Student
Recognition
Students of the Month
October – Reid Clark & Sadie Romano; November – Justin Guerrette & Ariana Myshrall; December – Abigail Poole & Zachary Clark; January – Carla Halvorson & Sean Daniels; February – Mikaela Hathaway & Casey Baston
Aroostook County Hot Shot Champion
Reid Clark
Aroostook County All-Star Classic & 1000 Point Club
Jeremy Brock
Young Authors
Grade 7 1st place, Abby Stewart 2nd place, Lauren West
Grade 8 1st place, Nate Beaton 2nd place, Holden Turner
Geography Bee Winners
1st – Zachery Dusza 2nd – Jonah Bacon 3rd – Jared Hafford
Spelling Bee Winners
1st – Stephanie Hammond 2nd – Amanda Dayringer 3rd – Ariana Babineau
PRINCIPAL JANE SINCERBEAUX -The Elementary School held their winter fun day on Friday February 15th. Students in grades K-6 had an opportunity to cross country ski and to snowshoe as well as some indoor activities. The weather was great and we certainly had enough snow!
Our grade 3-6 students will be taking the Maine Educational Assessments (MEAs) in March. It is important for students to be well rested and to have had a good breakfast on tests days.
Spring portraits will be taken on March 26th. Please mark your calendars.
March 27th is Parent/Teacher Conference day. Students will be dismissed at 12:00.
MRS. LYNDA FOREN-TURNER – GUIDANCE DEPARTMENT - Second semester is upon us and students are very busy. Our seniors are getting excited about future opportunities and are finalizing college plans. Students are submitting college applications and several have already received acceptance letters. Students are also taking placement exams, working on financial aid paperwork (parents, watch those deadlines), and filling out scholarship applications. Several state and national scholarships are still being announced and all seniors have the opportunity to submit as many as they are eligible. Seniors will be completing our local scholarship application in April and these applications will be available to any of the scholarship committees. If I can be of any assistance with financial aid and/or scholarships, please do not hesitate to contact me.
TAMC’s Healthcare Careers Exploration Program continues to offer workshops for grade 9-12 students who are interested in exploring careers in healthcare and wanting to gain experience in a hospital setting. Another workshop has been scheduled for Wednesday,
March 5, 2008 from 5:00 – 8:00 PM. Highlighted careers will include radiology, MRI, dialysis, respiratory and midwifery.
Aroostook Teen Leadership is looking to sponsor an Aroostook Teen Leadership Weekend at the Easton School which we be scheduled in March for students in grades 6,7,&8/ The goal of this program is the prevention of adolescent involvement with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. This day will focus on youth empowerment through building self-esteem, improving coping skills, developing leadership skills, and promoting alcohol, tobacco, and other drug awareness. Students will take part in mini workshops, team building activities and discussion groups. Interested students please return your paperwork as soon as possible. Also, Aroostook Teen Leadership Camp will be holding its annual summer camp from July 27-31, 2008. ATLC is an intensive leadership institute for middle school students. Its purpose is to create a network of informed youth throughout Aroostook County who have the tools necessary to become active, drug-free leaders. Registration packets will be available in the guidance office the week of March 24, 2008.
Juniors have been invited to participate in the Financial Fitness Fair, a money management experience, scheduled for March 26, 2008, which is being sponsored by Maine’s Credit Unions. Upon arrival, students will receive a lifestyle scenario that describes their life at age 22 including job title, income, assets, debts, credit profile etc. Students will then be asked to complete a one-month spending plan by visiting booths that represent the major spending categories including food, clothing, transportation, insurance, housing, home furnishings, savings/investments, entertainment and credit. This experience should prove to be very beneficial when it comes to making financial decisions.
Third year students recently registered for the Saturday May 3, 2008 SAT Reasoning Test. This test is important to your students’ futures, both as a measure of the performance for state and federal requirements, and as a next step in their pursuit of academic success beyond high school. Students will be taking the test as part of the standard SAT administration on May 3, 2008. This test will be offered here at Easton
Jr/Sr High School, and because this test also serves as a State of Maine assessment, their test fees will be paid by the State of Maine. An early breakfast will be served and testing will begin at 8:00 am and will conclude at approximately 1:00 pm. In previous years, most Easton juniors registered to take this test in April or May and had to travel to Presque Isle High School or Caribou High School. Now the students have the convenience of taking the SAT at EHS where they are on familiar territory and because the test is mandated by the state, the state pays the $43.00 test fee. In the end, this all works out better for our students. The school year is passing by very quickly. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to stop by or call me at any time.
MRS. TAMMEY WHITE – KINDERGARTEN -What an exciting time of the year in Kindergarten! We have been learning about different geometric shapes and beginning a section on making equal groups with beginning fractions. We celebrated our 100th Day of School on Valentine’s Day with each child bringing in 100 items from home in ten groups of ten! We had everything from 100 pony tail holders to 100 Q-Tips! We shared antiques and treasures from days gone bye. We made an excellent 100th Day trail mix with 100 chocolate chips, 100 pretzels, 100 raisins, 100 mini-marshmallows and 100 pieces of cereal. It was delicious!! Alyssa’s Mom made a beautiful Valentine cake with “Happy 100th Day” decorating it. We made our own 100th Day hats and performed sets of 100 exercises with Mr. Graves in Phys. Ed. We are working on writing the numerals 1-100 as well. We have been reading morning messages on the white board and working hard with our Reading Buddies from Mrs. Allen’s Grade Three class. We just completed a wonderful Author and Illustrator session with them on ‘Snowy Day Activities’. The collaboration between the two classes is such a terrific experience. They learn so much from each other! We celebrated the completion of the project with a sharing time complete with hot coca and cookies. Our study of the Presidents was very exciting as well as we focused on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Our winter fun day was absolutely awesome! We skied and used the snow shoes until everyone was very tired and ready for vacation! We are now wrapping up our Penguin and Dental Health study while looking forward to spring!
ECP has been busy meeting more friends from the Land of the Letter People. We recently celebrated how different each of our families and backgrounds are with a Celebrate Differences Day. Each student brought in items from home telling about their families and we had special guests from Shantelle’s family. Her Grammy and Grampy came with her to school and made us ployes from her French background. They were wonderful with the maple syrup! We talked about different types of homes and different traditions that each family has. What a wonderful Celebration of just how different we all are! We continue to work on letters, numerals and shapes. We are learning many different songs and finger plays as the weeks go past. We have been enjoying some outside play as well as our activity centers in the classroom. Learning to wait patiently, taking turns and expanding our attention spans is hard work! We will soon begin our Reading Buddy times and will be bringing home books to ‘read’ to our families.
MRS. JANE JAMES – GRADE ONE - Grade one has been very busy this winter! In November and December we focused on long vowel patterns and learned many new sight words. We have also covered addition and subtraction facts to twelve, counting money, and are now working on place value in math. We have also spent a lot of time working on word problems and real life math. Two of the students have already mastered their addition and subtraction “Mad Minutes”! Congratulations to Hunter Dudley and Gavin Pangburn.
In November, we participated in the school wide celebration to honor our Veterans and in December, we joined with our friends in grade two to honor our senior citizens. After Christmas dinner, we put on a music concert and provided refreshments for everyone. Many thanks go out to all the parents who provided treats for that day. We also presented each of our guests with a kit to make “Snowman Soup”. Our annual grade one program “Christmas Around the World” was a huge success. We learned where many of our customs come from and enjoyed doing many projects from different countries. United Streaming provided us with many learning experiences on the computer to compliment the reading materials that we used.
In January, our reading theme in our new Houghton Mifflin readers the first theme was “Let’s Look Around”. We took a virtual field trip to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory and learned about ice cream from the cow to the carton. We also did a science link making homemade ice cream in a bag and a craft project making a bobble head jersey cow. We invited our second grade friends for the projects and read to them. After all, the second graders did help to choose our awesome new reading books! We also read about aquariums and found many interesting sites to enjoy the New England Aquarium. It was almost like being there for real! In February, we learned about islands especially Hawaii and had a luau for our Valentine’s party. We invited our second grade friends to join us for the fun. We are still learning new phonics patterns but at this point in the year our reading has moved on to the higher level of reading for comprehension. We have integrated writing skills and work daily on writing about what we have read. We are a very busy and curious class!
MRS. VONDA LAVWAY – GRADE TWO -Recently, Mrs. Chandler from MPS came to our classroom to teach us about electromagnets. The students had an opportunity to try all kinds of exciting experiments with all the “cool stuff” she brought along! This was a great finale to our magnet unit!!
In late January John Cancelarich and his wife Jonny came to visit grade two and we decided to invite the rest of the school to participate as well! John shared a wonderful PowerPoint presentation on Russia and answered lots of our questions. They also brought along some interesting Russian clothing, accessories and toys. All age groups seemed to really enjoy this presentation! John is also coming at a later date to share his trip to Africa with us! We are very excited about this as well!
On the Tuesday after break we had a special guest speaker, ACAP’s new Community Education Specialist, Renee Bragdon! Renee came to speak to us about dental health. She shared a story, did a magic trick, and showed us how to brush our teeth properly. Before she left she handed out a goody bag so that we can take better care of our teeth!
Congratulations to the grade two “Super Math Whizzes” who have passed their addition facts test: Paige Flewelling, Delia Bonner, Katelyn White, Noah Hanscomb, and Delaney Leach!! Everyone else ….please keep practicing!!
Upcoming Events for Grade Two:
Weather Wonders fieldtrip to the Science Center- March 4th
Touch Tank fieldtrip to the Science Center – April 29th
National Weather
Service Tour in Caribou – date pending
MRS. REBECCA ALLEN – GRADE 3 - Students in grade three have been busy improving their writing skills. We began with a study on adjectives and adverbs, looking for ways to make our writing more interesting for the reader. As an extension, students then wrote a sensory paragraph in which the students chose a picture and then wrote a description involving the five senses of what it would be like if they were in that picture. Later, students worked in small groups to play a game of Pictionary using their writing. One student read their story as the other students drew pictures using the descriptions from the paragraph. Pictures that the students drew were then compared to the original picture. There are some wonderful writers in our class!
A second writing activity involved working with our reading buddies from the Kindergarten classroom. After reading the story Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, students were given the assignment to brainstorm with their buddy about what they would do on a snowy day. Students in grade three then took this information and created a picture book, which was later illustrated by both the third grade student and the Kindergarten student. As a final activity for this project, the two classrooms got together for an author party where students were able to share their stories and enjoyed some hot chocolate and cookies. Students had many interesting activities that they would like to do on a snowy day. Looks like we have had a lot of practice!!
I would also like to take this time to thank the Presque Isle Rotary Club for the donation of a thesaurus to each student in the third grade classroom. This is the second year they have given these to our class. Students are so excited to have their own copies that they can take home with them. They have certainly come in handy with all of our writing activities!!!
We have finished our annual reading challenge against our pen pals in Kennebunk. Students read for a total of 7,284 minutes (about 121 hours) since the beginning of the challenge. Although we did some fabulous reading, students in Easton lost the challenge by two points with a final score of 89 to 87. I would like to give special recognition to our top four readers: Alanah Tarbox, Breann Clayton, Ethan Luciano, and Elise Allen. Way to go!!! I am so proud of all the readers in our class!
Some future activities planned for our class include a visit from our local dog sled musher, Traci Halvorson, and her dogs. This annual visit is always a favorite with our class and ties in nicely with our current reading unit covering Stone Fox, Balto, and the beginning of the famous dog sled race, the Iditarod, which takes place in Alaska every March. More information on the visit will be sent home sometime this month. Students are also currently working on their first book report and project. These will be on display for parent/teacher conferences later in March. Please feel free to come in and check out these as well of some of the other great projects these students have been working on.
MRS. AMY GOULET - 4th grade science students have been learning about microorganisms. We have looked at live specimens using microscopes and learned about lots of their different characteristics. Our next topic of study is the solar system with an especially close look at the relationship between Earth, our moon, and our sun.
5th grade scientists have been studying the different systems of the human body. We’ve dissected bones, built floor models of our circulatory system, as well as taken a closer look at the digestive system than some of us wanted to.
The 6th graders recently went to the Challenger Learning Center in Bangor with the 6th graders from Mars Hill. The students participated in a half-day simulation-style program where they role-play both astronauts as well as mission control personnel. This is the 2nd trip of the year with Mars Hill students and many new friendships are forming. In class, our rocks and mineral study is well underway.
MRS. MARY CONDON – PM KINDERGARTEN -FYI: REMEMBER, quality literature is ageless and gradeless. Good literature is repeatable, over and over and over (etc…) .A good book or story can (and should be) read hundreds of times and still be enjoyed. Each reading brings new experiences to the child involved. Don’t be afraid to bring your past and present experiences to a story or book that you are sharing. This is growth. Internalization, understanding and ownership will come from this sharing of self and the world around you. Depending on the day of the week, our afternoons are set aside for music with Mrs. Kinsey, art with Ms. Hutchison, reading buddies with grade 2 and “stuff” with Mrs. Condon and Mrs. Theriault. “Stuff,” consists of lots of reading and story telling, reviewing of our numbers and alphabet, movie and some popcorn, building with blocks, etc. One of our favorite things this quarter was when we went outside and had the BIG SNOW HILL all to ourselves. We zoomed down the hill on our sleds made of cardboard boxes J. Mrs. Condon told them that she used to do that when she was little. Several of the children wanted to take their new sleds home with them, soooooooooooooo, for those adults who found a wet, torn piece of cardboard in their child’s backpack, it is/was the treasured memory of an aging teacher sharing winter stories and personal experiences with the children who need positive memories of their own.
MRS. MARY CONDON – GRADE TWO READING
Even though grade 2 is not yet able to read the literature of Mark Twain, we have just completed, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” If you know me at all, you know how adamant I am about orally reading to children. There’s an abundance of new literature available to children now. Ideally, the new literature is to draw non - reading children into the reading arena. However, there is an entire literary culture of classics to which children still need exposure. My goal is to focus on the classics when I can. Once our work has been completed, we sit on the rug and I read to the students. Yes, we are going to watch the video version of Tom Sawyer and I can’t wait to see how “upset” they will be because…the movies got it wrong. That didn’t happen like that in the book!” We will have comprehension and listening skills at work.
MRS. MARY CONDON – GRADE SIX ANCIENT HISTORY
CONGRATULATIONS to Zachary Dusza for being Easton’s first place winner in our annual Geography Bee at EJSHS. Zachary competed against grades 6, 7, and 8th grade students in this oral competition. This quarter, we took some time from our ancient history studies to review world, national and local geography. Map skills need to be reviewed often. These skills are necessary in our fast-moving society. Our third quarter study of ancient history will bring us to ancient Rome. We will learn about Julius Caesar, Augustus, the geography of Rome and details about the Roman Empire.
MRS. MARY CONDON – GRADES 4, 5 AND 6 HEALTH
Manners and Feelings have been the 2 major health topics this quarter. 1) Manners, what’s rude, what’s polite and everything between………. 2) Feelings, we all have them and how to cope with them. Our major project this quarter: Interviewing a senior citizen.
Thanks to all of you who were interviewed. Television/computers can’t give them “you.”
MRS. NEVERS AND MRS. MCQUADE – GRADE 5 LANGUAGE ARTS
Many of our fifth graders have been participating in the Pizza Hut “Book It” program which started last October and will continue through the end of March. Students, who read extra time at home each day and keep a monthly calendar verifying their times, get free pan pizzas for their efforts. We are not only pleased with the amount of students taking part in this yearly program, but also at just how much pleasure reading is being done outside of school.
The Star Herald is including our fifth grade class again this year in the “Newspapers in Education” program for its March fifth supplement. Our students have paired up to put together advertisements for local businesses by: identifying their company’s product/s and logo, planning and illustrating appropriate graphics to attract new customers to their businesses, and transferring their illustrations, logo and company address, and phone and fax into a standard size ad frame in black ink. The class looks forward to seeing their work in the newspaper as well as being rewarded with a pizza party from the Star Herald in March.
One of our reading groups recently did a study of owls and dissected owl pellets at the science center with Mr. Martin. The class learned some excellent hands-on owl facts to accompany their reading of POPPY, by Avi. A second group will complete this same study after February break.
Mrs. McQuade will soon be welcoming another baby to the McQuade family. HE is planning to arrive the first of April, which means I have a few weeks of “vacation” in the works. I am very pleased to say that my long-term substitute will be Ms. Rita Kingsbury (Fox). I will be able to rest easily knowing my students are in very good hands during my absence.
MRS. POLLY BURNETT – LANGUAGE ARTS -The ninth grade writing class is a half-credit course. We met twice a week during the first semester. Now we are meeting three times a week and using that extra class to increase vocabulary. Studies show that, aside from motivation, the single biggest contributing factor to success in post-high school studies is vocabulary. These are some skills students will be practicing: isolating the root word, understanding what the prefixes and suffixes do to the base word, and determining a word’s part of speech.
Easton junior and
senior high schools have used the nationwide Accelerated Reader program for
nearly a decade. To quote their website: “The World’s Most Widely Used Reading
Software. Build a culture of reading throughout your school and make reading
practice more effective for every student with Accelerated Reader, the most
popular and successful reading software of all time.” Building on our existing
collection of books, Easton has over 1,500 titles for this program. There is a
healthy balance of fiction and non-fiction work. There are books for almost all
levels of reading (from primary grades right on up to college level reading).
After students read a book, they take a computer-generated quiz. The program
keeps an on-going record of students’ efforts.
MRS. ESTHER RICHARDSON - GRADE 7 - Health students recently finished a PowerPoint on a disease. These presentations will be available during spring parent conferences. Soon we will be starting our first aid unit. With the help of the nurse most students will earn their junior first aid certification. Our area of study until the end of the year in science will be classification of organisms and the six kingdoms.
MRS. ESTHER RICHARDSON - GRADE 8 - The end of the year is fast approaching. We will be looking for parent volunteers to help with assembling the 8th grade yearbook and graduation activities.
MR. EVAN GRAVES – PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH - In physical education we have been working on many different activities throughout this long snowy winter. We are exploring our bodies and staying warm with exercise. At the elementary school we were very fortunate to have Mark Shea from the Maine Winter Sports Center join us for a winter fun day filled with cross country skiing, snow shoeing, a short movie, and cookies! Every student was able to get out on skis and it was a great sight to see the students being active and learning a new life time skill! We were very fortunate to have help from parents which Mark was very excited about and we were very lucky to have the expertise of Mrs. Dudley to help us out with our more experienced skiers! We lucked out with the weather and ended up seeing a little sun!
In the younger grades we have been exploring more games, and building up to some basic gymnastic activities including basic log rolls, pencil rolls, egg rolls and forward rolls. In the middle level grades we have been working on our volleyball skills and working with a game called Newcomb to help us get our volleyball positions down! On snowy days we are fortunate enough to have our own warm “snowball” game. Sometimes we include “forts” and we always come up with great team strategies! We also worked on our throwing accuracy by trying to get the snowballs into the “freezer” too!
At the Middle School level we have been focusing on volleyball skills as well as strategy to the wonderful game. The students have really improved throughout the unit. At the High School level we have been cross-country skiing on the warmer days mixed in with some pretty intense volleyball matches. We are also focusing on our warm-ups using medicine balls and exercise balls. The students are getting a great core workout!
Our Lifetime Sports class has been fortunate to go to Big Rock and get some downhill skiing practice. Students are improving with every chance out at the mountain. The Lifetime sports class joined forces with the FFA group to dance with the senior citizens at the manor on Valentines Day. We had a great time and learned some new dances. Dancing is a great lifetime activity! We are looking forward for spring to head over to Mike’s Par 3 to get some golf lessons and learn a little more about this challenging game!
To finish up notes from the gymnasium we most recently participated in the 2008 version of Jump Rope for Heart at the Elementary School. With hard work from 61 students we were able to raise just over $3800.00! Thanks to all who donated during these tough times! The money goes towards such a great cause – preventing heart disease. Thank you! Get active with your family. Go for family walks, take advantage of good weather and take advantage of what our area has to offer regarding fitness opportunities. May your spring be filled with joy and fitness!
MR. PAUL DUDLEY –
SENIOR PLAY
Date - May 2nd, 2008
Time – 7:00 PM
Place – Easton Jr/Sr High School
The Class of 2008
will be presenting “Animal Farm”, a play based upon the book by George Orwell.
A famous line from the book states “Some animals are more equal than
others.” The story is an amusing story
about animals but on a deeper level deals with misuse of political power, and
is as pertinent today as it was when it was published in 1945. Come and support the class of 2008.
MRS. MARY RUTH NICHOLS – FRENCH CLUB
The French Club is planning another trip to France for June 2009 and extends an invitation to any member of the community who may be interested in joining us.
The details are:
9-day trip
from Paris to Marseilles, which includes:
( Paris
City tour
( Louvre
Museum
( Notre
Dame, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Sacre Coeur, free time to visit more sites
( Versailles
and the Trianon Garden
( Eiffel
Tower Dinner at Altitude 95
( Chartres
Cathedral guided visit
( Chenonceau
chateau in the Loire Valley
( Guided
visit of the Cathedral of St. Gasthien in Tours.
( Visit
Honore de Balzac's house
( Cloister
de la Psalette
( Amboise
Chateau (Leonardo da Vinci is buried in the chapel)
( Guided
visits to the medieval villages of Bastiac and Domme
( See
the famous Lascaux Cave museum where prehistoric cave drawings were discovered
( Guided
walking tour of Rocamadour
( Guided
walking tour of Carcassonne, a medieval double walled city
( Marseilles,
visit the Old Port, Le Pannier and the Roman Docks.
Depart from Easton on Monday,
June 22, 2009
3 nights in Paris
2 nights in Tours
1 night in Toulouse
1 night in Marseilles
The cost is
$2999 with a $100 savings if you sign up by March 31. This allows for 12
monthly payments. This includes:
3 Round
trip transportation from Boston to Europe
3 Overseas
airport transfers
3 Ground
transportation from city to city
3 Hotels
3 2
meals a day, breakfasts and dinners
(lunch on our own)
3 Guided
sightseeing tours
3 A
professional bi-lingual tour director
3 Entrance
fees to points of interest
3 Adults
travel on student prices
Orientation meetings will be given throughout the next (14) months acquainting travelers with the background of the sites that will be visited. This will be done through readings, watching videos, surfing Internet sites, browsing National Geographic magazines, etc. Other topics of discussion at these meetings will be: helpful French expressions, how and what to pack, understanding the Euro and getting some before we leave, how to get a passport, educating our palates by tasting some French foods before we leave, knowing and being able to recognize architectural and art forms to enhance appreciation.
If you are interested in joining us or have any questions e-mail me at nichm@eastonhs.easton.k12.me.us or give me a call at Easton High School, 488-7702. My home phone is 473-7707.
Below you will find a picture of a group of Easton High School students who are French Club members and aspire to travel to France in June 2009. They are willing to work in order to help pay their way. If you have any chores around the house or yard that need doing, please consider hiring one or two of these students by calling the high school at 488-7702. They are willing to shovel snow, cut lawns, rake leaves, baby-sit, iron clothes, clean the house, the barn or garage, stack wood, wash and wax vehicles, pick rocks or any other chore you might need help with. Ask for Mary Ruth Nichols, French Teacher.
MRS. PAULA GILES –
SPECIAL EDUCATION -An IEP team
(Individual Education Plan) meeting is held annually for the parents and
student to attend. At those meetings classroom modifications and testing
accommodations are discussed. Please keep in mind these are to help your
child succeed in school! At school we work hard to follow accommodations,
but if for some reason you feel they are not; please feel free to contact the
classroom teacher, special education director, special education teacher in
charge of your child, or the principal. We are all here to help you and
your child. Below is an excerpt taken from http://www.maine.gov/education/mea/accommodif.htm
What is the
difference between an accommodation and a modification?
These two words are often used interchangeably, even in federal language.
Maine, along with many other states, has a long history of differentiating
between the two. To provide better and more individualized support to students,
the following definitions have been used. Accommodations do not change or alter
what is being measured and are considered changes in the way a test
(assessment) is given or taken (e.g. different test setting, timing or
scheduling changes, translation of directions, use of assistive technology).
Modifications definitely change or alter what is being measured and are
considered substantial changes in the way a test (assessment) is given or taken
and (e.g. extended time on a speeded test for reading fluency, spell checker on
a spelling test, calculator on test of computation of basic four operations).
How do you decide
which to use?
Decisions should always be made by a team of people who know the student,
including the student and parents whenever possible, and must be based on need,
not benefit. Decisions should also reflect the instructional accommodations and
or modifications the student is benefiting from in the classroom and reflect
the impact of the student's disability on performance. Decisions should not be
based on a student's category of disability, by the availability of an
accommodation, or on how a student is performing.
Are accommodations
fair?
Consider this: You are a person who needs to wear corrective lenses to read
and write. You enroll in a class and attend all classes wearing your glasses
during lectures, class activities and completion of assignments in class and at
home. The night of the final exam arrives, and your instructor enters the class
with the exam. The instructor announces you will have 3 hours to complete the
exam and requires all students wearing corrective lenses to remove them. The
instructor notes that there will be no unfair advantages given those students
who wear glasses.
If this sounds absurd, it is. This however, is what happens when we do not allow students to use accommodations for assessments. In this example, you needed the corrective lenses and wearing them did not in any way change what was being measured. We must provide assessment accommodations based on students' needs. Denying students the use of accommodations because of the fairness argument doesn't make sense.
Do assessment accommodations invalidate
test scores?
Some people argue that accommodations automatically invalidate student
scores. The truth is that decision-making teams must be knowledgeable in the
constructs or skills the test is attempting to measure if they are to make
appropriate decisions. A blanket decision that the use of a calculator on a
mathematics test would invalidate the assessment may be inaccurate. If the
assessment is measuring basic computation skills then the use of a calculator
might result in invalid results. Using a calculator on an item that is
measuring a student's understanding of a theorem, steps or procedures would be
appropriate.
Knowing the test and understanding what each subtest is measuring is the only
way a team can make sound decisions. It is important for every team to know
that there is no universal list nor are there any accommodations that can
automatically be used.
How do I make
connections between classroom accommodations and state and district
accommodations?
The content of the classroom curriculum is identified and aligned with
Maine's Learning Results and school district standards. Teachers as members of
teams make decisions about the use of instructional accommodations to help
students meet these standards. Accommodations may range from reduced numbers of
items on an assignment, to extended time to complete assignments, to
task-initiated prompts, among others. Decisions are then made to determine
which accommodations the student needs for classroom assessments. Later on, the
decision about providing assessment accommodations on state or district
assessment is inextricably linked to accommodations that have been consistently
used in the instructional process. This process makes the transition of
classroom accommodations to state and district assessment accommodations more
systematic.
MS. JANE HUTCHISON
– ART DEPARTMENT -It’s
hard to believe that we are now in March and entering our second semester of
school. In the last six to seven months we covered an overall art education
foundation in the Easton School System. In many of the class levels, the art
lessons include: calligraphy, drawing, painting, architecture, collage, two and
three-dimensional design, calligraphy, drawing, painting, architecture.
Easton
High School students had the opportunity to visit the Farnsworth Art Museum in
Rockland, Maine in November of 2007. At
the Farnsworth Museum the main features were the collections of Andrew, N.C.
and Jamie Wyeth’s artworks. The Farnsworth Museum also offers a nationally
recognized collection of American artworks by artists: Louise Nevelson, Gilbert
Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Hugh Lane, Frank
Benson, Childe Hassam, and Maurice Prendergast.
The trip was a success and the high school students had the opportunity
to be exposed to many different kinds of artworks.
I will continue to give students every opportunity to
work with as many different mediums and be exposed to art enhancement
opportunities as well. In the second half of the year we will continue to cover
the above subjects. The curriculum will be created to fit the appropriate age
and it will be progressively more challenging from each grade level.
MRS. SARAH SHIELDS – THE RIGHT TO READ - The Young Authors’ Institute, sponsored by Aroostook Right to Read, will be on March 29, 2008, at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. This year’s keynote author is Lea Wait, a Maine author of several books set in the 1800’s along the Maine coast. Students in grades 4 – 8 from all over Aroostook County are chosen to attend based on their creative writings. Those chosen will have their writings published in Potatoes and Pussywillows. Students from Easton who are attending are: Emma Bonner, gr. 4, Nichole Dudley, gr. 5, Kelsey Frank, gr. 5, Hunter Turner, gr. 6, Abigale Stewart, gr. 7, and Nate Beaton, gr. 8. Congratulations to those students.
AROOSTOOK DIRECTORS OF SERVICES TO EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN - GT
Aroostook Regional Gifted and Talented Program
The Aroostook Regional Gifted and Talented Program (ARGT) is now in its 19th year. ARGT provides 6 – 8 week intensive classes for gifted students in grades 7 – 12. Last semester Taylor Lawrence and Lisa Dayringer attended a Creative Writing class held at UMPI and Anna Sherwood and Kacie Getchell attended an art class held at the Wintergreen Art Studio. This semester Taylor Lawrence is attending a Creative Writing class in Caribou, Meghan Frank is going to an astronomy class held at the Francis Malcolm Science Center, and Mikaela Hathaway and Justin Guerrette are attending an art class held at the Wintergreen Art Studio.
Guys and Goals, sponsored by ADSEC – GT, is a program for academically able 5th and 6th grade boys in math and science. The intent of this program is to enrich and encourage young, academically able boys in these areas. They have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities with male role models involved in math and science fields of work. Guys and Goals was held December 14, 2007, at UMPI. Boys attending from Easton include Nick Clark, Cody Halvorson, Hunter Turner, and Zach Dusza.
Girls and Gifts, also sponsored by ADSEC-GT, is a similar program for girls in the 5th and 6th grade, involving women role models in the math and science areas. Girls and Gifts, originally scheduled for Feb. 13, was re-scheduled to March 25 due to the weather. Girls participating from Easton include Alex Allen, Kerrigan Arnett, Kylee Carter, and Kelsey Frank.
MRS. GAYLE MCKINNEY – GRADES 4 AND 6 MATH - All classes have been working hard to get ready for the MEA. Grade 4 has been working on division and order of operation. Grade 5 is working on a fraction unit using addition and subtraction. We just added the multiplication of fractions also. Students found the addition and subtraction very challenging! Grade 6 has completed a unit on fractions, decimals, and percents and is currently working on mean, median, mode, and range as a change of pace. Before vacation Grade 8 finished a unit on slope. I hope to complete a mini-unit on rotational symmetry and rational and irrational numbers before testing begins.
MR. DARREN WEST – STUDENT COUNCIL -The week of February 11-15 was a banner week for our school! The boys’ varsity basketball team won their prelim game and the Bears made a return to the Bangor Auditorium on Saturday. It was also Winter Carnival week at the high school. Ultimately the seniors won the overall carnival and deserve hearty congratulations. The juniors and sophomores tied for second place. It was a very spirited and exciting week. Perhaps the greatest upset of the week was when the seventh graders knocked the freshmen out of competition for the tug-of-war crown!
MISS PAMELA MURCHISON – NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY -Congratulations to the newest members of the National Honor Society—Casey Baston, C. J. Beaton, Kaitlin Bennett, Lisa Dayringer, Luke Fuller, and Corey White. The Induction Ceremony for the new members was held Tuesday, March 4th at 7:00.
The members will be traveling to the National Honor State Convention on March 14 and 15. Aroostook County native and renowned author, Cathie Pelletier will be the keynote speaker at the Banquet of the Yellow Rose and Friday’s speaker will be former Governor Angus King. On a very exciting note, Sam Bacon will be running for Maine’s NHS State President. Sam is required to give a speech on the topic of leadership to the State NHS membership Friday morning at the University of Maine.
MR. PAUL SUTHERLAND – MATH DEPARTMENT - The Math Team is doing well. We are currently in second place in the small school division, trailing Fort Kent by only one point. We are looking forward to the last meet of the year on March 12th in Madawaska. Easton currently has the third highest scoring senior, the first and second highest junior, the second highest sophomore and the second highest freshman. Great job Math Team!
Our juniors will be taking the SAT on May 3rd. We will be prepping them thoroughly a few weeks prior to the test. Please encourage them to do their very best.
In Physics, we are having our annual mouse trap race car event on March 25th.
MR. BRYAN WRIGHT – SCIENCE DEPARTMENT - Our High School Earth Science class has just completed a study of the mineral kingdom. They will next be studying igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and how they form. The College Biology class is currently studying viruses and bacteria. They are presently learning how to stain bacteria for viewing and testing the effectiveness of antibiotics and antiseptics on bacterial growth. The College Chemistry class has been studying the chemistry of water. They have been conducting tests for water hardness, specific heat & heat of fusion, and will be conducting tests for oxygen content, carbon dioxide content, phosphates, nitrates, and pH values.
The Technical Chemistry class has begun a unit on qualitative and quantitative analysis. They recently determined the quantity of sulfur dioxide used in the preservation of dried fruit.
Juniors will be preparing for the upcoming science augmentation portion of the revised Maine Learning Results. This will be our first look at the new test which will be taken in April.
Easton Parent Community Organization - The EPCO provides funding for special programs such as cultural field trips and special events at both the elementary and high school. The EPCO also awards a $300.00 scholarship to a member of Easton High School’s graduating class, as well as scholarships to UMPI’s Project Explore program for grades 2-7. Visit our web page at the Easton School District site. EPCO meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm in the Easton Elementary School library. Childcare is provided.
EPCO held its annual Harvest Party in October, where children got their fill of goodies and games. Many thanks to all the local businesses that contributed and the parents and students that helped make it such a success! The Scholastic Book Fair – Blizzard of Books was a huge success! Ted Shapiro spent a snowy evening with us at the Family Reading Night, where he read about weather and showed us all sorts of COOL pictures! Through sales of books, the group was able to provide a book for each child and teacher at the elementary school. Santa arrived on a fire truck to deliver the gifts, and Mr. Keenan assisted in delivering the packages - a great time was had by all!
The EPCO is still earning money through the General Mills Box Tops For Education program. Currently we are holding a contest for students who bring in the most Box Tops. The community is encouraged to save tops for a favorite student or they can be dropped off at the checkout at Mike’s family Market. For each person that signs up online to receive Box Tops mailings, the school will get two Box Tops! You can learn more about the program at www.boxtops4education.com. Used ink cartridges and cell phones can be left in a box in the elementary school office. We are able to recycle them for cash!
March will enter like a lion with the “March for Pennies” at the elementary school. Classes will again try to out-do each other, and extra points will be awarded to those who bring change that does not have to be rolled! Visit the elementary school to see how much snow your child’s class has melted! Remember, pennies are not the only currency accepted. EPCO will take all coins and bills - even checks! The money raised in this event will be returned to each classroom to purchase necessary items for students.
Find Out More: Contact Cyndi Kimball at 488-7701
EASTON F. F. A. - Yes, Virginia, it will stop snowing! Only 160" so far but who's counting! Our chapter has had an enjoyable year thus far. Seven of our members along with three chaperones traveled to national convention. The group flew from Bangor to Cincinnati Ohio and then drove to Lexington, KY. While in the Lexington area we toured the Kentucky Horse Park and drove around a few thoroughbred farms in the area. We toured Toyota’s Manufacturing facility in Georgetown, KY where we followed their manufacturing process from rolled steel to the finished Camry rolling off the assembly line. We also visited Mammoth Caves National Park, the Patton Museum and the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory. Our team members were very impressed with the National Convention facilities and all the exhibitors at the career fair. The teams found the competitions very challenging. This was our first year to compete in the job interview Career Development event. Kristen Boxwell competed in this event. We were very proud of her efforts. She was the only high school student competing against a field of State Officers and college students. All in all, we are very proud of our member’s efforts representing Maine and Easton. Those attending; Matt Blodget, Kristen Boxwell, Molly White, Sadie Romano, Tony Brown, Luke Budreau, Chris Flewelling, Bruce Blodget, Kim Embelton and Kevin Marquis.
Our chapter members joined with Mr.Grave’s lifetime sports class and members of Mrs. Kinsey’s band and chorus group for a Valentine’s Day dance with the senior citizens group at West Ridge Manor. This proved to be a very enjoyable time for all involve