Pathways
A weekly collection of information, thoughts, reflections, and accolades for the Reading Public Schools Community
November 5, 2017 Volume 4, Number 10
Upcoming Dates
November 6 (7:00 p.m.) School Committee Meeting in the Superintendents Conference Room
November 7 Election Day No School for Students; Teacher In-Service Day
November 8 (after school) Middle & High school Collaborative Planning Time Meetings
November 9 (3:10 p.m.) RISE/Elementary Collaborative Planning Time Meetings
November 10 (7:30 p.m.) RMHS Musical Pippin in the Endslow PAC
November 11 Veterans Day; (7:30 p.m.) RMHS Musical Pippin in the Endslow PAC
November 12 (3:00 p.m.) RMHS Musical Pippin in the Endslow PAC
November 13 (7:30 p.m.) Town Meeting in the Endslow PAC
November 16 (7:30 p.m.) Town Meeting in the Endslow PAC
November 17 No School for Students; Teacher In-Service/Conference Day; (7:30 p.m.) RMHS Musical Pippin in the Endslow PAC
November 18 (7:30 p.m.) RMHS Musical Pippin in the Endslow PAC
November 19 (1:00 p.m.) RMHS Marching Band in Santa Claus Parade in Haverhill; (3:00
Joshua Eaton Holds Annual Veterans Day Assembly Speech and Language Teacher Jill Mayberry Honored
On Friday, Joshua Eaton held its 19th annual Veterans Day Assembly, a long standing tradition at the Joshua Eaton Elementary School. Over 40 Veterans attended and were recognized at the assembly for their service. In addition, 8 men and women from the Joshua Eaton family were recognized for currently actively serving our country. The emcees for the event were Grade 5 students Lauren Herlihy and Justin Raimo. The National Anthem was beautifully sung by Grade 5 student Kevin Lentell. RMHS students Mike Joyce and Will Merry provided the trumpet rendition of Taps and several students participated in poems and thank you statements to our Veterans. Joshua Eaton Music Teacher Holly Gallant led the students in the song of America, I Hear You Singing. Sergeant Dan Clarke sung Proud to Be an American and other musical selections and branches of the military.
Joshua Eaton Speech and Language Pathologist Jill Mayberry was honored at the event. Jill, a Veteran, began this tradition 19 years ago and is retiring at the end of this year. She has played a key role in the planning of this event for many years. WCVB TV, Channel 5 was at the event and did a news segment on Friday evening. A link to the video of the news segment is located here. A special thanks goes to the Joshua Eaton staff who helped plan and organize this event.
Emcee Lauren Herlihy
http://www.wcvb.com/article/school-s-annual-assembly-honors-veterans-special-staff-member/13151880
p.m.) RMHS Musical Pippin in the Endslow PAC
November 20 (7:30 p.m.) Town Meeting in the Endslow PAC
November 21 (7:00 p.m.) School Committee Meeting in the Endslow PAC
November 22 (11:00 a.m.) Early Release Grades PreK 12
November 23 Happy Thanksgiving; (10:00 a.m.) Football vs. Stoneham @ RMHS
November 24 No school/Offices Closed
November 26 (3:30 p.m.) Annual Downtown Tree Lighting
November 27 (7:30 p.m.) Town Meeting in the Endslow PAC
Joshua Eaton Principal LisaMarie Ippolito
Joshua Eaton Teacher Holly Gallant
Chad Hymas Speaks to Middle School Students
On Thursday, Parker and Coolidge students were inspired by motivational speaker Chad Hymas, who was sponsored by Understanding Disabilities and the middle school PTOs. Chads message focused on change, a constant in our lives and how to deal with change and the challenges that go along with that change. Chad himself is an example of how to deal with change and challenges. On April 3, 2001, Chads life changed instantaneously when a falling one-ton bale of hay broke his neck leaving him a quadriplegic. Doctors said he would never walk again and that for the rest of his life he would be confined to a wheelchair. But Chads dreams were NOT paralyzed that day. Likewise, each of us will at times face challenges that might try to paralyze us. But they dont have to! Chad is now a world-class wheelchair athlete playing basketball, full contact quad rugby, and he races marathons. Chad set a new world record by wheeling a personal marathon of over 500 miles from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. Yet Chad counts as his greatest accomplishment the fact that he remains a devoted husband to his loving wife, Shondell, and proud father to their three children. Chad shared some specific messages with our middle school students:
how to understand and deal with peer pressure how to build and maintain self-esteem how to set and achieve goals, and how to stay positive around negative people
His message was powerful, and his accomplishments are amazing!
Kudos and Accolades
Congratulation to RMHS golfers James Henry and Jimmy Murphy for being named Daily Times Chronicle All-Stars.
Congratulations to Director of Finance Gail Dowd who recently completed and passed the first course of the Massachusetts Certified Purchasing Official Program.
Congratulations to Director of Student Services Carolyn Wilson who was chosen to be a member of the Boston Childrens Hospital Learning Disabilities Advisory Council. Only 8 Special Education Directors in the entire state were chosen for this council.
Congratulations to the RMHS Marching Band, under the direction of Joseph Mulligan, for coming in 3rd Place in the NESBA Marching Band Competition that was held at Reading Memorial High School last weekend.
Superintendents Office Hours this Week
All are welcome 11/6 Superintendents
Office (5:00 6:00 p.m.) 11/8 Joshua Eaton (12:30 1:30 p.m.) 11/9 RMHS (7:00 8-00 a.m.) 11/15 Coolidge (2:30 3:30 p.m.) 11/16 Birch Meadow (2:30 3:30 p.m.)
Tree Donors Needed for Festival of Trees
Reading Education Foundation is preparing for our 16th Annual Festival of Trees! Our annual holiday fundraiser is a great family event that helps raise funds to provide teacher grants that go beyond the regular scope of the classroom. Visitors will be delighted and inspired by a winter wonderland of decorated holiday trees that are raffled off to lucky winners! We need your help to make this event better than ever! Our decorated trees and silent auction items are donated by local families, businesses, sports teams, social organizations
and schools. With a wide variety of trees and holiday items to choose from, there is something for everyone! REF will be hosting the celebration on Saturday, December 2 & Sunday, December 3, at Parker Middle School. Set up is Friday, December 1 and trees are dropped off between 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Please consider donating a decorated tree! Creativity is encouraged! In the past, donors have decorated a tree in memory of a loved one, as a family project, to promote a cause or to advertise a business, etc. Neighborhood trees have also been popular. Trees must be artificial and tree size may range from tabletop to 11 feet. Visit our website www.readingef.org for more ideas! Please email us at [email protected] if you or a group are interested in donating a tree this season. Be sure to include the name of your tree and the name and email address of the contact person dropping off the tree during set up on Friday, December 1. Thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
Festival of Trees Committee Chairs
Laurie Hilliard, Laura ONeill and Andrea Nelson
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001qG6addUSzRAzmlGzt5EFR9bE_7GZcBCRrRm1FZFChlQp-MY2h-eBhzLSIdGdz8Rs9vbSUx9VRHw6-w9rkguzJSpRiYbdWIRtV11bwXcvLA0pm9Q7J6U0i66PuFRFAGNK2EgFlp8WvPG24nu1L1ECit_zsjVNQR_E2g04mR19Pr8Pgaj0lMLYjP8nsACakS-L&c=24amWtJpTEoCR1ySTxfnSOMKnYSWowGntI70GeYWpdYPm0gNtI0DCQ==&ch=f7ZtLRlZ0LxeE-j5RvdS1cTVnAsOqwto2Br-Y_osfPV_JBEVd_gfFg==http://www.readingef.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
Quote of the Week . . .
TODAY will never come
again. Be a blessing. Be a friend. Encourage
someone. Take time to care. Let your words heal,
and not wound.
A Classroom Full of Risk Takers State teachers of the year explain how they make students feel safe enough to take risksand then push them to do so. By Leticia Guzman Ingram for Edutopia Blog
No one learns without making mistakes. Quite the oppositewe learn when we make
mistakes. But in the classroom, making mistakes and taking risks can be at best
unrewarded, and at worst ridiculed and unnecessarily penalized. I asked my 21-year-old son the other day what high school class had made him feel safe to make mistakes. He said that he never made mistakes. Really? He explained that he only did the work if he knew he was going to succeed. That made me think about my own teaching: Do I create a classroom where students will be risk takers? I asked my other son the same question and got an equally troubling answer. He never had to take a risk because his classes were too easy. That raised a new question: Do I make my classes challenging enough so students have to take risks? I strongly believe that you have to fail in order to grow, and you need to do that through difficult situations. How rigorous are my classes? Do I create a safe space for everyone to speak freely? Are my students respectful to one another, and do they support each other to take risks and fail? With so many questions, I decided to turn to a group of 2016 state teachers of the year and ask them what they do to encourage students
