LIBRARY NEWS
By Sharon Waagner
With record-breaking reading taking place, the 2006 Parents As Reading Partners program has been pronounced a resounding success. PARP ended on April 3 but not before 32 children in grades 1 through 6 managed to tally 22,371 minutes in total reading time. Breaking it down further, this translates to over 372 hours, or 15 and one half days of uninterrupted reading! Amazing, especially when you realize that each child was asked to read for at least 15 minutes a day for 5 days over the four week period. This would have added up to 300 minutes per child or 9600 for a grand total. Thank you to all of our parents for supporting our efforts.
Our annual after-school celebration was held on March 31 with 26 PARPers in attendance for games, reading and supper with families. Our events included a relay race, jellybean shuffle, and a word challenge. Periodically, our readers would go to a quiet corner to read a favorite book and rest up for the next challenge. With the weather cooperating beautifully, we also had time to sit outside to read. The elementary students were divided equally into three teams – the Rockin’ Robins, the Eager Eagles, and the Busy Bluebirds. Each team also had to come up with a team poster as well as a team poem. Posters and poems are currently on display in the Elementary Library. Our teams took a supper break to meet parents and to order happy meals from McGeigers which were a tremendous hit thanks to Mr. Geiger’s hard work and his able helpers, Michael Hart and Stephen Pitcher.
Our day also included Readers Theater
selections by four grades – 2 & 3, 4, 5 and 6. As always, the finale of our long and
fun-packed day included awards, books for all participants,
and the tutti ta.
A very special thank you must be
expressed to the 14 high school students who so willingly gave up a Friday
afternoon and evening to oversee teams, help with team-building activities, and
read to the younger students. In
addition to Michael and Stephen, those students are National Honor Society
members Nicole Andrews, David Andrews, Chelsey Wallace, and Alex Holton as well
as Andy Snide, Sierra Olbert Kaylie Miller, Colleen Nerney, Courtney Foster,
Felicia Cortis, Lyndsey Skerrett, and Elizabeth Hamdan.
A final ice cream party will be held
after spring recess where recognition and awards will take place.
22,371 minutes in
total reading time!
Wow - Great job!
Guidance News
Senior Plans for next year are pretty
much in place. Brooke Armstrong is
planning to attend
Many
of the juniors have been exploring
college options, but few have taken the opportunity to begin visiting
colleges. I understand that spring and
summer are busy times, but I cannot stress enough the importance of college
visits! Colleges look very good in their
publications because they work hard to do so.
In order to get the best fit, students need to tour the campus, meet
with an admissions counselor and a financial aid counselor, meet with
professors and/or students from their interested departments, eat on campus and
ideally even spend a night there. The
goal for juniors this spring is to narrow their list of college choices down to
Students
in grades 8-11 will be meeting with
me in the next few weeks to discuss possible course selections for next year,
to review graduation requirements and to discuss post-graduate plans. Student schedules will be mailed home over
the summer when the master class schedule is completed.
Summer programs for exploring academic
programs or building sports skills are available at various colleges every
year. These are excellent opportunities
for kids to stretch their skills, meet new friends and explore college
options. For instance,
There
is an excellent resource online at www.kidscamps.com for summer camps in many different
locations and interest areas including sports, fine arts, academics, self
improvement and special needs. Camps
Colby, DeBruce, Rushford, Long Point and Sacandaga are available in the near
vicinity for students ages 8-19. The
guidance office generally receives mailings for summer applications each
year. If you are interested, please
contact me and I’ll send you an application.
Health & Wellness Minutes
Health
& Wellness Policy Subcommittee
Present:
Gail Seaman, Karl Geiger, Sharon Waagner, Tisha White
After
reviewing the various sample policies that Karl and Gail had collected, we were
able to put together a draft board and local policy, which we think meets the
needs of our district, sets appropriate goals and still allows flexibility in
implementation. We will submit the
drafts to the full committee and Mr. Crampton for approval to send on to the
Board.
We
will have a full committee meeting next Thursday, March 16th at
Suggestions
for committee activities:
- Look into health
presentations that may be offered through adult education to the community
throughout the year.
- Include a health &
wellness page in the newsletter and web site.
- Look into health &
wellness presentations for faculty and staff for future staff development
training.
Health
& Wellness Full Committee
Present:
Gail Seaman, Karl Geiger, Sharon Waagner, Hallie Bond, Debra Jones, Will
Cortis, Tisha White
The
draft of our local board and district Health & Wellness Policy was reviewed
and approved to submit to Mr. Crampton and the Board.
There
were questions on current health and PE curriculums from Hallie and Debra.
There
was discussion on planning for Family University Night, which is scheduled for
Friday, April 28th. Mr.
Olbert is interested in having a dodge ball game as part of the event. Tisha will check with National Honor Society
and Student Council for students willing to do childcare. Karl will do a lasagna meal similar to last
year. For individual presentations,
Hallie will check with the
Debra
asked for clarification on use of the fitness center. Can non-resident or summer people get
access? There needs to be a policy in
place.
Health
& Wellness Subcommittee
Present:
Gail Seaman, Hallie Bond, Debra Jones, Tisha White
Family
University Night planning:
We
have confirmation on badminton (double session) and a presentation on health
screening/personal fitness and nutrition planning from the
We
need confirmation on all presentations by March 30th. The brochure needs to be mailed to community
members by April 3rd and information to the board of education on
April 10th. The deadline for
signing up for presentations will be April 24th. From past attendance, we need to estimate 80
for dinner and we’ll need to work out location if the gym will be used for
dodge ball and badminton.
We’ve had goody bags
in the past for participants. Gail
will check with public nursing and
We
need at least 4 students available for babysitting in the kindergarten and
elementary library with adult supervision.
Miscellaneous:
Gail
knows a massage therapist interested in setting up hours in
Health
& Wellness Subcommittee
Present:
Gail, Karl, Tisha
Next
meeting: April 6th at
v
Approval
of
v
Next
Regular meeting set for
v
Approval
of February 2006 Treasurer’s Reports.
v
Approval
of Warrants # 16 and # 17.
v
Comprehensive
Budget/Revenue Status Reports and Budget Transfers were reviewed.
v
The
‘06-’07 school year Budget was reviewed.
v
Approval
of a roofing warranty initial inspection from Firestone.
v
Approval
of Mrs. Rita Mitchell and Ms. Stephanie Howe as election inspectors.
v
Superintendent
Conference Day is
v
The
‘06-’07 school year senior trip was discussed.
v
Approval
of the 7th and 8th grade trip to
v
Approval
of the proposed 5-year capital facilities plan using the Building Condition
Survey for guidance.
v
Approval
of unpaid coaching assistants Rich Miller/softball,
and Kevin Austin/baseball pending fingerprint clearance.
v
The
‘06-’07 school year calendar was reviewed, changes
will be made to this initial presentation.
v
Discussion
of the proposed prom took place.
v
The
FCS/Technology Project bid opening date is
v
The
Generator is up and running smoothly.
v
Discussion
regarding a successful Movie Night and similar future event took place.
v
Senior
Take Over Day is scheduled for
v
The
Board was receptive to the initial request posed by Tupper Lake CSD for
potential usage of a spare classroom.
v
Unused
Snow Days may be scheduled in the upcoming months.
v
A
trip to St. Lawrence University is scheduled for students to use the facilities
rock climbing wall and swimming pool.
v
Winter
Sports Recognition Night is scheduled for
v
The
Board accepted the resignation of Mrs. Tina Burnett.
Special meeting
v
Approval
of the Board of Education to accept responsibilities as Lead Agent for the
district’s Heating System Improvement Project-Phase 2.
v
Approval
of the New York State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) Conservation Law, as
amended.
Complete Board
meeting minutes are available for review in the business office during normal
business hours.
PRE-KINDERGARTEN
SCREENING DAY
On
If you have not received a letter contacting you with the details of the
day and have a child living in the district who will turn four (4) years old prior to
WELLNESS CLASSES
FOR SPRING 2006
AT LLCS
Wynde Kate Keough will be offering two Wellness classes at
