Greetings Marcia Buker Families!

I hope this finds you enjoying springtime in Maine, despite the rainy weekends! The bright green buds and yellow forsythia bursts against a gray backdrop always look so beautiful--so Maine-- to me.

At Marcia Buker last week, we enjoyed 4 days of sunshine before a wet end to the week. But the rain did not keep the Day of Caring activities from happening on Friday. Whoever picked neon pink for this year's DOC T-shirt color was brilliant!The RMHS students were on campus to give our curb and flagpole border a fresh coat of paint, and do some grounds clean up.

Marcia Buker students Day of Caring activities included picking up litter and branches, preparing the garden beds, painting rocks to cheer up passers by, and helping out our custodian with chores.

Friday also featured a walking evacuation drill for all Marcia Buker students and staff. Reserve Officer Grizkewitsch and Superintendent Kempton were on hand for the simulation exercise with town crews blockaded High Street.

Students and staff walked to "safety" on the tennis courts at RMHS where they were treated to an ice cream sandwich to make the protocol memorable (and less anxiety inducing). Officer Grizkewitsch was impressed that the school was cleared in under 3 minutes!

The best part of my week was attending the 5th grade Book Launch at the American Legion. The book launch is the culmination of a 12 week writer- in-residence program that teachers Troy Kendrick and Lois Garriepy arrange with The Telling Room. Accomplished writers from the TTR take students from brainstorming to published book.

On Thursday evening, students read excerpts from this year's anthology I Could Explode! to an audience of family members (and one very proud principal!). The student readers were poised, articulate, and professional!

While all of the student authors deserve a hand, special recognition goes to Nolan Dell.

His classroom teacher, Mr. Kendrick writes, "Nolan's story [The Lobsterman] was selected from hundreds of submissions for inclusion in a statewide anthology. It's a great honor to be chosen to be published in the anthology of young writers. We are proud of Nolan."

Appreciation! On May 2nd, we honored our food service team and auxiliary crew on School Lunch Hero Day!: Students and staff expressed their gratitude to Ms Kathy, Ms MJ, and Ms Linda with cards and an appreciation poster. We love our Lunch (and Breakfast) Heroes!

This coming week, we express our appreciation to teachers, which for us includes classroom and unified arts teachers, ed techs, counselors, nurses, and specialists. In case you would like to express your appreciation, Teacher Appreciation Day proper is on Tuesday, and School Nurse Appreciation Day is on Wednesday.

I hope our grade 3 families are able to check out the students' sculptures at the Umberhind library on Tuesday evening. I've watched Mr. Milliken take students from a concept drawing to truly stunning works of art. It's wonderful that our library patrons will be able to see this exhibit.

We will end the week with the Northern Stars Planetarium show. Students will learn about stars, planets, and constellations, and visit a galaxy far far away...

...May the 4th be with you,

Mary

Our Marcia Buker Vision: We envision a collaborative culture where the community unites to foster engaging learning experiences that empower students to thrive in a diverse and ever changing world.

Dates and Notices

May 6th Grade 3 Art Celebration at Umberhind library, 6-7 PM
May 6th Teacher Appreciation Day/Week
May 5th Planetarium
May 7th School Nurse Day
May 9th Planetarium
May 11th. Mother’s Day
May 14th K-2 Concert school 1:00
May 15th K-2 Concert parent 1:00
May 16th Special Ed field trip
May 23rd 5th Grade Class Trip to Boston
May 23rd Early Release (Buses at 11:30; no AM or PM PreK)
May 26th No School(Memorial Day)

An appeal about student attire:

This is always a difficult problem to address, and sometimes I avoid it, but it is VERY necessary this year. We are seeing a lot of clothing styles, mostly among girls, that would be appropriate if the students spent their days standing still, arms down at their sides, not playing, not running, not sitting anywhere but at their desks, and basically not moving. Fortunately, that is not how our students spend their time at school. We ask that you help your child choose clothing that is appropriate for an elementary school. We want our students to be able to learn, move about, and play freely, not be worried about their clothes revealing or suggesting more than they might realize, or about us having to offer them an alternative from our donation closet.

Here are a few measures that might help you navigate the fashion trends with your child:

1. Mid-thigh leggings or shorts can be worn under short dresses, short shorts, and wide leg shorts

2. Tank tops can be worn under cropped tops or very loose tops.

3. Shirt neck openings should be small enough to keep the shirt on both shoulders when moving about

4. Long shirts and sweatshirts worn dress-like over shorts (a big fashion trend) should reach mid thigh.

We really appreciate your help with this.

May Menus

Breakfast

Lunch