All Over Town

Two children brought in their community projects today and had the opportunity to share them with the class. The children then answered questions about the various components of their projects. Please continue to work on them over the holiday break.  They had a great time creating and presenting them!

Police Station Community Visit

Thank you to Officer Matt Knisley for giving us a tour of the Montpelier Police Station! The children were fascinated with the 911 call room, the holding cell, and especially the police car!  Ask your child to tell you more!

Happy Veterans Day!

Election Day

Today we walked to the polls to see voters in action! We were lucky to be present to watch Pascale, our instructional assistant and new United States citizen, vote in her first presidential election! Afterwards, we stopped at the Donut Dude for some amazing donuts. Thank you Donut Dude!

Upcoming First Grade Dates

Week of November 7th

Election Day Community Visit

Tuesday, November 8th - We will walk to City Hall to see voting in action!

Scholastic Book Fair

We are visiting the Scholastic book fair on Thursday, November 10th from 1:30-2:00. Your child may browse or shop at this time. If you would like your child to buy an item, it helps to have a labeled envelope with a note saying if your child can purchase books only or something of their choice.   Families can visit on Thursday or Friday after school and Friday evening at the movie night. I would love some volunteers to assist with our visit on Thursday.   Please let me know if you can join us at the book fair.

Veteran’s Day Parade

First graders will walk with other Union School grades in the Veteran’s Day Parade on Friday the 11th.  The parade begins at the roundabout at 10 am, and continues on to the High School.  Our class will walk as far as the State House, take a class picture, then head back to school.  It’s fun to have parents cheering us on!

Week of November 14th

Police Station Community Field Trip

Our class will walk to the Montpelier Police Department on Monday the 14th to learn about these community helpers.  We will leave at 10:35, and will stay for about a half hour.  Our school resource officer, Matt Knisley will be providing the tour.  Please email me if you are interested in chaparoning this walking trip!

Thanksgiving Lunch

Join us at the classroom at 12:15 on Wednesday the 16th for Thanksgiving lunch.  Our class will walk to the cafeteria together to get our meals, then bring our trays back to the classroom to eat.  If your child chooses to not get a Thanksgiving lunch, then he or she will still join us in the classroom to eat a lunch from home.  This is a great community event!

Birthday Breakfast

We will celebrate Taylor’s November birthday on Friday the 18th.  Please join us from 8:30-9:00 am to get a glipse into our classroom culture!  If you can provide a healthy snack for this event that would be great!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Linda

lindad@mpsvt.org

Vision Screening

Dear Parents,

The Barre Lions Club is offering free vision screening with a SPOT vision screener.  To date, the Lions Club has screened over 3000 children in all the local schools and many daycares.  They will be at Union Elementary on Monday, Nov 7th to screen the children in grades K, 1,3.

The Spot vision screener is more accurate than school screenings and can be used in very young children.  It’s non-invasive and screens the child at a distance of 3 feet.  The child needs only to look look at the device – bird sounds and sparkly lights attract the child, and it generally takes about 2-5 seconds.

The SPOT screener detects the following vision problems in children from 6 months of age up and provides a written report, if needed, that can be shared with the child’s eye doctor:

·         Myopia (Near-sightedness)

·         Hyperopia (Far-sightedness)

·         Anisometropia (Unequal refractive power)

·         Astigmatism (Blurred vision, eye structure problem)

·         Anisocoria (Pupil size deviations)

·         Strabismus (Eye misalignment, Gaze)           

The Lions Club’s major initiative is to detect visual problems early and reduce the incidence of blindness.  Please call me if you have questions, or don’t want your child to participate.

Thank you,

Sarah Mele, RN

sarahm@mpsvt.org

802-225-8206