife, Katy and I over a year ago planned a month-long trip to Rwanda and Tanzania to learn more about these two countries and to see the game. This was my third trip to East Africa but Katy’s first. In Rwanda, we visited the Genocide Memorial Museum and learned about the reconciliation process that has taken place since the 1994 genocide in which almost a million Rwandans were killed within a 100-day period. Having visited Rwanda 28 years ago, just before the strife that led to the genocide erupted, I was amazed by the progress I saw during this trip. Rwanda is a dynamic country experiencing remarkable economic growth. Paul Kagame, the president since 1994, has put in place a number of reforms to both heal and modernize the country, including universal health care, universal primary and secondary education, internet service covering 95% of the country, and a nationwide community service program which requires every Rwandan to complete service in his or her village the last Saturday morning of every month. This community service is followed by an hour or more of discussion of local problems and issues. Things are by no means perfect, but life is clearly moving forward. While in Rwanda, Katy and I trekked in the Virunga volcanoes to visit two different gorilla families. This was a truly life-changing experience, one that I will be sharing with students in the near future.

Tanzania is an equally remarkable and interesting nation. In 1961, Tanzania’s first president, Julius Nyerere, faced with building a nation out of 125 different tribes spread out over a vast geographical area, instituted Swahili as a national language and removed all tribal chieftains from authority. At the time of independence, Tanzania had only eleven trained doctors. Now, Tanzania is a stable nation with universal primary and secondary education and a growing number of clinics and medical facilities. Katy and I were fortunate to have the opportunity to meet numerous Tanzanians in different parts of the country. I had last been in Tanzania 41 years ago; I was absolutely amazed by the many changes I saw during this visit. On one occasion we visited a Masai kindergarten (ages 3-6) where the students were learning to read and write Swahili and English in addition to math. I examined students’ exercise books – with the teacher’s permission – to see their work, just as I do every day at Summer Street. It was truly inspiring to see the work these youngsters were doing inside a mud and wattle hut with almost no tools or amenities; it made me appreciate all that we have here at Summer Street. In addition to learning about the culture and people of Tanzania, Katy and I visited a number of game parks, some in remote locations. We followed the migration of the wildebeest across the Serengeti (Swahili for ‘endless plain’), tracked chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains on the Tanzania / Congo border, and spent several days eyeball to eyeball with hippos, elephants and crocodiles while floating down the Rufigi River in a small boat. All of this was quite extraordinary, and I will be sharing these adventures and experiences with Summer Street students as well.

MCAS As you already know by now, Summer Street students performed admirably on last spring’s MCAS tests. I am pleased to report that Summer Street’s third and fourth graders did well on the ELA and Math portions of the test, outperforming the state averages and, in most instances, outperforming the majority of students in the 900 + other elementary schools throughout the state! This is a feather in our cap. It is a credit to the hard work and day-to-day conscientiousness of the staff and students, especially in light of the fact that the test incorporated a number of new and challenging formats, difficult questions that required students to show their thinking and list the specific evidence they were using to support their opinions and mathematical solutions, and, for the first time, was completed entirely on computers! Elementary Director of English Language Arts and Social Studies Maureen Fennessy and Elementary Director of Math and Science Christina Noce and I are meeting with teachers this week to examine the results in detail and really pin down what we are doing well and what we need to improve.

Social and Emotional Learning One of our key School Improvement Plan goals is to adopt and/or develop a social and emotional learning program and to begin implementation in the spring. On November 1, Summer Street teachers joined with their Huckleberry Hill counterparts to participate in a workshop on various social and emotional initiatives, including Responsive Classroom (led by Nicole Drouin and Marina Padovani), Second Step (led by a variety of Huckleberry Hill teachers), Zones of Regulation (Rochelle Hardenstine), Growth Mindset (Deb Guenard and Lisa Forrest), and Mindfulness Practices (Jill Quickel). Mrs. Kelly and a number of other Summer Street teachers have told me this was a very valuable afternoon.

We do know that regardless of the program we adopt, helping students develop empathy for others will be a concept we emphasize. Much of what we do on a daily basis, as we practice kindness toward others and understanding and appreciating differences, naturally focuses on empathy. In keeping with this goal, teachers Lisa Forrest and Yota Kariotis enlisted the help of the Summer Street Student Council to begin a ‘loose change’ collection to aid hurricane victims in , , and . To everyone’s astonishment, a five-day drive during which teachers talked in their classes about the devastation caused by and Hurricane Maria, yielded $1,600 in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters! We will be sending this money to the One America Appeal, a 501 nonprofit organization founded on September 7, 2017, by all five living former U.S. Presidents: , George H. W. Bush, , George W. Bush, and . Our contribution will help the victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria (in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean) recover and rebuild.

The Student Council, I might add, is already busy with their next two fundraising projects: a food drive for local community pantries and, as we approach the holidays, Toys for Tots.

2 Enrichment

We are always grateful to the PTO for sponsoring a number of enrichment programs and events. Recently we were fortunate to participate in the annual Pumpkin Fair (the children had a great time decorating pumpkins, playing bubble soccer, and enjoying pony rides). Kindergarten students learned about gravity and motion from staff members of the Discovery Museum. Fourth graders, as part of their unit on animal adaptation, enjoyed a hands-on workshop with the Museum of Science staff and a number of furry and/or scaly friends including a lizard that is capable of losing its tail and an opossum that feigns death when it is trapped. We really appreciate having such a wonderful array of programs to supplement and complement our regular work in the classroom!

I will conclude by saying a lot of exciting things are happening at Summer Street School every single day! I love what I see going on in classrooms. I love seeing the excitement on students’ faces as they learn new skills, acquire new knowledge, and enjoy new experiences! In short, I love being here!

All the best,

Greg

Notes from the front office Parking With the addition of the additional parking area here at SSS, our parking issues seem to have greatly improved; however please be mindful of our neighbors when parking on Todd Lane or Elizabeth Way. It is imperative that vehicles park on ONLY ONE SIDE of the street. If you are not the first person to park over there, please park on the SAME side as the other cars. The police department will be patrolling regularly.

Absence and Tardy Calls Please remember to notify the front office if your child is going to be tardy or absent. Voicemail is on when the office is closed. You may also email Karen Roberto at [email protected] at any time.

Change of Dismissal It would be helpful if your child came to school confident with their dismissal routine for the day. Please tell your child how they are going home from school at home in the morning and, if it is a

3 change in their normal routine, be sure to send a note in to the teacher. Phone calls to the school office to change dismissal should only be done in an emergency.

DATES TO REMEMBER EARLY DISMISSAL: November 16th at 11:30 for Conferences EARLY DISMISSAL: November 22nd - All Students dismissed at 11:30 NO SCHOOL: November 23rd& 24th Thanksgiving Recess EARLY DISMISSAL: December 6th at 11:30 for Professional Development

From the School Committee

MCAS RESULTS DON’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY

The most recent results of the MCAS 2.0 test demonstrate that Lynnfield continues to be a high achieving school district, one of the top performing districts in the Commonwealth. Though we embrace this accomplishment, standardized test results only provide the community with one glimpse into the greatness that defines the Lynnfield Public Schools. The financial support and the commitment of our community, as well as the vision of district leadership, allows our staff to deliver one of the best public educations in the state. It easy to identify “success” through test results and rankings and draw blanket conclusions but, the true measure of success is defined by what occurs on a daily basis in our buildings and more importantly in our classrooms. There is no tool to measure or quantify the commitment of our teaching staff. Countless undocumented and unseen efforts to improve every child’s education happen every day in our schools, educators go above and beyond continuously. Many educators are getting to school at 6:15 in the morning and leaving at 7:30 at night, they take on additional students when presumably a course is “full”, they reach out to parents over the weekend to check in, or simply instinctively know how to push and encourage our students to reach their potential. A committed teaching staff makes Lynnfield a special and unique district. While we celebrate the most recent accomplishment of our students and staff, this score shouldn’t solely define the Lynnfield Public Schools. There will always be ebb and flow to our test results, but they are only a snapshot of what is happening in our schools. If you were to glean a glimpse into any classroom or walk through the halls of any building you would understand why Lynnfield is considered one of the best school districts in the Commonwealth. You would have an opportunity to witness school cultures that support students and foster strong student-teacher relationships. As a School Committee we, like the community, look to test scores and rankings as indicators as to what our strengths and weaknesses are, but we also rely on what is presented to us by the staff, either at School Committee meetings or through observation at site visits. It is evident that Superintendent Tremblay, her administrators and most importantly the teaching staff have a clear vision and understanding of what needs to be done to create a culture of high academic achievement and a healthy educational experience.

Tim Doyle Chair, Lynnfield School Committee

4

From the Nurse

HAND WASHING

I have been receiving calls and emails from families indicating that we are seeing seasonal illnesses in many of our classrooms. I am going into classrooms to review the importance of good handwashing. Proper hand washing is easy to do and it's one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of many types of infection and illness in all settings—from your home and workplace to our school. Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout an entire community.

Wash your hands...

 Before, during, and after preparing food  Before eating food  Before and after caring for someone who is sick  Before and after treating a cut or wound  After using the toilet  After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet  After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing  After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste  After touching garbage

Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to reduce the number of germs on them. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs. Also, hand sanitizers are not effective when hands are visibly dirty!

Remember...

BEFORE eating wash your hands DO NOT cough or sneeze into your hands DO NOT put your fingers into your eyes, nose or mouth.

STAY WELL

5

SSS Library Media Center News Things are in full swing in the media center! Please remember to send your child’s books back the day of, or the day before, they come for media class.

Celebration & Birthday Books A Special Thanks to Our October Donors! Sue Tsiatis The Greenleaf Family Olivia Adams Leah Nguyen Sofia Wilson Cameron Munion Lola Rich Stephen Forgione Michael Forgione Molly Geary Caileigh Reed Anna Scire Jacob Pincus Tyler Pincus Joey Santarella Maddie Migliero Oliver Morgan

Celebration books are a great way to celebrate a student, teacher, or class!

Makerspace Donations We are currently seeking felt & fabric!

For more information about student work, as well as links to coding games, visit the Media Center website! Or follow me on Twitter @librarycaram!

6