August 2022
Dear Matthew Paterson Kindergarten Parents,
On behalf of the faculty and staff, it is my pleasure to welcome you and your kindergarten child to our Matthew Paterson School family. This letter includes dates for homeroom teacher information, password for home access, our MPES Kindergarten playdate and the first day of school for kindergarten students.
On or about August 15th, the district office will be sending home access/computer password letters. On August 26th, your child’s teacher will be posted via Home Access. On August 18th, our PTO will be hosting a Kindergarten Play Date from 6 to 7 PM. You can visit MPESPTO.org for more information.
Please read the rest of this letter carefully so your child has a great start to his or her school year.
September 1st will be the first full day of school for grades 1-4 ONLY. THERE IS NO BUS TRANSPORTATION FOR KINDERGARTENERS ON SEPTEMBER 1. Instead, you will need to bring your child to school from 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM, where you and your kindergartener will participate in an Open House. Busing for kindergarteners and their first full day of school begins on September 2nd.
The Kindergarten Open House will give you and your child a chance to meet their teacher and the other students in the class, get acquainted with our building and for them to see their classroom. Upon your 9:30 AM arrival, please take your child to the auditorium/cafeteria. Your child’s teacher will be waiting for them, and the teachers will then escort them to the classrooms. At 10:00 AM, your child will board a school bus for a ride around the neighborhood. While your children are meeting with their teachers and riding the bus, parents will have a brief orientation.
There are two requests that we make at our Kindergarten Open House. First, siblings cannot attend. We want to give our full attention to our new Kindergarteners. Our second request is that if you wish to speak with the teacher about your child, please make an appointment for a conference with the teacher.
To make the transition from home to school as smooth as possible, we would appreciate your assistance in the following manner:
When school starts on September 2nd, the kindergartners will come into school on the regular elementary buses. By the end of August, The Transportation Department will post in Home Access the bus route number, the pick-up/drop-off times, and the pick-up/drop-off location.
We look forward to working with you as your child begins his or her successful educational career at Matthew Paterson Elementary. Thank you for your cooperation.
If you have any further questions, please call me at 845-878-3211 ext. 271.
Sincerely,
Michael Kirk
Michael Kirk, Principal MPES
In celebration of Constitution Day, a group of fourth-grade students at Matthew Paterson Elementary School, accompanied by music teacher Sydney Coelho, kicked off the day by singing about the Preamble to the Constitution over the loudspeaker during morning announcements! See a video of the students singing for Constitution Day.
During the last week of the school year, second graders at Matthew Paterson Elementary had the chance to reflect on a school year in a very different time – the late 1800s – with a special trip to the historic one-school schoolhouse! Read full story & see photos from the schoolhouse trip.
In a pre-graduation celebration, students from Matthew Paterson Elementary’s Class of 2014 – now seniors in Carmel High School’s Class of 2022 – took a trip down memory lane with a visit to their former fourth-grade teachers: Christine Demme, Charissa Vickery and Cathy DeGloria. See photos from the senior celebration at Matthew Paterson Elementary!
Fourth-grade students at Matthew Paterson Elementary performed for the final time as elementary school students in front of their parents and families under the direction of music teacher Sydney Coelho with their renditions of “This Little Light of Mine,” “Take Time to be Kind,” “You-nique,” “50 Nifty United States” and “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars. See a video and photos from the MPES Grade 4 Music Celebration.
Third-grade students at Matthew Paterson Elementary may have entered the building in Patterson but ended up a world away at the Annual Passport Day – a school tradition for nearly 30 years! Read more and see a photo gallery from the annual event.
Bon voyage, butterflies! Mrs. DeGloria's second-grade students at Matthew Paterson saw the release of their Painted Lady butterflies on Earth Day after watching the transformation from caterpillars in the classroom over the last couple of weeks. See a video of the butterfly release.
Second-grade students and teachers at Matthew Paterson Elementary celebrated Earth Day by planting pansies in the garden beds in front of the school building. The planting activity complemented their recent classroom lessons about plants and roots. See photos from the planting activity.
Who inspires you to make a difference?
Fourth-grade reading students at Matthew Paterson Elementary were inspired recently by a lesson on renowned scientist, environmental activist and chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall. The students enjoyed reading a book about endangered animals with teacher Janine Avitabile, which led to discussions about protecting animals, the earth and Goodall.
Over the course of several weeks, students at Matthew Paterson Elementary School ran, skip, jumped rope and scored some baskets to collectively raise $14,940.06 for the annual Kids Heart Challenge with the American Heart Association. Read more about our MPES students participation in the Kids Heart Challenge.
We are all different, and we can be whoever we want to be. That was a life lesson that one student in Michelle Belasco’s third-grade class at Matthew Paterson Elementary took away from a recent classroom activity in honor of Black History Month. Read more about the classroom quilt activity.
Schools will be closed; Administrative Office will be open.
All schools dismissed 15 minutes earlier than the regular dismissal time in order to test the early dismissal response of the Emergency Management Plan.
Schools & Administrative Offices Closed
