2009 - 2010 Spotlight Photograph/Article Archive

Responsive Classroom Discipline Model

Many of us would agree that discipline is a subject that is surrounded by much controversy. School systems across the country struggle with the “ best way or right way” to discipline, as they utilize best practices from the latest research. Teachers' child development training coupled with years of school experience adds up to a system of many differences. Needless to say our view of “best practices” effects how we handle individual situations in our classrooms which may not fit with the way you discipline at home. These different styles of disciplining can cause student confusion and leave you bewildered. Needless to say “School Discipline” has been at the center of many discussions from the local to the federal level. More.

NWEA TESTING

Over the next two weeks, January 5th - January 15th, students in grades three through eight will participate in reading and math assessments. Teachers also have the option of having students take the language usage test. This assessment is a standardized test developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA).This assessment is unique in many ways. First of all, the entire test is taken on the computer and is individualized for each student. The difficulty of a test is adjusted to the student’s performance so each student sees different test questions. This way, we are able to ascertain very specific skill levels for every child in reading, language usage and math. As a school, we will use the NWEA results as a way to measure your child’s growth during this school year. We can compare the winter test results with your child’s fall assessments. The average student needs about three hours to complete all the tests. Please help your child do his/her best by ensuring that he/she gets a good night’s rest and has breakfast in the morning. More information.

2009 - 2010 Holiday Concert

Our annual Holiday concert took place on Monday, December 14th to an enormous crowd of friends and families. Students from the general music classes in grades PreK-2nd grade performed traditional and silly Christmas songs. This was the very first concert for the Beginner Band students who performed standard beginner melodies as well as one holiday tune. Our Advanced Band and 5th-8th Grade Chorus performed two selections each. The evening concluded with all PreK - 4th grade music students and the 5th-8th grade chorus, over 200 students, performing the Jackie Del Shannon tune "Put a Little Love In Your Heart". Congratulations to all students on an outstanding performance! More

Veteran's Day Celebration

On Monday, November 9th the Dr. Lewis S. Libby School honored Veterans with a school assembly dedicated to them. In the morning, local veterans arrived at the school and enjoyed coffee and snacks in the Library. The ceremony began shortly afterward with the playing of the National Anthemn by the Air Guard Band. Next, the Kindergarten class sang "God Bless America". Mr. Kidder officially welcomed the veterans and several middle school students read speeches they'd written paying tribute to veterans and the sacrifices they make. The speeches were written and presented by Cameron DePaola Gr. 7, Haley Saucier Gr. 7, Sara Bickford Gr. 7 and Rebeckah Williams Gr. 7. Before Mrs. Silk officially closed the festivities, Mrs. Murphy's class sang and shared why they were thankful for veterans. The assembly was a tremendous success and a meaningful learning experience for many of our students. To see pictures of this event click here

Mentoring Program

The Dr. Lewis S. Libby School is proud to host the Big Brother/Big Sister mentoring program again this year. The program is sponsored by the River Coalition and is coordinated through the University of Maine. The program being ofered at our school is the official Big Brothers, Big Sisters Program of Eastern Maine. This mentoring program is available to children ages 7 - 14 and will be offered after school on Monday and Wednesday. Transportation will be provided to children who do not live within walking distance of the school. We are planning on having the bus available on Mondays. All students who wish to participate in the program will need to have parent permission as as complete a referral form. Information about the program can be located at www.downeastmentor.org, by calling 947-2063, or by calling Patti Bradstreet at 827 - 2252 ext. 198.

Exploratory Program

The Dr. Lewis S. Libby School is proud to announce the successful implementation of the Exploratory Class option for 7th and 8th grade students during the 2009 – 2010 school year. Several of our talented teachers are offering a variety of classes that students in the 7th and 8th grade can sign up for at the beginning of each trimester. We feel it is important to offer our students unique learning opportunities outside of the traditional Reading, Mathematics, English Language Arts curriculum. Some of the exciting new courses being offered include; Virtual Algebra, Digitally Preserving Our History, Applied Science, Greek Mythology, and M.L.T.I. Technology.

Welcome Mrs. Corkum

Prior to arriving at the Dr. Lewis S. Libby School, I had been teaching 8th grade English Language Arts at a regional middle school in Massachusetts. When I researched the Dr Lewis S Libby School websitel for my job interview, I knew it would be a school with strong faculty and community involvement. I'm delighted that my instincts were right! Thank you for making me feel welcome and a part of the school. I recently moved here from Massachusetts because my husband is Associate Head Coach of the men's ice hockey team at the University of Maine. Maine is not new to me though, I attended Colby College in Waterville and spent time in the Orono/Bangor area after I graduated. I love the state and am very happy to be back.

Reading in the Family Program

The literacy volunteers of Bangor and the Old Town River Coalition are sponsoring a free reading program for parents with young children. This program targets parents with children, ages 4 - 8, that would like to improve their reading with a reading coach, would like to learn how to better read with their child, are looking for fun ways to play and read with their child and live in Alton, Bradley, Old Town, Greenbush or Milford. This exciting program is free to participate in and offers fun family events, free books for kids, free learning materials, the opportunity to improve your reading skills and help with transportation and health care for family events. This program is funded by the Maine Literacy Initiative, a program of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. For more information or to enroll in this program please call Lisa Morin, 827 - 8744 or Mary Marin Lyon at 947 - 8451.

Maine DOE Initiative, Standards-based Education

During the week of August 3rd, Dr. Lewis S. Libby School administrators attended at four- day Maine Department of Education sponsored educational conference. The conference focused on the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC), Standards-based educational approach to educating our students for the 21st century. The RISC approach is organized around engaging students and making learning the constant and time the variable, placing students at their developmental achievement levels and advancing students only when they have actually learned and can demonstrate proficiency. RISC is currently creating demonstration sites or “lighthouse districts” that will work to meet the needs of all children. Each school or district will be creating educational protocols and systems to develop a shared vision based on the needs of all stakeholders, build leadership capacity to ensure shared leadership is deployed, implement a relevant standards-based design that incorporates "best practices", build a continuous improvement process that leads to excellence and use web-based, relational databases to analyze processes and results.

Welcome Dr. Davis

The Milford School Committee appointed John Davis Superintendent at its July 13 regular meeting. Dr. Davis has been an educator since 1976 and has been a school superintendent since 1987. During his many years in education, he has worked in New Hampshire and Alaska, however, his family roots are in Maine where he and his family have now lived since 2007. Dr. Davis most recently was the Superintendent in the Bering Strait School District in Alaska, where he and the staff were able to significantly improve the achievement throughout the district. During his career, Dr. Davis has taught at all levels, k-12 and has also taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has served as a one-room high school teacher and has lead the development new school programs and a new school district. He is most familiar with operating small schools. “I am delighted to be working with the Milford School Committee, students, administrators, staff and community. What I have learned is that you have great pride in your school, it has been well managed and I see it as my job to help build on the current successes and continue to help improve and move the program forward”.