SOLON & BEYOND: News from Solon Elementary School

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

Here I sit on the new year of 2021, and I wish all of you a Happy New Year!

The following is the December Solon School News. The Principal’s Message: I hope that all of our students and their families are enjoying the holiday season. It has been a challenging year, and we all need a little holiday cheer.

Our students and staff continue to work hard in their academic endeavors. Every student now has his/her own laptop computer to use both at school and at home. Students attending in person have learned how to access their lessons remotely for Mondays and in the event that we had to go fully remote for a few days or a period of time. We appreciate all that our families are doing to support their children and our school. We know that the demands on parents have increased, and we applaud you for all you are doing to support your children’s education.

Remember to send your children with warm winter clothes now that we are into the cold time of year. Extra mittens or gloves and a hat always come in handy.

Handmade Ornaments Decorate Christmas Tree: We did our Secret Santa ornament activity again this year. Each student and staff member drew a name and made an ornament for that person. Those ornaments are special decorations on our school Christmas season to brighten our spirits during the holiday season.

Thanksgiving Fun: Students in grades K-1 celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday on November 16. They learned about the history of Thanksgiving and made headgear that represented the Pilgrims and the Native Americans who celebrated the first Thanksgiving. Mr. Tracy came in and read a Thanksgiving story to the kindergarten class and then joined the K-2 students for their traditional Thanksgiving dinner in our cafeteria.

Veteran’s Window: As we do every year, the students and staff of Solon Elementary School filled out stars with information about veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces in their families. In November we hung all of those stars in our front window with a thank you to all of our veterans. Thanks to Mrs. Campbell for organizing the project.

Solon School Holds Thanksgiving Food Drive: During the month of November, we held a Thanksgiving Food Drive to help those in need. Students and staff collected 292 items for the Solon Food Cupboard. Mrs. Steven’s fourth grade class collected the largest number of items. Thanks to all of our families and staff for your donation.

Solon Fire Department Offers Fire Safety Program: On November 6, Assistant Fire Chief Todd Dixon and firefighter Jenny Rollins from the Solon Fire Department presented a fire safety program to our students. This was in conjunction with Fire Safety Month, which is October. This year their presentation had to take social distancing into account, but creative planning made this program possible. Along with teaching their fire safety lesson, they brought fire safety items for the students and staff.

We appreciate the support of the Solon Fire Department during Fire Safety Month and all year long!

Thank-You to Donors: We would like to recognize individuals and community groups for helping us to meet the needs of our families during the Christmas season. The coronavirus pandemic has made times more difficult for families who need some help with food, clothes, and gifts for their children. These great people helped Santa to make the holidays merry and bright for families.

For help with food, we want to thank these: Good Shepherd Food bank, KVCAP, Solon 4H, Annie Griffith. For help with clothes and toys for children for Christmas, we want to thank these; Solon Congregational Church, Lions Club, Debi & Harry Hartford, Ann Jackson, donation in memory of Lewis Cahill and Ellen McQuiston.

New Library Books Arrive: The Solon school library received some new books for grades 3-5 readers last week thanks to an anonymous donor. The donor gave some money to our school for giving tree Christmas gifts for children and for new library books. This donation was made in memory of Mr. Lewis Cahill, who passed away in August. We appreciate this support of our school.

I think I have told you about going through old papers recently trying to get organized…..(that’s a laugh!) Anyway, I came across this old article from The Town Line dated January 3, 2008, with only Percy’s picture on it: and he wrote; “This is Percy wishing you the happiest of New Years! I am missing my human, she has been down in sunny Florida since before Christmas. I am thrilled beyond belief that she is letting me write this column again, since so many of you have told her that you prefer my writing instead of hers. Since I don’t have any real news to share, I have been reflecting on what subject to write about, think perhaps Happiness might be a good topic to delve into. Our bi-line each week being, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” and she’s been using it for years, before I started helping her. Does that make you stop and think just how happy you really are? “Cheerfulness greases the axles of the world, Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. True happiness consists in making others happy.” But the one I like the best is, “There are two essentials to happiness: something to do, and someone to love.”

It gives me great pleasure to behold the sappy look on my human’s face when I lavish her with love, (I curl up in her lap and put my paw as far around her neck as I can and sing at the top of my lungs!) That is pure ecstasy, and makes me happy, also.

As I have told you before, the first thing she does in the morning, even before she gets her breakfast, is to give me my dish of tuna fish, such love is beyond measure. Do I appreciate it? You betcha!

Enough of that… I still miss Percy, but it is fun to remember him and his wonderful personality. And now again… Happy New Year!