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Dear JFS families,
We are so grateful to have you back in the building with us! What a turnout we had last night at Open House! I think it was a record breaking night! We had over 150 students out of 178 present. That is about 85% of our students in attendance. And we had approximately 250 guests in addition to our students! Thank you to the 400 of you that showed up at Open House last night!
We know how important these in-person events are for our community. We have missed them too. Your children have been doing amazing learning in this first month of school and they were eager to share it with you last night.
It was the first year we had a school-wide Open House passport. The purpose was to make sure that you were able to meet all of the teaching staff that work with your child(ren) each day and to provide you with an opportunity to explore the school building, which many of you have never had the chance to do. We already have some ideas for how to improve the experience for next year. We are interested in your feedback for how Open House went for you and your family. If you have suggestions or feedback, please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Kindly,
Danielle Nutting
Dear families,
The “season” seems to be a bit ahead of itself this year, with so much snowfall, while we are still in November. ‘Tis the season of giving, celebrations, and sometimes additional stress.
What do you personally do to balance it all? What stress-relieving strategies do you practice? Which ones do you share with your kids?
The JFS staff, along with staff across the SAU9 school district have been participating in a 5-week “Well 100 Challenge.” Each week we have a different focus from hydration, to stress management to sleep, to exercise. As a staff we have great camaraderie, but we are also very competitive. What better competition to have than a healthy one? And what better time of year, than this historically stressful season of the holidays?
Share you or your family’s healthy habits with me via phone, written notes, email or in person by next Friday December 7th at noon and your family will be entered into a raffle for a gift card to The Local Grocer.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear families,
I hope you stay warm this weekend! I just wanted to share with you all about our fun Monday afternoons that K-6 students are participating in all winter.
As we do annually, our 1st-6th grade students are participating in the ESSC ski program. Students are able to participate in cross country skiing, alpine (downhill) skiing or snowboarding (4th-6th). Our school staff and many community volunteers teach students how to ski each Monday. Thank you to Jackie Dziedzic and Stacey Burke for being the JFS ESSC co-coordinators again this year! How lucky are we that Cranmore Mountain Resort is less than one mile away! Our first skiing Monday on 1/7/19 was FABULOUS!
Although kindergarteners do not participate in the ESSC program, they are doing a learn-to-swim program at Agiochook Aquatics in Intervale. Maury McKinney teaches students in four small groups, while JFS staff assist with students both in and out of pool at various stations. “Safety, fitness and fun in the water” that is the purpose of the 7 weeks of kindergarten swim.
At JFS we are so thankful to be working with these two great local community businesses, Cranmore and Agiochook. We are also thankful to all of the volunteers that make these two important programs run smoothly for our students. The physical learning and growth that is happening each and every Monday afternoon is awe-inspiring!
If you would like to volunteer for either of these programs at JFS and/or if you have other volunteer ideas, please reach out to me and I would love to get you connected!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear families,
I hope you stay warm this weekend! I just wanted to share with you all about our fun Monday afternoons that K-6 students are participating in all winter.
As we do annually, our 1st-6th grade students are participating in the ESSC ski program. Students are able to participate in cross country skiing, alpine (downhill) skiing or snowboarding (4th-6th). Our school staff and many community volunteers teach students how to ski each Monday. Thank you to Jackie Dziedzic and Stacey Burke for being the JFS ESSC co-coordinators again this year! How lucky are we that Cranmore Mountain Resort is less than one mile away! Our first skiing Monday on 1/7/19 was FABULOUS!
Although kindergarteners do not participate in the ESSC program, they are doing a learn-to-swim program at Agiochook Aquatics in Intervale. Maury McKinney teaches students in four small groups, while JFS staff assist with students both in and out of pool at various stations. “Safety, fitness and fun in the water” that is the purpose of the 7 weeks of kindergarten swim.
At JFS we are so thankful to be working with these two great local community businesses, Cranmore and Agiochook. We are also thankful to all of the volunteers that make these two important programs run smoothly for our students. The physical learning and growth that is happening each and every Monday afternoon is awe-inspiring!
If you would like to volunteer for either of these programs at JFS and/or if you have other volunteer ideas, please reach out to me and I would love to get you connected!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear families,
I hope you have all had a safe and healthy week. Although it was a “short” school week, there were many challenges with the weather and temperatures that made it feel like a full week! We are looking forward to a “normal” 5-day school week next week.
At school we are at a mid-way point, approximately half way through the 2018-2019 school year, and therefore at a great time for reflection. Student and staff reflection is ongoing throughout the school year, but there are certainly times of year that it is more universal.
One of the reasons that we send surveys periodically is to include families in our reflective practice. Your input is critical to our continued successful work with your children.
Thank you to those of you that completed the K-3 multi-age surveys recently sent. Overall, the feedback was positive, constructive and helpful. We will be sharing the results of these surveys, as well as providing time to answer questions brought forth at a Family Information Session on Tuesday February 12th at 8:30am and 6:00pm. If you are not able to attend one of these two sessions, but would like to receive information, please let me know.
Wishing you all a safe and healthy weekend!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear families,
I hope you have all had a safe and healthy week. Although it was a “short” school week, there were many challenges with the weather and temperatures that made it feel like a full week! We are looking forward to a “normal” 5-day school week next week.
At school we are at a mid-way point, approximately half way through the 2018-2019 school year, and therefore at a great time for reflection. Student and staff reflection is ongoing throughout the school year, but there are certainly times of year that it is more universal.
One of the reasons that we send surveys periodically is to include families in our reflective practice. Your input is critical to our continued successful work with your children.
Thank you to those of you that completed the K-3 multi-age surveys recently sent. Overall, the feedback was positive, constructive and helpful. We will be sharing the results of these surveys, as well as providing time to answer questions brought forth at a Family Information Session on Tuesday February 12th at 8:30am and 6:00pm. If you are not able to attend one of these two sessions, but would like to receive information, please let me know.
Wishing you all a safe and healthy weekend!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear JFS families,
OUR COMMUNITY ROCKS!!!! Wow, I am always super proud to be a part of our JFS community and I am always excited by events that bring community members into our school, but in the last seven days, I have been truly inspired by all of you!
Thank you to each and every grandparent, parent, special senior, aunt, uncle, and special friend that participated in our annual Grandparents’ Day on Friday April 5th. It was a huge success! There were two morning sessions for grandparents to attend with their grandchild(ren) and there was a mid-morning break with a musical presentation by Mrs. Whigham’s K/1 students and by the JFS Chorus. All students performing did an excellent job, Mr. Eben Brown has been working diligently with the chorus all year to prepare them, and Mr. Steven Cooney stepped in to provide acoustic accompaniment for the students in Mr. Brown’s absence. Thank you to Mr. Olson, Mrs. Drew and everyone that helped make this Grandparents’ Day another success!
Then on Wednesday April 10th Student Council held their annual Cake Auction at 5:30pm. We were astounded that we had 29 cakes donated! Thank you to all of the families that donated gorgeous, delicious cakes, you are all so talented and generous. Thank you to all of the families that bid on cakes and to make it a HUGE success!! This was by far our most lucrative cake auction yet, over $1700 was raised! Thank you to Superintendent Kevin Richard for being our auctioneer again and to Mrs. Patty Gagnon, Mrs. Alison Memoli and the whole Student Council for organizing this fun event!
JFS is a community-rich school and it is because of each and every one of you that participates in our school, donating your time, resources, and sharing your fabulous students with us every day!
With gratitude,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear JFS families,
OUR COMMUNITY ROCKS!!!! Wow, I am always super proud to be a part of our JFS community and I am always excited by events that bring community members into our school, but in the last seven days, I have been truly inspired by all of you!
Thank you to each and every grandparent, parent, special senior, aunt, uncle, and special friend that participated in our annual Grandparents’ Day on Friday April 5th. It was a huge success! There were two morning sessions for grandparents to attend with their grandchild(ren) and there was a mid-morning break with a musical presentation by Mrs. Whigham’s K/1 students and by the JFS Chorus. All students performing did an excellent job, Mr. Eben Brown has been working diligently with the chorus all year to prepare them, and Mr. Steven Cooney stepped in to provide acoustic accompaniment for the students in Mr. Brown’s absence. Thank you to Mr. Olson, Mrs. Drew and everyone that helped make this Grandparents’ Day another success!
Then on Wednesday April 10th Student Council held their annual Cake Auction at 5:30pm. We were astounded that we had 29 cakes donated! Thank you to all of the families that donated gorgeous, delicious cakes, you are all so talented and generous. Thank you to all of the families that bid on cakes and to make it a HUGE success!! This was by far our most lucrative cake auction yet, over $1700 was raised! Thank you to Superintendent Kevin Richard for being our auctioneer again and to Mrs. Patty Gagnon, Mrs. Alison Memoli and the whole Student Council for organizing this fun event!
JFS is a community-rich school and it is because of each and every one of you that participates in our school, donating your time, resources, and sharing your fabulous students with us every day!
With gratitude,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting
Dear JFS families,
We have so much to celebrate during these first six weeks of school! From our train ride to Open House to Falcon Families to our Walk to School, there have been many whole-school community-building opportunities. Thank you for joining in and supporting our fun from near and far. It takes great effort, time, creativity and passion from all of the educators at JFS and from our community to make each day successful, but especially in planning these additionally enriching experiences.
As so many of you know the day, week, month, year of an educator extends far beyond the 180 days per year of 7.5 hours per day. All staff are working to constantly maximize all of the time that we have with our students. Staff do not enjoy being away from their students and if they have to for sickness, personal reasons or professional obligations they work diligently to create plans for a substitute that are meaningful for all students.
As a staff we set individual, team and school goals for ourselves each year. This year as a staff we have goals around Social Emotional Learning as well as improving math instruction and learning. Our entire general education and special education certified staff has been (or will be soon) participating in OGAP (Ongoing Assessment Project) math professional development. This is a “systematic, intentional, and iterative formative assessment system grounded in the research on how students learn mathematics.” Staff have been returning from these district-level trainings energized and inspired to revise their math instruction. Every staff member that has participated so far has raved about the positive impact it is already having on how they think about and teach math.
Professional development opportunities happen during the school day, before school, after school, nights, weekends, and during school vacations including summer. If you are ever curious what the educators here at JFS are learning and why, just ask us, we’d love to share!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Nutting