Title I Family Engagement
Monthly Newsletter
For all students & families attending
Oakland Beach - Lippitt - Norwood - Hoxsie - Scott
November 2022
“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.” – Dakota Wisdom
What’s happening in November?
We need volunteers! Are you available to help for one hour a week on Thursdays? Please let me know! Email or text.
Operation Thankful is our annual community service event for Rhode Island veterans. We gather together to create and fill out holiday cards that will then be given, along with a small handmade gift, to veterans living in shelters and homes throughout the state. Please join us for light refreshments, holiday cheer, crafts & other activities, Thursday, November 10th from 5:30 - 7:00 PM at the Gorton Administration building on Draper Ave. Take a moment to RSVP to ensure we have enough refreshments and materials. The more cards we fill out and/or create, the more hearts we are able to warm this December, we hope to see you at this special event!
Did you know?! We have a Steamship Museum right here in Warwick! Please join Mrs. Kadek and
museum staff members for a FREE visit to the Steamship Historical Society of America located on Post Road. This event will take place Saturday, November 12th from 10:00 - 11:30 AM. We will tour the facility and complete a fun activity together during our 1.5-hour visit. Registration is required for this event, space is limited, RSVP here.
What is our Food Assistance Program?
We have a food pantry located within Oakland Beach school, this pantry services students as well as their families. Students at our five Title I schools receive a backpack with food items to bring home at the end of each week. The food pantry is also open to parents and families for shopping hours once a month, typically at the end of the month. These open shopping hours allow families to choose which items they prefer and allow cold things like dairy and eggs, which cannot be sent home with students from school, to be provided. If you would like to register your child to receive a weekly backpack with food items, fill out the digital form under the “Food Assistance” link located in the Main Menu of your child’s school website. Open Shopping Hours will be held Thursday, October 27th from 5-6:30 PM at Oakland Beach school.
There is still time to join Parenting Partners, regardless of your child’s home school!
Parenting Partners For All Title I Schools
Wednesday evenings from 6:00 - 7:30 PM
October 26th thru December 7th
Lippitt Elementary Family Center
After speaking with some parents at the playground after school, one asked an important question. "What's in it for me? What do I get out of parenting partners?" The answer is tools, friendships, and new ideas. Parenting is challenging especially with social media and ever-increasing expectations. Together, we provide each other with tools to navigate the biggest challenges our children face. It's a truly empowering experience I hope everyone is able to gain.
What’s Happening in our Schools?
Coffee hours! Now that parents and families are allowed back into our schools we are bringing back regular opportunities for collaboration and conversation between school administrators and guardians! Each Title I school will host several of these opportunities at the school throughout the year. This is a great opportunity to become more involved in the school community by pitching ideas, discovering volunteer opportunities, modeling your commitment toward academic success for your children by being a consistent presence at their school, and more! The dates for these events are on each school’s event calendar located on their webpage and through the WPS App. Some are called Coffee & Connection, others, Donuts With Grownups. We have already had successful collaboration at Hoxsie during our first of these events. Parents provided invaluable insight and helped plan our upcoming report card night. They also provided key ideas to consider for our Math & Literature nights happening in the second and third trimesters.
Girls on The Run! The Girls on the Run Program happening at Norwood School is designed for third to fifth-grade girls to recognize their own independent strengths in a team-building, cooperative setting. Our Norwood coaches include 5th-grade teachers Mrs. Amaral, Ms. West, and Mrs. Silva, and a junior coach, Pilgrim Senior Ms. Tillinghast.
These women are inspiring confidence in all of the girls through interactive lessons and running games, to help them establish a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness, not only physically, but socially and emotionally as well. Some of the life skills the girls are learning about during each lesson are: Star Power - Building confidence, character, and connection. Self-Talk Matters - The importance of having a growth mindset. Untangling Our Emotions - Working through emotions in a positive way. Attitude of Gratitude - Showing appreciation for the things we have. Real Beauty - How everyone sees beauty differently and that's okay! Let's Cooperate - How working together gets things done. And, Stop & Take a BrThRR - A peer pressure lesson on how to: Stop, Breathe, Think, React, Review. The program is focusing on developing self-confidence, building life skills, and most importantly, having fun! The girls are very excited to participate and celebrate their growth in the cumulative 5k on November 20th in Warwick City Park! Interested in volunteering at this event or cheering our girl on? Visit www.gotrri.org/5k
Important District Announcements
Flu clinics for families are available at Pilgrim, Toll Gate, and Veterans MS, you must register for a time and date at schoolflu.com
Join us! Warwick Public Schools will be at the Spooky Fall Festival at Rocky Point! Come say hello!
Check out some awesome parent resources from our WPD School Resource Officer, Mr. Vible!
Officer Jim’s Fall Safety Message
Officer Jim’s Cyber Safety & Security Resource
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” – Chief Seattle, Duwamish
What’s happening in the community?
Have you brought your child to a KIDS Imagination Exploration event at the Warwick Public Library yet? This is a new after-school event for children in grades K-3 by themselves. Thursdays from 3:30 to 4:15 pm. They will join others in the children's program room upstairs for stories, movement, and fun after school!
Make Your Own Thanksgiving Placemat Craft
Drop in to the Children's Library anytime between 9:00 am-12:00 pm to create a one-of-a-kind Thanksgiving Placemat for your table.
Friday Fun Club Lego Play
For kids ages 5 and up. Drop by to play with our large collections of LEGOS. Dig through our bins of Legos and let your imagination build what it wants! All creations will be dismantled and put back in the bins so be sure to take a picture before you leave! We will meet in the upstairs Children's Program Room.
Storytime Spotlight!
This month we would like to highlight the story, We Are Grateful! “The Cherokee community is grateful for the blessings and challenges that each season brings. This is modern Native American life as told by an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The word otsaliheliga (oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah) is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude. Beginning in the fall with the new year and ending in summer, follow a full Cherokee year of celebrations and experiences. Written by a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this look at one group of Native Americans is appended with a glossary and the complete Cherokee syllabary, originally created by Sequoyah.” - Google Books
"A gracious, warm, and loving celebration of community and gratitude"—Kirkus Reviews
"This informative and authentic introduction to a thriving ancestral and ceremonial way of life is perfect for holiday and family sharing"—School Library Journal
You may watch - The author, Traci Sorell talk about the book here. (not a read-aloud). A read-aloud can be found here, which includes a nice preface and history of the Cherokee people, if you wish to skip this part, the book begins at 3:00 minutes. Or, you may borrow “We Are Grateful, Otsaliheliga” from the Family Center in your school.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or are having trouble reading or translating this newsletter.
Cameron Kadek (she/her)
Family Engagement Facilitator
Cell: 401-291-8288 (text preferred)
Title I Family Programs Website
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Family engagement is a full, equal, and equitable partnership among families, educators, and community partners to support children’s learning and development.