INTRODUCTION TO PRE-K
Judy Wurster
On
May 19th, LLCS will be having Pre-Kindergarten Screening Day. If you have not received a letter contacting
you with details of the day and have a child living in the district who will
turn 4 years old on or before December 1, 2005 and would like to participate in
the screening, please contact LLCS at 624-2221.
The sign-up letter will be sent to you.
It is a great way to expose your child to “school” and to increase the
excitement of September.
WAY TO GO (LONG WAY…!) DIANNE
Gail Seaman
Congratulations
to Diane Waters, on completing the MORE Marathon for Women in New York City on April 10, 2005. Diane completed the 26-mile marathon despite
an excruciating injury early in the race. She completed this challenge
to encourage people to strive to meet difficult goals, encourage physical fitness
and to raise donations for Stem Cell Cancer Treatment for LLCS alumni Debbie
Wallace O’Brien, (Class of 1971), who is experiencing a second time challenge
herself. Among
many other talents and jobs Dianne is a substitute bus driver and Fitness Center
Supervisor for LLCS.Dianne
we thank-you and salute you in your accomplishment, and to Debbie we give our
thoughts and prayers.
COATS FOR KIDS
Gail Seaman
Thanks
to all who brought in coats, jackets, snow pants and other outerwear items for PTSA’s Coats for Kids (and adults) program.
Many
were put to good use and remaining winter items have been put away for the next
cold weather season. Lightweight jackets, jean jackets and raincoats are still
on the rack outside the Christine Snide Memorial Fitness Center and available to anyone. Please help
yourself, and stay warm!
NEWS FROM THE ART ROOM
Michele
Gannon
Our students had some wonderful results at this
year’s juried high school art show in March at Lake Placid. Congratulations to Brooke Armstrong, Nicole
Andrews, Sara Lamos, Alex Olbert, and William Cortis for having their work
displayed. Sara Lamos won a Juror’s
Choice Award for her charcoal drawing of her nephew. William Cortis won Best of Middle School for
his self-portrait in oil pastel, and Alex Olbert was Awarded Best of Show in
the Textile division for his silk painting entitled, “Mr. Tefoe
at the Newcomb Dump”. Over 14 schools
throughout the North Country submitted work to this
show.
Our Artist
of the Month for March was Vincent Van Gogh.
Kindergarten –2nd grade created
giant sunflowers with paint and cornstarch, creating textural swirls with
fingers and the back end of brushes. They also made textural clay tiles to go
with their sunflower theme. 3rd-5th completed plaster
tiles using elements found in Van Gogh’s Starry
Night.
The
7th & 8th grades are looking at art from different
countries in Africa. Currently,
they are creating Adire cloth. This cloth, originating
from Nigeria, uses distinct geometric and organic shapes
created with a starch paste and then immersed in vats of indigo dye.
We
are making our indigo cloth with wax and synthetic dyes. These students have
come up with an array of interesting patterns! These patterns were transferred
to silk patterns, outlined with wax and then painted
different shades of blue and blue’s relatives, green and purple.
Our
painting and drawing students have been busy painting with oils and acrylics,
large murals that will eventually make
their way into the cafeteria for installation.
Sculpture students are working on tile and glass mosaics. A very big thanks to Mr. Valovic
and his students Matt LaPlant and Craig Wamback for
their continual help in building frames and tables for these projects.
Student’s
artwork can be seen in the Christine Snide Memorial Fitness Center, or in the hall adjacent to the business
offices
.
FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCE
Deborah Havas
It has been a
busy spring in the FCS classes. Grade K
has finished creating their Hungry Caterpillar books, complete with deciding
what their hungry caterpillar would eat as we reviewed counting from 1-6. They were also the illustrators, counting and
labeling their fruits and vegetables.
Now they are creating snacks that he might enjoy.
Grades1&
2 have finished creating their booklets on healthy food groups and are now in
the kitchen with our literature and cooking unit. Grade 3 has completed their sewing totes after
designing them to suit themselves. They used the sewing machines to make pin
cushions for their totes and added pins, needles and cloth with which to make
future, at home, projects. Now they are
in the kitchen making butter, buttermilk biscuits and other recipes.
Grade
4 concluded their nutrition unit by planning and preparing breakfast at school
which we shared in the FCS classroom.
Mrs. Hollenbeck and Mr. Patzwald were invited
to join us. They realized that cooking
for 10 takes some time. All turned out
well. We had a fresh fruit cup, juice,
scrambled eggs and “scratch” pancakes.
Time went quickly and the period was up.
They did a super job with clean-up, too!
I was very pleased with their manners.
I hope they remember to use them everywhere.
Grade
5 concluded their unit on whole grains by making granola and creating cinquains on their favorite grain. We shared them with the whole school by
posting them in the hall. Now they are
into their final sewing project. They are creating stuffed dinosaurs from a
pattern. What fun! They love using the sewing machines.
Grade 7
created pamphlets on “Responsibility” and shared them with the pre-K& K
students, one-on-one. The students
became aware of how responsibility improves when you are placed in a teaching
role. They really enjoyed the
experience! Now they are researching a
career of choice which will be presented to the younger students in the form of
an assembly, complete with simple props and dress of the various professions.
Our
Working With Children class is preparing lessons involving reading to young
children and is working with getting experience reading to the Kindergarten
class before moving on to preparing lessons involving movement, art, music,
science and math.
Libbye Powers hosted a Vegetarian
Tastes-testing for faculty and staff after school. This was part of her Independent Study class
on the vegetarian lifestyle. Available
for tasting was Miso Soup with carrots, kale, tofu
and rice noodles. Also, there was a
vegetarian stir-fry with Hal’s Special Sauce served over brown rice,
Amaranth-Bean-Chili-Porridge with Zhoug , Hummus with
tortilla strips, whole wheat crescent yeast rolls, and a variety of sprouts to
try which she sprouted herself in class. We all enjoyed every taste!
ORGANIC GARDEN UPDATE
This
year we will construct the final two rays of the sun for planting This will complete the design.
Students are already asking about the planting.
Root crops are planned that can be harvested in the fall by the
students. Art classes are preparing
mosaic stepping stones to be placed in the walkways around the garden. A sculpture is also being planned as a future
project. Wish us luck!!
LIBRARY NEWS
Sharon Waagner
An Adirondack décor – what a fun idea. This thought has dashed through my brain often
during my years in the high school library. Students, collection development,
resources, etc. all take precedence so you can imagine my surprise in March
when Mike Valovic’s 11th and 12th
grade tech students presented a beautiful cedar table to the library. It is
a well-constructed piece with plank top and half-wagon wheel sides.
It holds a place of honor and is
currently displaying Adirondack great camp and rustic furniture
books. I asked the students to sign
their names on the underneath of the table as the precedent had been set many
years earlier by Fred Burns. You see, we
also have a rectangular table that was built by Fred in 1939. Our newest
addition is the creation of Matt LaPlant, Craig Wamback,
Alex Olbert, Noah Beardsley, Tim Helms and Nick Luxford. The plans are also on
display and we invite you to stop by and see it for yourself.
In our elementary library we feature
a display of preserved Adirondack mammals and birds which were donated by
local residents over the years. Students love to look at them and imagine how
they once roamed the nearby woods or flew over their homes.
As I began to think more seriously
about the idea of an Adirondack theme, I looked about the high school
library. There is much we cannot and should not change – shelving, other
tables, computer setups, etc. – but we could add to the top of the bookcases
and to our picture collection and perhaps be a little more creative with our
colors and trim. Currently, we have a large framed portrait of Washington crossing the Delaware. Harry Graham once told me it has been
part of LLCS for many years. The faculty association added a photograph of the High Peak area in memory of Roberta English, a former
social studies teacher. Monies donated to the library in her name also helped
us to purchase a glass display case for our antique book collection. With the
help of Ed Wight, I added four prints from the Adirondack museum collection a number of years ago.
Since then, we have purchased an oak case to display and store atlases. I will
also be moving some of our elementary library critters upstairs which also
makes more room for our puppet collection in that room.
I have some ideas for subtle changes
and would be very interested in collecting items for display on our bookcases.
Please call or write me at school if you have Adirondack items which might be appropriate to our
needs or if you would like to be part of (as they say on tv) the “design team.” Your suggestions are welcome.
Please contact me before making donations. You may also send an e-mail to me at
waagsha@yahoo.com.
PARP FAMILY FUN NIGHT – 2005
Sharon Waagner
Once again, young readers celebrated
reading with the annual Parents As Reading Partners
Fun Night. On Friday, March 18, 17 elementary students and 7 middle
school students gathered after school to take part in our special event. Our chaperones were Cheryl O’Hara, Tina Pine
and Sharon Waagner. Our middle school students – Ben Austin, Elizabeth Hamdan,
Colleen Nerney, Felicia Cortis, Michael Hart, Lyndsey
Skerrett, and Alex Smith – served as co-captains for
each of three teams. Participating elementary students were Ben Geiger, Henry Sandiford, Curtis Seaman, Kailah
Armstrong, Ranya Hamdan, Jazmin
Piraino, Shaneka Burch, Prudence Dechene,
Meg Smith, Emily Waters, Arthur Jennings, Artur
Santos, Rachelle Frost, Johnathan Cortis, Kelsie
Adams, Melissa Clark and Bryan Geiger.
This
year’s theme was “Caution! Readers at Work” and a construction theme took over.
Teams were named Engineers, Excavators, and Pavers and competed in poster and
song contests, relay races, and a wheel of fortune game. We even managed to get in some quiet reading
time! The kitchen staff, Karl Geiger and Lou Waagner, wore vests and hard hats
and matched our theme with a “buildable” supper.
Students received brown bags with fruit and
chips and then constructed their own subs or sandwiches. They also “built”
dessert with brownies, ice cream and luscious toppings.
Parents joined us for supper,
staying to observe the evening activities.
Mr. Patzwald joined us as well and everyone participatated in the traditional “tutti
ta” finale. Our celebration concluded with participation
awards and free books for all students. Our end of PARP ice cream party was
held on Wednesday, April 6. Participating students received certificates of
completion and gift books. This was yet another great PARP year and we look
forward to repeating it in 2006.
PARP
would like to thank Karl Geiger for going the extra mile for our supper and our
ice cream party; the PTSA for their generous donation toward our expenses; Lou
Waagner for volunteering his services; Mr. Patzwald
for providing books for each child attending Family Fun Night; and all of the
parents who so wholeheartedly supported our efforts by reading with their
children.
WINN-DIXIE FOLLOW-UP
Sharon Waagner
In February, grades 3, 4 and 5 were
treated to a special showing of “Because of Winn-Dixie” at the State Theater in
Tupper Lake. As part of our library program, the
students had read the award-winning book and had great fun doing some compare
and contrast. While everyone thoroughly enjoyed the movie, the consensus seemed
to be that they loved the “mind picture” even more. What a great support for
the importance of reading!
As a culminating activity, the three
grades held a special “Gloria Dump Lunch” in the High School Library on
Wednesday, April 13. Gloria Dump was a particularly memorable character in this
story. The conclusion featured a special party at her home. In addition to the
pickles and egg salad sandwiches that were featured at Gloria’s party, our own
cafeteria provided “take-out” pizza, milk and salad. And just as in the story, when Otis the
manager strummed a guitar to “soothe the savage beasts” in the pet store, our
own Mrs. Cook arrived with her guitar to join us for lunch. Cake and an
especially large jar of “litmus lozenges”, a treat in the book, made the
luncheon a complete success.
A very special
thank you to Mrs. Parent, Mrs. Hollenbeck, and Mr. Baker for supporting our
reading activity with classroom discussions and follow-up. Thanks also
to Karl Geiger and Tina Burnett for helping to make our lunch such a success.
PLEASE NOTE*
EVERY TUESDAY IS NOW AN EARLY DISMISSAL DAY. THIS ACTION WILL HELP TO AVOID ANY FURTHER
CONFUSION. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTED
AND APPROVED THIS MOTION ON APRIL
14, 2005
The splendor of spring is upon us so
please get out and enjoy the black flies.
