October 28, 2015
"Have You Seen the Owl Today?"
Happy late October! Union Elementary has enjoyed a pretty extraordinary month of accolades for our teachers, and the kudos keep coming! Here is the latest...
University of Vermont Outstanding Teacher! Dr. Ricca and I had the pleasure of joining 2nd grade teacher Mary Catherine Reed last week at the University of Vermont as teachers from around the state were honored for their teaching excellence! If you know Mrs. Reed, you'll understand why so many of her peers nominated her for this honor. I was certainly honored to join her! One thing I've notice with both Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Koch these last few weeks is how quick both of them are to share these honors with their teammates and colleagues. They're right -- UES has an outstanding faculty! Our children are so fortunate to have them, aren't they?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Halloween is coming this Saturday, and it's time to be thinking about how we'll approach this special day as a school community. As much fun as it would be to celebrate with costumes and parties, we believe that such revelry would be simply too disruptive to the learning environment for an entire day. We ask that students keep the costumes and candy at home so they can be ready for the fun on Saturday night. Please help us maintain a healthy learning environment the following days as well; we ask that all candy remain at home when the children return to school on Monday. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me or stop by.
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| Mrs. Reed accepting her Outstanding Teacher honor |
On a more fun note, many children know that I have a very close friendship with Batman (it's true!), and I know for certain that he'll be spending Halloween night at my house in the meadow neighborhood! As always, all superheroes who stop by will get two treats! Have lots of fun and be safe -- we hope to see you all!
Finally, we just got word from the good folks at Montpelier Alive! that there are big plans for Halloween in downtown Montpelier on Saturday! I will definitely see you there! Here are the details:
LOST AND FOUND Anyone who has been in the Kinder hallway of UES in recent weeks will notice that we have a growing collection of high quality jackets, sweatshirts, and other items that haven't made it safely home. In the past we have always kept these items in the auditorium for months at a time in the hopes that children and parents would claim them. Storage has become an issue, however, and we figure that if we have a deadline, people are much more likely to claim their lost items! So... on Friday, November 6, all unclaimed items will be donated to Planet Aid. Every two weeks thereafter, the lost and found will be cleared and all items will be donated. Now is the time to check with your child to see if he or she is missing something. There are some really nice things on those racks, so please check them out!
Parent/Teacher Conferences ...are scheduled for next Thursday and Friday, November 5 and 6. There will be no school on both days. If you haven't scheduled a conference with your child's teacher yet, now is the time to do so!
HENNESSEY'S HOOTS: A Hennessey Hoot to:
* ... Mrs. Pine's 3rd Grade "Pineers" for their continued community spirit and great sense of volunteerism! Last week, I joined the Pineers as they raked for one of our Loomis Street neighbors (Mrs. Jasmine) who needed some help with all of those leaves. Here are some great pictures of the raking action:
LOST AND FOUND Anyone who has been in the Kinder hallway of UES in recent weeks will notice that we have a growing collection of high quality jackets, sweatshirts, and other items that haven't made it safely home. In the past we have always kept these items in the auditorium for months at a time in the hopes that children and parents would claim them. Storage has become an issue, however, and we figure that if we have a deadline, people are much more likely to claim their lost items! So... on Friday, November 6, all unclaimed items will be donated to Planet Aid. Every two weeks thereafter, the lost and found will be cleared and all items will be donated. Now is the time to check with your child to see if he or she is missing something. There are some really nice things on those racks, so please check them out!
Parent/Teacher Conferences ...are scheduled for next Thursday and Friday, November 5 and 6. There will be no school on both days. If you haven't scheduled a conference with your child's teacher yet, now is the time to do so!
HENNESSEY'S HOOTS: A Hennessey Hoot to:
* ... Mrs. Pine's 3rd Grade "Pineers" for their continued community spirit and great sense of volunteerism! Last week, I joined the Pineers as they raked for one of our Loomis Street neighbors (Mrs. Jasmine) who needed some help with all of those leaves. Here are some great pictures of the raking action:
* ... and, finally, to Mrs. Koch once again for the incredible honor of being selected as the 2016 Vermont Teacher of the Year! A reminder to please "save the date" for Tuesday, November 17 as the day that she will be honored here at Union. I will share details on this event as soon as I have them!
There have been numerous articles and news profiles related to Susan's work in the local media recently. If you'd like to learn more about Susan's teaching and why she was selected for this honor, go here (both of these profiles are excellent and well worth your time!):
Last but not least, I added this picture late to the last Owl, and I wanted you all to have a chance to see it...
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| Secretary Rebecca Holcombe, Dr. Ricca, Mrs. Koch, and Mr. Hennessey |
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