Litchfield Schools

21st Century Technology Skills Presentation at Wamogo HS
Public is invited - Thursday at 7 pm

Dr. Howie DiBlasi, a nationally recognized expert on the role technology plays in education, will speak at Wamogo Regional High School Thursday at 7 pm.

DiBlasi's one-hour address will touch on skills needed for the 21st century, integration of technology into the classroom, and global connections through technology. The event is free and open to the public.

Region 6 is sponsoring DiBlasi's visit as part of its professional development program for teachers. He will spend the day Thursday with the school district's technology team, administration and Board of Education. On Friday, he'll speak to staff and conduct three workshops for teachers.

Along with being a speaker on technology, DiBlasi is the producer of the "Did You Know" series of videos on educational dynamics.

The six winners in the Goshen Center School fire prevention poster contest were named March 1. From left are, Julia Boger-Hawkins, John Puglio, Riley Fasano, all fourth-graders, and Daniel Dimaria, Spencer Musselman and Nicholas Marvin, all fifth-graders. Boger-Hawkins and Marvin were the first-place winners in their grades and each received a $100 savings bond from the Goshen Fire Company.

Puglio and Musselman won second-place in their grades and Fasano and Dimaria were third-place winners. Second and third-place winners each received $50 savings bonds. The winners were announced by Goshen Volunteer Fire Company President Barbara Breor and Goshen Fire Marshal Bill Baldwin.

Morris teacher shaving her head to support children with cancer
Litchfield.bz (3-3-10)

Tracy Keilty is a 6th grade teacher at James Morris School in Region 6.
She will be shaving her head on March 15th to show solidarity with children who have cancer. These children typically lose their hair during treatment. She is raising critical funds for childhood cancer research with strong support from her sixth grade students. As of March 3rd she has raised $2,550 through the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

To support Tracy's efforts, click here.

Taylor needs your vote
Litchfield.bz (3-1-10)

Litchfield High School graduate Taylor Ivey is graduating from Tulane this year and is working feverishly to win her dream summer internship.

HEY EVERYONE!
So Student Travel Agency (STA) picks two interns every summer to travel
around the world and take photos and blog for their website...no big deal
right? So obviously this is awesome so I'm applying, I had to make a short
video (it's only 3 1/2 minutes long) about why they should pick me and I
need votes! The top 50 people with the most votes goes on to the next round
and since I was a little late on hearing about it, I have a week to get
maybe 2000 votes? HELP ME!!!!

The video's pretty funny and entertaining, but if you really don't want to
watch it, please at least vote for me! Just click the link, it's really
quick and easy!

Thanks!
Taylor

Litchfield Montessori School Pancake Day and Mardi Gras Celebrations
(2-24-10)

The Royal Mardi Gras Couple! Queen Marina Keator and King Jason Silverman get ready for the Pancake Race

The Lower Elementary students actively engaged in studies and enactments of various cultural activities surrounding Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday and Pancake Day. The students researched the history behind the seasonal celebrations which are inclusive to the Montessori curriculum studies of the Needs of Humans.

Lower Elementary Directresses, Debby DeGuire and Elaine Allessio guided the children in artistic extensions of the study. The students strung beaded necklaces and created face masks. Jason Silverman and Marina Keator were selected as the King and Queen of Mardi Gras. They led their classmates on a fun pancake race based on the classes’ study of a 1445 incident in Olney, England when a housewife late for services arrived at the church door wearing her apron and still clutching her frying pan! After the race all competitors enjoyed a pancake, strawberries and whipped cream treat! Submitted by Anne-Marie Fenn, Head of School at amfenn@litchfieldmontessori.org or at 860 283-5920, 5 Knife Shop Rd., Northfield, CT 06778

The Litchfield High School robotics team, the Litchbots #1784, competed Saturday in the pre-season scrimmage “The Suffield Shakedown”, to test their new robot prior to official competition. Twenty-five area high schools brought their enthusiasm and their robots to Suffield High School to compete on an official F.I.R.S.T. arena in an exciting one-day event. The Litchbots won 2 of 3 of their matches and played excellent defense, not allowing a single goal to be scored by the opponents.
Continued

Litchfield Center School second grade students are learning about sound waves through hands-on activities with science teacher Donna Maraia.

photos courtesy of Parker Productions

KiDSMARATHON goes statewide
Litchfield.bz (2-23-10)
The CT Association of Schools (CAS) and its affiliate CT Interscholastic Athletic Conference has scheduled a press conference for 11 am this Thursday, 2/25, at CAS HQ in Cheshire. Litchfield Center School Principal, Andrienne Longobucco and Litchfield Hills Food Systems President, Bill Burgess will have speakers' roles along with others leading this CT-wide KiDSMARATHON program, to be initiated on April 1, 2010. It is estimated that over 1000 elementary and middle-school kids, aged 6 - 12, will participate in this inaugural state-wide program being offered to all 670 elementary schools in CT. The administration and teachers of Litchfield's public schools are very excited about this program!

Abbe Waldron assumed the role of our lone Media Specialist in the fall of 2007. Since that time, the Wamogo Media Center has been transformed in many ways. Abbe has combined her deep knowledge of information technology and her enthusiasm for adolescent literature and made a powerful impact on the students at Wamogo. Her technology skills have impacted the Wamogo learning community in many ways.

Wamogo High School
Student Spotlight - French Project Videos
(courtesy of Region 6 School District)

Naomi Video | Shannon Video

In the 2009 school year, students from French 4 hosted French students. These French students came from a school called Estic, in Saint Dizier, northern France. This program created an exchange opportunity for Wamogo and Estic. The French 4 students continued to communicate with their French students through e-pals. Students were given various topics by the teacher and then would write to their pen pal. The American students would write in French and then receive a reply in English. The next letter would be the opposite. Students were exposed to various cultural topics as well as general topics about themselves and their families. As a final project, the French 4 students created a video about themselves and Wamogo. These videos were shared with the French students through a Wiki page. The French students viewed and commented on the videos.

It was Read-Aloud Day on Wednesday, February 3rd sponsored by Alcoa-Howmet and the NW CT Chamber of Commerce. Business leaders and community members read to all the classes in Center School and the Intermediate School in Litchfield. The books were purchased by a grant from Alcoa-Howmet in Winsted and donated to the classes after the reading.

LIS Read-Aloud

LIS photos courtesy of Bob Rice

Art Specialist, Tina Zampaglione and Music Specialist, Rob Brereton have teamed up to engage Upper Elementary students in an integrated study of art and music. The students researched Early and Native American, Celtic, African and contemporary designs in order to create and paint their own drawing on the body of a dulcimer.

The history of the dulcimer will be studied during the course of instrument construction. Rob Brereton, a noted dulcimer player, will instruct the students on how to play the instrument. The students will then prepare to present a musical offering during Montessori Education week which is the last week in February.

Students in Mr. McDevitt's kindergarten class at Center School in Litchfield are practicing "partner reading." This is part of the "Reader's Workshop" program used throughout the school.

Extracurricular activities at Wamogo
(1-26-10)
Throughout an average school day at any high school in the country, extra curricular activities and events play a major role with most students. These activities may include sports, clubs, musical ensembles and other various groups and tend to be a major aspect of students day. At Wamogo Regional HS in Litchfield CT, extracurricular activities are very strong throughout the entire student body and give the students many opportunities to enhance their education. Two key players involved with these extracurricular activities are Mary Stolle, Wamogo’s Athletic Director and Physical Education Teacher, and Christian Siegel, Wamogo’s Fine Arts Coordinator and Instrumental Music Director. Continued

Pajama Day at LCS
It was Pajama Day at Center School in Litchfield on Friday. Special thanks to Michele ("Kappy") Kaplan for providing the photos.

“Hats for Haiti” day at the Litchfield Intermediate School
Students paid 50 cents for the privilege of wearing a hat of their choice. Over $800 was raised from just 283 students. The money will be donated to the local Red Cross to aid the victims of the Haiti earthquakes.

Supporting the local community
Several LHS students have been volunteering at the Litchfield Hills Farm-Fresh Market. These students are all members of the National Honor Society.

from left: Veronica Birdsall, Jennifer Pavlick, Katelyn Lewis, Julie Bogen,
Alex Gros and Carly Tutolo

Connecticut Young Writer's Competition

The Connecticut State University System is sponsoring the Connecticut Young Writer's awards for students aged 13 to 18 for the 13th year. Entries must be nominated by a public or private school teacher and postmarked on or before February 1, 2010.
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