Can you believe that it is already October? This first month of school has flown by so quickly. Students have settled in nicely and we look forward to our second community meeting of the year on Monday morning to kick off this month. As part of our Responsive Classroom practices, students have developed classroom rules and expectations with their teacher during the first weeks of school. Last week we had 24 student “delegates” from each classroom who shared these rules with us at a “mini-convention” and they created three school wide rules based on those classroom expectations. Tomorrow we will ratify the rules at an all-school “YES Constitutional Convention” and learn a little about United States history at the same time.
The procedures and daily activities of your child’s learning experience should now start to be much more familiar and more comfortable for them. If your child is still experiencing any type of concerns, please contact their teacher or our school counselors. You are welcome to also include us in those types of communications. Please don’t ever hesitate to contact us – we are here to help.
Fall is a busy time at YES and we have lots of important information to share with you!
NWEA MPG & STATE THROUGH YEAR ASSESSMENTS
Students began their Fall NWEA assessments in last week. Each assessment takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes to finish on average. The remainder of the schedule includes Tuesday, October 3: Grade 3 & 4 Math, Wednesday, October 4: Gr. 2 Math, Thursday, October 5: Gr. 5 Math, Wednesday, October 11: Grade 3 & 4 Reading, Thursday, October 12: Grade 5 Reading. By the end of October, we will mail home student results along with a letter explaining how to interpret the results. SCHEDULE REMINDER - NO SCHOOL OCTOBER 6 AND 9
The weeks of October 2 and 9 will be four-day weeks with no school for students on October 6 for Staff In-Service & on October 9 for Indigenous Peoples Day.
YES BOOK FAIR 2023-OCTOBER 27- NOVEMBER 3
The YES School Library invites students and their families to the Fall Scholastic Book Fair! Our Scholastic Book Fair is a fun event that provides a wonderful selection of engaging and affordable books for every reading level. Reading for pleasure inside and outside of school has real and long-lasting benefits. It unlocks the power of information and imagination and helps children discover who they are.
Please put October 27-November 3 on your calendar! More details to come as we approach the start date. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the YES School Library. Thank you so much for your support. Happy reading!
FALL PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Classroom teachers will be reaching out to you in the next few weeks to schedule parent-teacher conferences for later this fall. All conferences are planned to be in-person but you can communicate with your child’s teacher if you prefer to meet virtually. The conference window runs through October and mid-November. This is an opportunity for you to get an update as to how your child is progressing academically and as a member of the classroom and school community. It is also a time to learn how your child can specifically grow as a learner and understand ways that you can help support that process. As always, we appreciate your collaboration and partnership.
UNIFIED ARTS SCHEDULES
At the recent Open Houses, many parents asked if there was a way to access our unified arts schedules since they are on a six-day rotation throughout the year. Attached here is a link to our UA schedule for the year: Unified Arts Schedule. You will note that the days are color-coded and you can use this to determine which day your child has a given class. The abbreviations for the UA offerings on the schedule are:
M- Music A- Art PE- Physical Education STEAM- Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math L/Sp - Library & Spanish Sp/SEL- Spanish & Social-Emotional Learning
WALKING SCHOOL BUS ON OCTOBER 4TH!
October 4th is International Walk and Roll to School Day, and to celebrate at YES we will be having a Walking School Bus. We will assemble at Royal River Park (the parking lot near the Historical Society) at 8:00 to depart at 8:10. We will walk on the sidewalks up Elm Street to the intersection with Main Street, cross over Main Street, and continue up West Elm to the walker's path.
Please feel free to join up with us anywhere along the route!
Parents and siblings are encouraged to attend. Please ensure that your child has plans to get home independently since there will be no Walking Bus in the afternoon, however, regular bus lines will be running in the morning and afternoon. This is a walking school bus, please no wheels.
We look forward to seeing you!
YES Walking School Bus, Wednesday, October 4th, beginning at Royal River Park at 8:00AM.
YARMOUTH PTO NEWS
The Yarmouth Pre K-8 PTO warmly welcomes you to the start of an exciting school year. The PTO is a group of parent volunteers who work together with teachers and administrators to support the Rowe, Yarmouth Elementary & Harrison Middle Schools. We do not charge dues but consider all school families to be members.
ONLINE WELCOME PACKET: This amazing, comprehensive, live document compiled by our Welcome Committee has info about local and state events, attractions, resources, and much more: bit.ly/PTOWelcomePacket.
We realize people have been trying to make direct donations and our website is under construction. Thank you for your patience while we navigate the technical issues. Below we have listed direct ways you may access information and donate directly with a clink of a button.
As we navigate this technical growing pain, please go to our website: https://linktr.ee/YarmouthPTO for easy access to the volunteer survey, easy direct donations, fundraisers / fun- raising information.
Thank you again for your patience and keep checking in as we update for 2023!
Download, purchase and click or do a direct donation!
Here are some easy ways to contribute to our efforts:
● Mabel’s Labels- It doesn’t matter if you're an adult, teenager or kindergartener. Mabel’s Labels allows you to label absolutely anything! Bags, sport gear, lunch boxes, water bottles etc. Their labels are for clothes and any surface as well as being waterproof. Any time you order, 20% goes to the Yarmouth PTO.
o Step 1: Access campaigns.mabelslabels.com
o Step 2: Search for Yarmouth PTO
o Step 3: Shop and Support!
● Hannaford Gift Card Program (Free-to-You Fundraiser) - super easy and always a great gift for birthdays, holidays or to welcome a new neighbor!
The PTO receives a donation from Hannaford of 5% of your gift card purchases in the program; for example, if you purchase a $100 gift card, Hannaford sends the PTO $5 (the gift card is still worth $100!). Many families participate every month. Please see the attached form for how to get started.
HANNAFORD GIFT CARD FUNDRAISER
The next Hannaford load is October 18. Please bring your HGC Form and check to your child’s school, or mail to Yarmouth PTO/HGC, PO BOX 262, Yarmouth ME 04096. Thank you for supporting our students!
● Direct Donation-The PTO spends approximately $45+ per student to fund our programs. The most direct way to support our efforts is by giving a tax-deductible donation.
● Our grass roots donation goal is $3,000! We have already raised just shy of $1,000- since school started. Our goal of $3,000 through direct donations could fund 2 enrichment field trips for a whole school or an activity for a grade depending on what the activity is.
● You can do this electronically by visiting https://givebutter.com/Yarmout... or scanning our PTO QR code with your cell phone:
Quick Reference for 2023/24 School Year Meeting:
- October 19 at 4pm
- November 16 at 7pm
- December 14 at 4pm
- January 18 at 7pm
- February 15 at 4pm
- March 21 at 7pm
- April 11 at 4pm
- May 2 at 7pm
- June 6 at 4pm.
Meeting dates sometimes change because of vacations, etc. We alternate meetings between 7pm and 4pm to allow for those different schedules to attend.
If you have questions or comments, please contact us at yarmouthpto04096@gmail.com.
We love hearing from the community!
Sincerely,
Lenora Felker (President) Katie Eichleay (Vice President) & the PTO Team
UPCOMING OCTOBER EVENTS/DATES TO REMEMBER
- Wednesday, October 4: Walking School Bus Day
- Friday, October 6: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS - STAFF INSERVICE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY
- Monday, October 9: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS- INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
- Thursday, October 19: PTO Meeting - YES Library 4 pm
- October 27-November 3: YES Book Fair
- Tuesday, October 31: Halloween
Thank you for your ongoing support of YES!
With appreciation,
Ryan Gleason, YES Principal & Molly Kilpatrick, YES Assistant Principal