Walk On!

It was great to see so many families at Open House.  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.  We had a series of student "meetings" last week, where I first actually introduced myself to the students.  Until the "meetings," I think some of them were not entirely sure who I was, and they treated me with some distance and caution.  After the meetings, the children have been very friendly and loving. 

It turns out that both Mrs. Millham and I like to play the guitar and sing, so we taught the students our new school song, "At Malletts Bay."  Ask them to sing it for you!

We are coming up on a busy month in October.  We have a "Principal's Challenge" for Walk to School Day," Wednesday October 6th.  Check the website for more details.  One third grader was so excited that she went home after the 3rd grade meeting and made her poster already!

The week of October 4th - 8th we will also be doing our annual NECAP testing.  Mrs. Millham talked with the students about the importance of MBS pride, and of doing their personal best on the test.  Of course, teachers have also spent time in classrooms talking with students about the test and preparing them by spending time on some sample problems that are "released" from previous years' tests. 


Students were eager to show their parents "Study Island."  This new online program allows students to do some self-paced practice for tests such as the NECAP, and gives teachers "real time" data on how well students seem to know particular concepts or skills.  You can access Study Island from home or from the library; if you are having any trouble getting on, your child's teacher can help out.

The week of October 11th - 15th we'll be kicking off our new "Farm to School" project with some taste tests in the cafe on Tuesday and Thursday.  Students will be involved in handing out the taste tests, rating the samples, and collecting and tallying the data.  Local farmers will be visiting us to show their produce and talk about their role in our community.

Looking ahead to November, we are going to do another "Principal's Challenge" centered around nominating and voting for a school mascot.  Since the middle and high school both have mascots, we think MBS needs a mascot!  We'll run the challenge as a "campaign," and our MBS "citizens" will vote for their favorite mascot on voting day.

And we're off!

Life at MBS is full and busy.  The students have settled quickly into the routines of the day.  Mrs. Millham has worked very hard to establish pleasant and safe routines in the lunchroom, and the PE department is working to teach safe and appropriate use of the playground.  The interactive whiteboards are a wonderful teaching tool!  So many students benefit from the added visual content and the ability to interact with the instructional material.  Soon I'll be working with some fourth graders from Mrs. Boucher's class to create a short video to show everyone what an interactive whiteboard is and how it contributes to a great learning environment - watch the home page to see the students in action!  Next week the home page will also have some important updated content, including the parent-student handbook and a letter explaining our status as an "identified school" under No Child Left Behind.  As many are aware, this law is a Federal Law that applies to any school that accepts Federal dollars, which is every public school in Vermont.  The law requires us to take a close look at achievement information not only for all students as one group, but also for different subcategories.  Watch the home page for more information on our status and our plans for school improvement.  From my view, Malletts Bay is a very good school.  We are making good use of the financial resources (a fairly sizeable Federal grant) that is intended to help "identified" schools make progress.  We were able to purchase several new instructional tools with this grant that will benefit all students.  More news to come on this and other exciting developments at MBS.

Mark your calendars - next Tuesday is the PTO meeting where we'll talk about Walk to School Day and our new initiative to connect our students with farmers in our community - Food Education Every Day, or Project FEED.  We also have picture day on the 16th - I'm looking forward to seeing what the students choose to wear for their photos!