PTO NEWS!
We are excited to announce that Amherst St. School has won a Blue Ribbon Award from New Hampshire Partners in Education for the ’11 -’12 school year! We have won this award for the amount of volunteer hours put in by parents, teachers and other community members now for more than 20 consecutive years! Thank you to ALL of our volunteers!
Holiday Happenings
We will have a planning meeting for Holiday Happenings on November 30 from 2:45-3:45. All are welcome! On December 10th from 9:00-1:00 we are holding our annual Holiday Happenings. There will be raffles, food and fun! This will be another fun-filled & very inexpensive day of raffles, crafts, gift shopping/wrapping, food, face-painting & more! All proceeds to benefit the Student Assistance Fund. We're expecting a special visitor from the North Pole!! We will meet on December 6 and 7 after school to prepare the baskets for this event. If you would like to donate to the baskets please leave donations in the main office.
Fundraising:
We recently had our Cherrydale Fundraiser, thank you to everyone who participated. Yankee Candle will be coming in the Spring.
Family Night
Our PJ night was a huge success! We served more than 250 dinners and the kids had a great time during story time! We are looking forward to our Math Night in January. More details to come!
Technology Focus-Amherst St Elementary
Many teachers at Amherst St have been taking advantage of Donors Choose to obtain technology for their classroom. Last year the PTO assisted teachers in getting new microscopes, projectors and document cameras. If you would like to donate to a classroom teacher-check out http://www.donorschoose.org
The school was also able to get iPads for Grade 2 and Discovery Streaming through the Nashua School District Enterprise Fund. Additionally the school has acquired three interactive mimeo boards for Grade 2, 3, and 4.
The Power of a Penny
New Hampshire Partners in Education & the Amherst St. School PTO are teaming up once again to discover the mysterious power of a penny. This fun campaign will help our students understand the important lesson of saving pennies with the added benefit of doing something to aid the community. We are encouraging our school community to collect as many pennies (and spare change) as possible from now until the end of the school year. The pennies will be on display in a jar in the front office for all to watch fill up while realizing how a penny here & there can really add up to do some good if put in the right place. Pennies collected during the month of November will go to the Nashua Care Center “to offer support and provide services to assist individuals and families transition from crisis to self-sufficiency.” The Nashua Care Center on Concord St. has helped, and continues to help many families here at Amherst St. School.
Canned Food Drive
The Amherst St. School has a box in the lobby in which we collect items to be donated to the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter and Corpus Christi food pantry. Please drop off items & we will deliver them when the box gets full.
Please save and send in the following items:
- Box Tops for Education Campbell Soup labels
- Used computer ink cartridges & old cell phones
Green Tips
Save some money & the environment – Buy reusable water bottles to cut down on wasting juice boxes/pouches and disposable water bottles. Putting children in charge of the daily washing, filling & packing of their water bottles is an excellent lesson on environmental responsibility as well as self responsibility. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE! Take the opportunity to walk/bike to and from school instead of driving. There are bike locks @ school if your child needs to use one during the school day. The bike racks are located on the playground.
Student Assistance/Backpack Food Pantry –
If you or anyone you know is in need of food supplies or other assistance, please contact Kaylene Walton, guidance counselor or your child’s teacher
PBIS
The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports team would like you to be aware of the “Big Three” (RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SAFETY) so you can discuss them, along with the BARRYminders of the week with your child. Have you noticed your child come home with a BARRY “Caught Ya” sticker? This means that your child has been “caught” Being A Safe, Respectful, Responsible You!
The PBIS team, along with a 21st Century after school class will be starting to sell popcorn once a week to students and staff. The cost will be 25 cents per bag. The students will be popping, bagging, taking orders for and distributing the popcorn for each grade’s snack time. They will also be responsible for collecting, counting and keeping track of the money. This will be a fantastic lesson for these students. The proceeds from these sales will go to keeping the PBIS initiatives going.
Congratulations to our Cross Country Team and our Lego League!
Interested in volunteering? Contact Deb Wall (deborah_wall@myfairpoint.net) or Sarah Marandos (marandoss@nashua.edu)
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Check out the website: http://www.nashua.edu/amherst