June 2009 1791 Letter - Berwick Academy

The Lower School held its
Closing Recognition Assembly on June
3. We said good-bye to a remarkable
group of people during the ceremony,
while reflecting on an exciting year in
our division. The event began with
Mrs. Wituszynski skillfully leading the
third grade violinists as they played to
an appreciative audience and ended
with a school-year slide show compiled
by Ms. Martin. This final 1791 entry
allows me to reflect on the events
found between the violin performance
and the slide show.
After the musicians left the
stage, I thanked the parents of the fourth
graders for their attendance and for
their tremendous support of the Lower
School. Then, I expressed appreciation
for Mr. Greg Schneider’s school-wide
leadership and Lower School focus.
From reading stories to the kindergarten
students to eating lunch with the fourth
grade ambassadors, we have enjoyed
Mr. Schneider’s presence within our
division. I welcomed Mr. Schneider to
the podium, and we enjoyed his kind
words for the Lower School students.
We have also appreciated strong
assistance from BAPA during the yearfrom
the book fair to pizza bingo night
to numerous enrichment experiences.
I thanked Mrs. Nancy Noyes and Mrs.
Julie Russell for their leadership as
BAPA coordinators.
The Teaching Institute—a
collaborative Master’s degree teaching
program between Berwick and UNE—
also has enjoyed another successful
year. In our division, we have been
fortunate to work with Ms. Kate
Brown, Ms. Amanda Clements, Ms.
Alicia Eisnor, Ms. Gennie Olbres,
Ms. Danielle Sipplak, and Ms. Andrea
Smith. I enjoyed the opportunity to
thank each of them for their creativity,
for their love of learning and for their
overfl owing enthusiasm.
We have also been aided by
two wonderful music teachers who will
not be working with us in the Lower
School next year. Mrs. Tina Murphy
and Mrs. Stephanie Sanders are both
talented musicians and instructors and
more importantly, teachers who really
care about their students. I wished
them well next year—knowing that we
will see them teaching private lessons
and working with the other divisions,
respectively. Thank you, Mrs. Murphy
and Mrs. Sanders!
I then thanked Mrs. Jenn
Hedges for joining the third grade
program in the spring—taking Mr.
Norcross’s place during his medical
leave. Mrs. Hedges has made many
friends at the third grade level and has
carried out a number of interesting
teaching activities from The Cricket
in Times Square to the artists/
musicians project to some special
writing assignments. Thank you, Mrs.
Hedges!
Finally, I acknowledged the
wonderful work of Mrs. Suzanne
Nixon and Mrs. Nancy Hathaway.
Mrs. Nixon has been a special friend
in our kindergarten program. She
has taught the students to read, to be
friends, and to love learning. She has
supported our community in a number
of different ways. She is often one
of the first Lower School teachers to
arrive in the morning—helping to set
up the kindergarten classroom for a
wonderful day of learning. She has
helped our students enjoy a number of
extra activities—often organizing our
fi eld trips and doing extra work for the
Lower School Production each year.
We will miss you next year, Mrs. Nixon,
and we wish you the best—thank you!
Mrs. Hathaway has been a wonderful
friend to students and faculty in our
division and across the Berwick campus.
She has worked both as an academic
support coordinator and, of course,
as a wonderful kindergarten teacher.
Over the years, she has brought
together a wonderful spirit of learning
and discovery to the kindergarten
classroom—developing creative
learning activities for the students. I
have appreciated the many ways in
which Mrs. Hathaway has enriched our
school—from creative teaching lessons
to her friendly support of all of her
teaching colleagues to enthusiastically
discussing the learning process with
Lower School parents. We will miss
you next year, Mrs. Hathaway, and we
wish you the best—thank you!
Next, I turned the spotlight
on our students. In September, we
welcomed our new kindergarten
friends. They learned about monarch
butterfl ies, they learned how to play on
our playground, they learned how to
get their own lunch in the Commons,
they went on some interesting field
trips, and they read books with their
friends in the Lower and Upper School
divisions. They even organized a
hat and mitten service project. They
learned about so many things—
from reading and writing to art and
physical education to speaking French.
Congratulations to our kindergarten
students on a wonderful year!
Our first grade students have
also had a spectacular year. They read
and read in their literacy groups and
they wrote wonderful stories as well.
Early in the year, they began learning
continued on page 15...
6 1791 Letter ~ June 2009