Spelling Bee

The annual Spelling Bee was held last night and was a terrific competition.  The students of Mary Rowlandson were well represented.  Of the 27 participants last night, 15 students were from MRE.  Of the 5 finalist in the championship round, 2 were 5th grade students.  The winner was a 5th grade students, pictured above. The second place student was an 8th grader. 

How to Improve Language and Memory Skills

Here is an excerpt form an article by Eric Jensen.  There is amazing research that shows specific types of sugars lower language and memory skills.

"We know that our brain runs on glucose and oxygen. We know the hippocampus needs glucose to learn, but too much is bad. The form of sugar matters to your brain and there are six types of sugar. The two worse forms of sugar are high fructose corn syrup and concentrated fructose. Every single product that lists fructose as an ingredient might be contributing to problems. High fructose sugar impairs memory, but not learning. Moderate-high levels of fructose in your diet will impair neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons). On-going fructose consumption may damage the liver.
Recently, two large and high-quality studies (both randomized, double-blind) used a total of 780 typical, healthy school aged children. All were given either a combination of vitamins and minerals, a supplement of omega-3 essential fats EPA and DHA, or the vitamins and minerals with the omega-3 fats, or a placebo on 6 days a week for 12 months.
At the start of the trial, the children were tested for blood levels of all of these nutrients, all of which significantly improved when they were retested after 12 months. The schoolchildren on the vitamins and minerals had significant improvement in tests of verbal learning and memory.(Osendarp SJ et al., Am J Clin Nutr. 2007)."

Click the following following link for the full article.  A New Insight to the Brain and Nutrition Puzzle - Eric Jensen

Family Math Night

 On Wednesday, January 19, 2011 the annual Family Math Night sponsored by Title I was held.  Over 100 students and parents attended this fun evening.  Nancy Weber and Deb Doucette organized a series of fun and educational skill based math games for parents to play with their children. 

Making a difference in the community

Mrs. Giumette's 4th grade class collected money to donate to the Sterling Animal Shelter.  After adopting a dog from the shelter, a girl in Mrs. Giumette's class felt compelled to to help the shelter.  She presented the idea to raise money for the shelter to her teacher, her classmates and the principal.  The class then worked together to raise $165 for the shelter.  The quote above their heads is appropriate for this class.

Holiday Sing-along

 On December 23rd, the 36th annual Mary Rowlandson Sing along was held.  Led by Mr. Rossely, the students and staff sounded terrific. The event is so popular that next year it may be held in a bigger space in order to accommodate parents too.

The PTO Enrichment Committee recently sponsored a show for the school entitled "Slapstick Science."  Above is a picture of a student lifting Mr. Rossley with a pulley.  The show explored and reinforced important science concepts that students are learning.  This was a terrific program!

Update for Week of December 20th

Vacation

Thursday, December 23 is a full day of school. All schools will be December24, 2010 and reopen on Monday, January 3, 2011.

Cold Weather

Remember to have your children wear hats, gloves or mittens, and appropriate foot wear for the weather.  Children who wear snow pants will be allowed to play in the snow.

New District Positive Climate – Anti-Bullying Policy

Nashoba Regional School District (NRSD) is pleased to introduce our Positive Climate/Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan, which can now be found on the NRSD website.

NRSD is committed to providing a safe learning and working atmosphere for students, employees and visitors, free from bullying.  

The Nashoba Regional School District expects staff, students, parents or guardians, and others who witness or become aware of an instance of bullying or retaliation involving a student to report it to the Principal/Assistant Principal. 

Reports of bullying or retaliation may be made by staff, students, parents, guardians, or others, and may be oral, written or electronic.  Oral reports made by or to a staff member shall be recorded in writing.  NRSD staff members are required to report promptly to the Principal/Assistant Principal, any instance of bullying or retaliation the staff member becomes aware of or witnesses.  Reports made by students, parents, guardians, or other individuals who are not school or district staff members, may be made anonymously. 

NRSD Incident Reporting Forms are available in each school building and on the district website (www.nrsd.net) along with an anonymous online reporting system.  We appreciate your support in maintaining a safe and positive climate for our community.