Dear Academy Families and Friends,

It is hard to believe that we only have 20 more school days left in the 2020-2021 school year!  This year has been unique in so many ways, and ultimately, it has been a magical year of transformation here at Academy School.  As a school, we have been able to expand upon ideas and goals, and we have seen them come to fruition in a really exciting and tangible way.  We are looking forward to presenting to the School Board and the community on May 25th about our year, and I’d like to share some of the highlights with you:

• Expansion of our Farm to School and Garden program:  Our Garden Coordinator (and retired Academy teacher) Kathy Cassin, has paired up with Sheila Humphreys from Food Connects.  Together, they have implemented the following:

  • Cooking with classrooms outdoors over the fire

  • Taste Tests of local produce

  • Obtaining grant funding for a cooking cart

  • Applied for several grants to fund ongoing garden integration projects, including building a library of books

  • Planting, harvesting and expanding the gardens

• Outdoor education:  Over the past three years, many Academy staff members have been working hard to bring their teaching outside.  This year, we were able to purchase rain gear for all students in the school, which enabled us to be more comfortable spending time in the forest.  We have established several outdoor learning spaces in the forest, and have installed five fire rings for outdoor cooking as mentioned above.

• Activities for all seasons:  It is our vision and dream that all students will be able to be active outdoors in all seasons.  This winter, we were able to borrow cross country ski equipment and snowshoes, and this spring we have been able to put the bikes that were donated to use!  We are working to purchase our own equipment for the winter sports, and we are fundraising for more bikes.  Hiking the trails, fort-building, and generally being outdoors has also become an important part of daily life here at school in all weather.  The opportunities that this equipment and our setting provides increases active engagement of our students, and creates relevant learning experiences that translate to the curriculum and the classroom.  

Lastly, and as a whole, our focus has been and will continue to be the social-emotional wellbeing of all members of our school community.  We have created systems to support a variety of needs, and we know that everyone benefits from having their most basic needs met.  Students and staff have created a climate that is conducive to healthy risk-taking, encouraging others, and advocating for what is needed to achieve success.  We are looking forward to continuing to develop these initiatives and more in the coming years.

As always, thank you for your trust, support, and commitment to the health and happiness of our Academy School family.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Kelly

Look at just some of the fun that our students are having in PE class! Gym teacher Kim Gorey does such a great job of using the gym and outdoor spaces for a variety of  activities.

Raise your hand if you remember using a parachute when you were in school!

COLLECTING OLD ACADEMY SPIRIT GEAR

We are looking for gently used Academy spirit gear that students might have grown out of. If you have any at home that no longer fit your child, please think about donating it to our share shed. 

Ms. Casarella's 2nd graders gave a thumbs up to trying Dragon Fruit. Shellie Doubleday our new Snack Coordinator does an amazing job of getting new and interesting foods for our students to try.

Ellen Nam's kindergarten's trying dates for the first time for snack. Looks like we have another winner!!

As promised here are more editorials from Jane Geidel's third grade students.

Reuse paper to Save the Earth .

Trees get cut down for paper and we need trees to survive .Use both sides of the paper.  Be thankful for paper you have. Using too much paper is not good for the future in life and it's not good for a lot of things in life . Please try your best to not waste a lot of paper. Please pick up for whatever paper we have and please just be thoughtful of the world .

by Cam.

DON'T KILL SHARKS - DAKOTA M.

Hi, are you someone who likes to help save the earth? Well, our everyday actions hurt the earth a lot!! I am here to talk to you about one way that we hurt the earth. That is by killing sharks. Now I know that some of you may think, how does killing sharks hurt earth? I am going to explain to you how this action really does hurt the earth. First, sharks eat fish that are old sick and slow so they help oceans stay healthy. Next, hurt or dead sharks pollute the ocean.  Last, as sad as it is sharks are food to other sea creatures so by killing sharks we are taking away another sea creature’s meal.That is my three reasons why I think you should not kill sharks!!!!! 

Don't hurt trees.

Trees help us breathe. Trees help us. They help animals breathe too.

If you kill all the trees there are also animals that live in the trees. You do not know if you can hurt them. We need the trees to help the earth. That is why you should not hurt trees :)

By Juliana

Ellen Nam's Kindergarten exploring the forest. Look at the size of that frog!!!

Family Engagement Corner

z-z-z-z-z

Thank you to those caregivers that attended last week’s presentation given by Dr. Kristan Outwater on the topic of sleep. I hope it was in some ways helpful. I learned:

·  Routines for bedtime are extremely powerful for getting a good night’s sleep.The better you can create and be consistent with routines the better for the entire family-- adults need a good night of rest too!

·  Elementary aged children require between 9-12 hours of sleep. Children 3-5 years old require 10-13 hours of sleep! Some kiddos meet this goal by including naps in their routine, but most of us get the majority of our sleep at night. 

·   If a child lays down for bed and it takes them more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, they will probably become very frustrated. This causes a negative association with bedtime which can be very disruptive. This is why it’s important to have a routine before bed, such as bathtime, story time or another calming activity to unwind and get your brain body ready to rest.

·  Screens make brains very active. To help with good sleep, people should not watch screens for an hour prior to bedtime.

·  Children without enough sleep have to be active to stay awake. Because of this, they can appear hyperactive or can have difficulty focusing. If you think that sleep habits are negatively affecting your child talk to your pediatrician!

“

“Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” — Thomas Dekker

Have a great week-end and sleep well!

Emily Marker's Kindergarten students using their brand new waders out in the stream.

Dear Community Member,

We are writing in hopes of soliciting support for the Academy School Bike Program, whose mission is to provide opportunities for more youth in our community to access bikes and learn to ride.  It is our belief that riding bikes is an integral part of childhood; a fun way to develop healthy habits, get outside in our community, develop self-confidence and establish a life-long love of outdoor sports.  We have found that many youth in our community, for a variety of factors, do not have this opportunity.

We have developed an organization connected to Academy School, but in support of our entire community that aims to do the following:

• Develop the Brattleboro Community Bike Park, which is a network of trails including a pump track, located on the Academy School playground and Smith Family property directly behind the school.

• Establish a bike-recycling program in which Academy School students work with local bike mechanics to refurbish donated bikes to be given away to families in our community.

• Purchase a fleet of bikes to be stored and maintained at Academy School for students to use throughout the school day, and during a variety of after school clubs and summer camps.

Any funds donated will go directly toward achieving these initiatives.  The following levels of support will be recognized in these ways:

• $500 - $1000: 

  • Naming rights of an individual bike in the purchased bike fleet. (we will inscribe a small metal label to be permanently attached to the bike, and list your name and organization as a sponsor of the bike program).  

  • Name listed as gold-level partner in the Academy Bike Program and the Brattleboro Community Bike Park

• $400 - $500

  • Naming rights of an individual bike in the purchased bike fleet. (see above)

  • Name listed as silver-level contributing partner in the Academy Bike Program and the Brattleboro Community Bike Park.

• $200 - $400

  • Name listed as a Silver level contributing partner in the Academy Bike Program and the Brattleboro Community Bike Park.

• $50 - $200

  • Listed as a contributing partner of the Academy School Bike Program. (name on a plaque attached to the bike building)

Please see the attached flyer with more detailed information.  Any contribution that you are willing to make will be tax deductible, and will be greatly appreciated by youth in our community.  

If you have specific questions, please contact Jon Sessions by email at jsessions@wsesdvt.org or by phone at 802-254-3743.

Summer Garden Program

Come explore the school gardens this summer! Help Garden Coordinator Tara Gordon tend to the beds, learn about new plants, and harvest some veggies to bring home. Each garden will also be a prize center for RiseVT’s Come Alive Outside Passport which helps families find fun adventures throughout Windham County. 

Students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian during open garden hours, adults are welcome to join in the fun as well! Open garden hours will follow the most recent CDC guidance around gathering outdoors. The program starts the week of June 21st. The final week is August 30th. Tara will be on vacation the week of August 16th but we'll continue maintenance of the gardens then. 

Mondays:

9-11 AM: Guilford

3-5 PM: Green Street 

Tuesdays

9-11 AM: Oak Grove

Wednesdays

9-11 AM: Dummerston

3-5 PM: Academy

Thursdays

9-11 AM: Vernon

Click on the link below to view the Academy menu for the month of May.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST EPISODE OF NEBULA NEWS. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT! Click on the picture below to check it out.