"Spring's greatest joy beyond a doubt is when it brings the children out."- Edgar Guest

Dear YES Families,

The poet Edgar Guest says it well as he describes the joy of spring and observing our children energized by the longer days and warmer weather. As we return from April vacation we have already seen this at YES with more students riding their bicycles to school and beginning to engage in several after school activities outside. As you will see from the length of this newsletter activity is the definitely the theme for this month at YES! It is hard to believe that we only have about seven weeks of school left this year, yet there are so many exciting learning experiences still to come for your children. 

MAY DATES & EVENTS

Friday, May 4th: Community Meeting

This Friday at 2:45 p.m. we will join together as school community and celebrate "ACES Day".  Ms. Pachuta and Steamer will be leading our students and staff on this fun, nationwide event!  Project ACES (All Children Exercise Simultaneously), is a signature program of the Youth Fitness Coalition, Inc. Project ACES was created by physical education teacher Len Saunders in 1989 as a method of motivating children to exercise. ACES takes place the first week in May as part of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month along with National Physical Education Week. It has been labeled as "the world's largest exercise class" by the media.  Thank you to Ms. Pachuta and Steamer for kicking off May with such a fun event!

Friday, May 7th-11th: Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week- V.I.T.!

I hope that you will take a moment to Celebrate Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week with me! Our teachers and staff at YES provide so much to our students—inspiration, motivation and, ultimately, their futures. Our educators work impacts and extends far beyond the boundaries of the classroom. From May 7-11, 2018, we would like to show our thanks and gratitude by treating them like a V.I.T. – VERY IMPORTANT TEACHER! I hope that you will take the time to show your appreciation this week with the educators who work with your child.  Often a simple note of thanks means the world to our staff.

Spring NWEA MAP & MPG Testing

The week of May 7th our fourth graders will be taking the spring MAP growth assessments the mornings of Monday, May 7th and Wednesday, May 9th.  Our third graders will take the assessment the morning of Tuesday, May 8th and Thursday, May 10th.  Second graders will take the spring MPG assessment the mornings of Monday, May 14th and Wednesday, May 15th (for Davis, Tate, Gautreau) and Tuesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 17th (for Spencer/Moll).  Thank you for ensuring that students are here on time and well rested for these assessments. As you know, these assist our instructional practices and are another tool to help us learn how students have grown in reading and math throughout the school year. 

Thursday, May 17th: Grade 4 Chorus, Band and Orff Ensemble Spring Performances at 6:30 PM

I've been secretly listening to them practice and they sound so amazing! I look forward to you joining us for this celebration of learning, growth and fun. Thank you to Mrs. Troy and Mr. Ciechomski for all their hard work supporting our young singers and musicians on this year long journey.

Thursday, May 17th: PTO Meeting 7:00 PM 

After an exciting concert please consider stopping in the library to join our monthly PTO meeting and thank them for all the work they do to support student learning! Everyone is always welcome to join these monthly meetings.

Friday, May 18th: Bike To School Day

May is National Bike Month! National Bike to Work Week is May 14th-18th and we are declaring May 18th as "YES Bike to School Day"!  More details will follow as we approach this date. Thank you to Mr. Abbott for taking the lead on this fun event!

Wednesday, May 23rd: 4th to 5th Step-Up Parent Night at Harrison Middle School 6:30 PM

4th to 5th Step-Up Parent Night is on Wednesday, May 23, from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM in the HMS cafeteria. You will have an opportunity to learn about HMS, explore the hopes you have for your child during the middle school years, along with any concerns you have about 5th grade. You will be taken you on a tour of the school website, and the 5th grade team will share information about your child’s upcoming year, which will give you a glimpse into daily life at the middle school.

Friday, May 25th: Grandparents/Special Friends Day 9:15-11:15 AM

At this annual YES event, Grandparents/Special Friends will attend classes with their grandchildren and have some light refreshments in the cafeteria before hearing a special music performance put on by Mrs. Troy and our students. In order to ease parking and traffic congestion, we are offering shuttle service from the Exit 15 Yarmouth Park & Ride.  There is not enough parking to accomodate everyone at YES so we encourage families to take one of these shuttles that will leave the lot at 8:45 and 9:00 AM.  Shuttles will return immediately after the music performance. We will be sending home an informational flier that highlights this information as we approach the day.

Monday, May 28th: Memorial Day NO SCHOOL

For our band parents please remember that our students participate in the Yarmouth Memorial Day parade that morning!

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

From the Nurse's Office: Lyme Disease Awareness Month

May is Lyme Disease Awareness month.  The numbers of tick bourn illnesses in the Northeast have increased dramatically in the last 10 years.  The Maine CDC would like to remind you that tick prevention is the best medicine, and to keep you and your family safe by following these four simple steps: 1) Wear protective clothing 2) Use an EPA approved repellant 3) Perform daily tick checks 4) Use caution in tick-infested areas.For more information, you can reference the Maine CDC here: Maine CDC tick information and the school nurse blog here: YES nurse blog.

World Fish Migration Day: May 12th at Royal River Park

Our fourth grade students have been working diligently for several months on a salmon hatchery project where they have been monitoring their growth and will soon be releasing the salmon in mid-May. Locally, the Royal River Alliance is sponsoring "World Fish Migration Day".  The details include:

What: Create awareness of the importance of open rivers and migrating fish 

Where: Royal River Park

When: Saturday 5/1210-2pm

Who:  All ages; family fun & learn about our Royal River watershed and habitat

FREE Activites:

  •         Fishing (run by FPC Earth Stewardship; poles from IF&W)
  •         Canoeing (run by YHS Outing Club)
  •         Fish Stocking (Tim Knedler IF&W in New Gloucester)
  •         History Talk by Katie Worthing of Yarmouth History Museum
  •         Environmental “Fair” (RRCT, Maine Rivers, CBEP, TNC, Trout Unlimited, Friends of Casco Bay)
  •         Educational walk/talk to the Bridge St and Elm Street dams and fish ladders 

For our fourth grade students (and all aspriing fisherman) in particular this is an excellent opportunity that connects to our learning at YES this year. Please consider attending! 

Spring Transition Activities in June

During the month of June we will be wrapping up this year but also helping transition our students to the 2018-19 school year.  Ourfourth grade students will be spending a "step up" day where they will visit HMS, meet the administration and staff, and learn about the fifth grade year. The day of the event is being finalized, but parents will hear more about this at the May 23rd parent meeting at HMS.  

Additionally, we will be implementing a new "Step-Up Day" for all YES students.  On Monday, June 18th students will get the opportunity to spend some time with their 2018-19 teacher.  We feel that this is a wonderful opportunity to meet their teacher, learn who will be in their class next year and hopefully help with any anxiety that students may have about moving onward and upward. More details will follow in my June end of year newsletter.

Of course, I have not listed all of the field trips, learning celebrations and other wonderful classroom based events occurring this spring but your teachers will be communicating all of this with you.  I look forward to seeing many of you at these important events and celebrating all the growth your children have made as learners this year.  Also, please remember that our annual YES Field Day is the afternoon of Friday, June 15th (rain date: Monday, June 18th) and the last day of school is a half day on Tuesday, June 19th

Whew!  That is everything to share for now. This has been such a productive, positive and rewarding school year for our staff and students.  I look forward to our last few weeks of school and, as always, appreciate your partnership in this process. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can support your child's learning experience in any way as we finish these last few weeks.

Best Regards,

Ryan Gleason, YES Principal