Pell Principal’s Notes

4/11/19

Important Upcoming Dates

***Friday is PiP & Pizza dinner night!!***

April 12th-PIP Music and Pizza Dinner

April 12th-Report Cards go home

April 15-19-April Vacation- NO SCHOOL

April 23-Kindergarten Registration from 3-7

April 23-Spaghetti dinner and Pell tours for new incoming Kindergarten families

April 24th-99 Restaurant to Benefit PTO 5-9 pm

April 24th-Kindergarten Registration & spaghetti dinner and tour at Pell:3:00-7:00

April 26 Save the Date for the Penny Carnival!

Principal Traci Westman’s message of the day: The character trait for the month of April is responsibility. The moment you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you gain power over everything in your life-Hal Elrod

Attendance Matters: Our overall goal for the year is to have 95% of students in school every day, throughout the year. If your child is ill, by all means keep them home until they are well, but otherwise, please help us reach our goal! Today’s attendance is 93.3% so 56 students were absent today.

A note from our Superintendent: The budget season is underway and the Newport Public Schools need your help. There is a budget workshop at 6pm TONIGHT at City Hall. We hope you join us to support our schools. This is a very difficult year. The schools need as much funding as possible and the Council needs to see that our community cares about our schools.  Come to the meeting to hear about our budget and show your support. The budget will be sent out after the workshop.

PIP Music & Pizza Events: Continuing the tradition started for the last two years,  Melinda and Peter Gerard announce the Loti Falk Gaffney Pell Elementary School Music Empowerment Trust, also known as the Pell Inspiration Program (PIP), a program to introduce the students of Pell Elementary School to inspired musicians through an artists-in-residence program, will host Crocodile River Music and the Common Fence Music Connecting the Beats program at the Claiborne Pell Elementary School April 11th and 12th, 2019. The Trust was formed under the Newport Public Education Foundation (NPEF), which provides grants supporting unique classroom experiences in Newport’s Public Schools.

Crocodile River Music’s mission is to spread awareness and inspire new ways of cultural thinking through song, dance, and visual art. This dynamic ensemble of talented and personable individuals demonstrates them impact of African culture on the world through lively and joyous concerts and workshops, as well as lecturers and other authentic programming.  At the same time the group provides opportunities for many emerging, as well as established African Artists.

The PIP residency will include a parent engagement event on Friday, April 12th, providing an opportunity for students and their parents to share this experience together while enjoying a pizza party hosted by Pell PTO. Our dream is to promote the appreciation of this music for everyone. Pell PIP is not a program about learning musical instruments. It is about

our Pell Elementary students being inspired and creating an impact that lasts a lifetime.

April Vacation Camp: The Newport Family and Child Opportunity Zone invites you to the annual April STEAM Camp. This year’s theme is The Great Outdoors! Days will include morning field trips to Miantonomi Park, Colt State Park, Sachuest Nature Preserve, and Easton’s Beach (if there are any changes in the field trip schedule, we will notify families as soon as possible). Breakfast and lunch are provided for everyone. Champion Childcare will be offered Monday-Thursday from 3-5. Application Deadline is Friday April 5th, 2019. A limited number of scholarships are available upon request. Applications were sent home with all students but if you need a new one, or more information, Call Erin Hallene & Hannah Kahn (CLC Site Coordinators) 842-1925 ext 7 erinhallene@npsri.net   hannahkahn@npsri.net

Kindergarten Registration: Our first open kindergarten registration will be held on.Tuesday, April 23, 2019 3:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m.* There will also be Pell Tours and Spaghetti Dinner @ 5:15 for Incoming K Families

Families who register before June 5, 2019 will be entered into a special raffle, which will be drawn at the Sailing Into Kindergarten Celebration on August 3, 2019 at the Pell School  from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Whooo’s reading update: If Pell School reaches it’s goal of 5000 reading minutes, our principal will kiss a pig! Log your reading minutes on Whooo’s reading TODAY!!

6th Annual PENNY CARNIVAL: April 26th from 5:30 to 7pm at Pell School. Pell students and their families are invited (all children must be accompanied by an adult) to bring pocket change and join us for an evening of fun, games, carnival food, music and more. PLUS, participate in our pie throwing contest and see if you can hit Pell School celebrities like Mr Newsome, Miss Anne, and more. Games and activities will all have a very minimal “cost” (3 cents, 6 cents etc) all in an effort to help us reach our Pennies for Patients goal of $5000. Funds collected by Pennies for Patients go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help support children with blood cancers and

their families.

Pennies for Patients: Congratulations to Kayden Torres in kindergarten who brought in over $70 for pennies for patients! Kayden’s mom and dad both put out collection boxes at their jobs and over the course of 2 weeks they had collected a huge chunk of change! Thanks Kayden and family!!

RICAS Standardized Testing: In the coming weeks, third and fourth-grade students will be taking be the state testing, Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS). We will do all testing in the morning, so we really appreciate that your child arrives on time and be well rested, so we are able to support them during their assigned testing time.  We will use this information to help inform curriculum and instruction throughout the school district.

April 9th and 10th ELA Grade 3  and Grade 4, May 14th and 15th Math Grade 3 and Grade 4

* Ms. Hole”s Class will be taking RICAS ELA- April 8th and 9th, ** Ms. Walsh’s Class will be taking RICAS ELA April 10th and 11th

Pell Elementary School Talent Show!: Please stay tuned for more information regarding this exciting event. This will require your child to stay after school for a few days to practice their performance of choice.  Please be mindful that transportation on these days will NOT be provided. We will let you know when these dates will be. A tentative date for this show will be in late May or early June. Please start brainstorming ideas now! Please keep in mind that we will be limiting the show to 25 acts in order to keep the show to a reasonable amount of time.

Contact info: Please feel free to reach out to any of us with any questions, concerns, or compliments! The school number is 842-1900. Or contact us via email Principal Traci Westman, traciwestman@npsri.nett, Assistant Principal Kathy McKeon kathrynmckeon@npsri.net., or Social Emotional Coordinator Nicole Silvia, nicolesilvia@npsri.net. Family Service coordinators Mark McKenna, Markmckenna@npsri.net & Rebekah Gomez, Rebekahgomez@npsri.net. A directory of teacher & staff emails can be found here Pell Teacher Directory

To Reach our after school program office: Hannah (hannahkahn@npsri.net) or Erin (erinhallene@npsri.net) in our CLC office at  842-1925 ext 7.

Community Happenings:

Newport Little League Registration: Registration for spring baseball, softball and T-ball is now open! Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/2RuLUtY  and check us out on facebook, Newport RI little league. Opening day (April 27) and our annual fundraiser (May 3).

Family Fun Day at McCoy Stadium: on Saturday, April 13th.  FREE admission is available to all staff and the children, youth and families we serve.  You must RSVP to this event by calling (401) 467-6855. In recognition of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, Family Fun Day is a family-friendly event at the ballpark including a complimentary all-you-can-eat barbeque buffet beginning at 11:00 a.m. and a high-five tunnel for children with PawSox players prior to the game. Complimentary parking is also available. If you have any questions about Family Fun Day at McCoy Stadium, please contact Karen Nix (k.nix@psnri.org).