911 Numbers

When you receive a phone call from Agnes Gray or Legion Memorial Schools, from now on it will read West Paris Elem. The number that comes up on your phone will read 207-739-2066 or 207-739-2089. If you return a call to either of these numbers it is directed to the secretary’s desk at Agnes Gray. Darlene will still be answering all calls. You can still dial the 207- 674-2332 and reach the school.

Reading Challenge

If your child reads five books before March 20, he/she can earn a ticket to a specific Portland Sea Dogs game. You can purchase tickets as well. All forms must be mailed by March 20 to the Sea Dogs.

Mr. Hart

A special Hello to Agnes L. Gray Elementary School students, teachers, support staff, parents and community members. I appreciate receiving many “Welcome to Agnes Gray School” greetings during my first week as Interim Principal at Agnes Gray.
I live in Bethel. My wife Julie is the Executive Director of Mahoosuc Kids Association After School program and SAD 44 Adult Ed. Director. We have two daughters, two son in-laws and three grand-dogs! I recently retired as principal of Guy E. Rowe Elementary School. I umpire softball games in the Oxford Hills Softball League. I work at high school basketball tournaments in Augusta and Portland. Also, I’m returning as an usher/ambassador with the Portland SeaDogs at Hadlock Field in Portland this baseball season. Play ball!
Upon our return from February vacation, Grade 4-6 parents will receive a Spring 2020 Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) Parent Letter and a Spring 2020 MEA Testing Schedule. Stay tuned.
As a school principal of 20 years, I have always valued and expected all students, teachers, support staff, parents and community members to be Responsible, Respectful and Safe before, during, and after the school day – in our school building, on school grounds, and at all school related activities.
I enthusiastically support and work diligently with one of Mrs. Clarke’s and this school year’s goal – to improve and strive for excellent School Attendance of our Pre-K to Grade 6 students and staff members.
In my brief time at Agnes Gray, I have been impressed with the “school community” as evident by our daily Morning Flagpole School meeting, Four School Spirit Teams, and our creative, energy filled and fun Winter Carnival Day on Wednesday, February 12.
I look forward to meeting and working with you – Agnes Gray Elementary School students, parents, family members and community members. March (and spring?) is just around the corner!
Respectfully,
Daniel O. Hart

Classrooms

PreK – PreK is in between units right now, which means we are doing a bunch of fun creative holiday themed activities. This week has been busy, coming back from our snow days. We have made soft slime, snow volcano’s, snowman puppets, heart paintings, hot cocoa party in dramatic play, and a pretend sledding party in the block center.
Because of our snow day we will be having Family fun night on Thursday, February 27, after school.
A reminder to try to empty backpacks each day, we often have wet gloves and snow clothes, and very full folders.
I’m hopeful that we will have a full, healthy class when we come back from vacation. I cannot wait to hear about what everyone has done. Make sure to get some fresh air!
Ms. Larracey

Kindergarten – We had a wonderful day outside at our Carnival.
On Friday we did our 100th day activities in the morning and our Valentine’s Day party in the afternoon.
For Science, we looked into Koala’s through a book that we read together and went online to learn about them.
Please ask us what a Koala is and what does that mean?
Over the vacation, please have your child read, read, read and practice writing a sentence as often as you can.
I will give out 1 penny for each sentence. Thanks.
Mrs. Biggers

Grade One – I hope everyone has a wonderful and restful vacation! Please keep having your child read at least a little bit each day and practicing addition and subtraction fact whenever possible.
We’ve moved from learning about sound to light and shadows, with the groundhog’s prediction of an early spring! We made predictions and graphed them and surprisingly, it was a pretty even split!
We celebrated our 100th day of school on Tuesday. We made a 100-piece trail mix, wrote a book about our life in the last 100 days, and practiced different ways to count to 100.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our “Love of Nonfiction” writing celebration. The students were so proud of their books that they created.
Thanks for all you do! Enjoy your time with your kiddos!

Mrs. Chafin

Grade Two – Happy February!
We’ve had a couple of busy and exciting weeks.
Second grade celebrated our 100th day on Tuesday with making a trail mix and graphing a 100-piece topped pizza. We also enjoyed having our pictures taken and turning ourselves into 100 year olds. They are hanging on our bulletin board but will go come after vacation.
Second grade started our fourth unit in math in which we are collecting data, creating categories and representing our data on various forms of graphs. I always enjoy this unit and look forward to watching the students grow.
We are continuing to write our book/restaurant reviews in our opinion writing unit. This is the first of two opinion units we do during the year.
Please have your child continue to read daily during vacation. Have a safe and wonderful February break!
Mrs. Puiia

Grade Three – It’s been a week of celebration at Agnes Gray. In math, we celebrated success with fact recall. Students have been working hard to memorize and respond to basic addition and subtraction facts. After vacation week, we’ll return with basic multiplication and division facts. Knowing math facts contributes to speed and accuracy in more complex computational tasks, and builds math confidence overall.
On Wednesday, we celebrated teamwork and cooperation during our Winter Carnival. “Houses” worked together in a
snow-based competition. Congratulations House of Rever!
Thursday was a snow day, and Friday we celebrated the beautiful mountainous area we live in on the slopes of Mt. Abram. What a great way to end our week. Happy Birthday, Bella. We’ll be thinking of you on the 18th!
Mrs. Cooper

Grade Four – The students are doing fabulous with how to read non-fiction texts as we finally move toward digging into our extreme weather project. They will be working in teams of two, and they are ready to dive in. Exciting topics, but they can be devastating disasters. Nature’s Glory and Nature’s Fury!
Math is going well, as we start our geometry unit. We are beginning with perimeter and then moving into area. They
actually are enjoying this unit so far!
Third and fourth grade skied on February 14, at Mt. Abram! Have a marvelous vacation.
Warmly, Mrs. Toita

Grade Five – There is a lot of enthusiasm for our Earth, Moon, and Stars unit, which we began this week! We’ll be reading, writing, and participating in hand-on activities pertaining to astronomy from now through the month of March.
In math we’re continuing with long division, as well as ongoing reviews of topics that have been covered throughout the year.
Soon we’ll be gearing up for MEAs with a lot of really important practice, especially in how to make sense of and persevere with word problems.
The first book talk of the month was due this Friday.
Looking forward to hearing from each of my fifth graders about the books they’ve been enjoying so far this month!

Mrs. Timm

Grade Six – Greetings from Canada. I have spoken several times to our two week substitute Mr. Dow. I am very happy to report that our team has really stepped up in my absence and put their minds into the lessons which I left. It is my intent to see our team challenged these two weeks. Our primary focus continues to be reinforcing those pivotal writing skills we started prior to my departure.
Informational research and writing will continue into next week. Environment Science will also be happening.
Please remind your students to read and absolutely be writing about their reading using those essential anchors.
Thank you again for your support in my absence. Do not hesitate to reach out. Reception will only get spottier the further north we travel. However, I will get back to you.
Mr. Onofrio