Hawk Talk

It's hard to believe that we have been in school for almost a month! The students have done a great job learning classroom and school routines and expectations. Students have continued to work hard at learning our school-wide expectations: to be safe, respectful, kind and caring, and responsible.

In addition to students' hard work, I would like to acknowledge the other great things happening at the Duran School:

• Dirigo Reads, a nonprofit organization in Maine that provides free books to first graders, has decided to support the Duran School again this year. They will send one book per month to each of our first grade students. We are thankful for this opportunity to support student literacy.

• NWEA testing has gone smoothly. Students are working hard to show us what they know. In the coming weeks, we will finalize NWEA and Maine Through Year Assessment data, and teachers will begin analyzing results and adjusting their instruction.

• We had our first assembly! We reinforced the school expectation of safety, which will be our continued focus for next month. Students and classrooms were also awarded for their hard work.

Thank you all for your continued support of the Duran School. We are excited for the fun that October will bring!

Melissa Davis

Principal

We had our first assembly on September 28th. The theme of the first quarter is safety and how we can be safe in different areas of the school. Students shared their ideas and thoughts. The Unified Arts teachers gave out awards to the classrooms that demonstrated the best examples of school safety for the month of September. The awards are as follows:

Art: Mrs. Klages; Mrs. Hafford

Computer: Mrs. Darling; Mrs. O'Clair

Library: Miss Helms; Mrs. Leach

Music: Mrs. Chichetto; Mrs. Collins

PE: Mrs. Huston; Miss M. Kelley

We have seen a number of students sporting Hawk Club stickers this month. This means that they were caught following the school's expectations and are being a great school citizen. Each month we draw two students from each grade at our assembly. These students are allowed to pick an item from the Hawk Club menu. The following students are our Hawk Club Winners for the month of September:

Milo Hasselman

Lillian Sargent

Lincoln Kenney

James Dube

Carter Waling

Benjamin Sullivan

Thea Crocker

Zane Stubbs

Gage Morrell

Olivia Burnham

Beckett Stowe

Kingsley O'Brien

Jackson Nadeau

The month of September was certainly the month of the apple! We did a number of activities and lessons that took advantage of this favorite fall fruit:

PreK: Our friends in set-up their own apple orchard, complete with pretend apple stand.

Kindergarten: Our kindergarten students took a trip to Treworgy's Orchard to learn about apples, visit the goats, and try some tasty treats.

1st Grade: First graders examined the life cycle of an apple--from seed to fruit. They also explored apples using their five senses--including taste! They took these observations and created writing pieces with them.

3rd Grade: Third grade students used apples as part of their science curriculum. Students examined the apples to determine their sweetness. They related their observations to traits and selection.

4th Grade: Mrs. Collins wrote and received a grant through ReTreeUS for 12 fruit trees. The ReTreeUS group visited the school to talk about how to plant and maintain a healthy orchard. Together with the fourth grade students, they planted 6 apple trees and 6 pear trees. We are so excited and grateful for this opportunity.

Art: Mrs. Lever engaged students in painting with apples. Students were excited to use apples as a new tool to create art.

The week of October 8-14 is Fire Prevention Week. As a school, we are required to complete at least 8 fire drills per year. The Hermon Fire Department has done a great job supporting our drills and providing us with feedback designed to improve safety. In addition to working with us on drills, they also take time during Fire Prevention Week to discuss fire safety with all of our students. This will happen this year as well! We are very excited to have members of the Hermon Fire Department visit with our students and provide this valuable instruction.

There will be no school on October 6 (in-service day) and October 9 (holiday). At the Duran School, the Friday, October 6 in-service will focus on continued training in our Letterland Phonics program and mapping our science curriculum. As a staff, we are passionate about improving our craft and providing support for one another. The goal is for all students to experience high-quality instruction. The work we do during in-service time will provide staff with necessary training and collaboration time to provide all students with exceptional instruction.

Please make sure that your child packs an extra pair of seasonally-appropriate clothes in their backpacks. Trips and spills often happen at the elementary level, and this will allow for your child to change if necessary. If your child does not have extra clothes and needs a change, we will try our best to call and notify parents so they can bring a change of clothes.

When your child is absent, please verify their absence by calling the main office at (207) 848-4000, option 3 for the Duran School. Please do not send information regarding absences to your child's teacher via SeeSaw. They are often not checking SeeSaw during the day.

Excused absences include: illness, health related appointments, observance of recognized religious holidays when observance is required during school hours, family emergency situations, educational absences approved by the principal in advance, absences caused by school activities held during the school day. As a school, we are required to maintain and report truancy data to the state. Students who accumulate five consecutive unexcused absences or seven unexcused absences are considered by the state to be truant.

As you all know, dismissal and arrival times can be very chaotic. With close to 500 students to dismiss, it is critical that we have student plans. Please do not send dismissal information to your child's teacher through SeeSaw. Please call the main office or send your child with a note if their dismissal plans change. We begin preparing for dismissal at 2:00 and request that if plans need to change, they are done before 2:00.

If you have an urgent transportation questions after 4:00 pm the Rec Department has offered to take calls.