SOLON & BEYOND: More Solon Elementary School news; 4H club holds meeting

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

This week I am continuing with more Solon School News:

Last March the students participated in the annual Bookmark Contest in which students designed bookmarks to promote reading. The winners in each class was to receive a certificate and book from the Coolidge Public Library and to have his/her bookmark duplicated and distributed to patrons at the library. Students submitted their bookmarks, and art teacher Mr. Reichenbach chose the winners. An assembly was planned at which Ms. Megan Myers from the library would announce the winners. Then the school shut down due to the coronavirus so we never got to hold that assembly.

This fall they announced the winners and presented each one with his/her certificate and book from the library. Winners were Everly Cox from kindergarten, Hunter Ingersoll from first grade, Sophie Duquette from second grade, Lydia Dixon from third grade, Nevaeh Palmer from fourth grade, and Katelyn DeLeonardis from fifth grade.

Thanks to Ms. Myers and the Coolidge Library for supporting this contest in our school.

Last spring the Solon PTO planned a calendar raffle. Students were given tickets to sell for the month of March, and winners would be drawn every day in April. When the school went to distance learning starting March 16, the raffle was put on hold.

This fall the PTO gave out more tickets to students to sell while also keeping all the tickets that had been sold in the spring. Those were put together, and the drawings were done during the month of October.

The raffle brought in $700, which was amazing for a fundraiser that happened in two parts! Thanks to all of the families and community members who donated items for the raffle and who bought raffle tickets.

The student who sold the most raffle tickets was fifth grader Jayden McKenney. Jayden received a Walmart gift card from the PTO for his efforts.

My many, many Thanks for sharing all this interesting news!

The following email is from Carol Dolan; and she writes, ” I’ve been asked to circulate the following: Just to let you know, the New Portland Library is closed until further notice. Curbside service is available. You can call 628-6561 or send an e-mail to newportlandc@gmail.com and ask for specific books. We will check them out for you and pickup is 9-11am on Tuesday and Thursdays. All books to be returned in the outside drop box.

“Our on-line catalog of all circulation items is at:  http://newportlandmaine.org/town-services/community-library/. Let us know what you would like and we will do all we can to check them out in your name/patron number. Two weeks rentals for all items.

The Solon Pine Tree met on Saturday, November 14, at the Solon Fire Station. In attendance were Cooper and Kaitlin Dellarma, Devyn and Katelyn Deonardis, Lindsay and Charlotte Hamilton, Desmand and Jillian Robinson, Sarah Craig, Isabella Atwood and Autumn Ladd.

The craft project was to make grape vine wreathes. They used Christmas items to decorate them.

The members chose to adopt a family this Christmas and will be providing a Christmas dinner. There will be a swag workshop at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 21, on Zoom. The material will be picked up at the Skowhegan Extension Office on Friday November 20. Five members are interested in going. The December meeting will be collecting items for the animal shelter.

The next meeting will be Saturday, December 12, at 9:30 a.m., at the Solon Fire Station.

It is hard to stay cheerful with all that is going on in our world today, but sometimes there are surprises that can cheer you up! One day this week, Lief and I were sitting on the coach watching the little birds eating from their many feeders when I noticed a BIG bird fly in to help them. I couldn’t think what it could possibly be! Lief was sitting beside me but he hadn’t noticed what was going on, so I poked him and excitedly said, “What is that big bird?” He couldn’t believe that a partridge had stopped in to dine with the little folks! Perhaps he stops in often but we have never seen one out there before. He stayed quite awhile going from branch to branch, but the little guys weren’t too hospitable to the big guy!

And now for Percy’s memoirs to try and cheer you up! They are taken from a little book called, “A Book of Quotations, Good Advice for a Happy Life.” The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up, by Mark Twain. Another one states; ” The heart that loves is always young,” A Greek Proverb. One more: “Give truth, and your gift will be paid in kind, And honor will honor meet; And the smile which is sweet will surely find A smile that is just as sweet,” by Madeline S. Bridges.