9/23/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

Yesterday we held a Fire Drill at Doolittle School.

Students exit the building quickly and go to their designated areas. Teachers then use Walkie-Talkies to communicate with Office Staff to account for everyone in the building.

In addition to Fire Drills, during the year we practice Lockdown Drills, Secure School Drills and others. Whenever we practice an emergency drill, members of the fire department and police department are on hand to observe the drill and give us feedback. Working with first responders has greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of our drills which will help keep us all safe in the event of an emergency.

The Doolittle Safe School Committee meets monthly to discuss our drill procedures as well as other information to continually address safety needs at our school.

If parents ever have concerns, questions or suggestions to improve the safety of our school we are happy to hear them!

Picture of the Week:

Climbing in Gym

9/16/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

Our Open Houses this week were Great!

It was nice to see so many of you.

Establishing a good relationship between teachers and families as well as opening lines of communication is key to students’ success in school.

At the open house I mentioned that due to the number of students in our school with serious food allergies we need to have a tighter control on what food enters classrooms.

Therefore we are beginning a new procedure for food in classes:

Beginning Monday October 17th 2016,

NO FOOD is allowed in classrooms unless it is prepackaged with an ingredient list

• Fruit and veggies are OK
• If parents buy in bulk (ie. big bag of pretzels) and then send in a smaller bag for snack - this is OK but we need the ingredient list the first time.

Due to the switching of Classrooms - ALL 4th and 5th Grade Classrooms need to be nut free.

All food to be shared in classrooms must be checked by Mrs. Zimmitti, our school nurse.

Thank you for your help keeping our school safe for those with serious allergies!

Picture of the Week: 

Recess!

9/9/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

We held our first Town Meeting this morning. Town Meetings are whole-school assemblies where students share learning and important information with one another. Our Town meetings are completely run by students. This opportunity gives them practice with public speaking in front of their peers which is a difficult thing to do.

The number of Doolittle Students with severe food allergies seems to increase each year. To protect our students with food allergies, Doolittle School will begin requiring that all food consumed in the classroom be prepackaged with an ingredient list.

We will begin this new procedure in mid October. More information will be available prior to the start date.

Upcoming Dates:

Tuesday, September 13 @7pm - Open House for Grades 1-3 (except Notaro and Chase)

Thursday, September 15 @7pm - Open House for Grades 4-6 & Notaro and Chase

Dismissal - Dismissal begins at 2:35. Parents may decide whether their child is dismissed as a Bus Rider, Parent Pick-up, or Walker. Be sure your child’s dismissal information is correct in PowerSchool  (Parent portal, After School Transportation Notes)

- Walkers - Students assigned by their parents as walkers are allowed to leave the building on their own at dismissal time. There is NO supervision for them outside of the school building.

- Parent Pick-up - Students assigned by their parents as Parent Pick-up, walk to the gym at dismissal time and wait there for parents. Parents picking up children are asked to please park in the Oak Avenue parking lot or at the end of the Cornwall Avenue driveway and then walk to the gym to sign out their children with the teacher on duty.  ID may be required.

- Bus Riders - Students assigned by their parents as Bus Riders wait in their classrooms at dismissal time until their bus is called. Bus numbers are called as each bus arrives. Students are escorted out out of the building and to their assigned bus in an orderly manner.

- Students attending YMCA aftercare are dismissed from classrooms and go straight to the Doolittle Cafeteria.

If your child’s dismissal plans change for the day, send a note with a signature.  A note will ensure that everyone - teachers, office staff, and dismissal staff - is aware of the change.

Hard at Work

9/2/16

Hello Doolittle Families,

Our first week of school has flown by!

It is amazing how quickly students adapt to new routines and schedules. There is already some great learning and work taking place.

Many thanks to families for entering their updated information, especially dismissal plans, into Power School. This is a big help to our school in many ways.

If you have not entered updated information into PowerSchool - please do so ASAP.

PowerSchool

Below is a link to additional Back to School Documents:

http://www.cheshire.k12.ct.us/district-information/back-to-school-documents

16-17 Cheshire Public Schools Calendar:

http://www.cheshire.k12.ct.us/district-information/school-calendar

Upcoming Dates:

Monday, September 5 - No School Labor Day

Tuesday, September 13 @7pm - Open House for Grades 1-3 (except Notaro)

Thursday, September 15 @7pm - Open House for Grades 4-6 & Notaro

Students learning the lunch routine

Hello Doolittle Families,

The information below will be in the Cheshire Herald's Back to School edition.

Hello Doolittle Students! We can’t wait to see you on Monday, August 29th to start our new year.

What have you read this summer? What do you hope to learn this year? Be ready to share the answers with your teacher and friends when you come back.

Hello Doolittle Parents! An email from the school will be sent on Friday, August 12 with important information - please look for it.

• Monday, August 15th, families can log-on to PowerSchool to get their child’s placement information.  
• Be sure to enter your child’s dismissal plans on PowerSchool before school starts. We want all children to get home safe and sound right from the first day.
• Monday, August 22 at 6:00 pm in the Doolittle Cafeteria, new parents are invited to a “Parent Orientation Night”. This night will be very similar to the evening held in June in case you missed it.  Mr. Hinckley will go through some of the day-to-day procedures at Doolittle with you and answer questions.
• Friday, August 26, incoming first grade students are invited to visit their new classrooms and meet with their teachers beginning at 12:00 pm.  Parents will attend a question and answer session in the Cafeteria. Students in grades 2-6 who are NEW to Doolittle can visit anytime between 12:00 and 12:45 this day.

If you have ANY concerns now or in the future, please don’t hesitate to call your child’s teacher, our school counselor (Mrs. Kelly), or Mr. Hinckley at 203-272-3549.

Summer 2016

Hello Doolittle Families,

Enjoy your summer! Please make sure that your child spends some time each day doing some reading whether it’s a book, magazine, internet article, etc. Reading over the summer really does make a BIG difference in improving students’ overall reading ability.

Good Luck to our 6th graders going to Dodd!

If you have questions this summer please feel free to give us a call: 203-272-3549

K Visit

Hello Doolittle Families

I can’t believe we are entering the last week of school. Our last day is this Friday, 6/10. The last day is an early dismissal with school getting out at 12:40.

Our last week of school is busy!

There are many trips to camp sloper planned as well as other end of year events.

Tuesday 6/7 - 6pm; New Parent Orientation in the All Purpose Room

                    - 7pm; PTA Meeting

Wednesday 6/8 - 6pm; Doolittle Pizza Night / Buzzcuts & Braids - Sponsored by the PTA

Thursday 6/9 - 11am; Doolittle 6th grade Promotion

                      - 7:30pm; The Board of Education Meets and will present their Final Candidate for our  new Superintendent of Schools: Jeff Solan, current Cheshire High School Principal.

Friday 6/10 - Last Day of School / CHS Graduation

Incoming First Graders Tour Doolittle School

with Members of the Doolittle Student Council