The Wise Owl

May 20, 2015

"Have You Seen the Owl Today?"

Some important news and fun celebrations to share as 2014-15 comes to a close. The children have certainly been enjoying the beautiful weather, and so have I!

IMPORTANT DATES! I understand that there has been a little bit of confusion concerning the last day of school. Given that we only had one snow day this winter, the final day of school for all students will be Tuesday, June 16. Students will be dismissed at 11:30 that day. Your children's teachers will be in touch with you about what time you'll be expected to be here that day for Step Up Day activities to the middle school. This will be the first year we've said farewell to two classes, so we're still working out the details! You won't want to miss it!

A few other important dates:

1st Grade Musical Performance: Thursday, May 21
4th/5th Grade Orchestra Concert: Thursday, May 28
4th Grade Celebration: Wednesday, June 10
5th Grade Celebration: Thursday, June 11
First Day of School, Grades 1-4: Wednesday, August 26
First Day of School, Kindergarten: Monday, August 31

EVERYBODY WINS! The biggest possible Hennessey Hoot goes to Everybody Wins! Coordinator Diana Hart and all of the EW volunteers for completing another successful year of reading with and mentoring UES students! Here is a group photo following last week's End of the Year Celebration. The number of volunteer/mentors Montpelier attracts says so much about our community!

Everybody Wins! There can be no doubt.

UNION PLAYGROUND PROJECT! The Union Playground Project is kicking into very high gear, and the next big fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday, May 30, as UES will participate in the city wide Montpelier Community Tag and Plant Sale! I sent you a message from the UpP committee last week, and here is the beautiful poster they created to promote the event:

Above all else, we need your donated items to make the sale a fundraising success, and, even more, we need your help as a volunteer to help the event run smoothly! We especially need help on the Friday evening before the sale (from 3-7) to gather and price items, and on the morning and afternoon of Saturday to prep and clean up. We're hoping as many of you as possible can commit to at least one two hour shift. The UpP Committee has created this on line signup sheet you can link to below:

Tag Sale Volunteer SignUp!

Thank you all for your help! We have the potential with this event to make a lot of money to ensure we can break ground on the lower playground this summer. Check out these beautiful faces (while noticing the condition of the playground behind them) to remember what this is all about:

Thea and Amanda enjoying a fine day at UES

UES AT THE VERMONT CORPORATE CUP One of the major events our family looks forward to as Montpelier community members is the Vermont Corporate Cup's 4,000+ athletes running and power walking through our neighborhood every May! This year, 4th grade teacher Melissa Parker got the UES community highly motivated to put a team of runners and walkers together to compete. I'm happy to report that we had over 30 athletes participate on that perfect, sunny evening! Being cheered on by all of you as I huffed and puffed my way through the course was highly motivating, by the way! Here are most of the UES champs:

We Are the Champions

WALKING SCHOOL BUS Believe it or not, there are only three Wednesdays left in the school year! Mr. Williams, MJ, and I are very interested in resurrecting the Walking Wednesdays starting next week, and we'd love to have you and your children join us! For those of you who are new to Walking Wednesdays, here is how it works:

I will meet walkers at the downtown Shaw's next to the Red Box.
Mr. Williams will meet walkers at the steps of the State House.
MJ will meet walkers at the Vermont College of Fine Arts green.

We will all leave promptly at 8:00 for a healthy, invigorating walk to school and start to our day! We hope to see you on Wednesday morning, May 27 at one of these walking stations -- see you then!

THE "WISE OWL" IS COMING HOME! Check out this cute guy:

"Woodsy" the very wise owl

Green Up Vermont celebrated its 45th birthday this year, and a number of our children joined them on the lawn of the State House a few weeks ago to join in the fun. As a token of their appreciation, Green Up Vermont has generously donated nearly 500 Woodsy the Owl stuffies to UES! So... the plan is to distribute the "Woodsy"s to all K-5 students tomorrow afternoon class by class. In addition to celebrating Green Up Day's birthday, I'll also celebrate the fact that most classrooms have reached their goal of 200 Hoots for excellent hallway behavior! There is lots to celebrate, so when your child comes home with this very Wise Owl, you'll know why!

HENNESSEY'S HOOTS A "Hennessey Hoot" goes to...

4th Graders Serena Gahagan, Autumn Joyner, and Isabella Merriam in Mrs. Parker's class for taking it upon themselves to create these beautiful motivational posters for their classmates!

Pride in their work!

Student Teacher Jacob Parker, who made the best of not being issued an official UES green shirt at the Corporate Cup by going green anyway! What resourcefulness and team spirit!