Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, and Community Members,

Welcome to April! As we embrace the spring weather, please remember that the season’s unpredictable "April showers" and shifting temperatures mean students should come prepared with light layers and appropriate footwear for outdoor recess. This month is also an important time for our students as we have begun MCAS testing. To help our "scholars" perform their best, please ensure they get plenty of rest, eat a nutritious breakfast, and arrive at school on time with their devices fully charged. We are so proud of the hard work they’ve put in all year and look forward to a productive, sunnier month ahead!

As always, your input and support are very important to us. Please know our doors are always open to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

Regards,

Andrew Tuccio & Erin Rosenkranz

Raymond E. Shaw Leadership Team

Nature's Classroom for next year's 6th grade (our current 5th graders) will be September 23-25. We will once again offer overnight, extended day, and day options.

Cost:

In an effort to reduce costs, we are seeking parents willing to organize a grade-wide fundraiser prior to the end of this school year or over the summer. If you are intereted please reach out to Mrs. Persson at kpersson@millburyschools.org right away.

Third grade has been getting hands-on with fractions! From folding colorful paper strips, to using fraction tiles, students have developed their understanding of how numbers break apart and fit back together. Using floor-sized number lines, students physically plotted points, discovering exactly where fractions live between 0 and 1. This tactile approach helps them visualize fractions as actual distances and values. At home, help your student spot fractions in the world around you-- whether it's checking a fuel gauge, measuring while baking, or sharing a pizza!

Our fourth graders recently transformed into junior engineers to tackle the power of nature! As part of our hands-on science unit, each student designed and built a custom prototype—a creative model of a structure or tool meant to withstand a natural disaster. After the building phase, they put their inventions to the ultimate test by simulating real-world conditions like "earthquakes" and "floods." To wrap it all up, the students put on their researcher hats to write detailed reflections, analyzing how their designs performed and what they learned from the results. It was a fantastic unit of grit, problem-solving, and scientific

Fifth-grade students have been learning about the Underground Railroad in Unit 3. We read the story "The Patchwork Path" and the students learned about Freedom Quilts that helped guide people to freedom. Students chose a quilt square pattern that had meaning and colored it. We created our own classroom Freedom Quilt. Check out some of the Freedom Quilt Squares that students in Mrs. Pontbriand’s class made!

Dear Families,

As we head into spring, MCAS testing is right around the corner. We wanted to share a quick reminder so everyone can feel prepared and supported during this time.

MCAS is an opportunity for students to show what they’ve learned throughout the year. While we take the testing seriously, we also want to keep things in perspective. This is just one way we measure progress. Our focus remains on supporting each student’s growth and helping them feel confident in their abilities.

You can help your child prepare by:

We will be sharing our specific testing schedule soon. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out with any questions.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The 6th Grade Team

Students in the 6th-grade Sewing and Embroidery elective are learning to embroider using a variety of stitches. During the previous cycle, students designed and embroidered images of their choice, then sewed their finished pieces onto felt banners.

Memorial Day Program

Thursday, May 21 @ 10:15 AM

Spring Band Concert

Thursday, May 28 @ 7 PM

The annual Shaw Band Mentorship Program will be starting up again starting on Wednesday, April 15. The program involves high school musicians who will visit Shaw Elementary after school to provide weekly group lessons to 5th- and 6th-grade band students. 

This is an opportunity for Shaw band students to receive supplementary instruction that will allow them to improve at their instrument, play at a higher level, and make new friends! Participating students will stay after school each Wednesday through May for lessons from 2:45 to 3:45 pm.  Snacks and beverages will be provided!

No sign-ups are required. Students simply stay after school on the Wednesdays they can attend. We can also accommodate those who may need to leave earlier, before 3:45 pm. If you have any questions or concerns, please email either Mr. Rollins or Millbury High School band director, Jesse Dooley at jdooley@millburyschools.org.

There will also be a Parent Informational Session on Zoom scheduled for Monday, April 13, led by this year's program manager, Lily Tarka, a junior high school band student and a former mentor for the past three years.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Lachance (mlachance@millburyschools.org) or Mr. McKeon (mmckeon@millburyschools.org) 

As a school, Shaw is incredibly lucky to celebrate so many diverse types of people who, in turn, have so much to share. Food, songs, music, rituals– the list goes on.

It is important that we begin to not only recognize but also celebrate the many people who make up our school, town, and country. To support this, we will be spending our upcoming SEL blocks engaging with lessons from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) focused on identity and the power of our words.

The first lesson, "Identity: What We Can See and Not See," helps students understand that while some parts of our identity are visible, many others are internal. By exploring these layers, students learn to appreciate the complexity of their peers beyond surface-level observations. The second lesson, "Words That Can Hurt, Help, and Heal," focuses on the impact of language. It provides students with concrete tools to understand how certain words can cause harm and, more importantly, how they can use their voices to support and heal one another. The third lesson, Identity-Based Bullying, specifically addresses the relationship between bias and bullying, helping students recognize when someone is being targeted because of who they are and empowering them with strategies to safely intervene and support their peers.

The goal is for all students to feel confident in calling out racism, being more anti-racist, and considering themselves allies to all their peers. We are implementing these lessons as a proactive response to ensure our classrooms remain the safest environment possible for every student.

We are incredibly grateful for our school breakfast program and love seeing so many students fuel up for a great day of learning! To ensure our mornings run smoothly and students get to class on time, we’d appreciate your help with a few quick reminders:

Thank you for helping us keep our mornings organized and our students ready to succeed!

The goal of START All Sports Camp is to teach sportsmanship, teamwork, leadership, responsibility, respect, and fun with a variety of sports!

Any Boy or Girl entering grades 1-7 who enjoys being active and wants to expand their experiences and skills in various sports is invited to be a camper! We would like to make this camp fun for everyone!