December Happenings at the Marion Cross School
Always news you can use
Important Dates
Sunday, December 11 - Gift Making Festival (PTO event)
Tuesday, December 13 - Norwich School Board Budget Presentation & Regular Meeting, 6:00pm Multipurpose Room and Zoom
Wednesday, December 14 - K-2 Winter Celebration Concert 5:00pm (students should arrive at 4:45 and go to their classrooms; parents should head to the gym)
Thursday, December 15 - Grades 3-6 Winter Celebration Concert 6:00pm (students should arrive at 5:45 and go to their classrooms; parents should head to the gym)
Thursday, December 22 - Monday, January 2, 2023 - Winter Recess, No School
Wednesday, January 11 - Coffee with Shawn & Greg 9:15am, MCS Multi
Message From The Principal
Specials Rotation for the week of December 12:
Monday-D; Tuesday-E; Wednesday-F; Thursday-G; Friday-A
MCS teachers have been working tirelessly over the past couple of weeks to compile and analyze the work that your children have produced this school year. Today at 5PM the parent portal will go live and each of you will be able to review the trimester #1 report card.
As a parent, I enjoyed going over report cards with my children. We would spend time celebrating the high points and then pick one or two places where my children wanted to make improvements. For one of my children, it was the difference between moving a few 3’s to 4’s, typically in math. For the other, it was always about work habits and behavior. Either way, we refrained from focusing on more than one or two areas to improve, made a solid plan, and set goals and celebration points. When I taught, I gave families the same advice. I hope that you will take advantage of the opportunities that come with report cards. You are a powerful resource to your children.
Below are the directions for accessing the parent portal. If you should happen to have difficulty, please email shannonhowe@sau70.org for assistance. If you have any questions, concerns, or wonders about your child’s report card please reach out to the classroom teacher.
1. Please go to the PowerSchool portal
2. Once logged in go to the ICON on the left-hand side and choose Student Reports.
3. Click on the report that matches the grade your student is in.
4. Your student report will then show. Feel free to print your students' report.
5. If you have any problems accessing your students report cards please email:
In other news, please consider attending the school board meeting on Tuesday, December 13th at 6PM. This meeting will include a budget hearing. At this time, the proposed school budget for next school year is approximately 12% higher than the current budget. At the meeting, we will discuss what parts of our program risk being reduced if we decided to make the budget have less of an increase. This is your time to come and share your thoughts. Reducing our budget will mean making difficult decisions that will impact programming. To be clear, the budget that has been proposed for next school year does not cut programming. On the top of the list of unpleasant principal responsibilities is making recommendations for cuts to the school budget.
I hope to see many of you Tuesday evening and hope to hear your thoughts. My preference would be to find a way to fund schools so that all schools could have what they need to help children be successful.
Finally, please look for a special edition of Who’s Wise Words on Monday that will give you more information about the concerts. We realize that for many of you this is your first MCS concert and we want your experience to be positive.
Enjoy the weekend,
Shawn
Student Services Update
As we enter into mid-December most of us start feeling a bit more on edge. The holiday season adds to our excitement, but gatherings and important traditions may disrupt schedules and sleep. Weekends are likely to be busier than normal. The early sunset, frozen mud scape, and even the full moon we had this week may add to all of our restlessness.
We know that when schedules and routines are unpredictable everyone, especially children, become more dysregulated. During this time of the year be aware of the cumulative effect of everything we demand of ourselves and our children. While this is a fun time of year, eating healthy, getting outside, being able to relax, and getting enough sleep are essential.
Have a Great Weekend,
Greg
Counselor's Corner
I am hoping to use this space to share weekly updates with you about my work in classrooms and around school. This week in kindergarten through fourth grade classrooms a WISE educator, Eesha, has been talking with kids about safe and healthy relationships, check your child’s folder or backpack for take home sheets. The students have enjoyed having a guest teacher in their classrooms and it has been wonderful to see how respectful and welcoming students have been. The fifth grade News Crew is hard at work putting together their second issue and members of the sixth grade Who’s Crew are working on another kindness video. Stella (the dog) has had a busy week listening to students and trying to sneak snacks. Another update next week!
Thanks,
Ms. Katie
School News and Information
Who’s Crew Update:
Hi we are Who’s Crew. Who’s crew is the 6th grade leadership team. We started out as a small group that quickly became a very large group. Who's Crew is a team that helps our mascot (Who the owl) teach people how to be Kind, Respectful, Responsible, and Safe. This month to fill up our school wide pelet jar we are focusing on kindness. Who’s Crew is doing different activities such as making videos and interviewing students about Who’s Wise Words! Some Who’s crew members have gone around asking students what the school rules are and what they know about them. Who’s crew has also made a video about kindness and will be making more videos about other things! Ask your kids what they do around the school to be kind?
Thank you!
Who’s Crew
Concert Week!
We are looking forward to seeing all of you at our Winter Celebrations Concerts! Here are the dates once more:
Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2: Wednesday, December 14 at 5 pm
Students should go to their classrooms promptly at 4:45pm; parents should go to the gym. Strings players should go the the gym at 4:30 to tune and set up.
Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6: Thursday, December 15 at 6 pm
Students should go to their classrooms promptly at 5:45pm; parents should go to the gym. Strings players should go the the gym at 5:30 to tune and set up.
Both concerts will be approximately 45 minutes in duration.
Lyrics to Practice!
If your child would like to practice for the concert at home, you are free to access these links. Each Doc includes the lyrics to all the songs in the concert.
Concert Attire
We do not have an official “dress code” for the concerts. (We understand how quickly children outgrow their clothing and do not want you to have to go shopping for our shows!) We would prefer if students of all ages:
dress “a little bit more formally” than they would dress at school. Some students have shared with me that they plan to wear what they wore for school pictures day, or a piano recital, etc. All of that would be just fine.
Avoid clothing with obvious logos/writing on the front.
Instrumental Lessons this Week and Next
Our regular schedule of band lessons will be adjusted this week to accommodate the Winter Celebrations Concert. Here is the schedule for the next two weeks only. We will return to our usual schedule in January!
Monday 12/12 (Day D) - 7:45 5th and 6th Clarinet and Saxophone
Tuesday 12/13 (Day E) - 7:45 5th and 6th Flute
Wednesday 12/14 (Day F) - 7:45-8:30 * All Strings players who play “There Is More” and “Peace Like a River” in the K-2 Concert this evening.
Thursday 12/15 (Day G) - 7:45-8:30 * All Strings players who play “Personent Hodie” in the 3-6 Concert this evening.
Friday 12/16 (Day A) No Lessons
Monday 12/19 (Day B) 6th Grade Band 7:45-8:30
Tuesday and Wednesday 12/20 and 12/21 No Lessons
Marion Cross is accepting Pre-Kindergarten applications for next school year through January 27th 2023. Please visit our website enrollment page for more information.
Cards for Ukraine
Peace starts with a smile!
That was an inspirational quote that was shared this week in 5th grade and something that I think is a wonderful lead for this project. Over the past week a mix of grade levels have participated in a card/letter writing project for Ukrainian children. Letters and cards are being mailed to a kindergarten school located in Kyiv, Ukraine. The school is still operational with approximately 20-25 students of varying ages, that attend school everyday. Our hope is to put smiles on faces, give hope, and let them know that people care a whole awful lot. All in the name of peace.
Matt Buck
5th grade teacher
PTO Bulletin Board
Holiday Teacher & Staff Appreciation:
Thank you to our Class Reps who are busy getting information out about how classes are honoring their teachers during the holiday season. We want to stress that all families are represented in gift-giving, and contributions are entirely optional.
The PTO is seeking a volunteer to take charge of honoring all of our staff & faculty, including assistants, non-classroom teachers, etc. If this is something you would like to volunteer for, please contact us at marioncrosspto@gmail.com
Gift-Making Festival: This Sunday, December 11, 1-3 PM!
The MCS Gift Making Festival is returning after many years of being on pause due to Covid! At the Gift Making Festival, kids choose from a variety of arts and crafts projects to make as gifts. The kids have a great time getting creative and leave with extra special handmade presents. Sign up to bring an item for the 12/11 gift-making festival bake-sale! Bake-sale goods should be single-serving (brownies, muffins, etc) and individually wrapped/bagged if possible.
Drop them off either:
Friday December 9th at pickup 3-3:30pm on the Church street side of the school
Sunday December 11th between 11:30am and 12:30pm at the MCS gym.
The sign-up sheet is here:
19 Days of Norwich fundraising effort:
Marion Cross will be collecting cans of tomatoes to donate to the Haven Food Pantry. Collection boxes are positioned at each school entrance. Students, parents, and faculty, may deliver their canned goods to these boxes any morning or afternoon. Let’s work together as a Marion Cross community to see if we can beat our record from last year of 293 cans of tomatoes!
Next PTO Meeting: Thursday, Jan. 5 @ 7pm via zoom
Courtesy Community Interest Posts
