Submitted by James Black, Principal, Mt. Blue Middle School

Strive for Five Campaign

The Strive for 5 campaign at Mt. Blue Middle School was initiated after a routine end of the year audit on student data. After my first year as the principal of MBMS I wanted to see what our data, including attendance, said about my first year as principal. We reviewed academic, behavioral and demographic data to see deficiencies and strengths in order to create school wide goals. One area of major concern for me was the attendance data. It showed that our school of 540 students missed a combined total of over 1,300 school days last year. These days did not include sick days, suspension days or parent excused. They only included days in which students did not show up to school and had no reason why.

After some discussions within our student assistance team and a little research on schools that had similar issues we decided to implement a program called Strive for 5. This program has seen success around the country on curbing chronic absenteeism. The basics of the initiative were to challenge students and parents to strive for 5 absences or less throughout this school year. These absences would include planned vacations, doctor/dental appointments and days in which students just do not come to school. It was equally important to have parents involved with this initiative as well. We found throughout our data, we had lots of parents scheduling appointments throughout the school day considering it not a true absence from school. We are slowly making improvements on our attendance

Throughout this year, we have seen a steady decrease in the number of absences despite the school population rising (See Chart A). It has taken a lot of work, including staff and student buy in, but we are now moving in the right direction. Some of the things we are doing to promote good attendance is have posters and signs hung around the building encouraging students to Strive for 5. We also have weekly competitions between communities (Each grade level is broken into two communities) to see which group has the lowest total number of absences on Friday. At our monthly student of the month assembly we recognize all students who have still 5 absences or less and the winning community (90 students) and the most improved community from the prior month (90 students) receive a reward for their effort. We have received lots of positive feedback so far but the proof will be in the pudding as they say. Early indications show things are improving but we still have four and a half months left to go.

Chart A – MBMS Absences

Submitted by Isabel Cochrane, Parent

I am a parent of four children, three of whom were diagnosed with autism. Two of them are considered severe, nonverbal, but have done great so far, thanks to Child Developmental Services support in Arundel, our interventionist Linda Gatz who worked with all three of our kids. She is amazing, hard worker and very focused. Shooting Stars pre school in Scarborough and Young School in Saco and therapists both at school and outside school.

My two boys who have attended school, have done well with the teachers and paraprofessionals, they both have been able to achieve incredible milestones.

We recently moved to Florida because of family and weather, but I am writing this to say that, even though I moved to Florida, I still believe Maine has the best educational support, and some might disagree, but the best support system for children with disabilities.

Those professionals need more incentives. They truly go above and beyond for our kids. The part I miss the most is the educational system of Maine, southern Maine, Young school in Saco and Shooting Stars in Scarborough which have provided a great foundation for my boys.

They still are vulnerable and do need a lot of help but I can tell you, people here in Florida are impressed with my boys skills and how we go about our routine. So I just want to let you know, and hope that the teachers, paraprofessionals, therapists get some support, some incentives because they made my kids lives better. They have helped me become a better mom, and a better advocate.

Pay attention to them. They are doing something right. They did for us!

Submitted by Laura Donahue, Principal, Newport/Plymouth Elementary School and Co-Principal, Corinna Elementary School, RSU #19

Author Shares

One of the great things about being a part of the RSU 19 school district is the involved community that we are a part of. Getting to invite community members in to see the fantastic work that our students are immersed in every day is one of the ways that we can help celebrate our students’ success with the help of community members, creating memorable experiences for all. The first grade team at Newport/Plymouth Elementary School decided to move away from a traditional author’s share this year. Instead, they opened their classroom doors to community members to rotate through all of the first grade classrooms, listening to students read their stories as they sat at tables throughout the rooms. Those who attended were fortunate to hear many amazing narrative stories, and the students were proud to share their published work.

One Book, One School

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” – Mortimer J. Adler

During the 2016/2017 school year, Newport/Plymouth Elementary School participated for the first time in doing One Book, One School. It was such a wildly successful and engaging endeavor that we have continued this activity each year. One Book, One School is an opportunity to generate a lot of excitement and engagement in literacy. Every teacher throughout the school reads aloud the same book to his/her class, ensuring that every student in the school has heard the book. The students then engage in discussions, activities and community activities related to the book. Each year we find ways to generate more and more excitement around the book we choose to read.

One of the activities that students seem to enjoy is our book reveal. A few giant posters of the book hang throughout the school, covered by giant puzzle pieces. Each day leading up to beginning the book, a piece of the puzzle is uncovered. Students can be seen in the hallway gathered around the posters making predictions based on the clues that have been uncovered as to what the book could be. The last piece of the puzzle is revealed at an assembly as the whole school counts down together to see if their predictions were correct. Last year we were fortunate enough to provide each student with a copy of the book we had chosen.

This year as the Newport/Plymouth Elementary School gets ready to consolidate with Corinna Elementary into the Sebasticook Valley Elementary School, we are planning many of these activities together. This year the book teachers selected is the classic, Stuart Little, by E.B White. Our culminating activity will be a joint Family Literacy Night held at Sebasticook Valley Middle School to provide students an opportunity to participate in fun literacy activities with their families that are related to the book. This will also facilitate a wonderful opportunity for students to participate in fun activities with some of the peers they will be consolidating with next year.

Maine Studies

Fourth grade students across R.S.U. 19 engage in learning about Maine studies each year. At Newport/Plymouth Elementary School, the Maine Studies Project has each student collecting information about a Maine park from around the state. This research component helps teach our students how to successfully and appropriately navigate the internet for accurate information while allowing them the freedom to choose information they feel their peers and audience would find engaging. Fourth grader Emiley Rackliff commented, “I liked writing the script for my park because I got to look it up on Google and learn new things about the park.”   Each student’s work is compiled into a unique virtual reality experience that includes video, sound and a 360° view of the park the student chose. Andrew Franklin, a fourth grade student we interviewed about the project, said, “I like building VR worlds and coding, it’s pretty fun.  The 360 degree view of the park is going to be cool!.” Teachers have partnered up with Kern Kelley, our district technology integrator, to help teach students the technological skills necessary to complete such a detailed project. Once all the students have completed their projects, they will be available for the public to enjoy at bit.ly/maineparks.