Woodman Park Bugle
December 2015
A Principal’s Note- December
As many of you already know, our school nurse will be retiring this December. Claudia Lynch has
been attending to the health needs of Woodman Park School for more than twenty years. In the whole
history of Woodman Park School, there have only been two nurses. Claudia has experienced a
tremendous amount of change in regards to student health issues these past few decades. I like to tease
her about the number of bags of ice she has given out through the years. Claudia’s commitment and
student centered approach to health will be impossible to replace. We wish her well in her retirement
and all hope that she stays connected to our school community.
There are also some School Board Members leaving office this December. Leading the list is the
long serving Doris Grady. Doris has served on the Dover School Board for over eighteen years. As some of
you know, she was also a teacher in our Dover schools for decades before taking office as a school board
member. No school board member has been more of a long term passionate and vocal supporter of all
Dover public school students than Doris Grady. However, back when I first started attending school board
meetings as a High School teacher/administrator, it was apparent that Doris Grady was always looking out
for Woodman Park School (especially something about the windows at WPS). Doris has always had a
special interest in Woodman Park. I will miss our spirited conversations and her unquestionable desire to
do what she felt was right for the students in the school district. I have lost count of the number of times
that I have heard people in and out of Dover say through the years, “That Old Lady Grady, she sure is
sharp!” Doris Grady has made a significant impact on the Dover School District. Maybe now she can truly
retire and reflect on her decades of service!
Also leaving the Dover School Board are Sarah Greenshields and Carole Soule McCammon. Sarah
has been elected to the City Council and I am sure we will see and hear more from her in the near future.
Carole is still a parent with three children in the school system and two currently at Woodman Park.
Carole will still be volunteering as she has in the past for our school. Hopefully, she can remain on the
Wellness Committee where she has spent a lot of time working on various issues. We will most certainly
miss both Sarah’s and Carole’s support on the school board and thank them immensely for their service.
They were true friends of our school and our special community. Their replacements have hard acts to
follow. Fortunately, Dr. Caroline Mebert and Matt Lahr are former Woodman parents and will be starting
their tenure on the School Board in January.
Our departing friends of Claudia, Doris, Sarah, and Carole have placed significant personal time
and effort into making our school a better place. Our students, staff, and community have benefited from
them. It takes courage and tenacity to do what they have done in a very public way. We all should be
proud of them. May this small article be one way in which we can say thank you to them for their
extremely special role in our Woodman Park Community. It has been a pleasure to work with all of them.
Enjoy the Holidays,
Patrick Boodey, Principal
A sincere Goodbye from our WPS Family Nurse
GRATITUDE FROM THE HEALTH OFFICE……..
As the holiday season approaches and I retire from school nursing, I would like to extend my
deepest gratitude and love to the Woodman Park community – families, students and staff! When
I started in 1991, we were a school of 425 students, my children were students here and I thought
I would stay a few years. …
In recent years, we have grown to 600 scholars and a caring,
supportive faculty of over 100. Woodman Park has unique challenges but there is no question
that everyone here has a caring heart and strives for excellence!
I have learned volumes from your children over the years – an honor that they would share their
perceptions and insights when visiting the Health office. As well, I have loved educating them
about their bodies, how to interpret symptoms and take care of wounds. I have appreciated all of
the communications, telephone conversations, paperwork needed and insights you, as parents,
have supported me with. It is a team effort helping your child to succeed.
Moving forward, I will be working at Dover Women’s Health and look forward to seeing you
around Dover! I will love to hear about their journey as they grow.
Joyce Silva, RN will be joining the WPS family as of January 1 st and I know she is anxious to meet
you. I am confident that I am leaving what has been my office, in good and caring hands!
Thank you and Blessings to you all!
Claudia L. Lynch, RN
And a grateful librarian
Thanks to the many volunteers who made the Scholastic Book Fair possible. Woodman Park took in a total of
$4479.68!! All three elementary school librarians decided to take our profits as scholastic dollars. This gives us almost
double the buying power of cash. Woodman Park will have $2239.84 to buy high-interest books for our students. As our
students walked around the fair making their wish lists, I observed which books caught their interests and plan to buy
many of them for circulation. These will include more graphic novels, more Geronimo Stilton, some “bobble head
biographies” of popular figures, Minecraft, and some recent best sellers.
It was a pleasure meeting many of the Woodman Park families as they shopped our fair. It was their purchases that
made the fair so successful. Thank you for supporting our library!
~Melissa Maguire
Library Media Specialist
Stay Informed to Get Involved
Please join us for our next PTA Meeting
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
In the WPS Library**
**Special Session- Special guest will be Claudia Lynch, our school nurse, who will be
retiring in December. She will arrive after 700pm. Please join us to give her a
special Retirement gift and well wishes.
Your WPS PTO Board
President
Jen Spargo
Vice President Secretary
Jill Brooks
Anne Michiels
Treasurer
Volunteer Coordinator
Jenn Martin
Carolyn Williams
Friday, December 4th will be Dover's Annual Christmas Tree Lighting as well as the Festival of
Trees at City Hall following. WPS 1st organized and hosted a hot chocolate and bake sale at
Henry Law Park for this event several years ago and it grew to become a joint venture with all
Dover Schools to help raise money for a local family in need.
Each school requests some
bakers for this event and as well some volunteers to help at the sale. This is a fun and festive
family volunteer venture. Please see the link below if you think your family can give an hour to
help at this event. Few WPS bakers have already signed up but if you have older children at
DMS, you can also sign-up under that slot.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040b49a9a92aa31-holiday
Seacoast Santa drop off DECEMBER 5
th
!!
Need to make room for Santa’s delivery?
Looking for a place to donate outgrown children’s toys, games, books and clothing that are still in
great condition?
Donating to Seacoast Santa of NH
is your solution! Click for details on how you can help your storage space and another
family all at once
Seacoast Santa flyer
2015.doc
PARENTS NIGHT OUT
December 18th from 5-9pm
FREE OF CHARGE
See attached flyer for details
parents night out
flyer.doc
HOLIDAY STORE IS BACK
Holiday Store 2.pdf
Missed the show? No worries. The 3rd grade teachers will have a repeat performance at the
Woodman Idol being held in the spring!!
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Calling All Photographers
The 2015-2016 Yearbook photo collection is underway. If you attended a WPS event, were part of a
WPS afterschool program, or got that perfect shot while at Woodman, please think about submitting it for
inclusion in the yearbook. Space is limited, so the more WPS students in the photo the better. Email any
pictures to Laura Beatham at laura@beatham.org and please include the date of the picture, the grades of the
students in the picture and a description of the event/place the picture was taken. Your pictures will help to
include as many students as possible in the candid sections, and help to make the book a great memory of the
year for everyone.
$$$ FUNdraising $$$
Though our next submission is not until March ‘tis the season to visit with extended family and friends.
Please share this easy fundraiser with your aunts, uncles, grandparents and neighbors without school aged kids. They
love to help our youth and it takes little effort and a Ziploc bag. Our next submission will be March 1;
please keep clipping.
________________________________________________________________________________
Exciting news! The WPS PTO has been selected to be a part of the “Hannaford Helps” Reusable Bag Program featuring the
new bright blue bag! We are so honored! Please help support our mission of providing enrichment opportunities for all
WPS students by buying this beautiful blue reusable bag from now through December 31, 2015.
A $1 direct donation is included in the price of the bags. What does that mean for the WPS PTO? For every “Hannaford
Helps” Reusable Bag purchased at the 833 Central Avenue Hannaford, the WPS PTO will receive a $1 direct donation! It's a
great time to replace some of your reusable shopping bags and support enrichment at WPS!
__________________________________________________________________________
Here’s what’s happening Inside the Park
First Grade Friendship Feast
WPS has a great tradition for our first grade students. Each year, during the Thanksgiving Season our first graders share a
‘friendship feast’ with their classmates. There’s nothing better than sharing a meal with your friends and being thankful
for it.
Gobble Gobble. Thank you to our dedicated teachers for continuing with a great tradition.
What’s new to the Bugle for 2015-16?
Show your stuff on what you know about the staff. We believe that being a community means getting to know each
other. This year we will highlight a new staff member in each addition of The Bugle. Take time to ask a few questions of
those you meet at our school events and make the best of your years here at Woodman Park School. Great friendships
start here. And it isn’t exclusive to the students. Each member of the school cares for its students and we hope it shows.
This month’s staff member is Ms. Melissa Maguire~ Librarian
1) How long have you worked in a school environment?
After college, I obtained my MLS (Masters in Library Science) and worked in a corporate setting doing corporate
research and training. I joke that I took an "11 year maternity leave" because after I had my first child we moved to
New Hampshire and had to leave my job. When my youngest started preschool 6 years ago, I started volunteering
at the local elementary school library. I also taught Sunday School. Three years ago, I branched out to volunteer
at all the Portsmouth school libraries, started taking classes for my teacher certification, and became a substitute
teacher. The elementary school setting is definitely my favorite. Being here brings back many positive memories
from my own elementary school experience.
2) Do you have a favorite sport and what team do you cheer for?
I am not a sports person at all! I can name a handful of teams and can distinguish between a home run and a
touchdown but that's the limit of my experience! I am an outdoor person and would rather participate in a road
race or cross country ski or hike or bike or swim.
3) What was your favorite subject in school?
I was a psychology major in college and love the science behind what makes us human and the choices we make.
During graduate school, I really enjoyed my technology classes.
4) What do you like to do with your time outside of WPS?
My family keeps me very busy. My two daughters are into music and dance and horseback riding. My oldest is a
budding filmmaker. My husband and I love to cook and travel and enjoy the great outdoors.
5) If you could hold another job, besides your DREAM job here at WPS, what would it be?
I considered a career in radio, believe it or not! I am a news junkie and would take a job at NHPR if I ever decide to
embark on a 4th career!
Ride the WPS Wave
Ride the WPS Wave ~ each monthly Bugle edition will have a hidden wave within one of our articles. Your student has a
chance to earn $5 worth of School Store Bucks by sending an email to ridethewpswave@gmail.com with the student’s
name, grade and which article you found the wave in by the 10 th of each month. A name will be drawn from all of the
entries and awarded their prize. Did you find it today?
Thank you for reading the Bugle. Encourage a friend to do the same. Please send any suggestions
or items that you would like consideration for inclusion to Tara Culcasi @ tculcasi@gmail.com.
Follow Woodman Park on Facebook for up to date events and happenings. Woodman Park School PTO.