MSAD15 School Board Vacancy
From the Principal
Pre K Screening
MSAD 15 offers a voluntary Pre K program with limited availability. We are able to enroll up to 90 students each year. If your child will be 4 years old on October 15, 2020 and you would like to access the Pre K program, please complete the online application form on our district website at www.sad15.org. Pre K screening will take place in April.
If selected for the program, you will receive a link to complete enrollment. In the meantime, you may want to start putting together the documents listed below as they are all required for any student entering the school system.
- Birth Certificate
- Proof of Residency
- Immunization (Copy)
- Any legal guardianship, custody or other documentation
For more information call Jean Southard at 207-657-5050 (7:30AM-4:00PM) or email jsouthard@sad15.org
Save the Date: Our Team Breakfasts are coming up in February and March. Dates are assigned by homeroom:
● February 4 – Audette, Gamage, Skilling, Robash, Murray, Doyle, Burrage
● February 11 – Gillis, Raymond, Chouinard, Sinclair, Fecteau, Marzilli, Rogers
● March 3 – PK Cloutier, Gill, Kraus
Please contact me at anytime at lburns@sad15.org or 657-5050. ~ Lisa Burns, Principal
Miss Lindsay’s Counseling Corner
Dunn School students will be participating in our upcoming annual Great Kindness Challenge from Monday, February 3rd – Friday, February 7th. The theme of our Great Kindness Challenge this year is encouraging students to “Be The Kind Kid.” Throughout the week, we will be highlighting how important it is for students to make the choice to Be The Kind Kid! The Great Kindness Challenge is a proactive and positive behavioral initiative that promotes a kind school climate and increases student engagement. The Great Kindness Challenge is one week devoted to performing as many acts of kindness as possible. Using the provided Checklist of 50 kind acts, students accept the challenge and show each other and the world to Be The Kind Kid! 3rd and 4th grade students will have opportunities to attend a Kind Indoor Recess in the library where they can create cards or signs for those that they care about.
In preparation for our Kindness week, I am visiting every 3rd, 4th and 3/4 multi grade classroom during the week of 1/27 to “unpack” with students what The Great Kindness Challenge means, what it entails, and why it is important! During my classroom visits, I will also be reading the book Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller. Additionally, I have spent this last week visiting all pre-kindergarten classrooms to teach lessons around kindness. I have read the books The Kindness Book by Todd Parr and At School Kindness Starts with You by Jacquelyn Stagg. Pre-kindergarteners had the opportunity to explore the differences between kind versus unkind choices, ways to be kind and to role play what being kind can look and sound like!
During our Kindness Week, students will be completing the 50 item checklist for 3rd and 4th graders and a 12 item checklist for Pre-K. Additionally, all students and staff will be encouraged to “catch” each other being kind! Once a student or staff member is “caught” being kind, they can fill out Kindness Hearts which will recognize those students and staff who have done something kind. Blank Kindness Hearts will be available to complete in classrooms and around the building. Once a student or staff member has filled out a Kind Heart to recognize someone being kind, they will tape it to our Great Wall of Kindness, located on the mid-level of our building between the two staircases. This year, our Great Wall of Kindness will say “Be The Kind Kid” ! Our hope is that many recognized acts of kindness will be reflected all over our wall!
Dunn School’s Patriot Leadership group representatives will be reading inspiring quotes about Kindness over the intercom during our daily morning Dunn Patriot News. Our Patriot Leadership group has also come up with some fun KINDNESS SPIRIT DRESS UP DAYS that students can celebrate during our Kindness week! A flier will go home in the coming weeks as a reminder!
- Monday, 2/3: Gray/New Gloucester Is Kind! Wear your Patriot colors of Red, White & Blue!
- Tuesday, 2/4: Team Kindness! Wear a sports jersey to school!
- Wednesday, 2/5: Hats On For Kindness! Wear your favorite hat to school for the day!
- Thursday, 2/6: Peace, Love & Kindness! Dress-up in bright, cheerful colors!
- Friday, 2/7: I Dream of Kindness! Wear your pajamas to school!
As another connection activity to The Great Kindness Challenge, all third and fourth graders will have the opportunity to watch the film Inside Out as a school community on an afternoon during our Kindness Week. Inside Out is an animated film about major life transitions, coping with our feelings, and learning how to regain control over them. This movie will help students understand their moods and the moods of others. Inside Out demonstrates the concepts of empathy, being kind to others and being kind to ourselves. Inside Out is rated PG – if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!
Lastly, as a service-learning aspect to The Great Kindness Challenge, as well as an opportunity to be a Caring Community, Dunn School will be participating in a new, unused book drive! All new and unused books that students, families and staff wish to purchase and donate during the week of our Great Kindness Challenge will be then donated to children and families in need who attend the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical for treatment and care. We are so excited to be able to give back to children who might be able to find some comfort in a good book!
With Kindness ~ Lindsay Friberg, Dunn School Counselor lfriberg@sad15.org
Patriot Parents
Our Patriot Parent reps are Maureen Gilbert (gilbertm@maine.rr.com) and Deb Carson (debcarson@me.com). Be sure to follow the Dunn Facebook page – Dunn School Patriot Parents – for event notifications & volunteer opportunities!
Dates to Remember
Jan. 17 Records Day: no classes
Jan. 20 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day: no classes
Jan. 22 Early release day: grades 3 & 4 dismissed at 1 PM, no pre K classes
Jan. 31 Pre K only event: Pajama Story Night, 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Feb. 3-7 Spirit of Kindness Week! Please see Miss Lindsay’s article above
Feb. 4 & 11 Team Breakfasts: grades 3 & 4, please see schedule above
Feb. 17-21 Winter Break: no classes
updated: 01-17-2020