Current Announcements

Kindergartners enjoyed a special classroom visit with reptiles! Click here for more photos.

POSTED 10/19/23

Dear Families,

As a reminder, tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 20) is a half day for students, with early dismissal at 11:30 a.m., as the teaching staff will be doing the second part of their training for Eureka Squared, the school’s new math curriculum. If anyone still needs childcare for the half day, the YMCA has space in its half-day after school program. Click here for registration.

IMPORTANT CHANGE TO SCHOOL CALENDAR:
There will be full school days on February 7, 14, 28 and March 6. Originally, we scheduled these as half days for faculty and staff to do in-service and professional development on the winter Wednesdays, when many students leave early for the Junior Instructional Ski Program (JISP) and the Kids Alpine Program (KAP). However, after further discussion and planning among the faculty, we decided that it is most important to give students as many full days of school as possible. We also understand it can be challenging for families to provide childcare on half days.

January 10, 17, 24, and 31st will remain half-day Wednesdays, as originally scheduled. Students will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m. due to the faculty and staff having in-service commitments in the afternoons. An updated Village School calendar is available as a downloadable PDF at this link: https://vsnb.org/calendar. There is also an update about JISP and KAP in the Community Announcements section below.

Hopefully you received the Scholastic Book Fair letter that Librarian Cassidy Kokasko sent home with students. The Book Fair will be held in our school library next week from Monday, Oct. 23-27th. There are set times for browsing, and if you would like your students to be able to make purchases, they should bring cash to school on their regularly scheduled library day. All the details are posted on our website at this link: https://vsnb.org/scholastic-book-fair-2023/.

Warm regards,
Tim

Class Notes

This week’s Class Notes showcase several classes enjoying fun field trips at Liberty Ridge Farm (click here) and Howe Caverns (click here), as well as a reptile adventure right in our very own kindergarten classroom (click here)!

School Announcements:

Track and Treat – Sunday, Oct. 29, 9-11 a.m.

Register for Track and Treat—our school’s annual family fun run/walk (9 a.m.) and 5K run/walk (9:30 a.m.). The family fun run will be FREE for participants and the 5K will cost $15 for each runner with pre-registration online (by Oct. 28) and $20 on the day of the race. Kids of all ages, family members, and friends are invited to enjoy the races, pumpkin painting, baked goods, music, face painting with Oh Hello Face Painting, and more. We are looking for volunteers to help out with the event and to contribute baked goods (homemade or store bought are appreciated). If you can volunteer or contribute a baked good, please email friends@vsnb.org. Registration forms were sent home with students and are available on our website at this link: https://vsnb.org/track-and-treat-2023/.

Hiland Hall Gardens (HHG) is Hannaford’s Program of the Month!

With the purchase of a bouquet of flowers from Hannaford anytime during the month of October, the garden will receive $1 in funding from each bouquet purchased! If you have had the chance to experience HHG’s beautiful gardens or know about our gardening programs that teach our children at the Village School how to grow fresh foods and eat for wellness, we hope that you will make it down to Hannaford to buy one of their beautiful bouquets!

Community Announcements:

Dream Garden – 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21 at Hiland Hall Garden

The Vermont Arts Exchange presents “Dream Garden” on Friday, October 20th and Saturday, October 21st, both evenings at 7 p.m. at the Hiland Hall Garden (3 Park Street, North Bennington). This is an imaginative outdoor installation of light, sound, and movement by George Stadnik, Brian Deangelo, and Friends. This event is free to all ages and made possible by a generous Vermont family. Dress warmly! The poster is on the Village School Facebook site.

Junior Instructional Ski Program (JISP) and Kids Alpine Program (KAP)

Bromley Outing Club is working on the registration process and the proposed launch date for sign ups is Friday, October 27th. Heather Bullock, the North Bennington/Bennington area JISP Town Chair, noted: “There will be a hard deadline for registrations (once it opens), so please do not delay!” Volunteers are also needed, especially drivers to ensure that every child makes it to the mountain each JISP/KAP lesson day. “Ski/Snowboard benefits will be available to drivers who agree to bring at least three JISP and/or KAP students on JISP Wednesdays, and even if you don’t want benefits, making sure every child makes it to JISP is a great way to increase your Karma,” said Ms. Bullock. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please contact vtjisp@gmail.com.

October 28: Free community Halloween party at Southern Vermont Arts Center

Halloween on the Hill will be taking place on October 28th from 1-5 p.m. This event is free for all ages and registration is required. There will be a preschool dance party, bounce house, monster art show, movie, school band, fortune telling, face painting, magic, chamber musicians with spooky stories, a first-ever pet costume contest and more…. All the details are on the SVAC website at this link: https://www.svac.org/class/halloween-on-the-hill-2023/?wcs_timestamp=1698498000.

Vermont Arts Exchange Annual Halloween Parade – Sunday, Oct. 29th at 3 p.m.

The Vermont Arts Exchange (VAE) invites everyone to the annual North Bennington Halloween Parade on Sunday, October 29, at 3 p.m. Meet at the VAE (next to the Post Office) at 48 Main St. as the parade meanders down Main St. and returns to Lion’s Park for awards and festivities!

The McCullough Library – October Events!

Check out upcoming events happening at The John G. McCullough Free Library, including Saturday Storytimes, an Eclipse Party (Part 1), a Halloween Make-A-Mask Workshop, and a Youth Advisory Council Meeting for students in grades 5-8 to help choose books and programs for the library’s Youth Services Department. Visit this library’s website for more details: https://mcculloughlibrary.org/events/.

Business Partners in Education

The Village School is fortunate to have generous donors that support our school’s mission and model, and we also have a Business Partners in Education (BPIE) program that helps make possible our school’s enrichment experiences, such as field trips and Specials programs, including: Art, Music, Nature, Physical Education, and STEM. BPIE partners include businesses of all sizes that represent a broad swathe of our community. We are now actively reaching out for 2023-2024 partners and encourage you to share this program with any business that might be interested. It’s a win-win for our school and businesses, with partners benefiting from strong year-round promotions, marketing, and recognition within the school and the greater community. Sponsorship levels start as low as $250 for basic benefits, and benefits increase with higher level opportunities. For more information, please visit our BPIE website page at https://vsnb.org/bpie-benefits/.

A special thank you to the Village School’s 2023-2024 Gold and Bronze Business Partners in Education: