May 25, 2020

Dear YES Families,

Happy Memorial Day! I hope that you have had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather during this long holiday weekend. 

YEF NEWS 

Yarmouth Education Foundation volunteers are still hard at work helping our schools during these unprecedented times. YEF is proud to have awarded $60,000 to the Yarmouth School Department this year. This includes traditional grants and professional development opportunities, but YEF has also given back in other ways. 

YEF donated more than $15,000 this spring to make sure all Yarmouth students had technology access and the proper school supplies to make remote learning a success. The YEF mission is to support innovation in education, and we understand innovation may look differently in the months ahead. We’ll be here to help!  

 YEF Clipper Honors is back! Our incredible Yarmouth School Department employees deserved to be honored, and YEF is excited to partner with Clayton’s Cafe this spring. Donate $25 to YEF in honor of an educator and your special person will receive a YEF certificate of appreciation, a personalized note for your family, and a gift card to Clayton’s. The deadline is June 4. Order online at the YEF website: www.yarmoutheducationfoundation.org  

YEF Spring Grants: All Yarmouth students will benefit from a grant awarded to Yarmouth High School teacher Mr. Hill. When students return to the classroom, YEF will be funding a 100-gallon marine touch tank at YHS. Students will be able to study sea creatures of Casco Bay with this hands-on piece of equipment. From scallops to sea stars to baby lobsters and more, the Maine State Aquarium will allow YHS to borrow aquarium animals for use in the tank. Several different science classes will use the tank as part of their studies, and younger students in the district will be able to visit the YHS aquarium as well. YEF is pleased to fund this $9,200 grant.  

YEF also just funded a grant that will impact next year’s second graders. High school students Emma Moll & Hannah Swift will work alongside Mrs. Moll to introduce second-grade students to vermicomposting, that’s composting food waste with worms! There will be an indoor worm composting bin in second-grade classrooms next year, and students will study how food scraps from snack time can be recycled into valuable compost. To start, the compost will be used in the Yarmouth Community Garden, but when YES construction is complete, the compost can be added to the new school garden. Emma & Hannah will serve as mentors to the younger children during this community project. YEF is excited to fund this $1500 grant.

CORONAVIRUS ART SHOWCASE

Calling all Yarmouth artists! Kids' coronavirus inspired artwork is now being showcased virtually on school art blogs and throughout our community, and all kids who participate will be entered into a raffle for cool gift cards. Your artwork can be pretty much anything from a sculpture, drawing, painting, photo, or digital creation, as long as an adult can send an image of it electronically as a jpg or pdf file. Artwork should include a message to lift spirits or inspire others, a call to action to help others, a thank you to those on the front lines, or a reminder of what we need to do to stay safe and make positive choices. The deadline for submissions has just been extended through 5/31/20 and artwork should be submitted electronically to the Yarmouth Community Coronavirus Task Force: ycctf@ycan.info Names of all participating students will be entered into a raffle for gift cards to Royal River Books, Island Treasure Toys, Peachy’s Smoothie Cafe, and Otto. Check out student submissions on the Art Studio blog https://yesartstudio.blogspot.com/

JUNE 15 & 16: IPAD & BOOK CURBSIDE DROP OFF INFORMATION

On Monday, June 15 and Tuesday, June 16 between 9 am and 1 pm families are asked to drop off all of their school-issued materials at YES. The schedule on each day will be the following:

9- 11 a.m.: All students with the last names of A-M 

 11- 1 p.m.: All students with the last names of N- Z

This provides each family with two different days that might best fit your schedule. The drop off location will be held in the bus loop for a curbside drop off. At the curb there will be clearly marked tables and containers for each item. One area will be marked "iPads and Chargers" for those of you who borrowed a school iPad for your children. Another area will be marked "Library Books". Additionally there will be 18 containers that will have the name of each teacher on them. All "Classroom Library Books" should be dropped off into the appropriate teacher bin. 

As we finish up the last week of May new learning for students will be winding down over the next couple of weeks. We continue to finalize all of the details for the last week of school, including our Field Day and Step-Up Day. As always, if you have any questions, or if we can support your children in any way please let me know. Have a great week!

Best,

Ryan Gleason, YES Principal