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Friday notes is a weekly update from Superintendent Gary E. Maestas on the happenings within the Plymouth Public Schools.
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Plymouth Public Schools School Committee Meetings:
The next regular meeting of the Plymouth School Committee will be Monday, June 18, 2012. School Committee meetings are held at Plymouth Community Intermediate School in the Little Theatre. Meetings begin at 7:00 p.m.
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Weekly Quote:
"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."
-Joseph Addison
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News and information for K-12 educators, students, and parents in Plymouth from the Elementary Library Media Specialists.
Can't afford a field trip this year with your students? Visit these sites this summer, and be ready to go with your class for free in the Fall!
Field Trip Earth
Field Trip Earth is the way to go. Learn about different animals or take a virtual field trip. This website monitors wildlife preservation projects all over the world and your class can go, too. What's best is that you never have to leave the classroom! Check out the interviews with field researchers. This is real life research for your young scientists.
Go to: fieldtripearth.org
Global School
Bring the world together through their website. Global School creates opportunities for teachers and students around the world to work together in international based projects. Check out the webinars and cyberfairs.
Go to: globalschoolnet.org
Google Earth
Take a trip around the world from your own computer. Google Earth lets your class study the globe in a way that it never has before. Put in your destination, and Google Earth will take you there while making you feel the sensation of flying.
To download Google Earth go to:
http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
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South Elementary School News
Animal Talk
First graders took on news roles as animal experts and authors as they prepared an Animal Museum for their families to visit on May 25th and May 31st.
As teachers focused on research and non-fiction reading strategies, children were asked to research an animal and write a report. Interesting facts included what the animal looks like, what it eats and where it lives.
A popular part of the project, says Mrs. Betsy Hoagland, included self-reflection. "Their favorite page in the report was 'about the author.' They had a lot of fun writing about themselves."
Students made a painting and clay sculpture of their animal, along with a habitat triorama. The writing portion also included a poem. Once ready for visitors, the museum featured different stations for children to share their hard work. On the menu, of course, was a special snack of animal crackers.
"Students really enjoyed the project and were proud to display their reports and art work for their families," says Mrs. Kimberly Shaw.
Summer Reading Champions
The Summer Olympics is the theme for this year's Summer Reading Program, which kicked off at a special assembly on June 6.
Students celebrated the slogan "Read for the Gold" with banners and head gear they've made as they shared their favorite books and characters with classmates. Assistant Principal Jill Dore-Cotreau was on hand to read a special Olympics book about Michael Phelps achieving his goals. Students had fun participating in an estimating activity with books, with winners receiving a free book. The winners were: Mrs. Kuechle's class, Mrs. Shaw's class, Mrs. Godfrey's class, Mr. Albert's class and Mrs. Sherman's class.
Be sure to kick off this summer with a smile and a good book!
A Night at the Museum
On May 24th, fourth graders loaded the buses and headed to the Museum of Science in Boston for a fun-filled educational overnight field trip. This annual field trip proved to be a success once again as students participated in specialized activities and programs.
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West Elementary School News READ-A-THON Week Begins
Beginning last Wednesday all the way through today, the students and staff at West Elementary celebrated their annual Read-a-Thon week. The event opened an all school assembly to kick off the celebration. Students were treated with a guest from the Plymouth Police Department, Officer Mark Higgins and his k-9 officer Shirley. This was followed by the May celebration of the WESTies awards, where students were recognized for their hard work and dedication. Mrs. DuBois and Mrs. Friedman led the group with singing the song "Read a Book" with the students. Mrs. Robbins and her students presented their Olympic Mural project to the school. It was very impressive. The students were given their home reading logs and "the games began." For each grade level students are awarded blue ribbons to mark the number of minutes they have read each night when they go home.
Throughout the week, students have been in contact with many different authors and guest readers, either in person or through Skype. This past Wednesday, the students and staff celebrated field day. This year, the theme was based around the summer Olympics. Students enjoyed a day full of activities and events outdoors. After lunch, another special guest reader joined the classes in the gymnasium. It was Wally, the Green Monster from the Boston Red Sox. He and his partner, Mr. Matthew McLaughlin read a book to the children and two lucky fans won tickets to an upcoming Red Sox game. It was very exciting. The next day, more than a dozen other guest readers joined our classes and read to our students.
The students have done an excellent job, earning many blue ribbons for their classrooms and the Read-a-Thon is going strong. Great job students and a special thank you to all of the staff members, guests, and parents who participated in the planning of this event. The students love it!
 Mrs. Correia and Mrs. Connor
 Mrs. Rogers presents her Westies to her class
 Officer Higgins and Shirley
 searching the staff
 Fifth grade relay races
 First grade Tug-o-war
 Wally made shadow puppets on the projector
 Wally reads to the West students
 Wally the Green Monster and Matt McLaughlin
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Federal Furnace Elementary News
Federal Furnace Walk-A-Thon
Last week, on Wednesday, May 30th, the Federal Furnace community participated in the annual Walkathon. Our gracious neighbor, Southers Marsh Golf Club, kindly hosted this year's event allowing families to participate if they were able. Prior to departing on their long walk, students were given pedometers to track how many steps they took as they traveled through the grounds. Some lucky walkers even saw turtles, frogs, chickens, and one very happy dog!! Following their walk, students had a picnic lunch with their families and friends.
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Cold Spring Elementary School News
Annual First Grade Pancake and Fresh Fruit Breakfast
The first graders at Cold Spring School have been working on a healthy choice unit. They learned about nutrition and the basic food groups, as well as the importance of exercise and a good night's rest. Mrs. Collins and Miss McCormack's students were treated to a pancake and fresh fruit breakfast, funded by the Cold Spring PTA. Mrs. Collins began this Cold Spring tradition many years ago and the students really enjoy it! Thank you Mrs. Collins for your many years of dedication to the Cold Spring community!
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Plymouth South High School News Left to right: Cameron Harold & Brent Eaton  Left to right: Mark Mineo & Kelli Donahue The students shown in the above photos were PSHS Athletes who participated in a "Celebrity Reader" event at West Elementary School. They enjoyed sharing their favorite sports books with the students. The girls heptathalon team of Aly Messina, Holly Sessler, and Jayci Andrews finished in sixth place yesterday at Notre Dame Academy. Aly finished 11th and Jayci finished 13th in the individual competition. In the boys decathalon, Grant Solis finished 8th overall in the competition at Seekonk.    On Monday, June 4th Mrs. Tepper held the 2012 Freshman Authors' Party in the cafeteria. Students from her freshmen literacy enrichment class wrote stories and poems using the theme of "a time in your life that you learned something"... They incorporated an art project entitled "Self Portrait Collage" as shown in the above photo. Some students chose to stand and read their writings. All were treated afterwards to juice and a beautifully decorated cake. Plymouth South finals for grades 9, 10 and 11 started today. Two more are on Monday which is a full day, Tuesday and Wednesday are half days - and the school year is over!!! We hope everyone has a restful, happy and safe summer and See You in September.
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Gary E. Maestas, Ed.D Superintendent
Plymouth Public Schools
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