Kent Center School - Principal's Report
Kent Board of Education Meeting - January 13, 2010
Dr. Rima McGeehan
ENROLLMENT: 286 Happy New Year! December ended the 2009 calendar year on a warm and happy note. Academics remained a focus, but much holiday cheer was had! One highlight was our winter concert, directed by David Poirier and Sandra Kleisner. They led performances by our jazz band, intermediate and senior bands, and our school chorus. I’d like to extend my compliments to the fifth through eighth grade students who participated in the concert. Audience members commented that it was among the best in years! I joined Monica Rodriguez and the eighth graders from the ABC group at a holiday luncheon at Templeton Farms. They had lunch with the residents and sang carols to entertain them. The students left the seniors with a giant holiday snowman card, which they displayed proudly. This was one example of the fine efforts Monica has made in connecting the school with the community. In school, she has started a new program called “Second Steps” with a group of middle school students, which focuses on understanding problems, empathy, anger management, and problem-solving skills. She is also working on professional development opportunities for the staff in the area of bullying, a prevention approach required by the state. The Movie Night sponsored by the PTO featured the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This was a culminating event for “Popping Open a Good Book”, a student reading incentive. The new PTO representatives have stepped into their new roles with much energy and enthusiasm in the year 2009. Their efforts are appreciated. The Kent basketball teams are midway through the season. Both the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams continue to grow with skills and confidence. The boys’ record at this point is one win and four losses, and the girls’ record is four wins and two losses within the region. Kent has scrimmaged with two schools outside of the region, and this has been great practice. The girls won both of these games. Lastly, I am using Nancy Ackerman’s (grade 1 teacher and Arts Alive member) exact words to report on an illustrator visit we had in December: “Deborah Chabrian, local Kent painter and illustrator, delighted the first grade students at Kent Center School by visiting us in December. During this ArtsAlive program, she talked about the process of being a book illustrator and said, “I bring the author’s words to life.” She brought in photographs, sketches, paintings and props and showed the children how she created the pictures for the book, THE GIFT OF THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE, written by Dandi Daley Mackall. Ms. Chabrian passed around the wooden angel cookie mold from the story and even made angel cookies for the students to eat and enjoy. She said she used her family members as models in this story as well as first grade student, Cole Branson, his brother Max, and Mrs. Branson. Deborah has painted over 500 book covers and hundreds of still life paintings. She invited us to visit her at her studio at 28 Spooner Hill Road, South Kent, Ct. Our first graders asked questions at the end of the presentation. Here are some of their questions: How many paintings do you do in a year? How long does it take you to paint a picture? What kind of paint do you use? How much time does it take for the paint to dry? What is a palette? What does your studio look like?” As you can see, it lead us into our winter break in the holiday spirit! January 4, 2009 First Day of KML Art Exhibit for KCS
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