November 10, 2009  

Greetings Armstrong Families,      

  There have been many good things happening at Armstrong.  In honor of Veterans Day, we invited Veterans of Armstrong families to our School Meeting. We demonstrated our gratitude through songs, poems, a slide show, medals and certificates for our Veterans. As a result of our School Meeting, we have decided to support our troops by collecting magazines, snacks (chips, pretzels etc. in small bags or boxes) and freeze pops (unfrozen) to send to U.S. troops in Iraq.  This effort will take place until November 20^th. We will send all items to be shipped out before Thanksgiving break.

  In curricular happenings, second grade is studying the Wampanoag Indians and third grade is studying Pilgrims / Plimoth Colony.  As a culminating event to their studies, our second grade students will meet our third grade students as Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians for a Thanksgiving feast on Wednesday, November 25^th in the Armstrong cafeteria.  Beginning the week of November 17^th, first grade will board an imaginary airplane just outside the cafeteria. Each class will take off and head to a country that they will be learning about in class. Deb Boucher serves as the flight attendant; this unit of study will last through December.  The unit will culminate with parent presentations in each of our first grade classrooms and class parties that are held before the holiday break. Kindergarten recently had the opportunity to participate in fire safety presentations.  We would like to thank the Westborough Fire Department for teaching our students the importance of fire safety.

The 2009-2010 School Improvement Plan was approved by the School Committee on November 4^th. It was created collaboratively with Armstrong staff, district-wide personnel and the Armstrong School Improvement Council.  The School Improvement Plan is composed of goals, objectives, assessment components and a corresponding timeline. The 2009-2010 School Improvement Plan has been added to Armstrong's website for our community to view under the " About Armstrong " tab.

  In each of the Armstrong newsletters a new staff member will be introduced, so that parents can get to know the new staff. I am pleased to introduce our new "STEP Program" teacher Ms. Colleen Looney:  

  Hello! My name is Colleen Looney. I am the STEP (Specialized Therapeutic Education Program) Teacher at Armstrong Elementary. I grew up in Brookfield, MA but later became a "big city girl" when I moved to Philadelphia to complete my bachelors degree at Temple University. I come from a long line of teachers and always knew that working with children was my passion. I taught in New York and Philadelphia, then this past summer I decided it was time to move back home. I am thrilled to be part of such a welcoming community here at Westborough and I look forward to a wonderful year!