September 1st and three days of the new school year are already hist= ory

To: = Parents, Guardians and Students

From: Dr= . G.

Re: = Honors and Accolades

Date: = ; May 18, 2007

This week has been busy w= ith student recognition. An e-mailed letter arrived on Monda= y from Attorney Jennifer Rodriguez addressed to Dr. G. The “Re:” read, “= ;CONGRATULATIONS Creative Writing Contest, Why I am = Glad America Is a Nation of Immigrants, Theodore Sauyet won First Place, Car= son D’Ambrosio won Third Place”. This is outstanding as, out of thirty-four schools and 250 entries, Andover Elementary students garnished = first and third place! Congratulations to both young authors! The letter went on to indicate that= both boys would be recognized at the naturalization ceremony in Hartford on June 1^st with U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Martinez presiding.= The boys have been asked to read th= eir essays at the ceremony. Carson&= #8217;s fifth grade teacher is Mrs. Disco and Teddy’s fifth grade teacher is = Miss Robbins. Teddy also received an Honorable Mention at the National level, wh= ere his writing was in competition with over 2,000 entries! All three winning entries will be m= ade available on our website for your reading enjoyment.

Mr. Maneggia met with the= sixth grade on Tuesday to congratulate and introduce to the class of 2007 the nom= inees of this year’s Superintenden= t’s Award. Briana Geoghegan and Kyle Rodeghe= r are this year’s recipients. After reviewing the criteria for the award, he challenged the two students to continue to build upon those characteristics, becoming recipients of the aw= ard at the conclusion of their middle school careers and again at the conclusio= n of high school. Both students wi= ll be recognized and presented to the Board of Education at the June meeting.

Eleven sixth graders audi= tioned for the honor of reading “In Flanders Field” and “The Get= tysburg Address” at the Memorial Day Parade/Ceremony. The stud= ents did a fabulous job! Selected to represent Andover Elementary School are Katie Wood, who will read the “Gettysburg Address”, and Jill O’Brien, who will recite “In Flanders Field”.

The sixth graders started= their end-of-the-year activities with DA= RE Day at Dodd Stadium for the Connecticut Defenders baseball game on Thursday= . The theme for the day’s activ= ities was Education and Motivation and i= ncluded speakers, demonstrations, displays, and of course, the game. This morning, the 48 sixth graders,= their teachers, chaperones, and Dr. G. left for Boston, = where everyone enjoyed the Boston Science Museum, the Omni Theater and, n= ew this year, the Boston Duck tour. The weather was different than yest= erday for the game but a good time was had by all.

A week ago, on Wednesday,= June 9^th, the fourth graders took their 198 = baby salmon to the Salmon River where they released t= hem to hopefully spend the next couple of years maturing and staying off Mr. Ames&= #8217; or Mr. Maneggia’s fish hooks. When they mature, they will find th= eir way to Long Island Sound and begin their long swim up the Atlant= ic Ocean to Greenland. After a two-year rest in Greenland fattening up, they will return to the Salmon River t= o spawn the eggs that they have developed. <= /span>Considering that there were 198 live salmon released out of the 200 eggs that were delivered last January, it is safe to say that the 99% release rate was sensational and a credit to the care that this fourth grade class gave to t= he salmons’ development. T= he trip was a full-day learning adventure. During the morning, students were b= roken up into groups and round-robined through six different stations. Station o= ne dealt with temperature. Stude= nts were asked to take and then compare the temperatures of the tank, the Salmon River, the room (201), and the air temperature at the park. With the information, they were ask= ed to write responses to several analytical questions. Station 2 required students to test= the river and tank for PH, Nitrates, and Nitrites. Station 3 required students to meas= ure the water velocity of the river. Station 4 had students surveying the water for various organisms. On at least one occasion, a newly released salmon ended up in the fish net but it was quickly re-released. Station 5 was an experiment to help students understand the limited amount of fresh water bodies that exist in = the world in lakes, streams, rivers, and reservoirs. The stunning amount is a whopping 1= /10 of 1%. The last station was the one they were all waiting for, the Salmon rele= ase station. Two activities before the actual release included sketching the sm= all fry to be released and a view of the site and then (finally) gently placing= the cup with the salmon in it at water level and letting the small fry swim int= o their new habitat. After lunch, the students participated in the “Smell Your Way Home” game to help= them better understand how the salmon return to the brook, river, lake where they were originally hatched. A big THANK YOU goes to the fourth graders for successfully tending these salmon = and also to Mrs. Turgeon who organized this project, including the release day activities, with the help of Mrs. Bech, Mr. Mil= ler and Mrs. Rodriguez.

The annual sixth grade community clean-up will take plac= e next Friday morning. In the event = of rain, it will be postponed until June 1^st. Students will be treated to a pizza= lunch, thanks to the PTA, when the work is completed.

The May PTA meeting has been moved to May 24^th to accommodate members whose lives have suddenly become hectic with baseball g= ames and end-of-the-year activities. On everyone’s agenda should be the evening of May 31^st when t= he world comes to live at Andover Elementary School as students, staff, parents, and frien= ds participate in the 3^rd annual Geography Jamboree.

Look for information on G= overnor Rell’s Summer Reading Challenge in next week’s memo.

___________= _________________

Students take part in a recent Cultural Assembly presented by the P= TA.