Spofford Times Newsletter 

Dear Parents,

Now that MCAS is over, we are back to our normal classroom routines.  The students did a terrific job on the MCAS and all worked very hard this year!   Over the past two weeks, we have begun several of our traditional end of the year activities. It is an exciting time for the children as they have much hard work to celebrate!  

Some of the events that the students recently celebrated was the Math Online League and the Math Olympiad. I want to take a moment to acknowledge all of the students who participated in the Math Online League and the Math Olympiad.  Their dedication, hard work and enthusiasm for learning was evidenced by their accomplishments in these two math programs.  I also thank Mrs. Sirmaian for her effort sustaining the student excitement for mathematics in our school!  Your effort and encouragement as parents is a large contributor to the student participation in our programs. Many thanks to all of you

This week we had a terrific dinner theater performance from our fifth and sixth grade chorus. This was directed by Mrs. Galardi who did a fabulous job with the performance.  It was outstanding!  Thank you to Mrs. Galardi and the chorus!  

Next week, we will have our Cultural Arts night on May 29th. Please come and join us for this wonderful event and celebration of the arts.  Our specialist teachers have been working hard to prepare a terrific evening for you to see the arts curriculum in our school.  We are fortunate to have such a talented group of teachers fostering a love of music, art, physical well-being, Spanish, and literature!  We hope you can join us! 

This last month of school tends to pass by quickly as we are all tending to the end of the year events and activities.  Please remind your children to stay focused on their learning and to maintain attention to the classroom assignments.  We will be careful to balance the fun and academics over the next month of school.  We hope that the children enjoy the events in addition to the learning in their classrooms! 

A Special Thank You

Our Pennies for Patients was a great success this year!  We raised a total of $667.00. Mrs. Holt's class raised the most money and they will have a pizza party to celebrate their fundraising efforts!  Thank you for the support in this endeavor!  

Important Note:
Parents, we had a staff member's car damaged last Friday in the parking lot.  It was parked out front near the dismissal line.  If you know anything about this, please let me know.  Thank you!

***We apologize for the delay in the newsletter this week. We had some technical difficulties!  

News From the 5th Grade:

Here we are in the last few weeks of school, wondering where the school year has gone. 

In the past recent weeks 5th grade has been completing their MCAS in Math and Science and Technology.  The students really rally during this time, with the changes in schedule and the time that it takes to take these tests.  We are so very proud of all the hard work they do.

We will be going to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Museum on Wednesday, May 30. Please make sure your child arrives on time for this trip, as we are leaving promptly at 8:35.  We will also take a trip to the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, Nh on Monday, June 4th.  These will be great additions to our curriculum.  Please make sure that your child brings a bag lunch and remember peanut allergies! 

Part-Time Office Aide Opening

The Harry Lee Cole School in Boxford, MA is looking for a .4 Office Aide (15 hours per week) to begin in September, 2012.  Job duties to include: answering phones, emails, office staffing, accounting and working with the Principal on the school's budget.  Previous experience with accounting is preferred.  Fluency with the Microsoft Office suite is necessary.  Please submit your cover letter, resume, and three letters of reference to: Mr. Brian Middleton-Cox, Principal - Cole School - 26 Middleton Road - Boxford, MA 01921 or bmiddleton-cox@boxfordschools.org. 

Summer Book Club Requests

Within the last few weeks, I have received several emails from parents who are interested in starting small book clubs with their children and a few friends this coming summer.  As someone who has (admittedly) an "over the top" zeal for reading with kids - and an "over the top" level of support and admiration for parents such as these - I was thrilled, to say the least.  One idea included a mother/daughter book group, another was a small neighborhood group and, still, another was a group of kids inspired by a recent author study project who wanted to create a group to keep exploring their authors over the summer. (I can't stop smiling about that one...)

Starting a small book club can be such a wonderful experience - no matter WHAT the reading level of your child - or their personal investment in reading.  By gathering others to talk about books - you are sending so many messages to your child that will stay with them for a lifetime.  To read the words of a story is one thing... but to really READ the words and then be able to make meaning and share that with others can open incredible doors within a child's mind - and set them on a path that has no limits.  As adults - we can show them that path through our own investment in them - and by modeling for them how WE think about text and how we make meaning.

Whatever structure you choose, A few helpful sites out there that may help you to make some decisions about how you might create something like a book club for your child this summer are included below.   I am always available to you to help you make decisions about how to structure the group - and effective management ideas for the time spent together as a group.   If you have difficulty accessing the sites from this posting - you can also access them from my Spofford Pond webpage.

www.book-clubs-resource.com/running 

www.scholastic.com/resources/article/book-clubs-for-kids/ 

www.greatschools.org/students/books/255-book-clubs-for-kids.gs 

So many families are creating such wonderful and positive reading environments in your homes.  Your hard work keeps me going every day!  Keep up the great work! 

Betsy Gadbois - Literacy Specialist/Spofford Pond School