April 11, 2008
Congratulations to all of the fifth graders who just completed their work on the annual speech contest! The topic this year was “A Great American Landmark”, and we had some wonderful choices. The finalists from each class presented their speeches on Monday to the fourth and fifth graders…who were a terrific audience!...and to a panel of experienced judges: Ray Gamache, Judy Hoff and Patrick Manuel. Finalists were Sienna Roberge, Caroline Thompson, Josh Strack, Jack Graydon, Natasha Wynn-Nolet and Joey Quigley. Each of them did a great job! After much deliberation, our winners were: 3rd Place: Caroline Thompson…2nd Place: Sienna Roberge…and our 1st Place winner was Jack Graydon! Sienna and Jack will go on to represent KCS in the regionals on April 30th at Sea Road School. Congratulations, Caroline, Sienna and Jack!! We also want to thank our judges and Mr. Bodwell, who organizes the annual fifth grade speech contest for KCS.
The final performances of DO WOP WED WIDING HOOD were terrific! We were so pleased to welcome the fifth graders from Sea Road and the second graders from KES who watched along with our own students. We had great audiences and wonderful performances. Congratulations on another hugely successful Port Players production!
Congratulations to the fifth grade band and the fifth grade classes for a really great concert on Tuesday! They all did a terrific job! Both the band and the jazz band were wonderful and the chorus portion was equally so…great songs! A special thank you to Mr. Saunders, Mrs. Cherry and Mrs. Doe!
Congratulations to our primary Odyssey of the Mind team who performed first at FMM for the school and then at the state competition. They were wonderful! Members of the team included: Parker Rose Fairfield, Derek Smith, Emily Vitali, Skye Lee, Oliver Wainman, Matthew Sullivan and Kate Sessler. Primary teams do not compete in the state, however, this is wonderful experience for our students and I think we will be hearing more from them as they get older! Many thanks to their coach, Christine Sullivan for her patient and supportive work with the team!
Congratulations to our violinists!! This is a Kindergarten through grade five group, and they have been working really hard. They performed this morning at Friday Morning Meeting and were just terrific! Congratulations to each of the performers! We were very impressed!
Saturday, April 12, is National Drop Everything And Read Day! Find some time to read with your kids…it’s one of the best things you can do to promote their own reading!
Remember…it’s not yet spring on the playground!! Unfortunately, hats, mittens and boots are still needed!
But Spring IS coming and with it returns our Walk To School Fridays!!! Beginning the Friday after vacation, you can meet in the North Street parking lot at 7:50 and join the group walking to school!!
The KCPTA blog is up and running! Don’t forget to subscribe and you will receive all notices from our wonderful parent group. Access the blog through our website.
Our New England Association of Schools and Colleges visiting team arrives on Sunday and will be here at KCS until Wednesday afternoon. We are looking forward to this experience…the culmination of much hard work on our self-study. Accreditation is a voluntary process, and it is much more than receiving an award or recognition. This process provides the school with a detailed five year plan for improvement based upon the self-study and the findings of an objective, experienced group of educators. This will be a very valuable asset for our school as we move forward. Some of you will have an opportunity to talk with members of the team more formally, and we will have a Wednesday Morning Meeting next week while they are here, so please try to join us if you can. The staff and I recognize and appreciate your support for the school as we go through the accreditation process.
Parents: FYI: The Pre-Prom Awareness Committee, which includes high school student representatives from Captain's Club, Student Council, Peer Helpers, and Interact, invites you to Community Awareness Night on May 19th from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. Dinner will be provided from 5:30 - 6:30 pm in the cafeteria. Presentations and discussions with adult community members will be provided and facilitated by John Kreie and Jim Frechette from Liberty Mutual and Omar Aleman, retired DEA Agent from Aleman and Associates. Age appropriate prevention activities will be provided for all youth, including:
* High School Students: Student-led discussions about making safe decisions concerning Prom, Graduation, and other end-of-the-year activities.
* Middle School Students: Movie and discussions about social norms and transitioning to high school
* 3rd-5th graders: Decorating grocery bags from Garden Street Market with safe Prom messages (that will be returned for grocery bagging that week) and writing messages to high school prom goers.
* K-2nd graders: Decorating sheets of paper with safe prom messages for Prom goers and other fun arts and crafts and activities and games
* Babysitting will be provided for young children. For more information, please check out our flyer at: http://www.msad71.net/Prevention/CAN.htm
Our artist-in-residence, African drummer Michael Wingfield, will be returning to KCS the week after school vacation. Michael has been a huge hit here on two previous occasions and we are expecting that this will be a repeat of those positive experiences. Michael will be working with all students K-5, and there will be an evening performance featuring his work with our older students on Friday, May 2, at 7:00. It will be great, so plan to come!
A special thank you to Lori Oransky who did all the planning and preparation for this exciting week long event!
Mark your calendars! All Band Night @ KHS on May 7th. The concert starts @ 7:00 PM, and the performing students need to arrive by 6:30 PM and meet in the KHS cafeteria.
There will be no Friday’s News next week. Wednesday Morning Meeting, April 16, next week! Don’t forget….Wear your PRIDE Of The PORT tees!
PLAN AHEAD!
April 13 through April 16: NEASC accreditation team visit
April 16: 8:30 Wednesday Morning Meeting
April 17: Spring Break begins
April 28: School resumes
April 29: 6:30 Kindergarten concert
May 2: 7:00 Michael Wingfield and the students perform
May 7: 7:00 ALL BAND NIGHT at KHS
May 13: 7:00 Grades 1-3 concert
WE HOPE OUR FAMILIES HAVE A WONDERFUL SPRING BREAK!