Kport News

MEET OUR NEW STAFF MEMBERS! Jennifer Humphrey, grade ¾ multiage:

Jenn Humphrey comes to us from Scarborough, where she      taught 3/4 Multiage. Prior to that, Jenn was a stay at home mom, and enjoyed time with her two children, Jackson (8) and Anna (6). Jenn received her MEd in Elementary Education from the University of New Hampshire in Durham. In addition to teaching in Scarborough, she has also taught in the Bonny Eagle School District (MSAD #6) and did her student teaching at Deerfield Community School in Deerfield, NH.
In her spare time, Jenn enjoys boating and spending time with   her family. Jenn sings with The New Legacy Swing Band and the      Chris Humphrey Big Band. Welcome, Jenn!!

October is rapidly approaching and with it comes the NWEA testing that we annually administer to grades 3, 4 and 5 in the areas of reading and math. This is an on-line test…roughly about an hour…that our students take in the fall and again in the spring. It provides detailed information regarding each individual’s strengths and needs, as well as expected growth during the course of the year. This is a valuable tool for our teachers to assist them in more effective instructional planning. Results will be shared with parents when the testing window is completed. We are in the process of finalizing the schedule, and grade level letters will be coming home soon. As always, enough sleep, a good breakfast, and arriving at school on time in the morning will be helpful and appreciated. We try to encourage all students to do their best on any assessment without putting unnecessary pressure on them. Thank you for your help with this!

Reminder to parents: Please do not go to classrooms during instructional time, unless you are scheduled to volunteer. If you wish to speak to one of the teachers, please make an appointment by calling or emailing to set up a time that is convenient for you both. The teachers do have limited non-instructional time during the school day; however, those times are often busy with planning or meetings. We appreciate your understanding and we thank you for your attention to this issue.

A message from Ellen Demmons, Food Services Director: If you have recently been denied due to being over income for food stamps, you should reapply. The program is not only changing the name to “Maine’s Food Supplement Program”, it is also changing the methods of assessing eligibility.

We want to thank all the parents and community members who attended the volunteer workshop for the “Trust in our Children” Program. We are excited to report that the first of the field trips are coming up next week! Stay tuned for wonderful feedback!!

Plan Ahead:

September 30: 8:15-9:00 Pam Morgan will be speaking to grades ¾       and 4 on ecosystems in preparation for their field trip

October 2: 8:30-1:00 grades ¾ and 4 to Emmons Preserve

October 3: 8:25: FMM…9:00ish KCPTA meeting in the art                   room…12:15- 2:15 K to Goose Rocks Beach

October 10 PICTURE DAY…NO FMM!

Posted by Principal Pence at 10:09 AM | Permalink

 Friday's News is a bit earlier than usual this week...I am out of the district on Thursday and Friday. We'll be back to our regular schedule next week.

Thanks to all who organized, helped with, and attended the KCPTA Welcome Back to School Barbecue! We'll have a nice day next year!!!

 The KCPTA is collecting the General Mills Box Tops coupons again this year. Please send in any you have accumulated at home by October 15th. October 15th is the next deadline for which we must submit all we have collected thus far. Continue to collect throughout the year as there will be another deadline in the Spring as well. Consolidated School receives 10 cents for every Boxtop we submit!   Please visit [ http://www.boxtops4education.com/ ]http://www.boxtops4education.com/ for more details and a list of participating products.

Please note the KCPTA will no longer be collecting Campbell 's Soup labels. The soup label project  was quite an involved process and the mailing costs had begun to outweigh the benefits. Thank you for everyone that had turned in the labels in the past.

Picture Day is scheduled for Friday, October 10...there will be NO Friday Morning Meeting that day. 

KCPTA September 5th, 2008  Meeting Minutes and upcoming meeting times can be found on the KCPTA Blog.  Please visit :  [ http://www.kport.org/KCPTA/ ]http://www.kport.org/KCPTA/ for more information and to sign up to have KCPTA updates come right to your home email.  

REMINDER: If you are picking up your child at the end of the day, please remember that you need to go to the gym, sign in and then collect your child. Students are expected to check in with Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Cashman when they arrive and then sit down in a designated spot to the left of the gym entrance, to wait for their parents to collect them. We understand that this may not be convenient for parents, however, our concern is the safety of the students. Thank you for your cooperation.

Many thanks to Florine LaPointe for working as our school nurse for the past few weeks. Florine's last day will be Friday, September 19th. We appreciate her concern and care for all of us and we will miss her!

Please welcome Alison Kenneway as she begins her position as our new school nurse on September 22nd. We are excited to have Alison join the KCS school community in this position! 

Plan Ahead! 

September 22: 8:45-11:15: Grades 1 and 1/2 to Harris Farm 

September 24: 12:15-2:15: K to Goose Rocks Beach (This is the first of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust Program  "Trust In Our Children" fieldtrips

Posted by Principal Pence at 10:37 AM | Permalink

Please remember TONIGHT is the KCPTA Welcome Back to School Barbeque…5:30 (note change in time!!)-7:30, with a movie to follow. Rain or shine…if shine, the movie is OUTSIDE…so bring blankets, chairs and bug spray! Many thanks to Jen West for organizing this event! We hope to see all of our families here tonight!

As of the KCPTA meeting on Friday, Circus Smirkus has raised $25,296.99!! A huge thank you to all the Smirkos that helped make this event both wonderful and profitable! So many jobs by so many people made this all work together so incredibly well; however, we all owe Jeni Kingston a standing ovation for bringing the Circus here originally and for successfully organizing all aspects of it for the past three years! We are very grateful for her foresight, optimism in the face of ankle deep mud, time, energy and just plan hard work! On behalf of the staff, I want to thank all the students, parents and community members that participated in the success of Circus Smirkus…I also want to thank the many staff members that worked to support the Circus and attended with family and friends! Finally, a huge "thank you" to Vince and Susan Thelin for allowing Circus Smirkus to set up at Rockin' Horse Stables.

The performance was just outstanding again this year! Looking forward to summer 2009…

Please remember that next Monday, September 15 at 7:00 there will be a meeting of interested volunteers for the Trust in our Children program at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust building. We hope that many of you will want to be involved in this exciting program!

Thanks to all of you who took the time to attend our parent orientations. You are welcome to contact the teachers at any time, however, please remember that their primary responsibility during the school day is to the children. Phone calls and email will be returned as soon as they have free time. Meeting with a teacher is best facilitated through a specific appointment…they often have before and after school meetings and may not be available if parents just stop in.

In an effort to reach parents who are not available during the day, the KCPTA is planning a few night meetings this year. The first one is next Wednesday, September 17^th  at 6:30 in the art room. Please see the letter from the KCPTA for more information.

Please start saving your boxtops!! Stay tuned for more information…

Posted by Principal Pence at 10:46 AM | Permalink

Last night the Board confirmed our hiring of Alison Kenneway...Will and Claudia's Mom...as our new nurse!! Wayne Dorr interviewed with me and we were totally impressed with her background, experience...over ten years in pediatric emergency nursing...and her nurturing demeanor. We think she will be wonderful!

Here is a bit about her if you don't know her: 

Alison received her BSN from Northeastern University. She comes to this position with nineteen years of experience, including over ten years of pediatric emergency nursing. Alison has had extended employment at the UMASS Medical Center as well as several other area hospitals. She has been an Emergency Nurse at York Hospital for the past four years.

Allison is well known to KCS…she is an active and involved parent to fourth grader, Will, and first grader, Claudia.

Please welcome Alison to Kennebunkport Consolidated School! 

Posted by Principal Pence at 07:22 AM | Permalink

Welcome back to what we hope will be the best school year ever! This first FRIDAY’’S NEWS comes in paper copy, but the remainder will be on line only. Please subscribe, and the weekly FRIDAY’S NEWS (also known as the “Principal’s Blog) will go directly to your email. A “Subscribe!” Sheet is being sent home today to give you easy to follow directions. Just go to our website (www.msad71.net), click on “Kennebunkport Consolidated School”, then click on “Principal’s Blog” and follow the directions on the sheet. As you will see, this will also work for a classroom blog and the KCPTA blog! We want you to be well informed!! Thanks!

The first Early Release Wednesday (ERW) is next week, September 10. All students will be dismissed at noon on all ERWs. Please refer to the letter from the Curriculum/Design Team regarding the increased ERWs scheduled for this year.

Kathy Hirst is looking for office volunteers for her lunch break at noon. If you are able to help out, please call her at 967-5998. Thanks so much!

Many thanks to our custodial and maintenance staff members for the terrific job they did getting our school ready for day one. We had some planned and unplanned projects that took quite a bit of time, and we are so grateful for the hard work of everyone involved!

We so happy to welcome so many new faces to KSC this year! Our enrollment has increased by nineteen students and, of course, we have two wonderful new Kindergarten classes!

New staff members, and those changing positions, include:

Jennifer Humphrey…Grade 3/4 multiage…Jennifer Kugler…K and Grade 1 Spanish…Christine Peskurich…Resource Room…Michele Chadburn…Grade 3…Julie Urban…Grade 1…Caroyln Morse (back by popular demand!)…Early Literacy Support Program

We welcome our two new Kindergarten classes: Quinn Battagliese, Sydney Brown, Lilian Berne, Katherine Coburn, Abbey Erb, Gabriel Gaffner-Bergeron, Sophia Gauthier, Aiyanna Gillard, Bailey Hanson, William Hunter, Benjamin Johnson, Thomas Johnson, Jack Kudas, Hunter Lachance, Cole Luiggi, Aidan Mahoney, Calvin Mahoney, Ruth Metcalfe, Ryan Muse, PJ Nill, Jenna Payne, Liam Prichard, Noah Roberts, Eleanor Simmons, Michael Schoener, Koby Snapp, Alexandra Tanguay, Harley Toomey, Lillian Tryon-Nadeau, Kaitlyn Verge, Aaron Waitt

In grades 1 through 5, we welcome: Grade 1: Mia White, Kyle Purvis, Miranda Durcan, Sydney Vermette, Mae McDougald, Olivia Cox, Elliot Gere, Kya Goncalves, Chloe Spenlinhauer, Matthew Smith, Hunter Wells…Grade 2: Mary Pimental, George Johnson, Juli Ennis, Laura Farmer, Sawyer Lachance, Jason Sellew…Grade 3: Kyle Beaupre, Taylor Roberts…Grade 4: Nathan Gere…

Grade 5: Michael Adams, Mary Farmer, Kelli Malloy, Nicole Pimental, Kobi O’Reilly

The KCPTA has been working hard all summer doing a variety of things, chief among them our spectacular fundraiser, CIRCUS SMIRKUS! There will be a Welcome Back to School Barbeque on Friday, September 12^th from 5 to 7 here at the school. More information will be coming! KCPTA meetings are held in the art room on the first Friday of the month immediately following Friday Morning Meeting. The first meeting of the year was today…the next is October 3^rd! Join us!

Our first Friday Morning Meeting was today! Please remember that parents are most welcome to join us for this weekly event…held almost every Friday and beginning around 8:25. You are also welcome to join the students for lunch: K-2 at 11:15, 3-5 at 11:45. If you wish to purchase a hot lunch, you must call the office in advance. We hope to see many of you at FMM and at lunch!

As many of you know we are involved in a very exciting project with the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust called Trust In Our Children. A huge amount of work has been done over the summer to develop a pilot program which will be implemented and evaluated this school year. Members of the planning committee are seeking parent and community volunteers to participate in this program…it promises to be a wonderful experience!  A volunteer training session will be held at KCT headquarters on Monday, September 15^th at 7:00. Please see the flyer for more information and consider joining this exciting new program!

Teachers have been meeting with all parents in parent orientations sessions during the past week. Remaining are Kindergarten, scheduled for Monday September 8 at 6:00, and Grade 3, scheduled for Monday, September 8 at 7:00.

Our Board of School Directors meets on the first and third Monday of the month. These meetings are televised and replayed as well. The first Monday meeting is held in Kennebunk and televised on channel 5, while the third Monday meeting is held in the Port and is televised on channels 2 and 16. The Kennebunkport representatives are Maureen King, Gary Koch and Norm Archer.

Posted by Principal Pence at 01:08 PM | Permalink