Meals on Wheels and 5th Grade!

Nicole Fournier Grisgraber, the new Executive Director for Meals on Wheels of Lamoille County, was looking for ways to get students involved with seniors at the Lamoille County site and also to help celebrate March for Meals to raise awareness about the program. She reached out and Leah Belitsos, consulting teacher for the 5th grade brought the idea to the rest of the 5th grade teachers.  It took a lot of organizing, but it was well worth it!

Students were selected and broken into three groups. One group of 4 students supported the serving of St. Patrick's Day lunch and were able to interact with senior members of our community. 

Two other groups, totaling 13 students, set out to increase awareness of Meals on Wheels by delivering cookies to over 40 local businesses.  When presented with the opportunity to help, almost every student in the 5th grade class wanted to help!  

While delivering cookies, students developed a script, demonstrated strong interpersonal skills, and expressed to members of the community the importance of the program.  Students exhibited safe, respectful and responsible behavior across all settings and they demonstrated the expectations of Peoples Academy Middle Level to our community at large. Additionally, students were able to observe the process of producing 150+ meals that are provided to members of our community each day and how the meals provide security and support for so many.  Thanks Nicole and all of the Meals on Wheels organization.  And thanks to the community that supports Meals on Wheels!

Facilitated Communication

On March 4, 2016, Green Mountain Self Advocates presented to the 8th grade class.  The self advocates all use supported typing as their primary means of communication.  Each presenter had a power point talking about themselves and how typing has opened a world of opportunities for them.  Harvey Lavoy works with the self advocates and works with some students at PA.  The students were engaged and had excellent questions!  

Coming Attractions

March 18th is the Family Dance for 5th grade fundraising for the annual trip to Camp Keewaydin.  This promises to be a lot of fun - dancing, games, food and much more!





That same evening, students in grades 6 - 8 are invited for a night of fun at SkateLand.  This is through UNBOUND and spearheaded by Mr. Weiss, who apparently LOVES to skate!  The permission forms are in the office, and it isn't full yet, but will fill up fast!  (March 18th from 5:45 - 10:30)





On Wednesday, March 23rd at 6:00 - 7:30 students and parents are invited to attend a program about drug/ alcohol abuse prevention presented by the Improbable Players, a theater company of young adults who are professional actors as well as in long-term recovery.  “Stages” is a humorous, but serious performance about the awareness of drug addition. Consider this FREE event - you will learn a lot along with your Middle Schooler! Presented in the PA Auditorium.
Don't forget to sign up for Student Led Parent Conferences being held on March 25th, 8:00 - 3:40 at PAML. Just call the office to get your time. 888-1401.

March 25, 2016 Student Led Parent Conferences

We are excited to be holding our Student Led Conferences on Friday, March 25th!  This means that the students will be reviewing their goals with their parents and showing evidence towards progress on these goals.  Call 888-1402 to schedule your conference!

Please plan on attending with your student!

The students have been busy working on their portfolios, practicing what they'll be sharing and reflecting on their progress.  As you may remember from our fall conferences, the students led the conversation!  One student told me that it was the first conference where he talked about himself, rather than the usual conference where he was talked about!  Of course, if you would like to talk with at teacher you can set up a phone call or meeting at any time.

Parent Portal Email Alerts!

A quick reminder - you can set up email alerts through Parent Portal...here's how!

1. Go to the School Website http://www.morrisville.org/ and select your school.
2. At the school site, click on “Parent Portal” in the upper right corner. Click on “Login”
3. At the Parent Portal Sign In page, enter the username and password provided to you.
4. Click on “Email Notification” on the left side.

5. The next screen gives many possible report options.
1. Choosing Summary of current grades and attendance will provide a single email summarizing all classes.
2. Choosing “Detailed reports showing all assignment scores for each class” will provide an individual email for each class.
6. Select how often you would like reports emailed.
7. Selecting “Send Now” will send the selected reports once you click the “Submit” button.
8. Enter the email address you would like the reports sent to. You can enter multiple email addresses by entering a comma between each address.
9. Click on “Submit” to save your selections.
10. Remember, you can change your selections at any time.
11. If emails do not seem to be arriving in your email inbox, please check the email address entered into Parent Portal and check your “Spam” folder in your email before calling the school for assistance.