Principal's Message

 

Welcome to Murphy School! I am thrilled to be starting in the role of principal here after almost twenty years of service in both the classroom teacher and instructional coach role in Montville. Murphy is a special place to learn and grow, and I am certain you will feel the warmth when you walk through the doors. The teachers at Murphy work tirelessly to provide a strong academic foundation for your child and we are proud of the growth results we see each year. 

 

Our goal in Montville is always to educate the whole child. We want to make sure that while growing up and spending so much of their time with us here, that we are paying attention to their social and emotional needs, as well as academic. Our school uses both the PBIS and RULER models to frame our social and emotional teaching. At Murphy School, we R.O.C.K. This stands for Responsibility, Outstanding Effort, Citizenship, Kindness. If you are interested in learning more about the RULER framework, you can visit https://www.rulerapproach.org/ .

 

Our math curriculum uses Eureka Math Squared for a framework. You can learn more about the program here. https://greatminds.org/eurekamathsquared . Our teachers and students thrive using this program, as it provides consistent models introduced in Kindergarten and built upon throughout the elementary school years. The emphasis is on building number sense and place value understanding. 

 

Our reading curriculum starts with Open Court Reading for instruction in the foundational skills. We also use Lucy Calkins Units of Study, and shape this work around Jennifer Serravallo's Reading Strategies to further develop our reading instruction. The writing curriculum is written using the Empowering Writers program. In a addition to the language arts instructional block, each school day has a WIN block that provides thirty minutes of time to provide individualized instructional and intervention work that may be needed to help our learners succeed. 

 

Students enjoy a special area class daily. We offer Physical Education, Art, Music and Media Studies which include not only library skills but coding, robotics and more. We operate on a day 1, 2, 3 and 4 schedule. If we miss a day of school, the next day is the next numeric day so students never miss their specials.

 

I'm confident that you will find your child's academic work to be thoughtful, appropriate, and challenging. Should you want to know more about the education that we are proud to provide here at Murphy school, please feel free to reach out to me. I can be reached through email at [email protected] or at 860-848-9241.

 

Kindest Regards,

Liz Dumond