The Adams School  
P.O. Box 29
27 School Street
Castine, Maine 04421
326-8608
www.adamsschool.com

Todd R. Nelson - Principal

ADAMS SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

326-8608

www.adamsschool.com


The Kindergarten Mindset

 

Each fall, Beloit College publishes its “Mindset List:” 75 points of reference for understanding the cultural profile of the incoming freshmen class. More than just a core sampling of the historical events which an eighteen year-old would, or would not, have experienced, the list holds a mirror up to the formative experiences of the new students—and, therefore, of their professors.

For instance, the Beloit Mindset List for the class of 2009 includes the following items. For the members of the class of 2009, 

 

  1. Boston has been working on the Big Dig for all of their lives.
  2. Pay-Per-View television has always been an option.
  3. Voice mail has always been available.
  4. Starbucks has always been just around the corner—every corner.
  5. Bill Gates has always been worth at least a billion dollars.
  6. The federal budget has always been more than a trillion dollars.
  7. Digital cameras have always existed.
  8. Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys.
  9. It has always been possible to walk from England to mainland Europe on dry land.

 

You get the idea. Based on the list, you can view 360 degrees of the experiences creating the mindset of people of a certain age.

Since I work in an elementary school, my incoming “freshman” class is age five. So I wondered what the kindergarten mindset list would be for John, Christopher and Bess—our class of 2015. Perhaps the list would reveal the rate of change in our cultural mindsets: what are the innovations or changes that have taken place in a quick five years to which we are already acclimated?

From the sublime to the idiosyncratic, here are a few things that come to mind.  For members of the Adams School class of 2015,

 

1.      Adams School has always had a green playground structure and timber

  1. frame nature center…and a big granite rock by the bike rack.
  2. School always begins with a parachute and bagpipes on the common.
  3. There has never been a merry-go-round or teeter-totter on the playground.
  4. A school computer is called an iBook.
  5. The flag always flies at half-mast on the eleventh of September….

 

These are, of course, external factors of a mindset—more the adult

mindset for kindergartners. To venture inside their mindset,  I invited the freshman class to my office for a little game of Jenga and an interview. Here is an introductory look, in no particular order, for the cultural record. This is where the rubber meets the road.    

 

1. Charlie drives the bus. I like going home.

2. We have the greatest, greatest time at school.

3. I can do an upside down thing on the playground.

4. I go down backwards with my head pointing forward down the slide.

5. We like our teacher.

6. We get to be learned.

7. I’m making a woolly mammoth out of Legos. It evolved into hairless elephants

from the Dinophyllus (?) that weighed 14 times as much as a giraffe

8. The first movie I saw in a theater was Cars. I like the [Curse of the]Were-

rabbit.

9. I’m 5 and so are they so we’re triplets.

10. My mommy’s name is “Mommy,” and my dad’s name is “Daddy.”

11. Our parents make the best, best ice cream cones and sundaes.

12. I call his dad Dr. Bob. My dad is Mac.

 

The trio built a 25-story Jenga tower while I conducted my research. I’m thinking that item #2 and #5 are crucial to item # 6, if I understand #6 correctly. Further interviews may be required to complete my findings and connect the dots between Jenga, Were-rabbits, Cars, and triplets. Clearly, this is a complex matrix. Beloit has it easy.

—Todd

 

Thank you Rosemary, Lisa, and Chompy for another great photo day!

 

PTC Work Day…Saturday 9/23….come to school at 9:00am with your garden rake or big shovel for a couple of hours of landscaping: spreading out the 100 cubic yards of new cedar chips for the whole playground area.

 

New school board meeting day: The first Wednesday of the month will be the new day of the week for school board meetings, beginning October 4.

 

Soccer practice & game schedule: Students were given a calendar last week for the entire soccer season. Unfortunately, the software used to create it inserted times which are misleading. Doh! Practices always start right after school, at 2:30, and end at 4:00. Games usually start at 3:30, whether home or away. However, one home game with Brooklin starts at 4:00. And Monday, October 9 is a holiday—no practice. Sorry for the confusion! Reprinted calendar is coming home. Games schedule is also on the school Web site.

 

Soccer Sunday: Reminder that the soccer round-robin is September 24th, from 2-6:00 at MMA.

 

Pee Wee Soccer Season:  The Pee Wee Soccer Season will start on Thursday, September 21st

from 2:30-3:30 p.m. at Fort George.  Kevin Griffith has volunteered to coach this season with help from Lance & Lisa Burton.  Children ages K-4th grade are eligible to participate, and they can ride the school bus up to the fort after school.   Please stop by the Town Office to sign up your child(ren) and to pay the $5 participation fee.  Thank you. –Sue Macomber.

 

Jim Moulton Day: Monday will be Jim’s fourth visit to Adams for an infusion of technology inspiration and training. All kids will have a session with Jim learning things from Monarch butterfly Web resources to making animated cartoons or digital drawings. We always learn a lot from Jim—he’s helping us push the laptop envelope.

 

4-8th grade Field Trip to H.O.M.E. Next Wednesday (9/20), we'll take students in grade 4-8 to HOME co-op in Orland to see a shingle mill and sawmill in action. It's part of our nature center project--learning how building materials are made. Wilson Museum is supporting the trip, and purchasing the shingles for the roof and walls of our nature center from HOME. So we'll see our own shingles being made!  We're leaving early: 7:15am, on the Castine bus with Charlie going to Penobscot and Bucksport high school.

 

Another Set of Twins? Yes, Adams School has a fifth set of twins: Jeff and Zuke, the zucchini brothers. Truman grew them and we weighed them in morning meeting: Jeff is 12lbs and Zuke is 13.

 

ADAMS SCHOOL MENU   Sept. 18th – 22nd

 

Monday – Hamburger Calzone with Pizza Sauce, Carrot Sticks, Applesauce, Cookie, Milk

Tuesday – Macaroni & Cheese, Roll, Pineapple, Salad, Milk

Weds. – BBQ Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Biscuit, Milk

Thursday – Pizza, Salad, Roll, Pears, Milk

Friday – Turkey & Cheese Sandwich, Chips, Juice, Carrot Sticks, Cookie, Milk

*****************************************************************************

 

Keeping you informed on Immunization Requirements…from Commissioner Susan Gendron:

 

“The joint rules of the Departments of Education and Human Services (MeCDC) on immunization, Chapter 126 and Chapter 261 respectively, provide for the incremental implementation of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine.  This school year (2006-2007), varicella will be required for students in kindergarten thought grade 4 and grades 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11.   Students in these grades will be required to have one of the following:

 

* Certificate of immunization against varicella 

* A note from the student's health care provider that the vaccine is medically inadvisable,

* Proof of immunity to varicella,                                                     

* A note from the health care provider that the student has had chickenpox, or

* A written statement from the parent/guardian that they have a sincere religious or philosophical belief in opposition to the immunizations.

         As in the past year, student in kindergarten, and grades 6 and 9, will be granted a 90-day documentation period, identified in the DOE rule, Chapter 126, which states:

         A child who has not received all the required doses of vaccine shall not be permitted to attend school beyond the first day without a statement, which indicates the child will be immunized by a private effort within ninety days (or the parent grants written consent for the child's immunization by a public health officer, physician, nurse or other authorized person acting as an agent of the school), unless the parent is claiming an exemption due to a sincere religious belief or for philosophical reasons, or the school is presented with a medical exemption signed by the child's physician.”

         For Kindergarten students, the 90-day “clock” begins at school registration or the first day of school, whichever comes first.  There is no 90-day documentation period for grades 1-4 and grades 10-11. 

         Any student who transfers from another school has a 21-day period for the transfer of health records.

The superintendent is responsible, under 20-A MRSA § 6355, for ensuring that no child is permitted to enroll in or attend school without documentation as described above.”

 

Calendar Update

September

18   Jim Moulton visits for technology workshops.

23   PTC Work Day...Groundskeeping and Timber Frame Nature Center work.

24   Soccer Round-Robin at MMA, 2-6:00pm.

25 & 27   African Drumming workshops for whole school.

29    Sports physicals for boys & girls starting at 9 AM (John Cole & Marjorie Olivari)

October 

6      Teacher in-service day (Union 93)

9      Columbus Day Holiday--No School.

23-27    Seventh Grade to Camp Kieve for leadership decision institute.