Dec. 5, 2017 e-Newsletter
'TIS THE SEASON
We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to everyone who attended the IPA Holiday Festival on Dec. 3 and to all of those who helped make this year's event possible, including co-chairs Melinda Aghajanian and Ashley Procope, Secret Santa Shop co-chairs Barbie Woodland and Kathleen Brown, Santa Claus (aka Pete Peddrick), the Independence Plant Staff (Lee Fullmer, Jim Jones, Greg Roach and Ross Whitehead), all of our middle school student volunteers, Cub Scout Pack 2, Debbie Grothaus and her beautiful holiday creations, Dan Kitching and Tae Sakamoto for their joyous caroling, and of course, all of our parent volunteers (in alphabetical order): Madhu Batta, Elizabeth Bayley, Patti Brindley, Damian Carlson, Fei Cheng, Brian Cohen, Jenn & Mark Corbett, Terri deGarbolewski, Payal Desai, Pooja D'Souza, Melissa Evans, Carrie Fang, Anita Fasick, Victoria Finney, Deb Foley, Kera Foreman, Lanay Frazier, Nicole Garrett, Hannah Genoese, Linza Godfrey, Anita Gorton, Pooja Gupta, Krista Harman, Jay Harris, Jennifer Hasty, Changming He, Ivey Helmick, Trisha Jordan, Meg Keen, Kristin and Brian Kipp, Lynne Laird, Heidi Lentz, Anju Martin, Linda Morel, Julie Nelson, Jill Peddrick, Linda Peng, Christine Poplawski, Ashley Procope, Alexa Raab, Daniela Radu, Therese Rispoli, Kimmy Shahan, MaryAnn Slowik, Healey Stepanic, Jun Tian, Melissa Tribuiani, Dimple Wadhwa, Michelle Walch, Anne Wenger, Kelli Wilke, Noel Wolhar, Ross Wolhar, Kevin Woodland, Cherry Wu, Sarah Wyatt and Ruby Zhang.
For a full gallery of Sunday's activities, please click here.
REMINDERS
Admission Information Sessions
The Admission Office is hosting a series of Information Sessions for parents interested in learning about our program. The next one, focusing on Lower School (Early Childhood I-grade 4), will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 8:30 a.m. Please help us spread the word. All dates can be found here.
My BackPack access
Parent and student access to My BackPack will reopen this Friday, Dec. 8 at 3 p.m.
Lost & Found
Misplaced items will be on display in the rotunda until next Friday, Dec. 15. Anything left after that will be donated to Goodwill.
Picking up gift cards
If you purchased gift cards through the IPA fundraiser and have yet to pick them up, you may do so in the Development Office between the hours of 8 a.m.-4 p.m. from Monday through Friday. Thanks!
40 Things to Love about Independence
Independence will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary throughout the 2017-18 school year. As part of that celebration, we will highlight, in chronological order, 40 points of pride for our students, our families and the Independence community as a whole.
10. Holiday Concerts and Early Childhood Sing-Along
As the holidays near, three special concerts provide the Independence community with plenty of musical cheer! The Choral Concert includes four ensembles, ranging from grades 1-8, while the Band & Orchestra Concert generally features nine different groups of talented musicians, starting with third grade. But, our youngest learners have their share of the fun, too, with the Early Childhood Sing-Along for ECI-II and Kindergarten. The concerts are held in the Gore Auditorium in early to mid-December.
REPORT CARDS AVAILABLE THIS FRIDAY
This Friday, Dec. 8, your child's first trimester report card will be published for you to view. To access your child's report, please do the following:
- Log into your Parent Portal page through the school's website (www.theindependenceschool.org)
- Click on My BackPack
- Under "My Profile," you will see "My Documents"
- When you click on "My Documents," it will take you to a page where you can select a folder marked "2017-2018." Inside that folder will be the Trimester 1 Report Card (2017-2018). Clicking on that will open the report.
The school will not be sending home printed copies of report cards. Parents can print copies of reports at home if needed. Mr. Novak will take care of printing eighth-grade report cards to send to the various high schools.
Please click below for more detailed information regarding report cards by division:
UPCOMING EVENTS
12/7 - Holiday Choral Concert at 7 p.m. (Gore Auditorium)
12/8 - Report cards
12/8 - Sixth-grade field trip to Chamber Theatre performance
12/13 - Holiday Band & Orchestra Concert at 7 p.m. (Gore Auditorium)
12/14 - Fifth-grade field trip to Main Street Movies 5 for Wonder
12/14 - Eighth-grade field trip to Delaware Theatre Company for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [REVISED]
12/15 - ECI-K Holiday Sing-Along at 9:30 a.m. (Gore Auditorium)
12/19 - Fifth- and sixth-grade bowling trip to AMF Price Lanes from noon-2:45 p.m.
12/19 - Seventh- and eighth-grade ice skating trip to UD Fred Rust Ice Arena from noon-2:45 p.m.
Click here for the 2017-18 calendar at a glance.
Click here for the full 2017-18 school calendar.
returns for the 2017-18 school year! Registration for our next session - this Monday, Dec. 11 - is now available. If you're interested in this FREE program, please click the logo above for details.
Click the logo above to visit the winter sports "Teams & Results" page, where you can stay up-to-date on all the latest news and recaps about Patriot athletics!
THE INDEPENDENCE SCHOOL BLOG
Click the "Indy Insights" logo above for a collection of useful ideas, guidance and resources by members of our faculty, administration and staff.
Did you know that Extended Day offers a variety of special programs throughout the school year? Click here for all the details.
GAINING CULTURAL COMPETENCY AND EMPATHY THROUGH LOCAL AND GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
By Mrs. Bernadette Gilmore, Director of Academics & Curriculum
As a parent and educator, I have always believed in the power of raising children to be engaged with their local community. Looking outside of oneself builds empathy and helps each of us to be a better citizen.
TRAVEL TO COSTA RICA THIS SUMMER!
Current seventh- and eighth-grade Independence students have an exciting opportunity to travel to the Central American country of Costa Rica from Thursday, June 14-Thursday, June 21, 2018!
On this trip, which is organized by Explorica Educational Travel, students will participate in a service project in Los Santos, working with the community to support local initiatives, such as planting, maintenance, reforesting and painting. Additionally, students will explore famous historic sites, discover the rich heritage and diversity of different cultures, and experience the places they've studied in class.
Parents can reserve their child's spot by visiting the Explorica site and clicking "Sign Up" under the "PARENTS" tab. The TourCenter ID is Gilmore-127. The rapidly approaching deadline is Tuesday, Dec. 19, so don't delay – spots are limited!
For more information or questions, please email Bernadette Gilmore, Director of Academics and Curriculum.
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
On Nov. 30, third grade took a field trip to the The Playhouse on Rodney Square in Wilmington to view the holiday favorite "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Prior to their visit, the students were given a brief history of this iconic landmark and heard instructions on theater etiquette from a venue representative. The children were also introduced to the background of the attributed author, Clement Clarke Moore, and how he came to write this classic holiday poem. What a great opportunity to experience both fine literature and live theater! The fun continued with a tasty lunch at McDonald's. The third graders all enjoyed a very special day on their first field trip of the year!
Independence School Food Drive
Thursday, Dec. 7-Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017
Help make the season bright for those less fortunate than ourselves. Please bring cans or non-perishable food items. See below for your grade's "assignments," although all donations are welcome. All goods will be donated to the Food Bank of Delaware. This year, we encourage families to bring food goods to our winter concerts, which will take place this Thursday, Dec. 7 and next Wednesday, Dec. 13. There will be collection bins in the Fasick Gallery.
ECI-II & Kindergarten: pasta and canned sauces
Grades 1-2: canned vegetables and canned meats
Grades 3-4: canned soup, stews, chili, etc.
Grades 5-6: boxed food items (cereal, oatmeal, rice, etc.)
Grades 7-8: canned fruit
Click on the graphic above to see your hosts, Reaghan and Defne, preview the upcoming Holiday Concerts with Mr. Kitching, Dr. Sakamoto and some very special student guests! (Video will be posted by tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 6)
Shop at amazonsmile & support Independence
When you shop at AmazonSmile by clicking the logo above, Amazon will donate 0.5% of qualified purchases to our school.
Upon clicking the link and logging in with your regular Amazon account, "Independence School Inc." will automatically be selected as your charity, and you will receive a confirmation email.
It's that simple!
Have you checked out our official Alumni page? You can keep up with all the latest news on our talented graduates. If you have your own alumni submission, please email Tanya Godsey, Alumni Relations Coordinator.
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