Updates from the Principal

February 5, 2021

Dear Tashua Families,

I hope you all enjoyed the two snow days we had this week and you were able to get outside and create some nice memories with your families. Now that our Tashua Tigers are busy back to work, our readers and writers continue to work on improving their reading fluency and comprehension skills and strengthening their writing skills. Further, as mathematicians, they are focusing on their ability to master facts, understand place value, reason, and problem solve! I am so impressed with our students’ ability to analyze their work against our rubrics, learning progressions and checklists to make individual plans for improvement. It is quite impressive to see our students be so reflective and goal-oriented. This is definitely a skill that will benefit them throughout their lives!

Love is in the air at Tashua too! We are gearing up for our Valentine’s Day celebrations which will occur next Thursday, February 11th. Our room coordinators have been working with our classroom teachers to plan festive celebrations for our students. The students have also decorated white bags for their Valentines and our parent volunteers, Mrs.
Chhablani, Mrs. Lascano, Mrs. Stein and Mrs. Smith will be helping us to distribute these next week to ensure we are following proper COVID mitigation strategies. The students will be bringing their Valentines home on Thursday. Please be reminded, today is the deadline for us to accept Valentines for student distribution. Teachers will not be able to accept Valentines past today as we won’t have time for them to quarantine properly.

In celebration of Black History Month, we are also preparing for our virtual author visit from Charles R. Smith, Jr., which will occur on Thursday, February 25th. The book 28 Days – Moments in History That Have Changed the World has been purchased for each classroom and our teachers will be sharing lessons from this book throughout the month. Our
kindergarten and first grade classrooms will also receive a copy of I Am American. Further, we are also looking forward to our 100th Day of School Celebrations and our Virtual Tashua’s Got Talent Show which will be held during the month of February.

As we continue to work on our social-emotional well-being, we will now be shifting our focus to goal-directed behavior. As I mentioned above, our students are working daily in school to understand learning standards and exemplar models of performance. With each subject area, teachers guide students in comprehending targeted learning objectives, share
exemplary models of learning standards, provide time for students to practice skills, reflect on their performances, and set goals for improvement. This thoughtful learning process is helping our students to strengthen their metacognition skills which is the highest level of thinking, truly thinking and reflecting about your own thinking and making adjustments
based on your thoughts and actions. At home, you can encourage your child to be goal-oriented by reminding them to:
Keep trying when they might not be successful with the first attempt at somethingPersistence Power!
Seek out more information when it is needed to understand
-Take an active role in learning and all that they participate in
-Seek out challenging tasks
-Work hard at everything they aim to accomplish.
-Always ask, “Is this my best work?”

As our own personal energy naturally tends to be low at this time of year, we all need
reminders to set goals and strive to reach our own personal best!

Again, I thank you for your continued support and partnership in ensuring the success and
happiness of our students. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any
questions, concerns, suggestions, or good news to share.

Warm regards,

Mrs. Neumeyer
Principal

• Monday, February 8
  OLSAT Practice Testing for Grade 3
• Tuesday, February 9
  OLSAT Testing for Grade 3; 10:30 AM
  BOE Meeting; 7:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 10
  OLSAT Testing for Grade 3 Total Remote Learners; 10:30 AM
  Early dismissal for students; 1:00 PM – Teacher work day in the afternoon
• Thursday, February 11
  Valentine’s Day Celebrations – Classroom celebrations will occur and students
  will be exchanging Valentine’s Day cards if they choose to do so. If your child
  would like to participate, all Valentines need to be sent into school by Friday,
  February 5th. More information will be shared by your child’s teacher and room
  parents.
  Staff Luncheon sponsored by the PTA
• Friday, February 12
  No School; Presidents’ Day Weekend
  Chinese New Year
  Lincoln’s Birthday
• Sunday, February 14
  Valentine’s Day
  Monday, February 15
  No School; Presidents’ Day Weekend
• Sunday, February 14
  Valentine’s Day
• Monday, February 15
  No School; Presidents’ Day Weekend
• Wednesday, February 17
  Picture Day Retakes for Total Remote Learners; 9:00 – 11:00 AM
  Early dismissal for students; 1:00 PM – Teacher work day in the afternoon
• Thursday, February 18
  Picture Day Retakes for In-Person Learners
  Virtual PTA Meeting; 7:00 PM
• Friday, February 19
  Tashua’s Got Talent Variety Show; to be e-blasted today
• Monday, February 22
  Washington’s Birthday
• Tuesday, February 23
  BOE Meeting; 7:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 24
  Early dismissal for students; 1:00 PM – Teacher work day in the afternoon
• Thursday, February 25
  Virtual Author Visit; Charles R. Smith, Jr.
  Purim starts at sunset
• Friday, February 26
  Purim ends at sunset

Updates and Reminders

Picture Day Retakes:

Tashua Picture Day Retakes have been scheduled.
Total Remote Learners: Wednesday, February 17th (9:00-11:00AM)
In-Person Learners: Thursday, February 18th (11:00AM-1:00PM)
Families requesting retakes should return their unused packet of photos or order new photos by using the following link and photo code EVTFNQ4PF : https://my.lifetouch.com/mylifetouch/#/pictureDayId/EVTFNQ4P

Valentine’s Day Update

I have some great news to share regarding Valentine’s Day! In talking with the other TPS elementary principals and our classroom teachers, we have been able to devise a safe plan for students to share Valentines.

If you would like to send in Valentines with your child to share with his or her classmates, they MUST be sent into school by next Friday, February 5th in a large Ziploc bag, labeled with your child’s first and last name. Reminder, Valentines cannot contain food items. Classroom teachers will be sharing class lists.

Valentines will quarantine for 48 hours and then will be delivered to each other‘s Valentines bags (which will be created at school). The Valentines will then again quarantine for 48 hours and individual students will take their Valentines home
with them on Thursday, February 11.

If you choose not to have your child share or receive Valentines, please inform your child’s teacher classroom teacher.

We are looking forward to celebrating Valentine’s Day with your children!

AM Parent Drop-Off:

If you are dropping your child off in the AM, please refrain from pulling into the back parking lot before 8:20 AM. When parents pull into the circle before this time, it prevents staff members from being able to park in the
parking lot. Thank you for your cooperation!

NEEDED: Photos for the Yearbook

The yearbook committee has been working hard to ensure that we can create another fabulous Tashua yearbook! The layout of the yearbook will be different this year because of the restrictions we have
with visitors getting into the school to photograph our students. With that being said, the yearbook will be smaller and the price of the book will be reduced.

Parents, we need your help!
We are looking for pictures of your child to fill the pages and make another
amazing book.
The types of pictures we’re looking for:
First day of school
Your child(ren) in their Halloween costume
Remote Learning picture
Selfie picture

Please send all pictures by Feb. 26th to: tashuatigeryearbook@gmail.com

Use the following link to place your order for the yearbook:
https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/Order/LookupJob?jobnumber=2501621

Thank you in advance for your help! If you have any questions, please contact:
Jennifer Kegan @ kegans27@gmail.com

Kindergarten Registration:

The Trumbull Public Schools has opened new student registration, including Kindergarten registration, for the 2021-22 school year. Online registration can be accessed via the Trumbull Public Schools website
under “General,” then “Student Registration.” A direct link to the form is available by clicking here. After completing the initial form, a parent/guardian will be contacted for additional information, including information regarding residency
requirements. Please note that Kindergarten for 2021-22 is open to children born on or before January 1, 2017. Any questions can be directed to Maria Vaz, TPS Registrar, at 203-452-4348 or mvaz@trumbullps.org.

Breakfast and Lunch:

A reminder that all children are eligible for breakfast and lunch. Food Services has three PICKUP Days per week (Monday, Wednesday & Friday). Friday PICKUP includes Saturday and Sunday meals. You may drive around to the back of the school between the hours of 9:30-11:00 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to pick-up meals. Please take advantage of receiving these meals. In doing so, you are actually helping our district. For your convenience, Tashua families are allowed to pick up and distribute meals for each other for convenience.

Click here to see the latest updates from our PTA!