Good News From Sanford Schools: December 26, 2021
- December 26th 2021
- School News
Compiled from staff reports and Facebook posts.
Sanford High School
The Spirit of the Season Holiday Concert featured the Chorus, Treble Choir, Chamber Band and Concert Band. It’s available for viewing on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ILu67rGAY (part 1) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPZLIWT8-U (part 2).
Sanford High School doors were adorned with colorful and festive door decorations.
Project Grad provided candy canes along with an inspirational quote to the Senior Class last Monday.
Sanford Regional Technical Center
The Culinary Arts program, under Chef John Couture’s guidance, catered a breakfast for administrators and counselors from our eight partner schools on Thursday, December 16th. This was no easy feat, taking into consideration COVID precautions and timing (Chef’s students show up at the time that the event starts) so lots of prepping occurred to ensure our guests were fed well and on time. We received nothing but rave reviews from the attendees, so complete kudos goes to you, Chef, and your team of students! Students were hard at work the next day, creating gingerbread houses. Nice work Culinary Arts!
Sanford Middle School
Jack and Keaghan Gagnon applied for instruments through Continuum Arts Collective, which helps families in Maine and New Hampshire by providing musical instruments, art supplies and music lessons, and they were chosen!
Carl J. Lamb School
We all know how soothing watching a fish swim can be. In our Student Support Room, Miss B. and our students are growing radishes and wheatgrass in an aquaponics tank. Some kindergarteners helped Miss B. to plant the seeds. She will have some friends help pick the radishes and wheatgrass, that they’ve grown together, when it is time. After we pick, we will re-plant and the cycle will continue. The students take turns feeding Carl J. Fish, our new beautiful and elegant fighter fish!
Margaret Chase Smith School
Our theme of December is Empathy, so students have been participating in two different drives to show our empathy. Our first one is for the Animal Welfare Society where students have been donating dog and cat toys and food. Students have also been donating mittens, gloves, and hats for students who need them. Students have also been practicing empathy at home by completing an empathy bingo board. Each time a student completes an act of empathy, they can cross it off of their board. Families have been sending Mrs. Hallissey and Mr. Bisson pictures of students completing these activities to share on the morning announcements.
Students have been participating in different holiday activities that also support their literacy development.
- Kindergarten students have been practicing their OT skills and writing their name by stringing the letters of their names to make lights.
- Second grade students made reflective mittens on which they wrote down the most important thing they have learned so far this year.
- Third grade has also been working on gifts to send home to families.
Staff have been wearing ugly sweaters for a competition! Students will be voting for their favorite ugly sweater before vacation.
The PTA put on a Holiday Extravaganza where students could participate in crafts, buy some gifts for families, and Santa made a surprise appearance to take pictures with students! We had a great turn out of 100 students!
Sanford Pride Elementary School
Mrs. Curtis and Mr. Stone’s grade 4 classrooms sponsored a Giving Tree to benefit the Maine Children’s Home. The Giving Tree is one way our students, families and staff can brighten the holidays for area children, providing new gifts for kids whose families are facing financial hardship.
The December AP for the day was Ajalyn! Ajalyn’s name was chosen from our list of students that have either received a High-Five or a Positive Office Referral. Both awards come from exhibiting the five core values – Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, Courage and Compassion. Aja had a very busy and fun day. She shared that her favorite part of the day was checking the bathrooms, and walking around and making sure the school looked like it was supposed to.
St. Thomas School
With the fundraising totals officially in, St. Thomas School in Sanford is celebrating a record-breaking Mingle Jingle Run 5K. “The event raised over $16,000 for the school and was a truly spectacular community event,” said Ericka Sanborn of St. Thomas. Held both in person (Nov. 6) and virtually (Nov. 5-7), nearly 200 runners, walkers, and bikers participated in the Mingle Jingle, which also included a vendor fair at the Memorial Gym, with close to 30 organizations and businesses participating . The event was organized by Dena Carbone and Sarah Payeur, two St. Thomas parents, and sponsored by a number of local businesses, including Genest Concrete and Townhouse Properties in Sanford. “The participation was incredible, and it had the most festive spirit to date,” said Ms. Sanborn. “It was a truly fun and successful day.”
Art classes spent a week this month learning about art history, with a focus on all things Greek (gods, goddesses, vases, and patterns/design).
Holiday activities made December fun! Students built and sampled edible Christmas trees and enjoyed Rudolph graham crackers.
Sanford Christian Academy
SCA held its annual Christmas Concert December 16.
The 7th-12th graders went to Freeport December 17 for their 3rd Annual Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza, which also included time for lunch, shopping and a Secret Santa gift exchange.
Sanford Community Adult Education
Jayne Perkins, Director of Sanford Community Adult Education, completed the HiSET® training and is now the Chief Examiner for our facility. The HiSET® (formerly known as the GED) gives out-of-school youth and adults the best opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge and earn a state-issued high school equivalency (HSE) credential. The HiSET consists of five tests; math, social studies, science, reading, and writing. Each test takes about 90 minutes to complete, includes 50-60 questions and is taken on a computer. The questions on the exams cover a wide array of content areas, for example, the math exam includes questions on numbers and operations, measurement, geometry, data analysis, and algebraic concepts. The science exam includes questions concerning life science, physical and earth science. The reading exam includes questions about literary and informational texts and the social studies covers history, civics, government, economics, and geography. The student receives their test results at the end of each exam excluding writing because it includes an essay which needs to be manually graded.
Ms. Perkins was interviewed by Rick Stanley for his Chamber Talk radio show this month – you can listen to it here: https://www.sanfordmainechamber.org/chamber-talk/sanford-community-adult-education.
