Each month Laura Richards School hosts and all school assembly. This is truly a time of celebration and togetherness. We recite the Pledge of Allegiance, two classes present a song, poem, or skit to the school, star students are recognized, the new character skill is introduced, and everyone participates in a movement song. Each month we have a theme to our assembly. Students wear simple headbands that they make which unite us even more as a school community! We love coming together at our assemblies and encourage families to join us!
Click on the assembly you would like to view. Enjoy!
October's assembly theme was "Spiders, Bats, and Insects". Mrs. Malcolm's and Miss Whitman's classes presented to the school community.
November's assembly theme was "lions" since they are our school mascot! Star students were recognized for showing a positive attitude. Mrs. Laramee and Mrs. Tarrio's classes presented a wonderful version of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" song and then reported what the were "trying like crazy" to learn. The entire school community enjoyed dancing to the "Cha Cha Slide". We were all a little sweaty when we were done!
Students, staff, and families enjoyed getting together for an all school sing-a-long. Mr. Walton played favorite holiday and seasonal songs while everyone sang along. A special song from Frosty the Snowman was a hit! Staff members enjoyed performing "Blitzen Boogie". Everyone enjoyed seeing the staff members wearing blinking noses and antlers!!
Students at Laura E. Richards School enjoyed a special visit from Peppermint, a reindeer, and Baby, a fallow deer. Candis Veilleux is their caretaker and shared many intersting facts about the deer.
Second graders from Mrs. Canning's class recalled the following facts:
•The predators of reindeer are bears and wolves.
•When they walk, they make clicking sounds with their feet.
•Reindeer like to stay in the shade.
•Reindeer, elk, and caribou are the only females that can have antlers.
•Reindeer don't eat meat.
•They can live in 80 degree below zero weather.
•They can live to be 15 years old.
•They have dewclaws on their feet so that they can walk on ice.
•In the summer their fur turns black but their mane remains white.
•They can run 18 miles an hour.
•Females lose their antlers in May.
•Reindeer have four stomachs.
Officer Phil visited our school today to promote safety topics to our students. The topics included bus safety, stranger safety, and computer safety. He used the acronym, ABC, to reinforce the concepts "Always Be Careful". He also used magic tricks and his duck friend, Lucky, to entertain our LER audience. Students laughed right out loud to Lucky's funny antics! Some students were even convinced that Lucky was a real duck...not a puppet! Thank you Officer Phil for coming to visit our school. We loved your show!
For more information about the Officer Phil program visit:
Look who showed up at LER to assure us that spring is indeed on the way!!
On Friday, February 29th students enjoyed listening to favorite Dr. Seuss books read to them by community members. Many thanks to Dr. Knowles (MSAD #11 Superintendent), Andy McLean (Mayor of Gardiner), Nate (Gardiner Firefighter), Jim Toman (Gardiner Chief of Poice), Juan Lavalle-Rivera (Assistant Director of Special Education for MSAD #11), David Gruber (Army National Guard), Charlene Wagner (Gardiner's City Librarian),and Bob Moody (Safety Manager from E.J. Prescott) for taking time from their busy schedules to come read to our students! This event was a great way to encourage reading and recognize Dr. Seuss, whose birthday is March 2nd, for his contributions to children's literacy. In the afternoon we also enjoyed a "Cat in the Hat snack"!
Shamou's music career began at an early age in his native Iran where he also studied and performed with the Iranian National Ballet as a dancer. Since 1990 Shamou has taught hand drumming, percussion, music for dance and body music across the country. Laura Richards School enjoyed his enthusiastic, dynamic performance! Many students, staff, and parents were invited to perform during our assembly. For more information on Shamou, please visit his website at:
On March 26th and March 28th students at Laura Richards school got a hands on experience they won't soon forget! Chewonki visited us and presented a lesson about reptiles called, "Scales and Tales", to the second graders. Students were able to hold turtle shells and a snake skin. They even got to see a lizard and an American Alligator! What a wonderful way to learn about life science!
Our Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade students were presented a different lesson from Chewonki entitled, "Fur, Feathers, and Feet". This lesson taught our students how animals are categorized.
Chewonki's visit to Laura Richards was funded by our GEPTA which gets its funds by organizing many fund raisers throughout the school year. Thank you GEPTA for supporting these school programs! AND, thank you to our school community members for supporting our GEPTA!
The Chewonki Foundation, based in Wiscassett, is an educational institution organized in 1962. Chewonki's Traveling Natural History Lessons are dedicated to helping people of all ages foster an understanding and appreciation of the plants and animals in the natural world around them.
Chewonki brings a live animal into our classrooms to present it to our children. This is an exciting opportunity for our students to be exposed to animal groups, learn about their habitats, and discover how animals adapt to their environments.
For more information about the programs and mission of Chewonki, please visit:
www.chewonki.org
Click on the school assembly that you would like to view. Enjoy!