Project EXTRA
Read All About It!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Elm Street School
Students have been working hard at Elm Street School Project EXTRA. With the holidays just around the corner, they have been brain storming ways to give back to our community.
Currently, our Student Leadership Committee is donating five turkeys to St. Vincent de Paul's Thanksgiving Family Food Basket Program. They were able to purchase these turkeys through their fundraising efforts such as Family Bingo Night at Elm Street School and our local "Vendor Bingo" Night.
The Student Leadership Committee is also getting ready for their 2nd Annual Family Bingo Night Event which will take place in April. We are currently looking for donations from local businesses to raffle during the event. This year, students decided that they would like to take a portion of their fundraising efforts and donate to the NH Humane Society. They are hoping that they can raise $500 for NHHS. We will have more information as we get closer to these events. We encourage our community to come out and support these young leaders.
~Aja Montague
Site Coordinator
Pleasant Street School
PSS Project EXTRA is Giving, Grateful & Great!
GIVING...
Students helped collect food for the New Hampshire Food Bank and the Got Lunch Program. They made signs and volunteered their time to collect two boxes of food items. The Kids Council also helped support the Tomorrow Fund by selling Tabz-4-Tomorrow bracelets created by a cancer patient named Kendra Cimaglia. Kendra creates bracelets with soda tabs to keep her mind off of treatments and hospital visits. So far, the Project EXTRA Kids Council has raised $250.00 for this organization. Thank you to Mrs. Barach and all of the members of the Kids Council! Nice Job!
GRATEFUL...
We are very fortunate at Pleasant Street to have three volunteers that are role models for our students. Mariah is a high school student who is kind, caring and helpful. Bella is a middle school student whose calm and sweet manner influences other students. Granny Gerrie is an amazing and resourceful volunteer that always has a bag of tricks to use with our students. We are grateful for our volunteers!
GREAT...
Students and staff have started a Kindness Jar. Every day we take turns saying something kind about one another. We began writing statements on strips of paper to fill up our giant jar with kind words. We will read them all at our upcoming special dinner on January 9th!
This December, keep an eye out downtown (Vintage Café & Hair Affair) for PSS Project EXTRA Christmas window displays!
~Mrs. O'Neil-Viar
Site Coordinator
Kindness Jar
Laconia High School
Afterschool at Laconia High is on fire! We've even added two new after school clubs in which students are exploring activities which could become life-long avocations, or even vocations--cooking delicious cuisine and running virtual businesses. We still have Freedom Found and Archery Club swelling with lots of students as well. Project EXTRA students at LHS are looking forward to spending time with their families and filling up on turkey this Thanksgiving.
Freedom Found has been hiking mountains and even traveling to Southern New Hampshire for some spooky Halloween fun at Nightmare New England. Members of the Archery Club have been diligently honing their marksmanship behind the high school. The Food is Fun Club has been making cheese stuffed shells, party mix, and other fun fare. Members of the Virtual Reality Business Club have been orchestrating their virtual businesses with flair! Finally, students involved in Extended Learning Opportunities have been doing everything from helping change oil in automobiles, to job-shadowing doctors.
Pictured: Laconia High School student, Annie Dionne.
Annie is currently working on an Extended Learning Opportunity project to become a pharmacist. She is Interning at Lakes Region General Hospital.
Project EXTRA is thriving at LHS!
~Mr. Kaiser
English Teacher
ELO Coordinator
Interim Site Coordinator
Laconia Middle School
It’s all about giving back and eating this November here at LMS! We love having Elisabeth Mills from UNH come cook with us! So far, menus have included: personal pizzas, fruit salad, homemade granola, and yogurt smoothies. Turkey will soon hit our plates with CATCH cooking before we go on break! There will be no program starting November 25th – 28th, as we are with our families for Thanksgiving.
Although we think about food constantly in November, we also think about our community. As a group, we are all dedicated to lending a hand and becoming active members of Laconia. Despite all the rain at the beginning of the month, members dedicated their time and effort to help rake leaves over at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club. November is a time of giving, we have decided to hold a canned food drive to donate non-perishable items to the local food pantry. We are also pleased to announce we are partnering with Sawyer’s Jewelers to decorate a holiday window, like those you would see on 5th Ave. in NYC!! Look for our completed window at the Holiday Parade on Saturday November 29th! At LMS we take PRIDE in ourselves and Project EXTRA. I could not be prouder of the level of generosity that this group displays on a daily basis.
~Mr. Resca
Site Coordinator
Woodland Heights
It is nearing Thanksgiving and I would like to state that Woodland Heights Project EXTRA Staff are thankful and proud of our students! We recently switched up our afternoon greeting, meeting, snack and check-in time routine. Students are transitioning and adapting to this routine change incredibly well.
Currently, we have pioneer students who are willing to try and put others first and are attempting to forge our first "Afterschool Safety Patrol”. The assigned safety patrol student will have to meet the following criteria to be considered for an official patrol badge:
- Be knowledgeable of safety
- Be able to peer mediate
- See a mess, note it and clean it
- Demonstrate selflessness
- Be willing to help teachers
Safety Patrol will demonstrate and encourage other students to utilize peer mediation and model the most fundamental rule: Treat others as you want to be treated.
Thanks must also be given to our wonderful students for helping me attempt to achieve health related goals by participating in “Help Mr. Colby Get In Shape”. Staff and students have the option to participate in this quick health related activity by joining me (and even helping me to lead the group) a few times throughout the week. We begin with basic stretches and four basic aerobic and anaerobic exercises per day like push-ups, sits-ups and jumping jacks. I am hoping to inspire the kids and myself to develop a routine for building and maintaining healthy bodies and minds. So far so good!
We also implemented a Fitness Friday Challenge, which is a physical contest between interested students (push-ups, handstands, wall sits, etc.) Three students receive small medals to share in their classrooms and the overall champion receives the trophy for the week!
Lastly, I am also very thankful for Woodland Heights Project EXTRA staff and volunteers who create and forge relationships with students. I am thankful for our school day teachers and our administrators who are always willing to lend a hand with the program. And last but certainly not least, I am thankful for our students who lend us their energy, enthusiasm and creativity. It really keeps things lively here!
~Mr. Colby
Site Coordinator
Our first week Challenger winner was 5th grader Zach!
Fitness Friday Challenge
Project EXTRA - Laconia School District
cgingerella@laconiaschools.org
603-524-5710 ext. 314
Beth Vachon: Assistant Program Director
mailto:bvachon@laconiaschools.org
603-524-5710 ext. 321
Email: rtheberge@laconiaschools.org
Website: http://www2.laconiaschools.org/projectextra/
Location: 39 Harvard Street, Laconia, NH, United States
Phone: (603) 524-5710 . 305
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-EXTRA/139898793654
Twitter: @ProjectEXTRA5
Advisory Board:
Terri Forsten, Christine Gingerella, McKenzie Harrington-Bacote, Sophia Joyal, Ron Kaiser, David Levesque,
Victoria Makris, Phill Reed, Christine Santaniello,
Katie Theberge, and Beth Vachon.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
Dates to Remember:
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break
December 23: No Programming for Project EXTRA & PEAKS
December 24-January 2, 2015: Holiday Break
Project EXTRA is a 21st Century Community Learning Center Project
Funding for Project EXTRA has been provided in part by
The Curran Foundation and the WLNH Children’s Auction.