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Dear Presumpscot families:
Thank you for the warm welcome. It was wonderful meeting so many of you at the BBQ and open house. I was blown away by the sense of community. The feeling was reinforced when we opened the doors, and the students arrived, excited to be back at school. Their energy, passion, and kindness filled the hallways.
This year we welcomed many new families to the Presumpscot community. They arrived from right down the street and as far away as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Each day I learn something new, whether it is something about a family’s history, a word in Portuguese or a phrase in Arabic, and each time, I am humbled.
Academically, teachers have introduced their first expeditionary learning unit, which they will share at Curriculum Night on Tuesday, October 8 from 5:00 - 6:30. The kindergarten students will dive deep into an engineering unit that focuses on the design model, starting with play and ending with designing a cardboard robot. Very exciting! In 5th grade students are learning about their constitutional rights and responsibilities. They are applying this new content by providing feedback as Presumpscot designs a new positive behavior system. Additionally, some teachers are piloting Illustrative Math (IM), the districts new math curriculum, which is really pushing students to consider, investigate, problem solve, and apply.
All teachers and staff are implementing social and emotional lessons during morning crew. It is wonderful to see little people evaluate how they feel using a system of colors (green, yellow, and red), and know it is okay to be in the red zone; they just need to regulate their feelings. I have heard students reference these zones at recess, playground, and at lunch.
I have also been floored by the support of the Presumpscot Family Council. Their generosity made it possible to provide lunch for our teachers during the workshop days, which was greatly appreciated!. Additionally, they have started planning Fall Harvest Night. This will be on Friday, October 25 from 5:30 - 7:30. If you'd like to help or want more information, please reach out to Crystal Gamet via the Presumpscot Family Council FB page.
Sincerely,
Angie Taylor
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New Kindergarten Teacher at Presumpscot School
We are excited to welcome Samara Doyon to the Presumpscot community. Samara lives in Portland with her partner and two children. She is from Maine, living both in the Bangor and Portland area. Samara completed the University of Southern Maine’s ETEP program in 2014, and earned a B.A. in English with a minor in creative writing in 2008. Samara’s experience includes working as a pre-K teacher at Roots and Fruits Preschool and Children’s odyssey. A fun fact, Samara wrote two children’s books: Magnificent Homespun Brown and Magic Like That. Both will be published in 2020.
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Please welcome our new art educator, Heather Livingstone. She will be with us 2 1/2 days this year, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Heather comes to the Presumpscot community with 16 years experience teaching
visual art in Maine schools. She graduated from USM with a BFA in Art Education, and has an MA in Art Education from Boston University. Heather is a painter and 2D artist who has exhibited her work in various local galleries. She has a passion for integrating the art curriculum across content areas, a background in project-based learning, and is thrilled to be joining an Expeditionary Learning school. Heather looks forward to nurturing hands-on creativity, artistic problem-solving, and innovative thinking in the student-artists at Presumpscot Elementary starting this fall. She resides in Portland with her husband, son, and three cats. |
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Please also welcome our other new art educator, Samantha O'Connor, who will be with us on Friday mornings.
Samantha just moved to the Portland area from Northern Virginia this summer, after teaching Visual Art for two years near Washington, DC. She graduated from George Mason University with a BA in Art and Visual Technology, and English. She worked as an Art Gallery Curator in Richmond, Va and self published her children's book, Captain Marlowe and the Red Tide before obtaining her Master of Teaching in Elementary Education from the University of VA. Samantha works with graphite, gouache, and stained glass in her free time, but loves to dabble in all mediums. Samantha looks forward to creating meaningful relationships with her students based on a foundation of creative choice and personalization tending to the whole child. She now lives in Westbrook with her significant other and beagle and is looking forward to exploring everything Maine has to offer! |
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We'd like to introduce one of our new music educators, Patrick Sutor, who will be with us on Mondays, Wednesday afternoons and Fridays.
Patrick previously taught in the Oxford Hills School District for five years, and before that taught in Newark, New Jersey for three years. He graduated from Rutgers University with a BM in Jazz Studies and from Montclair State University with a MA in Education. Additionally, Patrick received his full Orff-Schulwerk certification from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. As an educator, Patrick seeks to give students the tools to use music as a means for creative self-expression through not just singing and playing instruments, but movement, composing, and improvising. In addition to teaching Patrick plays the saxophone and clarinet in several professional ensembles in the Portland area, and enjoys playing Irish traditional music. Besides music, Patrick likes to spend time outside through fly fishing, hiking, camping, and skiing.
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Another new member of our music staff is Tim Fulwider, who will be with us Wednesday mornings.
Tim teaches music at both Presumpscot Elementary School and East End Community School. This is his fourth year teaching in Portland Public Schools and is excited to be a part of the Presumpscot community! Prior to teaching in Portland, he taught elementary general music in Nashville, TN after obtaining his music education degree from the University of Dayton in 2012. He looks forward to sharing his love of music with Presumpscot students, parents and staff!
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