FRANCIS W. PARKER CHARTER ESSENTIAL SCHOOL

& REGIONAL TEACHERS CENTER

49 ANTIETAM STREET    DEVENS, MA  01434-2129

TELEPHONE (978) 772-3293    FAX (978) 772-3295   PARKERSCHOOL@PARKER.ORG

Dear Parker Families,

 

We still need people to serve as jurors for the following Senior Exhibitions:

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Block 1—10:55-12:50

• How does form meet function in the evolution of knives and swords?

                                                  Block 2—1:20-3:15

• What is the process of restoring a truck?

Friday, April 30, 2004

Block 1—8:50-10:45

• How can I design an original car that will still have wide appeal?

Friday, April 30, 2004

Block 2—10:55-12:50

• What roles does the sound crew play at Parker and how does the work compare to that at a professional venue?
• What does it take to create a well done glass blown vessel?
• What are the current issues in homelessness?
• How does violence affect people?

Friday, April 30, 2004

Block 3—1:20-3:15

• What does a rehabilitation program for an injured athlete look like?

Monday, May 3, 2004

Block 1—8:50-10:45

• What is important in the design of an automatic-shift bicycle?

Monday, May 3, 2004

Block 2—10:55-12:50

• What is the process of getting published?
• What can I do to help humanely control the pet population?
• What skills do I need to be a furniture maker and fine woodworker?
• What are the benefits and challenges of mainstreaming autistic children?

Monday, May 3, 2004

Block 3—1:20-3:15

• Is cooking with organic products provably better for your health, the environment, and the taste of the food?
• What does it take to be an effective personal trainer?
• What’s the connection between kayak design and use?

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Block 2—8:50-10:45

• How are sustainable building practices affecting our world?
• How does one investigate evidence of paranormal activity?

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Block 3—10:55-12:50

• What’s an effective way to train a horse and rider for elite levels of competition?

Tuesday, May 5, 2004

Block 1—1:20-3:15

• What are the possibilities of recumbent bicycles in theory and practice?

Thursday, May 13, 2004

After school—3:45pm

• What are the international volunteer possibilities for high school students?

Many thanks to the anonymous donor of a record player for John Bohannon’s Physics class. This is just what he needs for the  motion experiments.

Many thanks to the family of Molly Shear for their donation of a paper cutter for the office and also to the family of Colleen Colvin for donating some science equipment.  Both of these donations will be immensely helpful. 

Thank you to the family of Maureen Priest and other anonymous donors for their contributions of snacks and supplies to the nurse’s office.  All contributions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you to the family of Sean Holman for the donation of rock-climbing shoes!  Parker students will use these shoes for the upcoming Division I Rock Climbing trip as well as Wellness classes and all other future rock climbing expeditions. 

April, 2004

Monday thru Friday, 19 - 23 - Spring Recess

Wednesday, 28 - Parker Road Race and Springfest meeting at 7:00 p.m.

 

PLEASE  MARK  THESE  DATES!   (Subject to change)

 

May, 2004

Thursday, 6 - Volunteer Breakfast

Wednesday, 12 - Parker Road Race and Springfest meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, 13 - MCAS Make-up day for Grade 7

Sunday, 16 - Parker Classic Road Race

Tuesday, 18 - Friday, 28 - MCAS and Stanford 9 tests for grades 7, 8, 9 and 10

Friday, 28 - Early Release (noon dismissal)

Monday, 31- Memorial Day - No school

 

June, 2004

Wednesday, 2 - Café Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, 9 - Noon dismissal - Graduation, 6:00 p.m.

Friday, 18 - Last Day of Classes  - The Big End

Monday through Wednesday, 21 - 23 - Faculty Work Days

Looking for a parent volunteer to help Cathy with the attendance on Friday mornings,

8:30 a.m. - approximately 10:00 a.m.  No previous experience necessary!!

Looking for parent helpers for Friday, May 14 to help in the office with telephones and prepare for the road race on Sunday, May 16

8 mm tapes needed for Senior Project Exhibitions.  If you would like to help please send tapes in by

Monday, April 26.

Parker Dance Committee Needs Parent Help

There will be a semi formal for 9th, 10th and 11th grade on Friday, May 7 from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.  We are looking for up to six  parent chaperones.  If you can help please contact Deborah, our point person at dchamberlain@parker.org. Thank You!  ~  The CC Dance Committee

Attention Parker Massage Therapists:  We are looking for massage therapists to contribute their time during the

Parker Road Race on Sunday, May 16.  We will be charging a dollar a minute, proceeds to go to the Parker Essential Fund.  For more information please contact Kim Draper, (508) 254-3555 cell, kimd@htmassage.com

Looking for donations of baked goods for the baked goods table at the Parker Road Race on

Sunday, May 16.  Donations can be dropped off the week prior to the race and it would be wonderful if items were pre-packaged for individual sale.  Also requested would be cakes and pies to be sold whole.  Any questions, comments or suggestions, please email Sharon Pfenninger at pfenninger@charter.net

John Bohannon is looking for about five record players so that he can use the turntable for motion experiments.  Does anyone have any they would be willing to donate to the school?

It’s not too late to contact Nicky Dudensing to serve on a Senior Project panel.  We still need people!  Exhibitions begin the Thursday we come back from vacation.  All Division Three students will be involved in different scheduling during those Senior Exhibition Days, as regular classes are not held during exhibitions.  Most students are working on long term projects or specific short term projects for their classes and so everyone should have plenty to do in the work time they will have.

This week’s course updates are from Judy Gibson’s MST class (filling in for Lorin):

In Biology we are just finishing up a whirlwind three-week tour through the Invertebrate world. Our overriding question has been how animals cope with change in their environment and so we have been looking at some of the different adaptations that exist.  We discovered some fundamental issues that all animals have to face and some neat ways of addressing those issues that have evolved.  Students individually researched separate groups of animals and then taught the class their findings.  Then we looked at the real thing.  We prodded sponges, marveled at Hydra, Rotifers and Nematodes, befriended Planaria, dissected earthworms, squids, crayfish and starfish and had a host of squirming bugs under our microscopes.  The assessment for the unit will be a combination of the student’s research and presentation to the class with a portfolio of their lab observations.  The observation portfolios will be due on Tuesday, April 27.

Seniors are invited to apply for the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame of Massachusetts Scholarship.

This organization gives 5-10 academic scholarships ranging in value from $1,000 to $3,000 to students who are deserving of funds to help defray tuition expenses.  The five criteria used to evaluate applicants are:  Financial need, academic performance, leadership/peer group involvement, athletic involvement and the quality of a submitted essay.  The awards are given without regard to ethnicity, race, religion or other demographic factors.

Seniors may apply for the Stephen Phillips Memorial Scholarship.  View requirements and criteria on-line at www.phillips-scholarship.org

Please see Sue for details.

Division I A/H

Urgent!  June Gateway Portfolio Revisions must be handed in by Friday, April 30!!

Although there is no official homework over vacation, prospective June gatewayers should be revising all the projects they can, since the deadline for revisions to be handed in is Friday, April 30!  There will still be time to rework these projects after that time but in order to have revisions completed in time for Gateways, it is imperative that they are in the pipeline before Friday, April 30. 

For all other students, reading a book or listening to one on tape during a long road trip would be great!

Division One Rock Climbing:  All students in Division I will go to Crow Hill in Leominster State Forest to rock climb with their advisories on Wednesday, April 28 and Wednesday, May 5.  Permission slips will be coming home with your children with details about this trip and can be found on page 9.

Have a great vacation!

Division II A/H

This week students turned in their research essays after a month of smart, thorough work.  They then put down their critical sources and stared at the photographs of Ansel Adams, Walker Evans and Dorothea Lang.  Last Friday, students took some disposable cameras and practiced elements of composition and general photography techniques.  Over the break students should begin their document photography projects by taking one roll of film.  This roll should be developed in preparation for the Monday we return to school. 

Students intending to Gateway must spend part of their breaks drafting, revising and polishing their letters of intent and project proposals.  These are due Tuesday, April 27.  They might also organize their portfolios which are due - complete - on Friday, April 30. 

Division I MST

This week in Division 1 MST we have concluded our study of Forces and Motion; students have completed COW 14: ‘The Physics Problem Set’ (due on Thursday) and explored the connection between mass, speed and momentum.

This week's rain, though not the best treatment for spring fever, has been essential to the sustainability of the area’s Vernal Pools which we will begin to study on our arrival back from April vacation.  

There is no new work assigned over April vacation but students preparing to gateway should take advantage of this time to revise previous COWs. 

Looking ahead to the week of April 26-30 it is important for students to come to school on Monday and Tuesday -  be prepared to be outside!  Students should arrive to MST with appropriate footwear, warm clothing and insect repellent!  We will be making our first visit to our on sight vernal pools. 

Division II MST

In science, students are studying ecology.  Students are going outside regularly and should be dressed appropriately. The Ecology assessment is ongoing throughout April.  Students will be making observations, recording them and using them as evidence for their assessment.

In math, students are continuing the study of statistics by examining scatter plots, linear regression lines and learning about the correlation coefficient.  Students should continue working on their assessments at home and passing in work on the required check-in dates (which vary by class).  Students should meet with their teachers if they are having trouble with Excel.  The final product for all classes is due on Friday, April 30.

Students are using their graphing calculators a lot during this unit and should carry them to and from school daily. Students should buy new batteries for their graphing calculators since many indicate "low battery."

Emily and Damara's classes have begun reading about Puerto Rico in preparation for their scrapbook projects.  Have a lovely Spring Break!

David's 8th grade classes are working on the Ratones reading project. 

David's 7th grade classes are creating a puppet show based on a story from Guadalajara. 

This week in Janice's and Lisa's Division II classes, students worked to finish their independent inquiry projects.  These projects will count as a "culture" piece, as well as another piece of the students' choosing.  Students

worked to answer the research questions they had formed by finding English and Spanish articles.

In Division III classes, students continued to delve further into the Isabel Allende novel, "De Amor y De Sombra." Students have now read over 100 pages in Spanish! In Janice's class, students learned about the imperfect subjunctive during Monday's grammar focus day, while in Lisa's class they looked at the preterit vs. imperfect.

This week in Alan's classes:

In Alan's classes, we continued with our third week on Emotional Health with the goal being:  Students will begin to understand the range of normal reactions and responses to a loss and will then begin to understand the process of grief and coping.  Students viewed a power point presentation on the five stages of grief and applied it to the children's stories that they read.  For physical activity, students participated in yoga, track and field, team handball and belaying skills.

This week in Deborah’s classes:

This week in Deborah's health classes, we finished looking at children’s literature on grief and loss.  We also reviewed the stages of grief.  We used the books to find examples of these stages as well as different responses to loss.  The week after vacation we will have guest speakers, either a funeral director or a grief counselor.  We will be back out on the

fields with kick ball for our physical activities.  Please remind your child to bring an extra T-shirt, deodorant, sun screen and water to class!

This week in Laura's Wellness classes, students continued to have Monday choice during Block 1 and during Block 2, we continued track and field activities.  In other physical activity classes, we played floor hockey, kickball and prisoner dodgeball.  During Health class, we began to look at how we can communicate in supportive ways with a person who is grieving a loss.  Students were able to role play scripted scenes that were designed to help them think about which verbal and non-verbal messages show care and consideration. 

 

Thank you to the following families for your generous contributions to our 2nd Annual "Buck$ for Book$" fund raiser for the library!  Your donations are greatly appreciated by the entire Parker School Community -- we can't

wait to start ordering new books!

The Lindbeck Family

The Abdelghany Family

The Shethar Family

The Norsworthy/Houle Family

Options Consignment Boutique, Inc./The Wilde Family

The Lindamood Family

The Cooke/Allen Family

The Kahane Family

The McDonough Family

The Rine Family

The Babineau Family

If you haven't contributed yet and would like to, there is a form on page 3 of this Friday Announcement.  We would love to hear from you!   Sincerely, Laurie Nehring & Maura Barstow

 

 

 

 

To the Parker Community:  I am asking for your help in fundraising for a very deserving cause.  My team (Draleau Divas’) and I will be walking the MS 3-day, 50 mile challenge walk in September for the third year running (or should I say walking).  We are a dedicated group of six women whose goal is to help find a cure for this devastating disease.  Most of you probably know someone affected by MS and also know that as yet there is no cure.  Each walker commits to raising $1,500 and this is where I need your help.  I would appreciate any contribution that you can make to this cause.  Please make your tax deductible check payable to the National MS Society and send them to me at the address below.  We are walking for all of those with MS who cannot.  Thank you in advance for your support. 

Gillian Draleau, 40 Catacunemaug Road., Shirley, MA  01464.  If you have any questions please feel free to call me at

(978) 425-2549 or email at athdara@verizon.net.

 

Sports Schedule

				Dismissal	Bus	Game
Date	Parker Team	Practice/Game	Location	from class	Leaves	Time	Pick-up
Mon., 4/26	HS Baseball	Practice	Willard			3:30	5:30 at field
	HS Softball	Practice	Willard			3:30	5:30 at field
	MS Baseball	Practice	School			3:30	5:00 at school
	MS Softball	Practice	Willard			3:30	5:00 at field
	Track	Away vs. Burncoat	See website	2:05	2:15	3:30	6:45 at school
Tues., 4/27	HS Baseball	Away vs. Fenway	See website	2:20	2:30	4:00	6:30 at school
	HS Softball	Practice	Willard			3:30	5:30 at field
	MS Baseball	Practice	School			3:30	5:00 at school
	MS Softball	Practice	Willard			3:30	5:00 at field
	Track	Practice	School			3:30	5:00 at school
Weds., 4/28	HS Baseball	Away vs. St. Clement	See website		2:15	3:30	6:30 at school
	HS Softball	Away vs. St. Clement	See website		2:15	3:30	6:30 at school
	MS Baseball	No practice
	MS Softball	No practice
	Track	No practice
Thurs., 4/29	HS Baseball	Away vs. Nashoba Tech.	See website	2:20	2:30	3:30	6:00 at school
	HS Softball	Home vs. Nashoba Tech.	Willard	2:45		3:30	5:30 at field
	MS Baseball	Away vs. Lincoln	See website	2:20	2:30	3:30	6:15 at school
	MS Softball	Away vs. Lincoln	See website	2:20	2:30	3:30	6:15 at school
	Track	Practice	School			3:30	5:00 at school
Fri., 4/30	HS Baseball	Away vs. St. Clement	See website	2:05	2:15	3:30	6:30 at school
	HS Softball	Home vs. St. Clement	Willard	2:45		3:30	5:30 at field
	MS Baseball	Practice	School			3:30	5:00 at school
	MS Softball	Practice	Willard			3:30	5:00 at field
	Track	Away vs. West Boylston	See website	2:05	2:15	3:30	6:45 at school

 

Parents/ Guardians - please note a change in the collection of Sports User Fees:  To participate in all after-school sports programs, students must have their sports user fee paid to the school office (attention: Cathy Pearlman) before the first scheduled game.  A change has been made in the collection of this fee because of the number of students with unpaid user fees.  The sports user fee is $175/ sport/ per student with a family cap at $700.  Financial assistance is available through the Student Assistance Fund.  (Contact Mary Ann Gapinski, the School Nurse, for more information concerning financial assistance).  If financial assistance is required, a request must be on file in the Nurse’s Office prior to the first game of the season for your student to play. 

 

"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Student’s Name: ____________________________________________________

                                (Please print)

                         ____ Will be returning to the Parker School in September, 2004         

____ Will not be returning to the Parker School in September, 2004     

____ Not certain at this time             

 Exciting News From Frank’s! 

Lunch Tickets are here!

 In an effort to speed up lunch lines, we are now offering lunch tickets and an Express Line for those who purchase lunch using them.

 Here’s how it works:

Students or parents may buy a strip of five tickets for $17.50. You may buy up to 4 strips (20 tickets) at a time.  Tickets will be on sale to students in the main office from 8:00 a.m. to 8:25 a.m., and again after dismissal.  Parents may purchase tickets any time the Main office is open.   Cash and checks (made out to Parker School and with “Lunch Tickets” in the memo line) will be accepted for ticket sales.   

 

Now, here’s the really important part –

• Lost tickets will not be replaced.
• Lunch tickets are not refundable.
• Lunch tickets are redeemable for lunch only.  They are not good at break time, for drinks, snacks or other “a la carte” items.  They may not be ‘cashed in.’

·         If a parent purchases lunch tickets and needs to get them to the student, parents may do so.  The office staff will not be able to deliver tickets to students.

 

 

Thank you for your support as we continue to make changes for the better!

 

Menu for Week of April 26

Monday – Chicken Fajitas w/peppers & onions

                       salsa & sour cream

                                Spanish Rice

                                Corn

                                Fruit Dessert

                                Milk

 

Tuesday – French Toast w/ syrup

                                Sausage Patties

                                Fruit Cocktail

                                Orange Juice

                                Milk

 

Wednesday – Pizza Day

                                Frank’s open for drinks & snacks

 

Thursday – Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

                                Tomato Soup

                                Corn

                                Milk

                                Fruit Dessert

                               

Friday –  Lasagna

                                Garlic Bread

                                Green Salad

                                Milk

                                Fruit Dessert