All RSU #34 after school activities are cancelled for this afternoon - Thursday February 6, 2020.
Winner Winner Cabbage Dinner! At 11.3 pounds, OTES 3rd grader Kelan Plourde grew Maine's award-winning Super Cabbage!
Our winter issue of Community Connections is off to the printing presses and will be in mailboxes in a week or so. Many thanks to the staff and community members who provided pictures and articles, and to Gossamer Press for the artistic magic! Here's a link to the digital version: https://5il.co/cqle
Wednesday is World Read Aloud Day...line up a favorite story and an audience! https://www.litworld.org/worldreadaloudday
Dear 3rd Grade Parents and Caregivers,
In the third grade, we administer the Cognitive Abilities Test to our students. This test (the “CogAT“) is used to help identify thinking patterns in students, and to show areas in which a student’s achievement may not match their abilities. The CogAT is also used as one of our screening tools for Chapter 104, the Maine regulation governing Gifted & Talented Services.
This year, the CogAT will be administered in February. The CogAT includes three sections, each of which takes about an hour to administer (verbal, quantitative, and figurative).
Once we receive score data, we will send home your child’s scores, and help you interpret what they mean. For more information, please talk with your child’s teacher, Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. St. Peter, or the school principal or Dr. Doty (jon.doty@rsu34.org).
Students for whom recent cognitive testing is on file may be excused from this testing to maintain instructional time with specialists – please see your child’s teacher.
REGIONAL SCHOOL UNIT #34 IS PROUD TO BE........
Here's another kid-friendly activity at a local treasure our students frequently visit.
Here's the Winter & Spring Adult Ed flyer from the Riverside Adult Ed partnership. Lots of great academic and enrichment classes! Link to flyer: https://5il.co/cjjk
Viola Rand School first graders are piloting a cooking club wih Chef Josh from RSU #34 Food Service. They're looking forward to sharing their first creations with their classmates this afternoon!
We're seeking OTHS alumni updates for our next issues of Community Connections! Our alumni are doing awesome things all around the world and we want to share, celebrate, and inspire our current students! This is also a great way to share things like class reunion dates. To share an update please email Amy.McFalls@rsu34.org ('05 OTHS).
Yellow's a good look on Mrs. Wilcox!
In addition to the extensions, enrichment, and acceleration their teachers provide in the classroom, students who need frequent additional services may be referred for services by the Chapter 104 program. Please don't hesitate to reach out to the child's teacher for more info, and here's a link to referral forms! For student self-referral: https://5il.co/car0 And for other non-staff referrals: https://5il.co/caqt
Here's a quick reference for how to best find answers to questions, initiate communication with staff, and start referrals for extra supports or extensions / enrichment. Please always feel welcome to reach out to our staff!
OTHS Robotics hosted a very successful competition on Saturday! 16 teams with more than 70 students brought their robots, troubleshooting, and game strategies to OTHS to compete in Tower Takeover, the 2019-2020 VEX Robotics contest. Our teams fared very well! Thanks to all of the volunteers who made the event a success.
NO SCHOOL IN RSU#34 SCHOOLS TUESDAY DECEMBER 3, 2019
RSU#34 SCHOOLS CLOSED TUESDAY DECEMBER 3, 2019.
OTHS Theatre presents a three-course mystery theatre experience!
ALL RSU#34 AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES CANCELED TODAY MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2019
Our future-thinking group looking at elementary schooling continues its work on Monday - we'll be reviewing community survey results and discussing next steps in our exploration. Please email Jon.Doty@rsu34.org if you're interested in joining us!
From early October:
Regional School Unit #34 (Alton, Bradley, and Old Town) seeks community stakeholders to join an ad hoc advisory committee that will engage in future-thinking conversation about elementary programming across Alton Elementary School, Viola Rand School, and Old Town Elementary School. Those interested in participating can email or call Dr. Jon Doty, RSU #34 Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, at jon.doty@rsu34.org or 827-3932.
This fall teachers welcomed the biggest kindergarten class RSU #34 has ever seen, and the RSU was also able to pilot full-day Pre-K at one location. “We’re proud to have kids thriving in three elementary schools,” says Doty. “Our children are engaged, supported, and learning; we’re thankful for wonderful educators and a very supportive community!” The advisory committee will take a “big picture” look at elementary schooling, and if the group sees opportunities worth pursuing, will make recommendations to the School Board. The group will discuss strengths of current approaches, wish-list opportunities for students such as learning world languages and all-day Pre-K, long-term facilities and transportation needs, partnership opportunities, a possible alternative structure to Title I interventions, and whether one or more schools should explore “niche” opportunities such as a nature immersion school or a public Montessori school. Each meeting will be open to the public and will include a public comment period; the RSU seeks to have a core group of advisory committee members that attends every meeting.
“We have fantastic things going on for children,” says Doty, “and know that they and our communities are best served in the long-run by occasionally re-examining our practices rather than resting on our laurels.”
ALL AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AT RSU#34 SCHOOLS CANCELED TODAY TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2019.