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Paula Montesi, Principal
Lori Fafard, Assistant Principal
Principal's Message:
I am pleased to introduce myself as the Taft School
Principal. This is my second year as principal, but have
been on staff for over 30 years. Taft School is a sprawling
one storied elementary school. The school has 34 classrooms
Grades 1-4 with an enrollment of 650 students from diverse
backgrounds. It is the mission of the school to help
students: communicate effectively, think analytically, and
act responsibly. My staff works hard to make Taft School a
great place to be.
First, to help children communicate effectively, our school
implemented a literacy initiative in the 2004-2005 school
year with balanced literacy instruction. In our third year,
we will continue to make reading and writing by children,
with children part of our weekly lessons in ELA. Teachers
will model using shared reading and writing, students will
practice during independent reading and writing, and
teachers will work with small groups of children during
guided reading and writing. For more information about
Balanced Literacy please use this link
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/teachstrat/balanced.htm
. We currently use the DRA as an assessment piece along with
the SRI, a normed-referenced computer generated individual
reading test. Writing as reading and writing are
inextricably linked. The school also has a certified library
media specialist to help align our library resources with
the literacy initiative.
Secondly, to help children think analytically, the school in
its second year of using the Scott-Foresman Addison-Wesley
Mathematics Program, which is aligned with Massachusetts
frameworks. Follow this link for a document showing that
correlation:
http://www.k12pearson.com/statepage/images/MASFAWcorrelation.pdf
. The teachers will be looking at the frameworks to complete
curriculum mapping as well as creating common assessments
for Grades 1-4. Our goal is to identify students at risk, to
teach to obtain mastery, and to achieve success.
Thirdly, to help students behave responsibly, the Open
Circle program is being used in many of our classrooms. By
the end of the year all teachers will be trained as well as
several support staff and specialists. Open Circle helps all
participants to work together to resolve conflicts in a
curriculum that addresses social and emotional learning. It
is our hope that the children will internalize their
understanding of Open Circle’s message and use them outside
of the circle. Information about Open Circle can be found at
www.open-circle.org .
In addition, we believe that all students learn best with
their peers. To that end, we utilize an inclusion model for
students with disabilities where the major part of
educational services will be delivered within the general
classroom. We have a staff of 4 special education teachers
and 13 paraprofessionals that offer support to students to
access the general curriculum. In addition, we have a staff
of 4 Title I reading specialists who work alongside the
classroom teachers to plan lessons, instruct small group
lessons, and help improve student achievement based on
individual needs.
Finally, the school will also continue to have enrichment
programs in the visual and performing arts. Our third and
fourth grade chorus meets weekly throughout the school year
and performs at concerts and school assemblies.
Our students are active, engaged learners and we welcome you
to our school.
Sincerely,
Paula Montesi
Principal
16 Granite Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569
Phone: 508-278-8643 / Fax: 508-278-8646
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