Meadow Pond Elementary School

June 24, 2021                                                               

Dear Meadow Pond Families,                       

What a fantastic, fun, Field Day our students enjoyed on Monday!  As students exited the buses and cars at arrival, there was a big welcome sign on display, music was playing, and big “guys” were swaying in the wind. Once here, our students participated in games on our fields including an egg race, water balloon toss, GaGa Pit activities, bucket ball and hula hooping, just to name a few.  

Our End of Year activities may look somewhat different this year, but we are doing our best to make them fun and meaningful for our students.  Field Day is just one example. It was wonderful to see their smiling faces while they were outside playing and having fun together.  Our final Town Meeting is one that all our students will enjoy, and it includes some goodbyes to Meadow Pond members who are leaving, as well as an introduction to the Summer Reading Challenge. You should have received a separate Connect Ed communication about that Reading Challenge.  

Today we had Fifth Grade Moving Up ceremonies in our Gymnasium. It looked quite different, but it was still wonderful! Each class was celebrated during three separate ceremonies. Everyone was masked, and two family members sat next to their fifth grade student in a small pod, socially distanced from the other families. We took everyone on a little trip down memory lane when we shared the ABCs of Elementary School. Afterward, each fifth grader was recognized, elbow bumped with teachers and staff, and had a picture taken surrounded by blue and white balloons and a masked Max the Moose. Earlier today, the link for the separate recorded Virtual Moving Up Ceremony was sent to our fully remote families.  

Tomorrow we will have our End of Year Passing of the Banners. This is a ceremony where representatives from each grade level pass the banner from their grade to those who follow behind them. Each class will be participating in farewells and activities that allow for celebrations and reflections on their work for the year. Teachers will communicate the ways in which this will take place for their class. We recognize how important it is for students and families to feel a sense of closure as the school year comes to an end.  

Additionally, tomorrow, our fifth graders and their teachers, along with Mrs. Castellano and Mrs. Norton, will dance to music and through bubbles as they parade around the perimeter of the building and are acknowledged and applauded by the K-4 students and staff. This is in lieu of the usual clap-out of our fifth graders when K-4 students line the walls inside the building as the fifth graders leave Meadow Pond for the last time.    

Another reminder that tomorrow, Friday, June 25^th, dismissal for car pick-ups will begin at 10:15 a.m. All students will leave the building with bubbles flowing and music playing. Buses will pull out directly after they are boarded at about 10:45 a.m. They will not be circling the parking lot as we have done in the past. 

This has certainly been an unusual school year, but as we continue to see things opening up, we are hopeful that next year school will be more of what we are accustomed to. In any case, our students, families and staff have done their best to see the challenges we have faced this year as opportunities to try new and different ways to teach and learn. We forged a new kind of alliance in addition to our usual home-school connection and our students were supported in new ways. We appreciate all the support you have given us during this challenging time.  We wish you an enjoyable, relaxing summer.   

From Carolann Castellano:  

I want to thank you for all your good wishes and compliments as well as your children’s advice about what I should do in retirement. Students wrote things such as, have your husband bring you breakfast in bed, wear your pajamas all day, go to a spa, go to the beach, visit Disney World, eat waffles with whipped cream, and remember all of us.  I will certainly remember all my Meadow Ponders from 2007 through 2021. I will miss you very much next year and there will always be a special place in my heart for all of you.  You will be in very capable hands as the torch is passed from one principal to another. All our staff and community along with Mrs. Pomeroy, will support Ms. Field as she takes the reins of the Principalship of Meadow Pond.  In closing, I wish you and your families all the best in the future.    

Sincerely,  

Carolann Castellano              Dawn Pomeroy    

Principal                                Assistant Principal