Principal Newsletter 10/29/21

Friday, October 29, 2021

  • A huge thank you to our Turners Falls fire department who came Thursday to review fire safety including; what to do when the smoke detector goes off, having a meeting place, and replacing batteries in smoke detectors at every clock change.  For Halloween they spoke of going in groups to trick-or-treat, only going to houses that have lights on, and wearing or holding reflective items while trick-or-treating so cars can see you.

  • In person Parent/Teacher conferences will be held next week on Thursday and Friday.  November 4th and 5th.  Both are half days with a noon dismissal for afternoon meetings.

  • We have elected 6 student council members; 3 for fourth grade and 3 for fifth grade.  Students participated in an election situation similar to what grownups do- they gave their name, collected their ballot, voted within a privacy shield, had their name crossed off again when they placed their ballot in the box and collected an ‘I voted’ sticker.  Congratulations to our representatives and their alternates!

  • We conducted our first School Council meeting this past week.  These meetings are open to the public and anyone can attend.  Our next in person meeting will be Tuesday, November 30th. 

  • Picture retake day is Wednesday, November 3rd.  If you’d like your child’s picture retaken please send in the old package with an explanation of why the needed retake.  More information is on our website.

  • Sheffield is an old building, and though the heat is on, areas of our building are comfortable, some are quite warm and others are cool.  We will continue to have a window ajar in each classroom  to help with fresh air, and to support the air purifiers’ effectiveness.   If a classroom space is cool/cold, students are permitted to wear a winter hat if they are cool, but please continue to refrain from baseball hats unless it’s a special hat day.  

  • I will be speaking with the fourth and fifth grade about the Squid Game on Netflix that I’ve seen some students playing/imitating on the playground.  We work really hard at school to discourage any gun play.  This is a disturbingly violent adult show students have been viewing and are discussing/imitating.  Your support in explaining that we have different rules for school than those at home is appreciated.  Understand we will uphold school rules and provide consequences for play that results in unsafe physical contact.

  • The Friends of Sheffield is hosting a teacher and staff appreciation event next week during teacher conferences. Everyone at Sheffield Elementary is working extra hard this year, and FOS wants to show appreciation by filling up the teachers' lounge with some yummy treats.  The staff was surveyed to see what they might want, and, due to the pandemic, it was mostly individually pre-packaged or professionally prepared foods.

            Please consider signing up to donate one or more items from our wish list:

            https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4bafa822aaf8c34-parent

            All items can be dropped off at the main office next week - Monday, November 1st to Wednesday, November 3rd. Please contact FOS with any questions. friendsofsheffield@gmail.com Thank you for your help!

  • Reminder: If you participated in our Fogbuster Coffee fundraiser, the orders are in and will be available for pickup TODAY - Friday, October 29, from 3:15-4:00, in the Sheffield parking lot. If you are unable to come to the school, items will be sent home with your student on Monday, November 1. Thank you for your support!

  • A heads up that there is no school on Thursday, November 11 in observance of Veteran’s Day.

Happy Halloween!

Warmly,

Melissa