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| Willard School Newsletter | 13 May 2010 |
Issue 31 |
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FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK |
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It was a very green week at Willard! All week long, students have participated in the initiative of Litter Free Lunch Week. Students who brought their lunch from home were encouraged to use recyclable containers to package their food. When they finished their lunch, all students sorted their waste into the appropriate category: trash, recyclable, compost, etc. As a result of all of these efforts, Willard's normal trash yield from lunch was reduced from three 55 gallon trash bags to approximately one quarter of one trash bag. This is an amazing reduction! Thank you to Mrs. Matheus, Mrs. Ernst, a number or parent volunteers, and the Earth Care Club. Members of the Earth Care Club were the featured presenters at this week's
School Committee Meeting. Under the direction of Club Advisor Genoveva
Matheus and Michelle Ernst, students told the School Committee about the
projects that they have been working on all year at school. Without a
doubt, the Earth Care Club has been quite busy this year. For example,
they prepared a slide show for the Willard Grand Opening in November.
They put labels on all of the Recycling containers in each classroom and
they monitored the amount of recycling that we do at Willard in a typical
week. They then created posters to encourage additional recycling.
Recently, Mrs. Matheus and Mrs. Ernst organized a special activity. The
students actually made paper from recycled material so that they could see
how paper is made. Don't worry; this paper was not wasted. The students
used the paper to make Mother's Day Cards. Prior to Litter Free Lunch
Week, the students created a movie to to promote this special week.
Members of the Earth Care Club visited classrooms to show the movie and A Principal's Coffee is scheduled for 11:30 on Monday, May 17th at 11:30
in the Willard Conference Room. This is an opportunity for parents to
visit with me and other parents, ask questions, share concerns, and find
out about what's happening at Willard. Please stop by for coffee and Plans are well underway for the 2010 Willard School Carnival. Please mark your calendars for Sunday, June 6th. This event is always the highlight of the spring for most Willard students. Plans are also underway for Field Day. Mr. Germond is soliciting parent help for Field Day Activities. As with all volunteer opportunities at school, all volunteers must have an approved CORI on file with the district. CORIs remain in effect for three years from the date of issue. In keeping with state law and district policy, no parent will be allowed to volunteer without an approved CORI. One of the special events for 5th graders and their families is the Annual Willard Arts Night. Scheduled for June 9th, this evening begins with the Art Retrospective. This event features selected pieces of student art work from each child's collection of school created art. Students are encouraged to select favorite pieces to display. Along with the art work, students create and display an essay about their art work. Following the Art Retrospective, there will be a performance by the 5th grade Chorus, the Band, and the Orchestra. This week, we conducted MCAS Testing in Math for students in Grades 3 -5.
Grade 4 students will complete their testing on Thursday, May 13th. Fifth In closing, I am soliciting two parent volunteers to serve on the 2010-2011 Willard School Advisory Council (SAC). Michelle Ernst and Suzanne Hogan are completing their two year terms on SAC. The SAC meets monthly on the second Wednesday of the month from October through June. Meetings generally last from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM. The main function of SAC is to monitor the implementation of the current School Improvement Plan and to develop a School Improvement Plan for the following school year. Participating on SAC offers parents a good window into school operations, school activities, and curriculum across the grade levels. The term of service is two years. If you have questions or if you would like to volunteer to serve, please contact me by May 24th. As always, thank you for all you do for Willard School. |
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| LINKS OF INTEREST |
| WILLARD HOME |
| WILLLARD PTG |
| LUNCH CALENDAR |
| SHOP WILLARD |
| CONTACT EDITOR |
Kindly submit articles for inclusion in the Willard Weekly to the editor, Christine Evans, at willardweekly@willardptg.org
Deadline for submission is Wednesday at 4pm.
WILLARD NEWS AND EVENTS |
GET HERE GREEN WEEK - BEGINS MONDAY! |
Mark your calendars (May 17-21)! Get your bikes ready! Put on your walking shoes! Share a ride! Take the bus instead of drive! Let's all do our best to get here green! For a couple of days this week and next week a couple students from the Earth Care Club will tally the cars dropping off and/or picking up at Willard. Will we be able to reduce car traffic during Get Here Green Week? Can we make a difference? Will we make a difference? We shall see! Let's go Willard! Following the Get Here Green Week there will be a raffle. All participants can print a raffle ticket for each day they participate, clip it, and drop it in a raffle box in the foyer at Willard. Four ticket holders will win $25 gift certificates to The Cedar Hill Dairy Joy in Weston. And don't forget to take the Get Here Green Survey online (at www.surveymonkey.com/s/WTC27WQ). In support of Get Here Green Week Pedal Power Bike Shop is kindly offering 10% OFF an all parts and accessories now thru June 1st. Click here for more information. And check out their website at www.pedpow.com; they have a great selection of kids bikes! |
METCO LATE BUS ON TUESDAY, MAY 18th |
Plan your playdates today for next week's late bus, Tuesday, May 18th. Concord families are reminded to bring Boston students to the Alcott school by 4:15 p.m. to meet the bus. The last late bus of the year will be June 15th. Fifth graders should note that this is the date of the Mix-it Up Picnic, so you will be able to attend and then take the late bus home. Questions? Please contact Debbie Osofsky (debbieosofsky@hotmail.com), Grace Ryan (graceryan9@comcast.net) or Tanika Moody (tanika261@hotmail.com). |
LITTER-FREE LUNCH SUCCESS! |
Keep up the good work! Litter-Free Lunch Week was a huge success! Through composting, recycling and making smart choices like reusable containers, foil, and wax paper instead plastic baggies, our cafeteria trash went from three, 55 gallon barrels a day down to just 1/4 of one barrel! Let's keep the momentum and make Litter-Free Lunch a on-going part of Willard. Thank you to the Earth Care Club, and parents Suzanne Hogan, Judy Bernard, Aimee Cupp, Jennifer Waldron, Sue Bumpus and Linda Della Volpe for helping us supervise and educate on the recycling/composting process. |
HEALTHY LUNCHES, HEALTHY KIDS! |
| Wed, May 19th,
7:30-9:00PM,
Willard School Auditorium
Learn about WHY and HOW our community is working to make our school lunches better and healthier. All parents and caregivers are welcome to come to a presentation by the Nutrition Coalition on school lunches. Learn what your children are eating, what other school districts around the country are doing to increase healthy foods in school and what the Concord community is doing to serve our children fresh, local and healthy food at the schools. Sponsored by the Nutrition Coalition. For more information or to join the effort, please contact Hilary Boynton (hilary@boyntoncompany.com) or Pamela Hathaway (plhathaway@comcast.net) |
FROM THE LIBRARY |
Save the date! On Monday, June 7, there will be a Volunteer Appreciation coffee from 8:45 to 9:30 at which time we will honor the many volunteers who have made the Library program so successful this year. Please come and say hello to friends old and new, have a morning treat and accept our most grateful thanks for all the hours that you, our most loyal volunteers, have given. We are also asking for yet one more bit of volunteering. In order to have our shelves in perfect order, we will be holding our annual "shelf reading" time. If you could help with an hour or so during the week of June 7, we can put the books in neat shelf order. Stay after the volunteer coffee on the 7th to begin this process, or sign up in the library if you can spare an hour sometime that week. Erica Chicco (echicco@colonial.net) |
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES AVAILABLE |
| The highlights from the School Committee Meeting held on April 13th are now available here on the Willard PTG website. Read all about the CCHS Master Plan presentation, the French exchange trip, Willard and CCHS status reports and more. |
HELP STILL NEEDED - WILLARD FIELD DAYS |
Believe it or not it's that time of the year again when we are planning field days. To make this fun filled day possible we are looking for at least 10 parents from each grade level to volunteer to help run the events. If you are interested, you must have an approved CORI check on file with the front office. The dates and times for field day are as follows:
Mr. Germond would like to have volunteer lists complete no later than May 31st. Please email Mr. Germond at mgermond@colonial.net if you are interested in helping with this exciting day for our students. More information about Field Days is available on the Field Days page on the Willard PTG website. |
CC FIGHTS BACK DANCE CONCERT |
Saturday, May 15th, at 7:30, CCHS Auditorium |
CPT TRAGEDY SUPPORT GROUPS |
The Center for Parents and Teachers is planning to offer, if there is sufficient interest, small, professionally facilitated support groups to assist parents in coping with Tyler Ryan's tragic suicide. Facilitators will provide guidance on how best to support and communicate with children in an ongoing way as well as offer guidance on prevention and intervention. INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING? Please fill out this form and email Sally Quinn Reed at squinnreed@colonial.net or call 978-202-1145 and we will be in touch. Click here for more information. |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT |
The Concord Conservatory of Music is offering instrumental music Summer Workshops for those who already play and those new to an instrument. See the [Summer Workshop Brochure] Space is limited to 30 students. Registration forms are accepted by mail, or at the CCM office. There is no online registration. Tuition: $440 per child Register Today! For more information go to www.ConcordConservatory.org, or call 978-369-0010. CCM is located in the West Concord Union Church at 1317 Main Street, West Concord. Get ready to Run! The Fourth Annual Thoreau School 5K and Kids Fun Run is Sunday, May 16th. The;1/2 mile and 1 mile Kids' Fun Runs start at noon. The 5K will begin directly after the kids finish. A family BBQ picnic and award ceremony will be held after the race. We hope you'll join us for all the fun! Register before May 1st and receive a free t-shirt! To register, go to: www.thoreauptg.org The Instrumental Music School of Carlisle and Concord (IMSCC), an extended-day program of Concord and Carlisle Schools, will offer individual instrumental and vocal lessons again this summer to new and continuing students. Although many students wait to begin private study until the fall, IMSCC makes summer lessons available to new students who would like to take advantage of the opportunity to begin private lessons before school starts, and for those who may find summer the best time to begin. For more information and registration materials, please call 978-341-2490 ext. 8109 or www.ace.colonial.net/IMSCC. |