Reminder to the residents of the Town
of Northwood, please make sure you have a green transfer station
sticker on your vehicle by March 1, 2016 or you will not be able
to use the transfer station facility.
Coe- Brown Students Recognized For 2016 Scholastic Writing
Awards A number of Coe-Brown Northwood Academy students were
recently recognized by the National Writing Project in New
Hampshire through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. This is a
remarkable achievement and milestone for young writers at CBNA
who were mentored by English department faculty. A panel
of writers, teachers, and literary professionals selected these
students’ work as being among the best works submitted by New
Hampshire teenagers. Students are judged against other entries
in the following categories: fiction, flash fiction, poetry,
personal memoirs, persuasive essays, humor, science fiction and
fantasy. Of the more than 300 submissions to The
Scholastic Writing Awards which New Hampshire students sent this
year, the following students from CBNA were honored:
• Gold Key— Brian Downer (Strafford)
• Silver Keys—Braelin Ash (Northwood), Christie Clause
(Barrington), Sydney Gast (Nottingham), Ben Healey (Nottingham),
Ambar Mercedes (Strafford), Rachel Simmons (Barrington), Kennedi
Stowell (Strafford)
• Honorable Mentions – Kristina Seavey (Nottingham) (2),
Nicholas Allsup (Northwood), Shayla Ashley (Strafford), Orion
Clachar (Strafford), Christie Clause (Barrington), Alice Ewing
(Nottingham), Sean Hooper (Barrington), Adah Keeney
(Nottingham), Caroline Lavoie (Barrington), Katherine Martel
(Barrington), Grace Mele (Northwood) Carter Rollins (Northwood)
On May 9, 2016, all award recipients, including those whose work
was selected as honorable mention, will be invited to attend the
NH regional awards ceremony to be held at Heritage Commons on
the campus of Plymouth State University. In addition, every
piece of writing which received a gold or silver key will be
published in this year’s edition of Middle/High School Voices.
Congratulations to this next generation of writers.
Letter
The New Preschool
is Crushing Kids
That’s the title of an article in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue of The
Atlantic. The subtitle is, “Today’s young children are
working more, but they’re learning less.”
Author Erika Christakis, Lecturer at the Yale Child Study
Center, describes what kindergarten looks like these days, and
it’s startlingly different from kindergarten not very long ago.
For example, what first greets a visitor is “ a print-rich
environment, every surface festooned with alphabet charts, bar
graphs, word walls, instructional posters, classroom rules,
calendars, schedules, and motivational platitudes.”
The difference isn’t just the wall
decorations: “Pedagogy and curricula have changed too, most
recently in response to the Common Core State Standards
Initiative’s kindergarten guidelines. Much greater portions of
the day are now spent on what’s called seat work.”
The article cites a study called, “Is kindergarten the new first
grade?” comparing kindergartens in 1998 and 2010. The
researchers saw more workbooks and worksheets, more time trying
to teach kids to read, more direct instruction, more
homework, 5 year-olds forced to finish their work before they
could go out and play, and more kindergartners left back,
Another study cited is a recent evaluation of Tennessee’s public
preschools. It found that “although children who had attended
preschool initially exhibited more ‘school readiness’ skills
when they entered kindergarten than did their
non-preschool-attending peers, by the time they were in first
grade their attitudes toward school were deteriorating. By
second grade they performed worse on tests measuring literacy,
language, and math skills.”
The author finds recent research
“disquieting.” She says, “The same educational policies that are
pushing academic goals down to ever earlier levels seem to be
contributing to the fact that young children are gaining fewer
skills, not more.”
It’s not an easy time for parents--or
for kids.
Michael Faiella
Northwood
Thank You
David Boisvert, Janet DelFuoco, Sam Goad, Suzanne
Boisvert
It is with great honor we would like
to announce Sam Goad got third over all in the super cross
championship and also received an iron man award at Winchester
speed park on Jan 31, 2016. With that being said, we need to say
our goodbyes and our heart felt thank you.
First, on behalf of myself and Sam, we
want to thank Freedom Cycle, they were our main sponsor since
Sam starting racing at the age of 5. Freedom Cycle always made
sure our parts were in and did their best to keep us on the
track.
We also want to thank Troy Samoisette,
our lead mechanic of C&T performance, Evan Wimsatt, Dave Black
of Kent Racing and Kent Communications, and Jody Larue. Without
this team of support, we would not have gotten this far.
Most of all we feel we need to thank
our fire department, for keeping our track nicely maintained
with the yearly burn, and our neighbors, who put up with Sam
practicing.
Our goodbyes are because we are going
to take racing one step further and move to NC this summer to
get a better move on racing and try to enter the pro circuit.
We have a very long road ahead of us,
but the people of NH, we will not forget. In the near future we
will set up a facebook page called 705racing if any one wants to
follow Sam and his progress. Again we thank everyone for all
your support!
705 Racing Team
Janet DelFuoco/Sam Goad
Letter
To the citizens of Northwood:
I, along with the Northwood Police Commission, would like to
invite you to an information night being held on Thursday,
February 25th, at 6 PM at Coe-Brown in the multi-purpose room.
The information night is being held to provide the voters with
information regarding the budget for the police department as
well as any other topic attendees would like to discuss.
I look forward to the opportunity of
providing you with the information.
Respectfully,
Chief Glendon Drolet
Northwood Police Department
Candidates
For Town And School Elections
Candidates for local positions that
will appear on the ballot are now in place with only a few
contested races. Voters will go to the polls to consider 27
warrant articles and to fill numerous open seats for the town
and school district on Tuesday, March 8 from 7 am to 7 pm at St.
Joseph’s Church Parish Center.
Two candidates have filed for the one 3 year selectman seat:
Timothy Jandebeur and Donald Hodgdon. Four people are hoping to
fill two open seats on the school board: Dennis DeBello, Bree
Gunter, David Ruth and Shane Wells. There is also a four way
race for two seats on the planning board: Lee Baldwin, Hal
Kreider, Joseph McCaffrey, and Victoria Parmele. Two remaining
budget committee seats-one for one year and one for two years
will not have any name on the ballot, and will likely be filled
by write in votes. All other positions on the ballot will
have a person who has filed for the position(s) available.
If you are interested in either of the
budget committee vacancies as a write-in candidate, be sure to
make it known locally or submit a letter of interest in The Sun
before the election.
If you did not receive a copy of the Voter Guide listing all
warrant articles and explanations, stop by the town hall during
regular business hours, or you may access the complete 2016
Warrant at the town website:
www.northwoodnh.org on the Main Menu under 2016 Budget
Documents.
What’s New
at Northwood??
Respectfully
submitted by Principal, Wendy P. Despres
With the first 100 days of school now
complete, having celebrated our 100th day of classes at
Northwood School on February 4, 2016, we are moving on to the
third marking period with some exciting new projects and
activities for the students of Northwood. Included in this
article is just a sampling of the many great experiences
students are having.
On Thursday, January 21, 2016,
Northwood School held our Annual School Spelling Bee. Classrooms
in grades 4-8 participated with individual bees to determine
representatives from each class. Twenty-six students competed
for the school title with an audience of peers from grades 3-8,
parents, and staff.
After Round 4 we were down to fifteen
students. Round 5 was the toughest and we lost all but the top
two! Andrew (grade 7) and Cecilia (grade 5) battled it out to
Round 14!!! Cecilia won with the championship word “percentage”.
Congratulations to all our spellers!
Ms. Moore’s INFO TECH library classes
are quite busy. The Grade 8 students have finished their lessons
and presentations on study skills. They examined in depth
strategies for evaluating websites. They also discussed digital
citizenship topics and Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple
Intelligences.
The students presented their research
on these topics with a variety of digital storytelling tools.
The Grade 7 students have begun a unit on primary sources. They
are looking at photographs of Northwood from the late 1800’s and
early 1900’s. They are also using the UNH Digital Collection to
review old town reports to learn some things about the town’s
history.
The Literacy Committee has big plans
to celebrate Read Across America Week from March 7-11. Many
activities are anticipated such as “Poem in your Pocket Day,”
grade level book buddies, and “Cozy Reading Day.” Parents and
community members are invited to come in to read to a class
during that week. We thank all those who are interested in
participating.
Our 7th grade math classes will participate in The Youth
Financial Preparedness Incentive (an activity on how to prepare
our youth for financial responsibility). For quarters 3 and 4,
7th grade students will be given a checkbook that they will have
to keep track of for the rest of the year. They will be keeping
a check register, balancing a checkbook, writing checks,
depositing money in the form of a point system and checks (not
actual currency). At this time, our math teacher, Ms. Clemons,
is accepting donations for the students to bid on with the
“money” they earned and saved during this project. If you would
like to help with this project or know of a business that could
help, please email Ms. Clemons at:
[email protected]
On Thursday, March 17, 2016, we will be hosting David Ira
Rottenberg. He is the author of two children’s books teachers
will share with their students. Joy of Dance will be performing
one of the stories for grade K-4 at 9:45 in the gym. Mr.
Rottenberg is graciously donating his time to share his love of
reading with the students of Northwood and we look forward to
his visit.
Letter To The Editor
To the Editor,
So the
deliberative sessions are both over, we’ll get to vote on March
8th. I can’t wait. It has been both a pleasure and an advantage
to be both a Selectman and a School Board member. There should
always be one doing both.
I am thinking about how to present
several ideas to you later. Having access to and seeing the
“sausage making” of both is eye opening. With a very clear
conscience, knowing that hard work of many had resulted in large
reductions in many areas of the school budget, I had hoped for a
smaller budget to be presented to you. And I still do.
I have watched over the years as the
selectmen struggled to keep the overall tax rate down. It is one
of the first things that potential homeowners or business owners
look at before moving here. To that end, they were put into a
position of letting some things go or take criticism when the
tax rates went up. Roads, bridges, maintenance on everything and
so much more went wanting. If I fault them for anything, it is
that they did not keep you informed. They did not and wouldn’t
think of informing you in this manner. While the selectmen set
the tax rate they have no say about the school budget. You do.
So there are those who believe that
$10 in taxes is too high and those that would gleefully double
your taxes. I am in the middle. I believe that there has to be
an ebb and flow between the two budgets that leaves the overall
rate steady and fair. The town needs to spend, let’s say $250K,
extra for a few years to catch up. I like that in warrant
articles rather than in the budget, because once it is in the
budget, it is very hard to get out. Entitlements. Now is the
time to do that while the student count is way down.
Tim Jandebeur
Northwood
New Hampshire Has Starring Role In New
Novel by Yona Zeldis McDonough
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – February 11,
2016 – Yona Zeldis McDonough has announced the publication on
February 2, 2016 of her seventh novel, The House on Primrose
Pond, which is set in present-day New Hampshire but interweaves
one of the state’s important historical events into the plot
line. McDonough’s main character is researching and writing
about the hanging of Ruth Blay in 1768. Blay was convicted of
concealing the birth of an illegitimate child. She was hanged
for this crime before a large Portsmouth crowd, making her the
last woman hanged in New Hampshire.
McDonough loosely based the
contemporary setting of the novel on Northwood, New Hampshire,
where she and her family vacations for treasured weeks each
summer. The House on Primrose Pond is the first novel that
McDonough has set outside of New York City. “I began to feel
restless and wanted to write about a new location,” McDonough
explains. “My husband is from New Hampshire and we return to the
state each summer. I love the area and felt that I could write
about it with the necessary authenticity and passion.”
Yona Zeldis McDonough is available to speak to book clubs via
Skype and will be in New Hampshire in Summer 2016 for speaking
engagements at libraries, book stores and community
organizations. For more information or to contact McDonough,
please visit www.yonazeldismcdonough.com.
The House on Primrose Pond is published by New American Library,
an imprint of Penguin Random House. Copies are available through
Barnes & Noble, some New Hampshire independent bookstores,
Amazon and the publisher’s website at
www.penguinrandomhouse.com.
The House on Primrose Pond Plot
Synopsis After suffering a sudden, traumatic loss, historical
novelist Susannah Gilmore decides to uproot her life—and the
lives of her two children—and leave their beloved Brooklyn for
the little town of Eastwood, New Hampshire. While the trio
adjusts to their new surroundings, Susannah is captivated by an
unexpected find in her late parents’ home: an unsigned love note
addressed to her mother, in handwriting that is most definitely
not her father’s. Reeling from the thought that she never really
knew her mother, Susannah finds mysteries everywhere she looks:
in her daughter’s friendship with an older neighbor, in a
charismatic local man to whom she’s powerfully drawn, and in an
eighteenth century crime she’s researching for her next book.
Compelled to dig into her mother’s past – and into the tragic
death of Ruth Blay, the last woman hanged in New Hampshire —
Susannah discovers even more secrets, ones that surpass any
fiction she could ever put to paper.
About Yona Zeldis McDonough
Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of
novels such as A Wedding in Great Neck and You Were Meant for Me
as well as dozens of books for children. She is the editor of
and a contributor to The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns
Forty, as well as All the Available Light: A Marilyn Monroe
Reader. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Letter To The Editor
Science Camp Miracle
A little-noted miracle occurred during
the Budget Committee’s review of the school budget. Both Joe
McCaffrey and I expressed approval that there was money in the
budget for Science Camp. I’ll let Joe explain his reasons, but
mine are, in some ways, similar to those that inform my support
of full-day kindergarten.
Science Camp gives kids a chance to
learn things in Nature’s classroom, a place where many of us, of
my generation, at least, learned things.
It’s experiential learning in situ,
away from worksheets and computer screens. It involves
interaction, discussion and discovery. And it is often fun.
I went to Science Camp with my
eight-grade students when I taught for a year (2004-05), so I
know of what I speak. And another benefit was for everybody to
see each other in a new context. And to discover new things
about ourselves and each other. That a shy and quiet kid could
identify all the trees we encountered. That kids could work as a
team to get to the summit.
This is, in part, why I support giving
our kindergarteners a full day in which to learn and play, and
do music, art and physed. Otherwise, the focus on “book
learning” is disproportionate.
Having greeted many of you as you were
leaving the polls last week, I was gratified by the support I
received for full-day kindergarten. I hope that you demonstrate
that support at the polls on March 8.
Tom Chase
Northwood