The Foote School 
E-News
December 15, 2016
In This Issue
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Winter Assembly Schedule 



Parents are invited to attend the Winter Assembly tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 16 at 11:00 a.m. in the Hosley Gym.

*Please remember assembly dress.*
  • Long pants (no jeans, sweatpants or warm-up pants)
  • Dress/skirt of an appropriate length (no shorts, jeans or sweat pants)
  • Collared shirt (button-down, golf or polo)
  • No t-shirts or sweatshirts, no writing on shirts
  • No flip-flops
Schedule:
11:00 a.m. - Assembly in the Hosley Gym
12:30 p.m. - All-school dismissal
No After School Program

Note: Rehearsals will be held throughout the morning. Seating will begin at 10:45 a.m.

Groups performing: 
1st Grade
3rd Grade
6th Grade
8th & 9th Grade Handbells
8th & 9th Grade Steel Pans
9th Grade World Drumming
Chorus
Orchestra
Jazz Rock Ensemble 

Please note: The PTC will have a lost-and-found table at the assembly. Unclaimed items will be donated to a local charity.

  
AllSchoolNewsALL SCHOOL NEWS AND INFORMATION
Sign Up for After School Minicourses    



After School minicourses begin January 17. Courses being offered include Yoga, Little Scientists, Chess (beginners and advanced), Exploratory Art, Terrain and Navigation, Baking, Math Enrichment and Basket Making.

Students may participate in a minicourse even if they are not enrolled in the After School Program.
Questions? Contact Dawn Walsh ([email protected]) or Bill Manke ([email protected]) in the After School Program.

Drug Abuse and Prevention Talk - Jan. 4    

 
Health educators from Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD) will be at Foote from Jan. 3-6 to work with students in grades 5, 7 and 9.

Parents are invited to an informal presentation and discussion with FCD on Wednesday, Jan. 4 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Sturley Room. The FCD team will discuss the content they cover with students and offer parents support and guidance in helping their children avoid the risks of drug abuse.

All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend.
  
  PTCNewsPTC NEWS
Support Foote with Amazon Holiday Purchases


Are you planning to do online shopping this holiday season? You can give back to Foote while you shop! Amazon will donate 1 percent of your purchases to the charity of your choice through the Amazon Smile program.  Sign up here and choose to support Foote School. 
 
Basketball Clinic Fundraiser - Jan. 19


Mark Your Calendars...

Basketball Clinic Fundraiser 
Grades K-9 
Thursday, January 19 
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Hosley Gym 
  • One-hour clinic with Yale Men's Basketball Coach (and Foote parent) James Jones, along with players from the Yale men's and women's teams
  • Group instruction followed by small-group activities by age
  • Basketballs provided
  • Pizza, snacks and water for sale
  • Crafts and other activities
  • $15 - All proceeds go to the PTC
Questions? Contact PTC Co-Presidents Amy Sudmyer and Melissa Castleman at [email protected].

DayInLifeA DAY IN THE LIFE OF FOOTE
Close-Up:
Things Come Together in 'Comparative Cultures'



On Tuesday, Deb Riding began her ninth grade "Comparative Cultures" class by introducing a story from The New York Times describing the cultural threats faced by a small ethnic group in Indonesia. "As I was reading this, I kept thinking about our book," Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, she commented.

Students immediately drew connections between the article and Achebe's novel: "The indigenous people are resisting," noted one student.  "It seems like the situation that happened in Things Fall Apart must have happened in Indonesia a while ago," a classmate added.  

Foote's ninth grade humanities curriculum focuses on a set of essential questions about culture, add
ressing the challenges that occur when different cultures come in contact with one another. Course content is derived from historical and contemporary events, literature, arts, and religion. This global perspective provides a lens for our students to consider the core values of societies that are very different from our own.

Lighting the Season with Candlehouses & Poetry


Fourth graders gathered in the Sandine Theater on Tuesday for the annual candlehouse ceremony, a Foote School tradition in which students display their ceramic creations and recite original winter-themed poetry. Students spend weeks sculpting, firing and glazing their candlehouses in art class. In the classrooms, they wrote "I Am From" poems both individually and as a class. At the end of the ceremony, for a few brief seconds, the theater lights go down and the warm glow of the candlehouses illuminates the darkness. Read the "We Am From" poem by Toby Welch's class below, and read Denise Quinn and John Climie's classes' poems on their blogs.


We are from a land of laughter and table tops 
From smiles and good natured happiness 
We are from the pit outside our classroom to photographs on the wall

We are from sunflowers in the classroom, snowflakes on the wall, and colored bins lining the shelf 
We are from Morning Meetings, Assemblies, and Falco's Pride. 
From maroon to grey, we sure know how to play!

We are from a warm and accepting classroom 
Learning decimals, hearing immigration speakers, and drawing graphs. 
From read alouds to painting and writing

We are from good kids and kind teachers 
From the streets of New Haven to the school on 50 Loomis Place 
We arrive by bus, car, and feet. 
We are hopeful for winter's white glistening snow and days away from school!

WE ARE 4X

 


DatesDates to Remember

Dec. 16 - Winter Assembly - 12:30 all-school dismissal - No After School Program

Dec. 17 - Jan. 2 - Winter Break

Jan. 3 - Classes resume

Jan. 3-6 - Health educators from Freedom from Chemical Dependency at Foote

Jan. 4 - Presentation for parents by Freedom from Chemical Dependency

Jan. 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL - No Vacation Program