Weekly Hot Topics:
● Second Grade Moving Up Celebration: Mark your calendars, all 2nd grade families will be invited to join us for a Virtual Moving Up Celebration on Tuesday, June 23rd at 9:45am! We will send you link information in advance of this date.
● Please complete our K-2 Parent Survey at: https://forms.gle/6QYjioYsPQFqa5QQ8
● Alex Patenaude Compassion Award! We would like to congratulate our Alex Patenaude Compassion Awardee for this school year, Ms. Marissa May! The Alex Patenaude Compassion Award was launched in 2019 to reward acts of kindness. This award, created by Joel Patenaude and Judy Hoffstein in honor of their son Alex, a Montclair High School graduate who passed away in 2017, recognizes students, administrators, teachers, or any other staff member in the Montclair Public Schools community who show compassion and actively help a student in need. Students and staff were nominated by their peers, colleagues or parents/guardians. The nomination for Ms. May shares that she is a dedicated and caring teacher who goes above and beyond.
● Toast to Teachers: Each spring, The Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence (MFEE) launches Teacher Toasts, a time when families and staff gather to celebrate the end of another successful school year and thank our teachers. Because our world has changed, our Toasts have to change, but our need to honor, celebrate, and thank our teachers is greater than ever. This year, MFEE is offering two ways to honor your teacher.
○ Host a Virtual Toast: Choose a special teacher, para, coach, or other community member you would like to honor. Come up with a creative way to do this virtually! Consider a bingo night, a scavenger hunt, a cocktail night or art project party.
○ Buy a Teacher Tribute: Donate ANY amount to MFEE in honor of a teacher or staff member, and that person will receive a special card notifying him/her of your donation, and you can include a special message!
All funds raised by toasts and teacher tributes will go right back to Montclair
teachers in Fall 2020 in the form of teacher grants awarded for innovative ideas. A
core priority for MFEE has always been to fund teacher innovation in the
classroom, and the single biggest source of this funding is Teacher Toasts. Visit
MFEE.org to honor your teachers.
Week 13 of Remote Learning:
● Mindful Minute: “Positive affirmations are a form of positive self-talk. When repeated often enough, this positivity can contribute to gains in self-esteem and overall positive thinking. You can use affirmations with your child to encourage positive thought patterns and build a growth mindset. If your child comes across an affirmation that she truly does not believe to be true about herself, this is a great chance to have a conversation as a family around what that affirmation really means and whether it could become a self-truth over time. Affirmations work when they are practiced consistently, so create a routine around positive affirmations in your home and teach your child to practice it several times a day” (https://genmindful.com/blogs/mindful-moments/positive-affirmations-for-kids).
One way to incorporate positive affirmations is to create affirmation bracelets. Click here to see an example of affirmation bracelets. You can create an affirmation bracelet by following the steps below:
1. Using strips of paper, write or type positive affirmations. Your child can color and design the affirmation strip anyway he or she may like.
2. Using a hole punch, punch two holes on the opposite ends of the paper.
3. Close the bracelet together using string, lanyard, or whatever you may have below.
4. Change your affirmation bracelet as often as you like.