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District Events
| If you would like to see a calendar of all our district events, please click on the link below.
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Voyager Magazine
| If you would like to download the Voyager Magazine's Spring/ Summer 2013 edition,
click on the link below.
If you would like a hard copy of the magazine, please stop by my office at 253 South Meadow Road.
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| School Websites: | |
High Schools
Middle Schools
Elementary Schools
Pre-School
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Introducing Voyager Express
Greetings!
Over the past 5 years, the Plymouth Public Schools has sent out a weekly newsletter. We've also released the first edition (Spring/ Summer) of the Plymouth Voyager, a magazine intended to highlight in-depth news from around the district. I have decided to integrate the Friday newsletter, formerly known as Friday Notes, as a sister publication of the Plymouth Voyager and reintroduce it as the - Voyager Express. Please Enjoy.
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Weekly Quote
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"When people see you're happy doing what you're doing, it sort of takes the power away from them to tease you about it."
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News from the Elementary Library and Media Specialists
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District news and information for k-12 educators from the Elementary Library Media Specialists.
Do you know what a "hashtag" is?
Take a look at this straight-forward article: "The Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags for Education". While you are there take a look at links to articles such as:
Go to:
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Visual and Performing Arts Department News
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- The VPA Department is excited for the first Coffee House of the year. Please join us Saturday, September 28 at Kendal Hall to hear live performances from North and High School students!
- We wish the combined High School Marching Band the best of luck at their first competition Saturday, September 28 in Malden, MA.
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West Elementary School News
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| | The students in Mrs. Cormier's, Mrs. Haynes, Mr. Ozelius' and Miss Reid's 2nd grade class are involved in a Community Service Learning Project. Birthday Wishes is a non-profit organization that provides birthday parties for children that are unable to celebrate due to their living situations.
West School 2nd graders will incorporate Literature, Math, Writing, Social Studies and 2nd Step into their monthly curriculum.
On Friday, September 13th, Maura Dankert, from Birthday Wishes was a special guest reader for the entire 2nd grade.
At WEST ELEMENTARY, POD 1 is working on creating and nurturing a Safe and Caring Community. All classes are collaborating on monthly themes that promote pro-social character traits. Each class is asked to participate in a unified activity and share their finished results on the Community Bulletin Board. The theme for September has been KINDNESS: "What is it? What does it look like? How does it sound?" The students created a Graffiti Wall of Kindness where they used a single word that represented Kindness in their minds.
Being Buddies, Not Bullies at West Elementary School
West students were recently treated to an inspiring visit by Domino The Great, a magician and children's entertainer who spreads the positive message of respecting others and building a positive community within a school setting.
Sponsored by the West Elementary PTA, Domino The Great shared his anti-bullying message and captivated his audience through a combination of storytelling and captivating magic.
As part of the day's program, students also became participants in spreading the anti-bullying message by volunteering to assist Domino with his magic tricks. Some of the more entertaining tricks Domino performed involved a toilet paper dance, Bob the caterpillar's journey to find his inner colors, a disappearing ring, and Oreos with extra stuffing. The children left the first cultural arts program of the year amazed by the magic they witnessed and motivated by the message to "Be a Buddy, Not a Bully!" at West Elementary.
 
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PSMS News
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Professional Writer Visit
On Thursday, September 12, the sixth grade team of Jones & Brandt hosted freelance writer, Emily Zemler. Emily entertained a full 50 minutes of rapid-fire questions and reflections by nearly 50 students! The questions covered her initial interests in writing, her education, how she gets writing/interview assignments, and who she writes for (Elle, Nylon, sports magazines and on-line articles).
Emily stressed that reading has always enhanced her writing. She spoke of strategies to solve writer's block -- she finds motion in traveling and changing location helps stimulate her ideas. Students were captivated by Emily's interview strategies. Emily summarized her strategies for writing for an audience and her use of tone to which the students responded with a grateful applause.
Teaching in China
This summer, I had the opportunity to go to China to teach adults as well as tutor a small group of children for about six weeks. More specifically, I was in a "town" of six million people named Wuxi. Yes, I did say "town." Besides the obvious culture shock, the striking difference in their education system and philosophy became apparent to me fairly quickly. For one, they are very score driven which creates a strict and rigid student ranking. As a result, special education and the concept of inclusion was quite a foreign concept to them. Furthermore, their learning style revolves around the traditional lecture style. When I would teach the adults or the children, I found it difficult to get them engaged especially involving role-playing or creativity-based learning activities. Also, I must share my rather unusual food experience. In China, they leave nothing to go to waste. For example, when you order fish, the head of the fish is included on the plate. During my 6 weeks, I ate scorpions, grasshoppers, pig feet, pig skin, duck tongue, and duck neck. I would definitely recommend visiting both Beijing with its history and charm and Shanghai with its never-ending downtown (23 million people).
Michael Henry (teacher at PSMS)
Open House - Grades 5 and 6
This past week, PSMS hosted parents and family members at Open House for grades 5 and 6. For the students, many of whom are new to the PSMS community, it was a great opportunity to show their parents around the school and to share what they have been learning. Thank you to all who came. Please keep in mind that we greatly value parent involvement in school activities and encourage you to explore opportunities to volunteer at PSMS.
Open House - Grades 7 and 8
This coming Tuesday, September 24, we will hold an Open House night for grades 7 and 8. Parents are invited to come meet the teachers and learn about what their children will be studying this year. The program runs from 6:30 - 8pm. In addition, grade 8 parents who would like to learn more about the Washington, DC trip are invited to join one of the two presentations being offered before and after the Open House. Those presentations are scheduled for 6pm and 8pm in the lecture hall.
PTA and Magazine Drive
The PSMS Parent Teacher Association will hold its first meeting of the school year on Monday, 9/23/13. All members of the PSMS learning community are welcome to join. The meetings take place in the IMC (Library) and begin at 6:30pm.
The group has been active to start the year. This past week, the PTA organized the kickoff of our largest fundraising event - the magazine drive. Students who completed and returned an address booklet were able to win prizes in our "Pick-a-penguin" activity. Penguin fever is now running wild through the halls of the school!
Student Clubs and Athletics
Our fall sports teams are in full swing with our first competitions taking place next week. Student clubs have also started to meet on late bus days. There are an assortment of activities available that would appeal to a wide range of interests. Students are encouraged to join one or more of these clubs.
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PNHS News
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On 9/11 the Plymouth North High School History department as well as other staff members wore red, white and blue in honor of our troops.
The History department also collected thousands of items from their students to be sent to the troops overseas. Some of the items included gloves, socks, baby wipes, books, note books, pens, batteries, games as well as a variety of food items. The generosity of the students as seen by the sheer volume of supplies was both amazing and inspirational.
There are several communication tools used throughout the school community. Ms. Allen, the senior class advisor, along with the class officers, have put together a brochure for students and families to stay up to date on important deadlines and events for the class of 2014.
Click here to see the first page of the brochure!
Click here to see page 2 of the brochure!
Seniors
Octoberfest t-shirts will be on sale
Monday, September 30th - Friday October 4th.
$20.00 Check or Money order only.
See Ms. Allen with questions.
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PSHS News
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All night games have been moved to 4 PM due to the threat of EEE. Notice the beautiful rainbow in the photo above taken at the South Football games last Friday!!
PLYMOUTH SOUTH'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
The G & G/PSHS Male Athlete of the Week is Andrew Mahoney, who has been a great surprise for the Boys' Cross Country Team. As a freshman, Mahoney placed seventh and second for the team in South's first dual meet against Dennis-Yarmouth. Last Saturday he competed in his first invitational and medaled, placing sixth overall. Mahoney is a hard worker who never complains and comes to practice every day ready give his all. Congratulations Drew! Great work!
The G & G/PSHS Female Athlete of the Week is junior Natalie Hanson. As a member of the Girls' Cross Country Team, Hanson has shown great leadership. Also having never run distance before, she worked hard over the summer and is a consistent role model for the rest of the team. Hanson was the first PSHS athlete to cross the finish line against Dennis-Yarmouth and medaled in her first Invitational last Saturday, placing twelfth overall - her time almost two minutes faster than her last race. Great work! Congratulations Natalie!
Plymouth South's Homecoming Dance will be held at Plymouth South tomorrow night (Saturday) from 7:30 - 10:30. This year's nominations for Homecoming Court are: Girls: Samantha Bazarewski, Ashley Cesero, Marisa Kanter, Amanda Paul and Bethany Rogers. Boys: Max Bassett, Matt Bremis, Ryan Donovan, Tim Elrick and Kyle Richard.
Mrs. Fry, the principal will post on Facebook after the dance who the winners are. "Like" Plymouth South High School if you are not already on our facebook page.
Important Upcoming Dates:
-College T-shirt Day - wear your favorite college T-shirt to school... Tuesday, Oct. 15th - College Fair Day
-Oktoberfest - October 11th
-Booster Club/Sam Fry 5K - Sunday, October 20th
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Guidance Department News
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Senior College Planning and Financial Aid Night
Tuesday, October 8 from 6:30-8:30 PM in the Plymouth NORTH High School Performing Arts Center
Parents and guardians of all college-bound seniors (from both of our high schools) are invited to attend this timely informational presentation which will cover all of the important aspects of college admissions and financing including different types of financial aid and how to apply.
Plymouth Public Schools 2013 College Fair
Tuesday, October 15 from 6:00-8:00 PM at Plymouth North High School
(This was incorrectly listed as Wednesday, October 16 in last week's Friday Notes)
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Sincerely,
Dr. Gary E. Maestas, Superintendent
Plymouth Public Schools |
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