Principal’s News

Dear Calais Families and Friends,

          I wish to thank parents that volunteered to participate on the Grades 3 and 4 hiring committees.  Once the superintendent has approved the committee recommendations, I will bring two names to the school board.  Additionally, we will have an opening next year in Grade 2.  This is a one year full time position to cover a one year leave of absence.  I will hold interviews for the Grade 2 position after the Grade 3 and 4 positions are officially filled.  I do have an interview committee of parents and teachers for the Grade 2 position.

          Now that we are into the second semester, we have new group of fifth and sixth grade students that are participating on the student leadership committee, called Round Table.  Currently these students are responsible for planning the school sleepover event, which is scheduled for Friday, March 16^th.  Members of the Round Table rotate the weekly responsibility of announcing end of the day school dismissal and they interview and take a picture of the student “Star of the Day.”

          Speaking of stars, we’re very proud of our NECAP outcomes!   Calais NECAP (New England Common Assessment Portfolio) results were mailed home to families on Monday.  Teachers have been concentrating on honing their literacy and math instruction and our students have responded by working hard-- it shows in our NECAP scores. 

          Mr. Fish and I are hoping to have a school-wide outdoor winter celebration on the afternoon of Friday, February 24^th, prior to February break.  The playground is currently quite icy; if we don’t get any fresh snow in time for the activities on the 24^th, we will instead plan on a regular day of classes.  In that case, we will reschedule a “winter celebration” once Mother Nature decides that it’s time for winter in Vermont, and she provides us with snow on our Calais playground. 

Enjoy the weekend.

Sincerely, Grace

DATES TO REMEMBER:  

For a complete listing of events click on CALENDAR from the home page of the school website www.calaisschool.org

·         Tues 2/21 – School Board Meeting 6:15pm at CES

·         Fri 2/24 – School-wide Outdoor Winter Fun Day at CES

·         Mon 2/27-Mon 3/5 – No School: winter vacation

·         Tues 3/6 – No School: Town/School Meeting at Calais Town Hall

·         Wed 3/14 – Pi Night 6:00pm

·         Fri 3/16 – Grades 4-5-6 Sleepover 7:00pm

Please note that if you currently get the newsletter via email the system has changed.

 If you wish to still receive the newsletter via email or would like to start receiving the newsletter via email please go to the Calais website and subscribe to it.  You will notice that a new menu called “Main Quick Links” has been added to the left side of the CES website. Under this menu a link to subscribe to the newsletter has been added.  If you click on the “Subscribe to Newsletter” link you will be instructed on how to enter your email to receive newsletters.

You can at this time also sign up for other schools’ newsletters in our district that have also been converted to the new system.  Thanks for your understanding and continued support.

Candy Chevalier, WCSU Network Administrator  

Art News     February 14, 2012

Dear Students, Parents, and Friends,

Today is Valentine’s Day and the students are filled with the “heart” feeling of appreciating each other and sharing warmth and kindness with everyone.

Kindergarten students worked on winter scenes from the book “Snow” by Uri Shulevitz. By tinting their primary colors, they created wonderful compositions. Next, they worked with a white oil pastel to write a secret message, and then discovered the message when adding watercolors. For their parents at Valentine’s Day, they made pop-up cards.

 First grade children worked on drawing horses; after their classroom study with horses, and becoming familiar of looking and observing this big animal, the drawings were exquisite and wonderful. Talking about big animals, the dinosaurs have entered the art world. Children created distance by overlapping two or three dinosaurs. For Valentine’s Day, they worked on water-resist watercolor paintings.

Second grade students explored a ‘right-brain’ exercise by estimating and mapping the features of a ‘wolf’. The children were happy with the outcome. This exercise is one of the many methods that teach us to draw animals and/or people. A FABLE, with story line and drawings, has become the main theme for the next few weeks. Each child created their animal.

Third and Fourth grade children learned about GRANDMA MOSES. Remarkable, how Anna Mary Moses, a primitive painter, captured the art scene with her lovely childhood stories and paintings. Students were inspired by her work and created their own version of the Vermont landscape with year around traditions.

Five and Sixth grade students continued their ‘famous artist’ project. Each child researched an artist of their choice and documented the biography. Quotes were collected, and word and image was posted on their computers by using the “Prezi.com” tool. Remarkable!!! Students began to create an artwork similar to their artist that you can admire in the hallway. Enjoy!

Artfully Yours,

Heidemarie Holmes-Heiss

2012 CALAIS VARIETY SHOW

Sign up forms sent home last week, and are available in the lobby.

SIGN UP FORMS DUE Friday February 24^th!

This year, rather than have a series of rehearsals at school we are encouraging students and families to organize these practices at home, during times that work for those involved in the act.  To feel prepared we suggest practicing your act at least five times in front of others.

DATES:  Practice = Fri 3/16, Dress Rehearsal = Fri 3/23, and Show = Friday 3/30

You MUST attend both the practice and rehearsal in order to perform in the show.

Questions: Contact Cat 456-1007 or Buffy 456-1971

Calais Recreation Baseball/Softball Sign-ups

Due at school Friday March 9, 2012

• T-ball (5 year olds) practices/games Saturday mornings
• Farm (little league age 6-8) games Saturday mornings,  possibly one week day practice, day TBA
• Minors (little league age 9& 10) practices/games Tuesdays/Thursdays
• Majors (little league age 11&12) practices/ games Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays
• Softball (girls grades 3-6)  Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays
• NOTE:  little league baseball is done by age not grade level

(little league age, is your child’s age as of April 30^th of the current year)

Coaches are need for: Farm & T-ball

          If you are interested in coaching or assisting you must submit a volunteer application also due 3/9, it is required to fill one out every year.  Questions:  Buffy Root 456-1971

         If your child is interested in playing, please submit the registration & medical forms by FRIDAY MARCH 9^th, as it will determine the number of teams (and at some levels if there is a team) as well as the schedule for the season.

          Registration Fee: $35 first child/$25 second/$15 third/T-ball only $25

          Checks payable to:  CRA (Calais Recreation Association)

Indoor Soccer “Futsal”

Futsal is played with no walls on a small field with 4 field players and a goalie per side (5 vs 5).

The Central Vermont Strikers Soccer Club is organizing teams within our school district for 5v5 "Futsal" Indoor Soccer at the nearby Montpelier Civic Center.  The season begins (after school basketball ends) in March and runs for 7 weekends (so it ends before baseball starts, for most schools).

The Third and fourth graders are called "U-10's for 10 years old or under, fifth and sixth graders  are generallyU-12 s),  and 7th and 8th graders (U-14).   U-12 coach is CJ Flynn and U-10 teams will be coached by Emmanuel Riby-Williams (formerly the Varsity coach at U-32) and by Varsity Soccer Players Austin McEathron and Emily George.  

U-10 plays on early Friday evenings, U-12 teams play on Saturdays.   The cost for the season is $ 90.00 per player.  If your son or daughter is interested sharpening his or her soccer skills, but you don't want to pay a fortune, please consider joining the CV- Strikers.  Contact CJ Flynn ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " target=_blank> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 229-2270) for more information.  Thanks from the CV- Strikers! 

We hope you will visit our class book blog where we have just posted podcasts of interviews we did as part of our Gary Paulsen author study!  Find out more about Hatchet, Woodsong, and other good adventure stories.  These are our first podcasts we have ever tried, so there was a big learning curve!   Updated 2/20/12