Day School News
September 23, 2023
Dear Day School Community,
We are gearing up for our biggest fundraiser of the school year! Please register using the link in the PTO section of the newsletter. This year at the end of our fundraiser, we'll have a celebration including a color run! All students will be included in our fun activities planned for this event. Your generous support of the PTO funds enrichment programs, teacher appreciation and grants, movie nights, math and science nights, playground equipment, and so much more.
Please consider getting involved in our school advisory council this school year. Parent and caregiver representatives are an important part of our membership. Details about this opportunity can be found in this newsletter.
Sincerely,
Chris Louis Sardella, Principal
Chrissy Michaud, Assistant Principal
Norman E. Day Elementary School
No School on Monday, September 25 in observance of Yom Kippur.
School Advisory Council
Each public school in Massachusetts is required to have a School Advisory Council (SAC). The SAC is an advisory group of teachers, administrators, parents and community members who participate in a collaborative forum to discuss school policies, curricula, budgets, and to promote parental and community involvement.
Parents are selected to positions on the School Advisory Council with an election. This year the Day School will have three openings on the SAC, membership is determined to include an equal number of staff and parent representatives.
Our SAC meetings will take place virtually on Thursdays 6:00pm-7:00pm on the following dates: 10/26, 11/16, 12/7, 1/18, 2/15, 3/21, 4/11, 5/9.
If you would like to join our school advisory council, please send an email to principal Chris Louis Sardella by Friday, September 29. Both new and veteran SAC members are invited to apply.
SPIRIT and Community
These fun reminders in the Day School library are part of our new enrichment class called SPIRIT and Community. Using read alouds, discussions, and hands-on activities, we are focusing on our core values including reminders about etiquette and manners. Additionally, we'll be inviting community members to talk about their career and lives. This fall Maker Farm's Emily Piper will visit the Day School. Emily will talk about her animal rescue efforts with a focus on our core values of perseverance, inclusion, and teamwork. Look for more information from your child's teacher soon.
Original paintings by library media specialist Kira McGann
School Gardens
Third and fourth graders were thrilled to pick carrots, potatoes, and beans in the school gardens. Thank you to Fresh Start Gardens for providing this amazing opportunity to our students. We are looking forward to trying the peas, cantaloupe, and butternut squash during our next harvest.
Day School PTO
September PTO Meeting
Thanks to all who joined in our PTO meeting this past Thursday. We look forward to seeing you at our October meeting! Find out what was discussed on our Meeting Minutes link HERE.
To get involved, find out what is going on, send us an email: dayschoolptopresident@gmail.com
Yearbook
Interested in joining the Day School Yearbook team? It is a great role for someone who works during the day to be part of your child’s school experience! Join our yearbook team by emailing:
dayschoolptopresident@gmail.com
WEPTO Meeting -
Our first WEPTO meeting of the year is going to be on Tuesday October 17th at 7pm at Abbot Elementary School 25 Depot Street in the library.
What is WEPTO? Each of the K-8 schools have their school based PTO's but WEPTO is the umbrella that they all fall under (EIN, Bond, Accounting) so while you have monthly meetings at your own school we also hold 3 WEPTO meetings per school year (Fall, Winter, Spring). These meetings are generally attended by the principals along with a PTO representative(s) and serve to give any pertinent updates (accounting based typically) along with a time to share information and ideas with one another. Meetings typically begin at 7pm and we usually keep them to 1 hour.
We typically pick the first date this time of year and then announce the mid year (Jan/Feb) and end of year (May/June) dates at the end of the first meeting. Last year we met in person at Abbot in the Fall and Spring and did a virtual meeting in the winter.
WestFest
On Sunday, September 24th, Day PTO would love your help running our fun Duck Racing Booth at WestFest! Please Sign-up HERE.
Boosterthon
Boosterthon registration is now open! It's free (no obligation to donate in order to register) and easy!
️ Register Now On MYBOOSTER.COM ️
If 95% of the students register, Mr. Sardella has agreed to be duct-taped to the wall by the students!
Be sure to check out the easy sharing functions on MYBOOSTER.COM to let others know how they can help support our school.
Thank you for working with us to make our school stronger. We are grateful for your support!
Westford SEPAC News
Please join the Westford SEPAC for our first general meeting of the 2023-2024 school year. All are welcome to attend. You will have an opportunity to meet with the SEPAC Board of Directors, the SEPAC School Committee Liaison and Westford's new Director of Special Education and Social Emotional Learning.Additionally, we will be discussing upcoming SEPAC events, goals and initiatives for the year, and opportunities for volunteering and getting involved.
See Agenda. RSVP is not necessary, but is very helpful for planning purposes.
Please register to attend: HERE.
When: September 28th at 7:00 PM
Where: Millennium Building (behind Abbot School)
Conference Room B
23 Depot Street
If you have any questions, please reach out to the SEPAC at sepacwestford@gmail.com
Early Literacy Universal Screening Assessments
Early Literacy Screening Letter.pdfClick for the English PDF.
Spanish Early Literacy Screening Letter Final Eng. Copy 23.24.pdfHaga clic para el PDF en español.
Updated School Calendar
Parent Conferences have been moved to December and will take place on December 13th and 14th, both days will be early release days at Day School (dismissal at 11:40 AM). We will share conference times in our next newsletter. The school calendar has also been revised to include a distinction between district wide early releases and school specific early releases. Please see the WPS calendar on the school district website for more details or click on the PDF below.
2023-2024_district_calendar_sept_update.pdf
Day School Library Wishlist
The Norman E. Day School Library has an Amazon Wishlist! Ms. McGann, our School Librarian, has created an Amazon Wishlist of books consisting of popular and award-winning titles, teacher recommendations, and requests by students. At this time, Ms. McGann is encouraging Parents/Guardians/Caregivers to help build our School Library Collection by donating a book from the List. Once a book has been received, it will be added to the Day School Library Collection and a personalized, permanent bookplate will be added to thank those individuals who donated the book. We greatly appreciate your generosity to our School community and thank you for your continued support.
Wishlist link: https://a.co/7QNNGQX
Day School Job Opportunities
Please contact Day School Principal Chris Louis Sardella: csardella@westfordk12.us for more information and to apply for these positions.
Day School is looking for substitute teachers!
Substitute Teacher Job Opportunity - Interested in being a substitute in WPS? We are looking for substitutes across all grade levels. If you are interested, please see the following application - Substitute Teacher Application
Night Custodian at Robinson and Day Schools: Responsible for the custodial services and the supervision of the clean and orderly conditions of the buildings and grounds. Duties are to be completed through knowledge, sound judgment and resourcefulness consistent to the negotiated contract and School Committee policies.
Duties include but are not limited to:
Day to day cleaning of the building.
Cleaning bathrooms, classrooms, gymnasium, cafeteria and administrative offices on a daily basis.
Maintain corridors daily with floor machines.
Report any maintenance issues to the Head Custodian
Ability to lift furniture or heavy equipments
Set up for any and all events as needed for chairs, tables, desks and trash receptacles.
During winter months be available 24 hours / day for snow and/or ice removal, including sand and salt treatments.
All other duties as may be assigned
WestFest
Westford Education Foundation is gearing up for their annual Family Fun Food Truck Festival taking place on Sunday, September 24th from 12-4 at Stony Brook Middle School.
VOLUNTEERS: We are in need of volunteers. Please consider joining us to support our community together on this great event!
FUNFEST: Local clubs, sports teams, organizations and other non-profits are welcome to fundraise with us by hosting a carnival game or activity
SHOPFEST: We still have spots for crafters and vendors to sell their goods at our event.
SPONSORS: Work for a local business, consider one of our awesome sponsorship opportunities
For all information about Westford Education Foundation and WESTFEST 2023 please check out westford.org/wef. We could not do this community event without you! Thank you for all your support!
Destination Imagination
Science! Drama! Duct Tape! Write stories! Paint stuff! Rewire a microwave into a time machine! Do you have a Destination Imagination child? Parents, give your kid(s) a great opportunity to solve a DI Challenge in a fun team – adults can teach skills, but the final performance must be 100% kid-powered!
Please click here for more information. Register by Sept. 24, 2023 at http://www.westford.org/di
CORI’s and Fingerprinting
Field trip chaperones will be required to complete the fingerprint obligation in addition to the annual CORI background check. Please refer to the following link for more information regarding fingerprinting - Fingerprinting Information.
Classroom volunteers will not be required to submit to fingerprint based background checks but will still be required to complete an annual CORI background check. If you are interested in volunteering please be sure to complete a new CORI application for this school year. (Applications done during the 22-23 school year are no longer valid.) CORI applications can be completed at any of our school offices. If you have children that attend more than one school in Westford, only one application is required. If approved, your approval will be valid at any Westford school.
WA Trunk or Treat 2023
This year Westford Academy Student Council is hosting Trunk of Treat once again. The event will take place on October 27th from 5-7pm at Westford Academy's Senior Parking Lot. The students who attend will be trick-or-treating out of car trunks that are set up by various Westford Academy student organizations. There will be candy and treats in the trunks! Students who choose to participate are encouraged to dress in their Halloween costumes.