TO: RSU #74 Board of Directors
FROM: Jean Butler
DATE: January 29, 2025
PreK-5 ELEMENTARY REPORT
After a very cold January, we are looking forward to the prospect of temperatures warming so that
students can get outside to play every day. Students wish there was more snow in which to play, but
they are finding plenty of games to engage in at recess, snow or no snow.
During the month of January, teachers administered the NWEA, and intervention team members
administered other assessments to collect data on student progress at the mid-point of the school year.
This data has been organized on spreadsheets, which will be shared with teachers at our mid-year data
meetings held on January 30th at Solon and February 6th at Garret Schenck. At those meetings we will
discuss each student’s progress and determine if the student needs more or fewer intervention services
going forward. We will pick up students who haven’t had services but for whom testing now indicates
that services would be beneficial. The goal is to make sure all students are on track to achieve their
target growth goals by the spring, when the NWEA will be administered again. We applaud
intervention coach Barbara Jordan for all the work she does to coordinate the intervention services
across the three elementary schools and to chair the data meetings for us.
On January 24th, actors from the Portland Stage Company spent the morning at Garret Schenck to
introduce our students to some aspects of theater. They did dramatic readings of four children’s books,
all centering on the theme of showing compassion for others, for the whole student body. Then they
went to each classroom to do a theater workshop with each class of students from preschool through
fifth grade. Funding for this activity came from the Garret Schenck PTFO and donations to our school
in memory of Jill Everett for arts programs.
A Winter Band and Chorus Concert will take place on February 13th at 6:00 PM at Carrabec
Community School, featuring all of the district’s band and chorus students under the direction of music
director Lindsay Burke-Cinsov. Please join us for an evening of seasonal songs performed by our
talented students!
In February for the twelfth consecutive year, Solon Elementary School students in grades PreK-5 will
participate in a bookmark design contest in conjunction with the Coolidge Public Library in Solon.
Each student will design a bookmark that promotes reading, and we will judge the entries and select a
winner from each grade. The winner from each grade will receive a certificate and book from town
librarian Megan Myers, and all of the winning bookmarks will be duplicated to be handed out to
patrons at the library.
We always celebrate the 100th Day of School in grades K-1 as a way to provide students with the
chance to work with numbers up to 100. The 100th day will occur on February 11th unless snow days
move it ahead. Students will create projects with one hundred items and engage in fun activities to
celebrate the 100th day of school.
At both Garret Schenck and Solon, we will celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th, emphasizing
friendship and kindness to others. A tradition in both schools is a “Secret Cupid” activity in which
everyone draws a name and decorates a paper heart for that person, writing something nice about him
or her on the heart. These hearts will be displayed on a bulletin board in each school lobby. Students get
to exchange Valentine cards with their classmates on Valentine’s Day. That afternoon we will play
Hearts (a version of Yahtzee) in multiage groups and enjoy a Valentine’s Day snack.
We will soon begin the process of recruitment for next year’s preschool classes at Garret Schenck and
Solon. If you know parents with a child who will turn four years old by October 15th, please encourage
them to contact one of the elementary schools to get on our list for 2025-26. We have room for thirty
students between our two classrooms. We plan to hold Preschool Screening for incoming students in
late April or early May.
If you have questions about anything in my schools, please contact me.
Happy Valentine’s Day!