What's New for 2018
Dear Families and Jamestown Community,
We are about to embark on an amazing school year together. There are many new programs that will be introduced to our students for the 2018-2019 school year. Each year we identify how we can enhance our academic and extra-curricular programs. This year we will have a focus on STEAM and Social Emotional Learning. We will also continue our partnership with the Conanicut Island Sailing Foundation integrating environmental lessons into our classroom and Makerspace labs in both schools.
Literacy
Our preschool through second grade students can expect the introduction of the Fundations Phonics Program. We know research states an effective literacy program should always encompass these six basic components: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing . We are excited about implementing this new program because it will offer core instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness, providing a comprehensive literacy program to our students.
Social Emotional Learning
Our students need strong foundations not only in academics, but also in social emotional learning. If we want our students to be successful and to manage the road of life they need to be able to identify their feelings, talk about their feelings and recognize the feelings of others - Love and Compassion can be powerful! Parents can expect a stronger focus on their child’s social and emotional growth. Last week 13 educators & administrators from Jamestown attended the Nourishing Insights: Preparing Educators for a Healthy & Courageous Year seminar at URI. It was sponsored by the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement. Our staff is dedicated to providing a loving and compassionate learning environment for our children. As a state initiative we will be introducing a few programs from the Sandy Hook Promise Prevention Programs. During the week of 9/24 we will be participating in Start with Hello promoting social inclusion and community connectedness. (Start with Hello Video)
We take pride in our students growth, creating relationships, connecting with our students and keeping them safe. Students will be taking a Social Emotional Learning questionnaire through Panorama Education 2-3 times a year to help us check in on their social-emotional growth. It is important for us to not only know how they are doing academically, but also emotionally. The information from the survey can be used by their teachers, our student support staff and parents to identify & provide additional supports to our students. We want to grow and develop strong well-rounded students to be successful in our community.
In the early Fall we will be holding a Safety Forum with our local police department to review school safety updates with our families. At that time we will introduce the Say Something Anonymous reporting tool, A.L.I.C.E protocol and our Family Reunification plan. Please look for information about this upcoming event.
S.T.E.A.M
You can also expect to see advancement in our S.T.E.A.M and computer science programs across the district. We will be providing more coding opportunities to our elementary students with the support of our Technology Integration Coach. Our partnership with CISF will continue with new programs in both schools. A new class will be introduced to our 5th & 6th grade students focusing on STEAM & Computer Science. Our 7/8 grade students will continue to be offered a STEAM class with Mr. Alfred. Another new opportunity we are hoping to offer in grades 3-8 is the National Girls who Code after-school program. As our programs grow, our students will advance their opportunities and knowledge to rise between the bridges and beyond!
Welcome Back!
Kenneth A. Duva, Ed.D
Superintendent
New Food Services Provider
This past spring the RI Department of Education submitted a new RFP for food services for the state. They decided to contract with Chartwell for food services. Even though our food service provider will change the students will still see the same familiar faces in the cafeteria. We expect to receive the same quality in food and services.
First Student will provide 3 new school buses in September
In June we accepted a new 3 year Transportation contract with First Student. Part of our contract offers replacing our complete fleet with new school buses over the next 2 years. You can expect to see 3 new school buses around mid-September. While we wait for the new buses to arrive from the production line we will use our current buses.
School bus routes will be emailed to you and are available on the Jamestown School Department website.
Auditions for Annie Jr.
New for this year will be the after-school Theater Program at Lawn School. Auditions for Annie will take place in October. Students at Lawn School should be on the look out for more information.
The production will be directed by Ms. Brittany Richer.
Sponsored by JEF
