THETFORD ACADEMY'S
PARENT, FAMILY & COMMUNITY CALENDAR
May 14-20, 2012
EVENTS THIS WEEK
Tues., 5/15 Assembly- Student Ensemble: Carey, Moses, Swett
Senior Day
NECAP Testing – grades 8 & 11
Weds., 5/16 OFFICE HOURS
NECAP Testing – grades 8 & 11
Thurs., 5/17 Presentation- Vermont Intercultural Semester, B- block & 1st lunch, Kylie Cook
NECAP Testing – grades 8 & 11
Spring Musical: Urinetown, 7:30pm
Fri., 5/18 7th grade Field Trip- Montshire Museum, K. Grant
Spring Musical: Urinetown, 7:30pm
Sat., 5/19 Spring Musical: Urinetown, 7:30pm
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Menu-at-a-glance
Breakfast Menu served in the Cafe' daily during morning break.
Monday: Make your own Tortilla
Tuesday: Chicken Stew w/Biscuits
Wednesday: Spaghetti w/Meatballs
Thursday: Roast herb-crusted filet of Can. Salmon, Brown Rice Pilaf Friday: Quesadillas
Monday: Chicken Breast or Veggie Burgers, Spicy or Sweet Potato waffle-cut Oven Fries
UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS
TA presents: URINETOWN, The Musical
Music & Lyrics by Mark Hollmann; Book & Lyrics by Greg Kotis
Performances: Thursday, May 17, Friday, May 18, & Sat., May 19 7:30 p.m., Martha Jane Rich Theater
ALL TICKETS available at the door
Project Graduation 2012 Final Meeting
Attention Junior Parents!: Parents of current juniors are invited to the final meeting of the Project Grad 2012 committee, so the responsibility can be passed along for the surely-to-be marvelous 2013 Project Grad! Meeting is 21 May at 7:30 pm in Library Project room. Just come, or email Curtis Richardson curtis.richardson@joinccba.org or Lynn Vesley-Gross e.lynn.vg@gmail.com for information.
Opera North to Perform at TA
TA is honored to host Opera North’s presentation of The Ballad of Baby Doe for school audiences on Monday, May 21st, in the Martha Rich Theater.
Here is a message from ON executive director, Pamela Pantos:
“From the afternoon of Wednesday, May 16 through Monday, May 21, Opera North will once again be touring a free performance to high schools and middle schools in the Connecticut Valley regions of Vermont and New Hampshire.
This spring, we will be presenting scenes and arias from Douglas Moore and John Latouche's 1956 opera THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE. Sung in English, THE BALLAD OF BABY DOE ranks as a modern American masterpiece. Set in the gold-hungry mining era of 1880's Colorado, the opera centers on the unhappy love triangle of: wealthy mine-owner Horace Tabor; his neglected wife, Augusta; and Mrs. Elizabeth ("Baby") Doe. The opera is based on historical fact and contains ravishing ensemble and solo singing. Because the opera deals with actual historical figures and represents a window into a vibrant era in American history, we feel it would have interest for students of American history, as well as music students and we’d like to invite you to share this email with your
school….”
Rwanda Project Update
Over TA’s April break, we sent off tuition payments to Rwanda that enabled our 11 scholarship students to begin their second trimester. Thanks to everyone who made this possible! We've submitted the grant application that may enable us to travel to Rwanda in the summer of 2013 to meet these students and teach English in Rwandan schools. We should know whether we've won the grant in October 2012. For more information please contact Kelly Welsh Ellis (Rm. 9, kellyO.ellis@thet.net).
Week Ahead in Athletics 5/14/12
With four weeks remaining in the school year and the spring sports season, life will be extremely full and busy for all of our student athletes. In looking ahead I want to make everyone aware if they are not already, of a few plans for the end of the season.
Our last home baseball and softball games are Saturday, May 26 a double header with Harwood. We will honor the seniors from each team on that day. We will honor the senior baseball players at the beginning of the first baseball game and we will honor the senior softball players at the beginning of the second game.
We are also hosting a BBQ in between the double header games. As we have done in the past, we need volunteers to provide food items that will feed all of the teams and athletes that are participating. Once again this year Harwood will be our guests. We will need hamburgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers, buns, variety of salads, drinks, cookies, and paper products. We will also need help with set -up and cooking and serving. It would be great if every family from our softball and baseball teams could help out in some way. Many hands make light work, and expense! Please let me know how you will be willing to help this year.
May 26 is the last day to play for baseball and softball, and applications for playoffs are due on Sunday, May 27. The pairings for the tournament will be posted by the VPA, no later than 12:00 on Monday. I will post the pairings on our PFC notice as soon as I hear from the VPA.
Sports awards and the Spring BBQ are scheduled for Thursday, May 31. Originally the time was set for 6:00 pm. We would like to move it to 5:30 pm to accommodate a special presentation. If one or both of our teams advance in the playoffs and are assigned a Thursday game then we will postpone our awards night. We are looking for volunteers from ALL of our spring sports teams to bring a variety of salads and deserts. TA will provide the buns, burgers and dogs as well as the paper products. Please contact Jade at 785-4805 ext 218 or by email to let me know what we can count on from you.
I will be offering a basketball camp this summer for boys and girls June 19, 20, 21, in Vaughan Alumni Gymnasium; students entering grades 3,4,5 from 2:00-4:30, and grades 6,7,8 from 4:30-7:00. Students from all area schools are welcome to attend. The cost of the camp is $60, with portion of the proceeds benefiting The Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation and Thetford Academy Athletics. Please contact me via email for more information.
Changes for this week:
The Middle School Track meet at Windsor has been moved to Thursday, May 16, 3:30; bus will leave at 2:15.
The VB/VS games vs Oxbow have been moved to a 3:30 start to accommodate our students in the Spring Musical.
Events this week:
Monday, May 14
The Varsity Baseball team will be traveling to Twinfield for their previously canceled game, the make-up game is Monday, May 14. As reported last week, the game time is 4:30 and the bus will depart at 2:15.
JVS @ Oxbow 4:30 No bus, Parent cars per the Coach
High School Track 2:45-4:30
Baseball 3:15-4:45
Softball 5:00-6:45
Tuesday, May 15
VB/VS @ U-32 4:30 Bus 2:30, Reminder of change in location to road game
High School Track 2:15-4:00
Middle School Track 2:15-3:45
JVS 5:00-6:30
Wednesday, May 16
JVS vs Lyndon 4:30
High School Track 2:15-4:00
Middle School Track Practice TBA, Meet Postponed to Thursday, May 17
Baseball 3:15-4:45
Varsity Softball 5:00-6:45
Thursday, May 17
Middle School Track @ Windsor 3:30 Bus 2:15
High School Track @ Springfield **Partial Team 4:00 Bus 2:15
VB/VS vs Oxbow 3:30 **Note change in game time for Spring Musical
JVS practice 6:00-7:30 Spring Musical students are excused from practice
Friday, May 18
High School Track 2:15-4:00
Middle School Track 2:15-3:45
Baseball 3:15-4:45
Varsity Softball 5:00-6:45
JVS Pitchers and Catchers only 4:00-5:30
Saturday, May 19
VB/VS @ Randolph 11:00 Bus 9:00
High School Track @ Hanover Invitational 10:00 **Partial Team bus 8:30 am
Middle School Track @ Lebanon Parent Cars per Coach
Have a great week- Go Panthers!
Jade Huntington
Dean of Students and Director of Athletics
Thetford Academy
802-785-4805 ext.218
802-222-7615 cell
jade.huntington@thet.net
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ACADEMY NEWS & NOTES:
Please send inquiries or items for the “Academy News & Notes” section to Head of School, Torrelee Fisher-Sass, at torrelee.fisher-sass@thet.net .If you’d like your news included in that week’s Monday edition, please submit no later than the preceding Friday at 2:00 pm.
TA Students Win VT Honors!
Congratulations to seventh grade student, Raphael Orleck-Jetter who was chosen as the Individual Winner in the 2012 Vermont Secretary of State Poster and Essay Contest. As the first place winner, Raphie, his family, and his social studies teacher will attend an awards ceremony which includes tours of the Vermont Supreme Court and the Vermont State House. Additionally, Thetford Academy will receive a check for one hundred dollars for the purchase of civic education materials or to fund civic education field trips.
Thetford Academy junior, Yuzhou (Oscar) Lin was the third prize winner of the 19th Annual Mathematics Talent Search sponsored by the Vermont State Mathematics Coalition. Oscar scored 31.5 out of a possible 32 on the very challenging problems of the four tests. In a ceremony on May 1 at a Sunset Ballroom dinner, witnessed by parents, teachers, and Commissioner of Education, Armando Vilaseca who praised the student winners in his remarks, Jim Donatelli, Educational Technology Consultant of Texas Instruments presented Oscar and eleven other top scorers sophisticated TI software. The top winners also received University Mall gift certificates.
The winners are invited to be a part of the team of 15 representing Vermont in the annual American Region Mathematics League competition at Penn State University on June 1-2 and to attend the 2012 Governor's Institute in Mathematical Sciences to be held at the University of Vermont June 17-22.
ODW
Dear faculty, students, parents, and community members:
Thank you so much for your help and participation on ODW day this year. We couldn’t have done it without you! So far we have raised a little over 4,000 dollars from roughly 40 of our 120+ community employers. With this in mind we need you to turn in the envelopes we handed out last week. If your parents or family members have yet to hand in their money please remind them that we need it in as soon as possible. We received many comments from employers, and they were happy with the work our students did. Thank you all for helping ODW day run smoothly. We can’t wait for next year!
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TEACHING AND LEARNING AT TA:
In this section of the PFC Calendar, we offer highlights of the school at work: what’s going on in classrooms, descriptions of student projects, and other views of the Academy community engaged in its main business—helping minds to grow.
In and around TA classrooms last week:
Librarian Kate Owen reports busy days as students work to complete an array of culminating projects. Sophomore English students have accessed the library’s database, Biography in Context, to gather background material for their imaginary interview with an author. Students studying Shakespeare have used both the bound glossary of Shakespeare's words and an online version at Shakespeareswords.com
to translate his plays into contemporary language. Students of history have been seeking final facts to help fill out their papers. Some have had success using Google Book Search to locate hard to find information in freely available ebooks written prior to 1923.
If your student needs extra help with research remind them that the library is open until 4pm Monday-Thursday and until 3pm on Fridays!
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The 2011-2012 yearbooks are almost here! Yearbook students, who also work with Kate Owen, are putting the final touches on the spring supplement and are getting the account books in order so that we're ready to distribute them on the 25th of May. If you still need to send in payment please send it attn: TA Yearbook, 304 Academy Road, Thetford, VT, 05074. There are still a few books left. If you would like to purchase one please contact kate.owen@thet.net to reserve your copy!
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One of the world’s most famous composers and musicians, J.S. Bach, once commented that there really is nothing remarkable about playing a musical instrument. All you have to do is play the correct note at the correct time and the instrument plays itself. Easy for him to say! Instrumental director Greg Mellinger reports that fifty dedicated Thetford Academy students have been working hard all semester long to play the correct note at the correct time, as they gear up for the final band concert on May 24th at 6:30 in the MJR Theater. Instrumental music students have developed musical sensitivity, reading and improvisational skills and have learned what their particular instrument’s role is in the overall ensemble sound. The band room continues to be a busy place throughout each and every day as eager young instrumentalists prepare for end of the year performances.
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COMMUNITY NEWS AND NOTES
To have your community event listed here, please send announcement to Head of School, Torrelee Fisher-Sass, at torrelee.fisher-sass@thet.net . If you’d like your news included in that week’s Monday edition, please submit no later than the preceding Friday at 2:00 p.m
ENDGAME Opens May 24
A tragic comedy by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Belinda Ray
“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.”
Beckett, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969, regarded Endgame as his most successfully realized play and it has won over audiences in recent productions. The play is simultaneously poignant and funny. Director Belinda Ray believes the play is "nothing if not an extreme embodiment of the extremities of human existence, and how could it not be completely relevant today in this great 'end of times' year of 2012."
Featuring:
Alan Gelfant as HAMM
Neal Meglathery as CLOV
Effie Cummings as NELL
Charlie Glazer as NAGG
Show Dates:
May 24-27, May 31-June 3
Thursdays--Saturdays at 7:30 PM
Sunday matinees at 3:00 PM
Ticket Special: Opening night -Thursday, May 24 is a pay-what-you-can night!
Reservations: 802-785-4344
www.parishplayers.org
Drawing & Watercolor Workshops for children & teens: Morrill Homestead in Strafford, VT
June 25-29, 9 a.m.- 12:00
Explore the fantasy of nature and architecture through drawing, writing, mapping, watercolor painting and more. We will use the unique architectural style of the Morrill Homestead buildings as a source of ideas. Make your own handmade books for sketching and finished work. A great opportunity to imagine history while creating something new!
Taught by Jennifer Brown and Anmari Kicza
For kids ages 8-13, June 25-29, $75
July 9-13, 9 a.m.- 12:00
This advanced class will focus on watercolor painting. We will explore color, value, and methods to create depth in paintings.
We will use quick studies to practice our new ideas in handmade books, working from ideas and skills documented in our books along with direct observation of the environment. Students will also have time to complete finished paintings.
For big kids ages 10-15, July 9-13, $75
To register for either or both classes, call Therese Linehan at the Homestead 802-765-4288 (please leave a message) or email: director@morrillhomestead.org
To have your community event listed here, please send announcement to Head of School, Torrelee Fisher-Sass, at torrelee.fisher-sass@thet.net . If you’d like your news included in that week’s Monday edition, please submit no later than the preceding Friday at 2:00 p.m.
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End PFC 5-13-2012