Williams-Cone School Newsletter

Williams-Cone School is a safe and kind school community that inspires every student to succeed.

-Compassionate, Curious, Confident Learners-

We had an outstanding turnout for the Arts Night on Wednesday, May 8th. From a Scholastic Book Fair to student artwork displays, Tiger Choir, instrumental and 4th and 5th Grade Chorus presentations,- it was a great evening that highlighted student talent from all across the school community!

FOWC provided a SPECTACULAR Staff Appreciation Week, May 6-10 for WCS staff. Each day of the week had a special theme that was filled with treats galore. From a breakfast cart that featured baked goods, fruit, yogurt and coffee to a "farmers market" filled with bounty of local goods including coffee, fresh vegetables, cheese, fresh eggs, floral arrangements, homemade cards, etc. It was all tremendous! The week also included gifts of classroom supplies, a lemonade and ice cream sundae bar, baked goods and a special luncheon provided by the Bake Shop. The staff were treated with all of this and so much more throughout the week. Thank-you WCS Community!!!

5th grade students visited Camp Kieve in Nobleboro on May 6th. This field trip, that was provided for students through the 5th grade fundraisers, provided outdoor team building opportunities for students. Activities included social and self awareness skills, self management and relationship skills through games, low ropes courses and climbing. Students enjoyed the experience immensely!

Hurricane Awareness

On May 6th WCS 4th grade students had the special opportunity to participate in the Hurricane Awareness Tour. This is an outreach event where the National Weather Service and the United States Air Force hurricane experts visit five East Coast cities to raise awareness of impacts from tropical cyclone threats and dangers of being caught without a personal hurricane plan. Students traveled to Portland Jetport and boarded a Hurricane Hunter aircraft. Students heard directly from the meteorologists and flight staff who provide cutting edge research and critical meteorological information necessary for hurricane forecasting. It was a tremendous learning experience for all!

Students , under the leadership of Shana Stewart-Deeds, came together after school to learn about birds and their adaptations. Students saw crows, red squirrels, skunk cabbage and trillium blooming. They also heard about tufted titmice, pine warblers and chickadees. They also learned about bird adaptations including hollow bones, feathers and bills. Lots of fun and learning was had by all outside and with using binoculars!

WCS students had the opportunity to create fairy gardens and terrariums on May 6th through the FOWC sponsored Kids Academy program. Using an assortment of items students created these nature related projects as well as garden marker stakes for the WCS Children's Garden.

Fourth grade students recently had the opportunity to learn more about the district's band program through a trip to MAMS. While at MAMS, MTA band students provided the fourth grade students with introductions to and demonstrations of various instruments. It was a great time for students to begin considering what instrument they might want to play starting in fifth grade.

Third graders enjoyed a trip to the Bowdoin Art and Arctic Museums! At the Arctic Museum, students learned about arctic animals, the Inuit, and explorers of the Arctic. At the Art Museum, students saw a number of baskets made by Wabanaki artists, as well as art from a variety of time periods.

The WCS 5th grade band and 4th and 5th grade chorus joined other students from around the district for a lively concert on May 14th. Students also gave a daytime performance to third through fifth grade students on May 14th. It was a great showcase of student talent and skill!

By now, I believe that most of parent/caregiver community is aware via ParentSquare of the very difficult decision that I made to resign from my role as WCS Principal at the end of this school year. If you are not aware, here is the letter that I sent to the community:

May 14, 2024

Dear WCS Community;

It is with mixed emotions that I am writing this letter to share that I will be resigning from my role as Williams-Cone School principal effective June 30, 2024. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the amazing WCS community over the past twelve years. Leading a small school on the coast of Maine was truly a dream opportunity and it did not disappoint!

I will be moving to Pennsylvania this summer to assume a new leadership role as an Assistant Director for Early Childhood/Special Education Services for Chester County Intermediate Unit. Similar to my role at WCS, this too, is a dream opportunity as I am very passionate about the power and critical need for early intervention for our most fragile and young learners. I am confident that my experience at WCS has helped prepare me well for a role of this nature.

I will dearly miss the precious children, outstanding staff and tremendous parent community that makes WCS the wonderful school community that it is. It has been a journey of a lifetime that was filled with many changes and challenges but so much restoration, growth and celebration too! And I must add that the WCS community will forever be part of the Rineer family as my own children grew up in this school. They benefited greatly from the kindness, compassion and dedication of this school community, helping to shape them into the young people they are today. Thank-you WCS community!

I am confident that our district and school community will select an outstanding new principal to lead this amazing school community. I will do everything in my power to ensure that there is a smooth leadership transition and help prepare our students and staff for this change. We have a little less than four weeks left of school and lots of great end of year learning, experiences and opportunities. I intend to make the most of those opportunities with all of you!

Thank-you WCS community for your continued support. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your student(s)' teachers and/or myself if we can be of any support or assistance.

Your Principal,

Randa

Mrs. Randa C. Rineer, WCS Principal

rineerr@link75.org

(207)725-4391

5/20 Incoming 2024-2025 Kindergarten Screening Day

5/20 Grade 5 MAMS Counselor Visit

5/24 Incoming 2024-2025 PreK Screening Day

5/21 Race for Education-PreK-5, 9:30-11:00 A.M. Rain Date 5/23

5/23 Cub Club, 9:30-10:30 A.M., Music & Art Class Visits

5/27 Memorial Day, No School for Students & Staff

5/30 5th Grade Bike Trip/Foreside Field Fun Day

5/31 Grade 1 Field Trip to Topsham Public Library

6/3 Field Day, Grades 3-5

6/3 Grade 1 Greenleaf Visit to MTA

6/4 Field Day, K-2

6/5 5th Grade Step Up Day to MAMS

6/5 Cub Club-School Tour/Lunch with the Principal, 11:00-12:00 P.M.

6/6 2nd Grade Field Trip to CREA

6/6 Grade 4 Walking Field Trip to Topsham Public Library

6/6 Volunteer Appreciation Ice Cream Social, 3:30 P.M., Gym/Cafeteria

6/7 MTA Senior Class of 2024 Walk Through

6/10 Grade 5 Walking Field Trip to Topsham Public Library

6/10 Grade 3 Walking Field Trip to Topsham Public Library

6/10 5th Grade Sweets & Celebrations, 6:00 P.M.

6/11 Grade 1 Field Trip to Topsham Fire Department, A.M.

6/11 5th Grade Farewell Ceremony, 1:30 P.M., WCS Gym

6/12 PreK Graduation, 1:00 P.M.

6/13 Last Day of School, Half Day, PreK Dismissal, 10:45 A.M., K-5 Dismissal, 12:10 P.M.

Congratulations to Ms. Hayes, WCS Special Education/Flex teacher who recently received her Masters degree in Special Education. We are so proud of her and the hard work that she has given to her studies!

*The SPECTACULAR Staff Appreciation Week!!!!! The time, creativity, energy, resources, organization, support and leadership that was placed into making each staff member feel respected, valued and appreciated was tremendous. From the loaded breakfast cart, self care and classroom supplies, bountiful farmer's market, incredible catered lunch (Thank-you Bake Shop!) to the baked treats, ice cream and beverage bars, etc., etc., it was all so beautifully kind, loving and truly extraordinary. Thank-you all so very much!!

*The playground clean up crew!!! (See photo below). Their hard work was so needed and very appreciated! Thank-you to the Adam & Kim Pride as well as Sam Eaton for their leadership. Thank-you Megan Robertson for your coordination!

*4th Grade Field Trip to the Portland JetPort-Thank-you staff & chaperones!

*5th Grade Field Trip to Camp Kiev-Thank-you staff, chaperones & 5th grade fundraising committee!

*FOWC-gardening/landscaping support-Jenn Cass & Heather Rogers.

*The fabulous Art Show! Thank-you Ms. Ellsworth!

*The Tiger Choir & 4th/5th Grade Chorus Performances! Thank-you Mrs. Appel along with Mr. Appel on guitar, Mr. Myrick on percussion & Ms. Maya on piano!

*Mrs. San Pedro-serving cookies and lemonade at the Arts Night.

*The Scholastic Book Fair-Thank-you Mrs. Bellina, Ms. Hartley & volunteers.

*The creative Kids Academies provided so generously by FOWC volunteers with leadership from Heather Rogers & Jennifer Cass.

*District 5th grade band concert-thank-you Mrs. Powers!

*District 4th & 5th grade chorus concert-thank-you Mrs. Appel!

*Thank you to our Appreciation Week Planning crew - Jenn, Anna, Megan, Christie, Katie, Laila, and Jennifer B. We are also extremely appreciative to the WCS community for stepping up to help us fulfill the week’s tasks!

*Another Shoutout to our 5th Grade fundraising crew! They organized several creative fundraisers to make for super exciting End of Year events for our 5th Grade Students

*Thank you Jenn for pulling together another wave of Clynk bag distributions just in time for summer!

*Our playground clean-up leader team - Kim, Adam, & Sam and the many families that came out for the event, we are very grateful to you all for donating your Sunday 5/4 to help maintain our playground. Thank you Mrs. Rineer & the Facilities Dept for supporting our clean-up efforts.

*Kids Academy Volunteers - YOU ARE STELLAR! One more event and that’s a wrap on such a thriving school year with after-school opportunities. We cannot thank you all enough for helping to bring back this program.

*Anna, Megan, & Mrs. Bellina - Thank you for supporting our Race for Education Letter Writing!

*Heather & Jenn - the outdoor gardens are looking super nice - your support to help maintain more than the Children’s Garden is appreciated! (Have you seen the Tulips!?!?)

*Shoutout to our MAMS teacher team who hosted a successful Parent Info Night for our outgoing 5th Grade Families. Well put together and informative!

*Special thanks to Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Anderson - FOWC has had a LOT of things hopping this past month and it will continue for a couple more weeks still. They are always there to help us triage and sort our papers on top of their many other tasks. We are so grateful for you.

*Thank you Mrs. Bellina, Mrs. Hartley, Mrs. Rineer, MSAD #75 Trust for our Future for their support of our Guest Author, Mat Heagerty! It was such a lovely visit! Thank you to Megan for overseeing our opportunity with Shermans-Topsham to have books available for our families.

*This year’s yearbook team did a stellar job! Much love to Megan & Monique for all of their hard work and to all the families, teachers, and staff that contributed content for the book or ordered a book for their student(s).

*Thank you to our May Book Fair Volunteers! Anna, Christie, Gail, Danielle T, Heather, Marci, Amanda, Lizz, and Megan.

*Congratulations to Ms. Ellsworth & Mrs. Appel for a phenomenal Arts Night & Choral performance last week at WCS. It was amazing to see the artwork on display and the hard work put forth by our 4th & 5th grade chorus members.

*Phenomenal performance for the All-District Band and Chorus Concert at MAMS this week! Mrs. Powers & Mrs. Appel were stellar leaders with these young musicians and singers. Amazing work by all of our district music teachers.

FOUR weeks left! It’s hard to believe we are in this final stretch until that sweet, sweet summer break! Our last meeting of the year was hosted on Thursday night and it was a packed agenda. This community continues to raise the bar on its passion for the Williams-Cone School and we deeply appreciate all you do to make this a thriving environment for our students, staff, and families.

While we are all saddened by the news regarding Mrs. Rineer’s resignation - our community is more dedicated than ever to ensuring her values and commitment to our community remain strong. Her 12 years of leadership have made a meaningful impact on WCS and will make for some huge shoes to fill. We wish her the best in this next endeavor and hope she will have the opportunity to drop by for a visit from time to time.

Voting is in! For 2024-2025 our Executive Board Members (elected members):

Co-Chairs - Anna Siegel and Megan Robertson

Treasurer - Gail Eaton

Secretary - Katie Byrnes

Members at Large (these are not elected positions):

5th Grade Fundraising Group - Jenn Cass & Laila Valade

Kids Academy Coordinator - Heather Rogers

Yearbook Cheif Editor - Megan Robertson

Playground Committee Coordinator - OPEN

Social Media Manager (1 Year) - Jenn Cass

Please feel free to contact us concerning any of our OPEN positions. Email us at friendsofwilliamscone@gmail.com