Bobcat Bulletin v.6

October 4, 2024

 

We had a fantastic week at Moretown Elementary School. This past Tuesday, October 1st, Moretown students in kindergarten through sixth grade embarked up Starks Mountain at Mad River Glen, engaging in a “choose your own adventure” hike.  Students had the option of hiking to the Kent Nature Center, Midway or to the summit of Stark Mountain and were able to self-select their destination.  Community members, teachers and staff members all hiked along as the foliage peaked around.  Students could be seen admiring caterpillars in their natural habitats, hypothesizing what the new construction would be, how many gallons of water came over the waterfall each day and how many steps to the top.  It was a beautiful day with an abundance of smiles!   I encourage you to scroll below the Community Offerings section to see a photo journal of our day on the mountain. 

 

On Wednesday, October 2nd, students from Harwood Union High School participated in the annual Harvest Festival.  The Harvest Festival (formerly "Day of Service") gets high school students into the communities to give back for a day.  We were fortunate to have eight students join us for the morning to work in our classrooms, participate in PE, play with kids at recess and engage in conversation at lunchtime.  Our first and second graders challenged them to a game of soccer and Moretown won!  Many thanks to the students and staff from Harwood for making this such a positive experience for our students.  

 

Today we had an extra special guest visit our kindergarten class, Emily Dow!  Mrs. Dow's daugther works with specialty prosthetics and joined our kindergarten class to show off what creative ways we can help people using prosthetics.  Students were able to adjust the mechanisms and investigat how they work. Thanks Emily! 

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This coming week Brian Mohr from Ember Photography will be coming in to take our students picture.  Ember Photography has already emailed information on ordering.  Questions should be sent directly to Brian at [email protected]. Our Maples preschool class will have photos taken on Wednesday, October 9th and everyone else will have their photo taken on Thursday, October 10th.  

 

It's hard to believe, but Halloween is right around the corner!  We will be collecting bags of candy to deliver to our neighbors here in the village to use for trick-or-treating.  We would appreciate it if you'd be willing to donate a bag or two and bring them to the office.  Additionally, in our Community Offerings section there is a note from our local Girl Scout Troop sharing details of a costume exchange.  

 

We invite all of you to join us for our annual Open House and bike event on Thursday, October 17th.  Biking will take place on the pump track by the rec fields (bikes will be available or you can bring your own) from 4:30-5:30 and then our school will open from 5:30-6:30 to welcome families in.  This will be a wonderful celebration of the learning that has been happening in our classrooms and a way for you to see the improvements made to our building.  While there are many improvements to see, we also know that we are not quite back to 100% and won't be by our Open House.  We look forward to the day that we can show off our completed building.  

 

We hope that all of our families remember that there is no school next Friday, October 11th and the following Monday, October 14th.  On Friday our staff will engage in staff development and all school personnell will have Monday off in observance of Indigenous Peoples Day.  

 

We look forward to welcoming our students back on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

 

Ms. Kate 

 

Upcoming Dates

October 9- Maples Preschool Picture Day

October 10- Moretown Elementary Picture Day

October 11- NO SCHOOL (Staff Development)

October 14- NO SCHOOL (Indigenous Peoples Day)

October 17- Moretown Elementary Open House, 5:30-6:30

October 31- Halloween

 

PTO Update:

• Halloween! The PTO will once again be hosting a Halloween porch party during trick-or-treating hours on October 31st. We're looking for volunteers to set up and also hand out goodies. Volunteer time slots are just 30 minutes. Sign up here.
• Take our Survey! - We're always looking for new ways to engage the parent and family community. And you can volunteer for PTO activities as little or as much as you like. Please take a moment to fill out our engagement survey, so we know what interests you most.

 

Exciting things upcoming in PE

Dear Moretown K-6 Families,

In PE right now we are practicing catching and throwing skills, including games such as "castleball" and "boom city". 

 

On Tuesday, October 15th, we will begin our biking unit. Tuesday is usually our health class day, but we'll be biking on this day due to the Monday holiday AND because biking is a healthy habit! 

 

The skills we focus on during our bike unit are bike safety and balance. For this reason, we have balance (strider) bikes for new riders to use, or they are welcome to bring their own. We ask students to leave bikes with training wheels at home.

 

For new riders, I use a progression like the one spelled out in this Two Wheeling Tots blog post by Carrie Wren. I encourage you to take a look if your child is learning, and especially if they want to practice without training wheels before we bike in class.

 

More details will be coming as the unit approaches- the school has bikes and helmets available, but students are encouraged to bring theirs from home. 

 

Have a great day,

Kae Zaino

 

Community Offerings 

 

New Halloween StoryWalk

Posted for the Moretown Library

 

We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House

Which house?

The Witch’s House!

 

Come take a walk around the Moretown Recreation Field and enjoy our new book, We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House, guaranteed to help you ramp up your Halloween spirit.  Four trick-or-treaters start off on a journey to find the witch’s house, but they’re not afraid!  (Well, maybe a little!)  

 

Along the way, they encounter a number of spooky characters, including a skittle-skattling skeleton, and a shirking, lurking Dracula.  Richard Krieb’s playful rhythm and rhyme moves smoothly through this cast of characters,

“...a flying, floating twisty ghost swishing through the dark,

A hairy, scary, glaring wolf prowling in the park.”

 

The illustrations by R. W. Alley are equally playful, suggesting that the scary creatures they meet on their walk might not be as frightening as they first appear.  (Does that skeleton have a ponytail?  Why is that ghost wearing red sneakers?)

 

We hope you enjoy the story as you take a walk on a beautiful autumn day, or maybe a spooky evening.  Stop by the Moretown Library and tell us about your experience, and/or any plans you might have for Halloween. 

 

The StoryWalk® Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.

 

2024 Costume Exchange 

MES Hike, 10/1/24

Photo Journal