What's new at Bancroft?
May 14, 2012

Dear Bancroft Family,

I understand that our Father/Daughter Dance was once again a great success. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but look forward to getting some details about it from the children. I did see many parents working hard to turn our café into a nautical wonderland. It looked beautiful!

Word of the Week: We will skip this week and next because of MCAS.

White Glove Award
Congratulations, Ms. Hanlon, Ms. Touseau and Mr. Scanlon’s classes!

Building Project Update
Phase I – work begins at the West Knoll Road extension and works toward Bancroft School.
May 14-18:

·                         West Knoll Road extension

·                         Survey

·                         Road and easement will be staked out

·                         Existing utility location and marking

·                         Tree marking

·                         Stake out erosion controls

·                                         Holt Road bike path closed

May 21-26

·                         Work continues on West Knoll Road

·                                         Relocation of mailboxes

·                                         Tree clearing

·                                         Tree protection

·                                         Erosion controls installation

·                                         May 23, 7:30 am: Meeting at the beginning of the Bancroft driveway to look at mock-ups of exterior materials. All are invited.

May 28-June 2

·                         Work continues on West Knoll Road

·                                         Start utility installation at cul-de-sac

·                                         Temporary road prep work

·                                         Primary construction access to Bancroft site

·                                         Security fence installation begins on Bancroft property

Moving?
If you are planning to move between now and September, please complete the attached form.

CARE Council
At Bancroft, we use the acronym C.A.R.E. to describe our respect and kindness program. The acronym was voted on by students a few years ago. It stands for Care And Respect Everyone. Using this acronym, we created the CARE Council. The CARE Council meets monthly and is comprised of one class representative from each class in grades three through five. The purpose of the CARE Council is to discuss ways that we can continue to build a caring and respectful community at Bancroft. We talk about issues that arise in classrooms, at recess or lunch, and on the bus. We brainstorm and implement ideas for problem solving and for building a strong community.

This year, in addition to our regular CARE Council duties, we also work Ms. Touseau and Mr. Weeden as the Green Team. Our CARE representatives are talking to classes to educate them about recycling. They are also helping to clean up the school grounds. I greatly appreciate all that CARE Council does. They are a dedicated group that takes great pride in Bancroft and works hard to do whatever it takes to make our school a very special place.

The CARE Council will hold its next meeting on May 18, 8:15 am

Milestone Anniversaries
Several Bancroft teachers are celebrating milestone anniversaries as members of the Andover Public Schools. Ms. Nichols is celebrating 35 years of service. Ms. Touseau and Ms. Lubarsky are each celebrating 25 years of service. Mr. Bourie, Ms. Hanlon and Ms. Siff are celebrating 20 years in Andover. Ms. Snow is celebrating 10 years in Andover. Congratulations to our staff. We thank you for your dedicated service to the Andover families.

Staff members will be honored at the Founders Day celebration on May 17.

Reminders
Mary French Yellow Rose Award
Please join the Andover Special Education Parent Advisory Council for the 11^th Annual Mary French Yellow Rose Award Ceremony where all nominees will be recognized. This year’s award will go to Jessican Deano from West Elementary School. We are proud to announce that Bancroft educator, Karen Rudis, was a nominee this year and will be honored at the award ceremony.

Award Ceremony
Wood Hill Middle School Auditorium
Wednesday, May 23^rd at 7:00 pm

Race to Nowhere
“Race to Nowhere” is a film that examines the pressures we put on children today. It is a powerful and moving film that parents and educators should see. Our PTO recognized the important message of the film and bought the rights to show it. The conditions of the rights require that the production company shows the film the first time. It will be shown at the Collins Center on June 8, 7:00 pm, followed by discussion. Tickets are offered online at http://rtnbancroftschool.eventbrite.com/ and cost$10. A portion of the proceeds will go to the PTO. I urge you to attend.

Art Education at Bancroft
1^st Grade
-Learning about artists who use animals as their subjects
-Created a tiger in the jungle with oil pastels, inspired by Henri Rousseau
-Looked at paintings of birds by John James Audubon
-Drew birds using oil pastels
-Learned about Robert Wyland, a marine life painter
-Painted whales

2^nd Grade
-Learned about the artwork of American painter, Georgia O’Keefe
-Drew an up-close flower, using oil pastel techniques
-Created a flower and vase collage with designs, patterns, and overlapping
-Added oil pastels to this collage to add extra color, brightness and details

3^rd Grade
-Learning about pointillism and the artwork of the Impressionist painters, such as Georges Seurat
-Creating a drawing using pointillism

4^th Grade
-Used the wax-resist painting technique to create their flag from their research project in Media
-Learned about organic forms
-Drew seashells with charcoal
-Sculpted seashells with clay

5^th Grade
-Learned about knot-tying arts (macramé) and made friendship bracelets to keep and share.
-Discussed “Green” art and made functional bowls out of recycled magazines.
-Viewed movies that touched on 2 forms of animation films: silent and claymation.

We hope to see you at our second annual art show on May 24.

Looking ahead:
5/ 14, 15 Gr 4 Math MCAS
5/ 16, 17 Gr 5 Science & Technology MCAS
5/18 CARE Council 8:15 am
5/22-24 Book Fair
5/23 School Building Committee 7:30 am
5/23 Doherty Principal, Robin Wilson, visits our 5^th graders
5/24 Bancroft School Art Show
5/28 Memorial Day – School is closed
5/29 Class reunion 9:00 am
5/30 Grade 5 visits Doherty
5/31 Grade 5 parents visit with 9:30 am
Robin Wilson at Bancroft
6/1 Kindergarten play 9:30 am
6/4 AHS Graduation
6/5 Outdoor Ed meeting 8:20 am
for 4^th grade parents
6/5 Spring Concert 9:30 am, 7:00 pm
6/6 Early release day
6/6 Incoming kindergartners visit
6/7 Volunteer Breakfast 8:15 am
6/7 Gr 2 Trip to Butterfly Place
6/7 Incoming Shawsheen students visit 1:15 pm

Principal Drop-in Hours
Tuesday, June 5, 5:30-6:30 pm
Monday, June 11, 7:30-8:30 am

Have a great week!

Respectfully,

Francine