TO: RSU #74 Board of Directors
FROM: Jean Butler
DATE: April 24, 2024
PreK-5 ELEMENTARY REPORT
After a couple of stops and starts, spring seems to finally be here to stay. Some sunny, warm days will boost everyone’s spirits and give us the impetus we need to finish the last eight weeks of the 2023-24 school year. We have lots of special activities planned for our students this spring!
The week of May 6-10 is Staff Appreciation Week, a time to show our gratitude for the great teachers and staff we have in RSU #74. Our PTO’s will be involved in celebrating our staff members with food and gifts. The challenges our staff members face every day are greater than they used to be so we appreciate all they do to support our students and families.
On the first three Friday mornings in May, we will be holding Career Days for our K-5 students from all three elementary schools. Grades K-1 will participate on May 3rd, Grades 2-3 on May 10th, and Grades 4-5 on May 17th at the Garret Schenck School. We are bringing in speakers to talk about their careers so that we can introduce students to the many career options from which they will have to choose when they are older.
On May 14th, twelve students from grades 3-6 in RSU #74 have been chosen by their teachers to participate in Discovery Day at the University of Maine at Farmington. The district is sending three students from grades 3-5 in each of the three elementary schools and three sixth graders from Carrabec Community School. Classroom teachers chose students who are curious learners, good thinkers, and able to work with others. While students are there, they will participate in workshop sessions with students from other schools in western Maine. Third and fourth graders will attend three sessions from the following options: Maine Trivia, Mainely Poems, Marvelous Maine, Western Maine Mysteries, Why is Maine the Pine Tree State?, and a UMF Campus Tour. Students in grades 5-6 got to choose a theme which interested them from four choices: Animal Sculptures, Eminent Mainers, Magazines for Non-Humans, and Reading In and About Maine. Their workshops will revolve around the topic they chose. The students going to Discovery Day from my schools are Dominic Reynolds, Derek Dixon, and Keirra Brooks from Solon and Alena Swihart, Ivy Richards, and Mason Boothby from Garret Schenck. Accompanying the students on this trip will be CCS sixth grade teacher Hannah McGlashing, Garret Schenck third grade teacher Jasmyn Wagg, Solon fifth grade teacher Kalgari Reed, and district art teacher Richard Reichenbach.
The district’s STEAM Team is sponsoring a STEAM Night at my two schools in May. Solon’s STEAM Night will be May 13th, and Garret Schenck’s will be May 16th. Art teacher Rich Reichenbach will display student art work at each of these events, and teachers will display STEAM-related projects their students have done. At the Garret Schenck event, Jasmyn Wagg’s third grade students will display their Genius Hour projects as well.
I want to thank School Board members Tori MacDonald and Laura Layman for offering to present a water safety program for the second and third graders at each of my schools, Solon on May 15th and Garret Schenck on May 23rd. This topic is very timely with the coming of summer vacation and the hours students will spend in swimming pools, at the lake, and by the ocean.
If you have any questions about either of my schools, please contact me.
Enjoy the spring!