2/17/17

Hello Doolittle Families,

Emotional Health and Well Being:

At Doolittle School we work hard to build students’ knowledge and academic skills. However we believe that social skills and emotional intelligence are just as important.

Feelings and emotions impact actions both positively and negatively.

The first step to appropriately regulating emotions, and therefore actions, begins with identifying how you are feeling and the Mood Meter is the perfect tool.

A few teachers and I have been fortunate to participate in workshops through the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to learn about the RULER program. Most classrooms have begun to discuss the Mood Meter with students. The Mood Meter is a simple way to help students identify how they are feeling and to help them identify feelings in others.  

High energy and strong feelings of pleasantness would put one in the Yellow Quadrant. The Yellow Quadrant is associated with feelings of happiness and exuberance depending on how much energy and how pleasant the feeling is.

More information about the Mood Meter and the RULER program can be found at: http://ei.yale.edu/

Enjoy your long weekend!

1/20/17

Hello Doolittle Families,

Science Quest:

Each year 6th grade students are offered the opportunity to participate in Science Quest. Doolittle Teachers with help from a few Cheshire High School students, engage 6th graders in hands-on science experiments and activities. The groups meet for about 6 weeks. Science Quest culminates with a demonstration for parents.

Arrival:

I know arrival can be a slow and frustrating process. I appreciate everyone’s help in making sure that students get into our school every day in a safe and orderly manner.

Please refrain from dropping students off in the Cornwall Side Parking lot. This interferes with buses. Parents who choose to drive their children to school, are asked to drop them off at the Oak Avenue entrance drop-off area only. Please pull all the way up before letting your child exit your vehicle. Please do not drive past cars that are letting children out.

Students are permitted to enter the building at 8:00.  All students should enter through the front doors.

Picture of the Week:

Geography Bee

1/13/17

Hello Doolittle Families,

Happy Friday the 13th!

This week and next, teachers and I hold discussions with students about Martin Luther King Jr. and his important contributions to our nation and the world. Students are always eager to learn about his legacy and messages of racial equality, non-violence and character.  

Budget:

At meetings on Tuesday and Thursday this week, Mr. Solan and Mr. Masciana went through the Superintendent’s  budget proposal in depth. Their presentations are at this link: Budget Information

The next budget meeting is Tuesday, January 17th at 7pm at Dodd Middle School. At that meeting the Board of Education will be commenting on the budget and will invite comments and questions from the public.

Picture of the week:

We had a very cold start to the week.

12/23/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

I wish you all much happiness and time together during the holidays and next week while we are on vacation.  

Regardless of how and what you celebrate, passing on family traditions and talking about them is good for kids.

Our first day of school in 2017 is Tuesday January 3rd.

See you all then!

12/16/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

On Thursday the Doolittle Chorus, Band and Orchestra performed for all the students at our school. They were fantastic!

We are fortunate to have strong music teachers at Doolittle School:

Mrs. Weed

Mrs. Odell

Mr. Szulczewski

Next week these groups have their evening performances:

Band - Tuesday, 12/20

Orchestra & Chorus - Wednesday, 12/21

Both nights begin at 7pm in the Doolittle Gym.

Remember that next Friday 12/23 is an early dismissal day.

The following week there is no school for Winter Vacation.

School begins again on Tuesday 1/3/17.

Pictures of the week:

6th Graders Programming Robots

12/9/16

Hello Doolittle Families.

As we get ready for winter, be sure your family has a plan for inclement weather.  Most importantly, Doolittle School Staff needs to know how you would like your child to go home in the event of an emergency early dismissal.

On PowerSchool in the Demographics Tab there is a place for transportation notes. You can list your plans for how your child should go home if we have an unplanned early dismissal. PowerSchool

This year ALL delayed openings will be 2 hours.

If it becomes necessary to cancel school, delay opening, or dismiss early, due to weather conditions, announcements will be made on local television and radio stations.

We encourage all Doolittle families to take advantage of the early notification services offered by news organizations such as NBC30.  

Log onto www.NBC30.com to register for this free service.

Typically I receive the text from NBC only a few minutes after I receive a text from the Superintendent!

Our winter concerts are coming up:

Band - 12/20 at 7pm

Strings / Chorus - 12/21 at 7pm

Picture of the Week:

Preparing for the Concert!

12/2/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

How did it get to be December already?

Report Cards will be sent home on Monday, December 12. Elementary School grades in Cheshire are based on a rubric score of 1-4 and are not a numeric average of test scores, work scores, etc. Our Report Cards are intended to communicate with parents about how their child is progressing toward our end of year common standards.  

The following information comes from the Parent Report Card Handbook.

Teachers use number and letter codes to answer three evaluation questions for each student:

1. To what extent has this student achieved grade level expectations and standards?

2. To what degree does this student demonstrate effort during learning, especially when tackling challenging, new content and skills?

3. To what extent is this child developing the characteristics of successful learners?

The report card uses two different grading keys to communicate the answers to these three questions:

one for the academic areas (Question 1) and one to describe learning behaviors and effort (Questions 2-3).

Within the academic areas there are four numerical codes that will be used to tell parents and students how student work compares to grade level expectations and standards:

4: Exceeds the Grade Level Standards/Expectations: The student consistently and independently applies the grade level standards/expectations in this category to advanced content.

3: Meets the Grade Level Standards/Expectations: The student independently demonstrates the grade level standards/expectations in this category.

2: Approaches the Grade Level Standards/Expectations: The student requires some teacher assistance to demonstrate the grade level standards/expectations in this category.

1: Not Meeting the Grade Level Standards/Expectations: The student does not yet demonstrate the grade level standards/expectations in this category.

The full Parent Report Card Handbook can be found at the link below:

http://www.cheshire.k12.ct.us/district-departments/curriculum--instruction/report-cards

Picture of the Week:

Grade 2 students study weather in science.

On Tuesday the NBC First Alert Weather Tracker came for a visit.

A video of our second graders will be aired on Monday morning (DEC. 5th) from 4:30-7:00 a.m on NBC.