Making Connections with Our Neighbors: Falmouth Land Trust and FSP's Trail Stewards

Over the last few months, three classes at Friends School of Portland have teamed up with Falmouth Land Trust for projects and trail work on the Underwood Springs Forest Preserve trail network. Given that the Underwood trails abut our campus and our students use them on a regular basis for PE (and other) classes, this collaboration seemed like a natural fit! Rebecca Dugan FLT’s new Education and Outreach Coordinator, has coordinated these efforts, which include a plant identification project with Aliza’s 5-6 science class and a data collection project with both 1-2 classes. In Rebecca’s words: 

We have been so excited to work with Friends School students and staff! It's so helpful to have students monitoring trails and reporting back what they find, whether that's an interesting plant or a bridge in need of repair. We also love getting kids out on trails and excited about nature since they are our next generation of stewards! Young people can be leaders in caring for the land and make a long-term positive impact!

In September, both Alex Perry, FLT’s Stewardship Coordinator, and Rebecca, met with Aliza’s science class to help them learn the importance of an ecological inventory, which they will work on throughout the year at the Underwood Springs property. Alex and Rebecca also explained what a land trust does, how they connect with people in Falmouth, and how the students’ plant-identification efforts will help support FLT’s grant-writing efforts.  

The 1-2 classes will be stewards or “scouts” of the Underwood Springs trails this year. Once per season, students will walk the trails in small groups, collecting data about the condition of the trails – bridges that need repair, trail signs that have fallen down, and any other observations they have about the general state of the trails. The students kicked off this project with a visit from first-grade parent and artist, Ellie Barnett, to learn about the difference between scientific drawing and “regular” drawing. After each season’s walk and data collection – a combination of notes, drawings, and photos – students will share their findings with Rebecca and the FLT staff.

Although there are not currently any other volunteer projects at Underwood Springs, Rebecca says there will be in the near future so keep an eye out for future volunteer opportunities!

7-8 Science Investigates Intertidal Crab Data

Pictured above: Pictured above: Students identify green crabs at Broad Cove, Cumberland

At the beginning of the year, the 7-8 began a science unit on Ecosystem Dynamics, which focused on European Green crabs, a species of crab invading the Maine coast. They started by learning about the intertidal zone and played a game displaying how green crabs affected the species richness and diversity of life living there. They learned how to ID crabs and analyze data in preparation to collect their own for the GMRI (Gulf of Maine Research Institute) Citizen Science Project which they participated in along with other Maine schools. 

The research questions for the investigation were:

• How do the populations of Native, Green, and Asian Shore crabs compare along the Maine Coast?

• Are crab populations changing over time in response to warming temperatures?

• Where do we predict Native, Green, and Asian Shore crabs will be in the future?

On their first field trip, they went to Broad Cove looking for green crabs. They found some in eelgrass, an area where they learned green crabs are commonly found in class. Green crabs often damage eelgrass beds by burrowing into the soil or clipping the blades to find bivalves to eat. Burrowing into the eelgrass is one way that Green crabs have adapted to survive cold winters in Maine.

On their second outing, they went to Mackworth Island and gathered in small groups to set up 1x1 meter quadrats along the shoreline transect. They spent an hour looking for crabs of any species (the four main types are the invasive Green and Asian Shore, and the Native Jonah, and Rock crabs) in their respective quadrats, digging in the sand, and looking under rocks and seaweed. 

Pictured above: Students participating in the GMRI protocol for Intertidal Crab Investigation

When they got back to school, they entered their data including species found, size, sex, shell type, and number of claws in the GMRI database https://investigate.gmri.org/project/intertidal_crabs/ and made a scatter plot from the data that they gathered. They found only Green crabs.

Next, they went to Wells Reserve. There they got to look at water samples with different types of plankton under a microscope to see what was in the water column. They talked with scientists doing real studies on green crabs with hopes of coming up with solutions to the invasive species problem. They spent time looking at graphs and taking blood samples from live Green crabs to test the levels of protein in them (using a refractometer) to try to predict when a crab was ready to molt.

Pictured above: Students view plankton via dissecting and compound microscopes and look through refractometers to measure proteins in crab blood.

On their last trip, they went to Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth. There, they followed the same protocol as they had at Mackworth, but found very different results. They still found many Green crabs, but they found even more Asian Shore crabs, with numbers up to 50 in a single one-meter square as seen in the graph below.

Pictured above: Students setting up a quadrat at Kettle Cove (left) and identifying an Asian Shore Crab (right).

Finally, students wrote claims based on the Research Questions, focusing on engaging in an argument from evidence (using GMRI data, CODAP graphs made by students, Wells Reserve data, and class data). They learned how to ensure validity in their data, how to consider and rule out counterclaims, and how to pose questions to investigate their claims further. The final step was picking out a way to share their findings with the community, which included sharing with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute live Zoom session with other students and scientists from across the state, with Grandfriends and parents in the CER gallery, and the wider school community via the e-bulletin and here in the FSP Quarterly newsletter! Enjoy checking out some of the student reports below!

Green crabs will support Maine's newest fishery- Michaela

Asian Shore crabs will out compete European Green crabs- Xander

Atlantic Blue crabs will take over the population of Green crabs- Max

Green crabs will be Maine's Newest Fishery- Eric

Green crabs will become Maine's newest fishery- Theo

Practicing Literacy and Making Potions with Kindergarten Students

Kindergarteners hunted for ingredients outside that they could identify -- maple leaves, acorn innards, dirt, pine needles. Bringing the ingredients inside, children chopped, blended, steeped, and more to create their potion inventions. Children blended them into different shades of dark green, purples, and pinks. Finally, kindergarteners used the word wall with over 70 kitchen action words to compose their own recipes. Potions ranged from those that grew candy trees, to those that created peace. Students were industrious and eager to explain their products: 

“This potion turns you into toast.” 

“This potion turns the school into cake.” 

“This potion doesn’t do anything. I call it ‘The Potion You’re Not Sure What it Will Do.’”

 “This potion just smells really good.”

School Wide Professional Development Goals: Critical Friends Groups and Vertical Alignment

Pictured above: Second grade student practicing their reading skills with preschool friends.

Each year, our faculty decide on a shared area of professional development and growth to guide our professional work together. This year, we are focusing our energies on launching Critical Friends Groups and working on Vertical Alignment.

Vertical Integration

In 2015, when our enrollment was just under 100 students, Friends School of Portland began planning an expansion of our school, adding one section every other year, beginning with first and second grade in 2016. This year marks the culmination of that plan; with the addition of a second seventh-eighth grade section, we now have a total enrollment of 140.   

During this period of growth, we focused on expanding grade-level teams and revising curriculum and pedagogy within those grade double-spans. At the end of last year, the faculty decided to spend this year revisiting what’s called Vertical Alignment, focusing on students’ programmatic experience as they transition “up” through the grades. Currently, subcommittees of teachers are working on questions of alignment in the areas of writing, math, social studies, science, and the specials classes. After winter break, the full faculty will come together to recommend the next steps in each of those areas.

Critical Friends Group

Our NEASC self-study clarified our commitment to collaborative problem-solving, adult peer-to-peer learning, and direct communication. As an extension of these values, we have initiated Critical Friends Groups for all faculty and staff. In the language of National School Reform Faculty, the founders of Critical Friends Groups, these are professional learning communities that consist of 5 - 12 members who commit to improving their practice through collaboration and structured interactions, called “protocols.” CFGs at Friends School meet once per month during our Friday afternoon faculty meeting time.

Sara Primo, Head of School, and Allie Miller, 5-6 Humanities teacher, have been trained through National School Reform Faculty, and this summer they co-trained eight faculty members to serve as protocol facilitators. Though our experience this year is still in its early stages, our school has identified that the purposes of this initiative are to: make faculty’s work more public and collaborative, prevent burnout, get unstuck on professional dilemmas, foster equity, and improve student learning. So far this has already shifted our school culture in positive ways.

Mapping Out Our Year of Strategic Planning

Courtney Bourns with Strategic Plan Design Committee members during last Saturday's retreat.

It is with excitement that I announce the launch of our strategic planning process, which will result in a new five year Strategic Plan for Friends School of Portland by September 2023. Our recent NEASC re-accreditation and Friends Council Self-Study have helped us reflect on and evaluate our own processes. I look forward to our entire community spending time between January and April considering the path ahead – one that reflects our values and takes us where we collectively want to go.  

Linda Ashe-Ford, a recently retired faculty member shared with me: “We’re not a magic place – a lot of careful choices have led to what can feel like magic here.” Our previous Strategic Plan shaped our growth and recent middle school wing addition, fueled the direction of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, and created opportunities for our faculty to develop as Quaker educators, among other aspects of FSP life it would now be easy to take for granted. 

This fall, we partnered with Courtney Bourns, a consultant with Quaker education roots, who will guide our community through this process. We have formed a Strategic Plan Design Committee that is a cross-section of our broader community: board members, faculty, administrators, alumni, and parents. This team convened for the first time on Saturday, November 19, and is tasked with creating a map of the process so each member of our community can contribute their voice. 

By early 2023, we will have more to share. There will be a range of opportunities for you to participate, from online surveys to listening sessions. As Strategic Planning Design Committee member, Quinn Lavigne ‘09 shared at our opening retreat: “I am proud of this school for taking growth and change so seriously.” I look forward to the conversations ahead as we look forward together with hope, clarity, and a shared vision.

Friends School of Portland's Departing Board Members

Pictured above: FSP Board Potluck with NEASC Accreditation team in Spring 2022.

The Board of Directors is bidding farewell to three members this month.

Sam Solish, a founding board member, has served longer than anyone thus far. With only a short break, Sam has been on the board for most of its fifteen years. Sam's contributions have been many: the kitchen table at which the idea for the school was discussed, a strong Quaker presence, and along with his wife, Jo, steady hands steering the first capital campaign to build the school. We will miss Sam's institutional knowledge and delicious homemade bread, but know that his love for FSP will be ever present.

Rob Ravenelle has been on the board for seven years, serving as treasurer with great expertise. He has been a wise and careful steward of the school's finance committee, has taught us all how to read a balance sheet, and served on the second capital campaign. He has been an invaluable resource to the Heads of School, Finance Director, and Executive Committee. We have been extremely lucky to have Rob on the board and will miss his calm expert guidance.

Nat Shed is leaving us after four years, but also after many years on the school's Advisory Committee, providing support to the Heads of School. As the longtime director of Friends Camp, Nat has been both the school's advocate in wider Quaker circles and a knowledgeable presence on the Finance Committee. We will miss his laugh and his breadth of experience.

NEASC Process: Reflection, Feedback, Revision

Pictured above: Students in Katie’s 1-2 Class on Mackworth Island back in 2011...when we last had our NEASC accreditation year.

This year, faculty and staff, with support from parents and board members, engaged in a yearlong self-study for the renewal of our accreditation through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The process began in the spring and summer of 2021, with preparation for an October “Foundation Visit.” In October, members of the evaluation committee visited FSP to meet with administrators and review documents and self-study materials related to the foundational (non-program) areas of the school: enrollment, governance, resources, staffing, and health and safety. The visiting committee made some helpful suggestions around health and safety protocols, and they supported our conclusions and goals around staffing, diversity, and enrollment.

Beginning during our August staff days in 2021 and continuing until March, teachers worked together to examine all aspects of our program. This process culminated with the submission of a report outlining the conclusions, questions, and aspirations that came out of our program self-study in advance of an in-depth “program visit.” On May 2-3, a visiting team of five educators came to campus to visit classes; meet with each staff member; and review policies, procedures, and curriculum documents.  

The final report was submitted to the NEASC board by the visiting team in June. We expect to hear official news of our successful accreditation renewal this summer.

The key takeaways from the visiting committee’s report can be found in their list of major commendations and major recommendations, which are included below. The recommendations are all reflections of goals that our own self-study identified.

Major Commendations:

• The Visiting Committee commends FSP for cultivating a mission-driven experience which permeates aspects of the life of the school.

• The Visiting Committee commends FSP teachers for their dedication to their ongoing learning, curriculum development, devotion for honing their craft, noteworthy communication with parents, and for their genuine support of their students’ intellectual and emotional growth.

• The Visiting Committee commends FSP for recognizing, valuing, and nurturing the unique reality of every student at each stage of their development and creating a safe, joyful experience for their learners.

Major Recommendations:

• The visiting committee recommends FSP proceed with plans and coordination of the next Strategic Plan to address space, enrollment, staffing, technology, alternate revenue streams, plans for community outreach, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, and fundraising priorities.

• The visiting committee recommends FSP devise communications structures to revisit, realign, and collaborate on aligning their vertical and cross-discipline curriculum, visual identities within the classrooms and community space, and instructional practices.

• The Visiting Committee recommends FSP devote dedicated discernment time to its redesign of the Middle School program as it reaches its full capacity next year.

Friends believe that truth is continually revealed. In this spirit, we also understand that growth, learning, and improvement are a continual process. We welcome this feedback as one part of the ongoing process of reflection and revision.

The NEASC work has also afforded us an opportunity to reflect on FSP’s tremendous growth in the eleven years since our initial accreditation, and to recognize the remarkable constancy of the things we hold at our core. In 2011, at the time of our initial accreditation, FSP had an enrollment of 85 students and was in the process of looking for a permanent home. The 2011 visitors commended the school for the staff’s dedication to living the mission and establishing a culture of joyful learning, a culture that continues today.  

Taken together, recommendations from our own reflection process and the committee’s insights have given us an excellent foundation to guide our professional work in the next five years as well as a starting place from which to launch next year’s Strategic Planning process. We are excited to use our NEASC work to cherish and preserve those things that make us FSP while we continue to grow into our future. 

Exploring and Understanding the Value of Our National Parks

Students in the 3-4 classes explored the National Parks of the US. Each student chose a different National Park to research, beginning with locating their park on a map, reaching out with specific questions to the National Park staff, and which Native people inhabited the land before it was established as a National Park.   

Students wrote letters to each National Park visitor center with pointed questions. The following weeks, students eagerly awaited the arrival of the mail! Each National Park sent students thoughtful answers and information about the parks and their natural features. Students also learned what a geologist studies and what natural forces change the topography of a landscape. Students learned which forces shaped the land in their chosen National Park, and identified specific geological features.  

Each class spent time researching the Native Land Digital map site and then spoke with an Indigenous Alaskan National Park Ranger via Zoom about some of the parks in Alaska and their relationship with the indigenous peoples of Alaska.

Students then framed their research through the lens of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), a way in which the knowledge of indigenous peoples throughout our country is honored and used to help manage the National Parks and their resources.

Students discovered how scientist Suzanne Greenlaw is leading a conservation effort in Acadia National Park incorporating TEK and involving Wabanaki harvesters to restore the sweetgrass population and make the location in Bass Harbor available to Indigenous harvesters in a sustainable way. 

As students learned about National Parks near and far, students participated in nature explorations on campus. Students integrated the values and practices of “Leave No Trace” into their hiking. One 3-4 teacher shared that students noted, “once you get to know something well, you are more likely to act with care in its presence.” 

Students presented their final projects to peers and their families. The final projects included a 3-D map of their park and a persuasive letter of why one should visit their chosen park.

Food Trucks: A First and Second Grade Math Unit

First and second-grade students did a deep dive into currency this spring!

Students studied coins by identifying their names and values, adding money efficiently (starting with the biggest coins first, grouping like coins together), and the concept of making change.  

Students enjoyed playing a fun and challenging game called “Coins in My Pocket.” And then built on these skills with a “Food Truck Festival.” Students created their own food truck complete with a special menu, decorative unique signs, and clay food items. Students then had a chance to be both shoppers and sellers working together on skills of counting and exchanging money.  

Matt Hoidal of World of Change talked with Katie’s 1-2 class about the work he does in the world with coins. Students were excited about the possibilities of making a big difference in their community with change.  

Looking forward to seeing what Katie and Xanthe’s classes will do next school year!

Welcoming Back Our Graduates: Lee Chisholm's Retirement Celebration

Pictured above: Over 100 friends, faculty, and graduates gathered to celebrate Lee's 14 years of teaching at FSP. Many of the graduates and current students who attended are pictured with Lee next to the maple tree planted in his honor.

Beloved teacher, Lee Chisholm, retired at the close of the school year. Graduates from FSP's first 15 years traveled from near and far to celebrate him! Lee began the tradition at FSP to plant a tree for each graduating class. Our small orchard has been moved from our first home on Mackworth Island to the home of our own in Cumberland. In his honor, graduates planted a sugar maple tree up on the hillside that looks over the orchard of graduates whose lives he has touched. 

Thank you for joining our special simple evening of celebrating Lee's many years of effort and love spent at Friends School of Portland. 

Linda Ashe-Ford's Retirement Celebration

Pictured above: Linda sharing a story about her family during a Friday all-school assembly earlier this spring.

Save the date for Linda Ashe-Ford's retirement celebration at FSP on Wednesday, July 13 from 5 pm - 6:30 pm. The simple celebration will be held in the courtyard at FSP.

We'll have ice cream sundaes and music!

Bring your picnic blankets, folding chairs, snacks/dinner, and gratitude to share!

Service Learning Adventure: End of Year 7-8 Class Trip to MDI

Pictured above: Seventh and eighth-grade students hiking in Acadia together this June on their end-of-year class trip.

A tradition at FSP is the end of year class trip for the 7-8 class. It is a tradition that has evolved over our first 15 years. This year, all the seventh and eighth-grade students traveled together to Mount Desert Island. Students stayed together at Camp Beech Cliff, explored Acadia National Park, and assisted the Mount Desert Oceanarium ready for re-opening!  

Students shared a few of their highlights from this tradition: 

“I liked being able to hang out with my friends all day and not just a regular school day.” 

“The place that we stayed at Camp Beech Cliff was really awesome. We did a ropes course together, tried out archery… and the food and chaperones were the best!”  

Dareth Law, Spanish Teacher and 7-8 Trip Advisor shared, “The service learning project that students worked on at the Oceanarium was, from my perspective, and that of the Oceanarium staff, a remarkable experience. Students moved trailer loads of boards that were rotted, lining the trails; they loaded wheelbarrows full of branches and brush all over the property from the winter storms; they pruned overhanging branches; they raked pine needles and carried heavy items to different parts of the museum.”  

The Mount Desert Oceanarium will host a soft opening on June 27th. 

Reflecting Together on the 2021-2022 School Year: Conversation with Heads of School Sara Primo and Julia de la Torre

Pictured above: Head of Moorestown Friends School, Julia de la Torre, with Head of Friends School of Portland, Sara Primo, over Zoom earlier this spring.

Julia de la Torre is Head of School at Moorestown Friends School in New Jersey. She went to college with my dear English teacher colleague who I taught alongside in my first teaching position at Emma Willard Boarding School – twenty years ago. Now that same colleague is teaching English at Moorestown Friends School. When I got the position at Friends School last spring, she connected me to Julia with high praise of her amazing leader, who had also begun her headship with a four-year-old. Last spring, among the boxes and upheaval of packing up my apartment in Philadelphia, I met Julia over Zoom and she spoke candidly and generously with me about how best to prepare for and approach the year ahead. Having emailed back and forth a few times and been on a few large Quaker Head of School Zoom calls together, this June, she Zoomed with me again, one year later. I think you will see from the excerpt below what a mentor and guide she has been for me.

Sara: I have been super interested in the question: As a leader, to what extent are you responsible for the burnout of the people around you? My question would be: how have you navigated a year that has had to involve more burnout than normal because of the cultural moment we’ve been in?

Julia: I think about burnout over the past two and a half years, because I think we have gone through an evolution of what burnout looks like. When everyone went virtual in 2020, the burnout was one of such extreme newness that people had to get used to, but it felt achievable because it was three months. Last year, I felt that the burnout was an indefinite period of adaptation… with no end in sight. And that was a type of burnout that I felt deeply responsible for, even though it wasn’t my fault. I felt like last year I did everything humanly possible to carry the burdens of other people… I felt responsibility to carry people’s pain, their transitions, their burdens – in a way that felt temporary. And at the end of last year, it wasn’t. We kept going. And so for my own self-preservation, I had to treat this year differently. I couldn’t carry people’s burdens and try to solve them, even though I’m hardwired as a leader to try to solve them. 

I think as human beings we had to learn to carry disappointment and joy at the same time. I think we had to carry pain and health at the same time. And so this year to me was about how do you carry two things that are seemingly in opposition to each other.

Moving into next year, I can’t take away this tension for people. I am coming to the realization that maybe my job isn’t being a receptacle for people’s disappointment. Maybe my job isn’t just stewarding them through difficult times. Maybe my job is helping them find their own strength. We all have inner strength. I think we are in the business of wanting to solve problems, so we try to. What I need to figure out how to do is shift from me trying to solve problems to empowering other people to solve their problems. There is collective wisdom in our schools; we all experienced an incredible cultural moment we are all learning different lessons from. I have to figure out how to tap into those strengths because a single person can’t solve the tensions.

That resonates with an activity I started the year off during our August Days for faculty and staff. I kept trying to think of the perfect pep talk for my staff, until finally I realized that, after they had done all this work to identify the core values that guide them as professionals, only each individual could give themselves the perfect pep talk. So I modeled for them the pep talk I was giving myself, and then I asked them to write their own advice for the year on a post-it. I want to end the year during June Days with a similar spirit. Though it can be hard to listen for, sometimes only you are the best person to say the exact thing you need to hear.

What question do you have for me?

A first year in any headship is a challenge for a host of reasons. A first year in a pandemic in a new community adds a whole different layer. I’m curious what you came in with as one of your biggest goals and how you think it went.

Two big goals for me (which I actually wrote down on my post-it pep talk to myself I just mentioned!) were to keep things in proportion and to keep humans central. I’m so conscious that I haven’t had to do it alone. I’m so conscious of all the times when things started to get out of proportion and then within a few hours I got help or got input or got clues as to the size things had to be. So I think when you keep things in proportion, you have to keep humans central. Those two goals feel interlocked for me. I know it’s naive to think love can solve all problems; but on the other hand, finding that core of human connection has sustained me and helped me make better choices in intense moments.

Can you tell me one thing that surprised you this year, or an “a-ha moment”?

What has surprised me this year… You know, we haven’t been able to gather in the meeting house as a whole community, as a whole division. What I’m realizing is that those spaces where we were looking at each other and making eye contact and all in the same room reflecting together, those had more meaning than I realized… I used to think you could have worship anywhere, but I actually think being in a space where benches are facing each other and being in a community moment together provides the foundation for all the other ways we keep humans central. Without it, I am actually seeing an erosion of that. I see people hold doors less for each other. So I think: OK. Keeping humans central doesn’t just mean keeping humans present. Coming out of this, how do you make up for lost opportunity and compensate, and rebuild. With humans physically present, how do you help them to become emotionally and psychologically present with each other? That’s one of my hopes for next year. Have you seen that?

I think for us it’s way subtler, how Meeting for Worship has changed during the pandemic. We have the luxury of this outdoor courtyard, which holds us almost like in a huge bowl. And it has felt very grounding to gather together as a school out there for Meeting for Worship. We had a series of smaller meetings in the meeting room (for 5th and 6th graders) and then I think two meetings in the meeting room for the whole school. I am not sure we are there, in terms of stillness as a skillset. Spiritually, it felt incredible. But on the other hand, watching students get better at sitting in stillness on those benches – we have a ways to go. I think holding and answering that question of “What does it look like to nurture the spiritual life of young people?” is one of my hopes for next year.

Do you have greeters at Meeting for Worship? People who stand at the door and say hello and shake hands? We do that. We have a greeter assigned to each door, oftentimes students assigned. That simple gesture of, as you come into the meeting house, you are shaking hands with an individual and making eye contact AND you are crossing a threshold that when you are in this space on the other side of that handshake, you are settling into a different way of being. Again: that has not existed in the way we have done worship for these two years. And I am starting to believe that these seemingly small details of our routine and day-to-day life that made us the community that we are, the absence of them, has prompted us to look at how we intentionally rebuild community absent those things, until we can get those things back.

So as I go into next year, and I think about burnout for everyone, for teachers, for students – we have this belief that if we go on vacation, we’ll feel restored. I’ve actually learned I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think time away provides the kind of spiritual restoration that we need, the rediscovering the human side of who we are and others. That happens in community, that doesn’t happen in absence of.

Anything you tried out this year that you will continue with next year?

I tried out a monthly meeting, on the last Tuesday of every month, where parents, admin, teachers, and advisory board members could come to share initiatives related to racial justice – aspirations, progress, but also barriers or blocks. And actually give and receive feedback. It’s called Racial Justice Accountability Working Group. It felt a little risky, the idea of asking to be publicly held accountable, or the idea of asking monthly for direct feedback about the pace of institutional and personal progress. I am someone who loves a social justice book group even though I know it’s cliche to say that as a white person, and so I had this early fear of getting stuck in book group mode. Or I had fears that people would drop off and stop coming. But we didn’t get stuck, and it didn’t fizzle out. For me, a highlight meeting was a teacher having her curriculum workshopped by parents, as she took a National Parks unit and redesigned it with an indigenous rights lens. I would say that though it is still in its early stages, the group is a success and will continue on – and hopefully keep evolving to meet the school’s needs in this department as they keep changing.

I love that. I think what I love most about what you’re saying is that most people will say to a new head, ‘Take the first year and take it all in. Just listen and learn and get to know people and build relationships.’ And I think that’s great. And I have no doubt you’ve done that. But what I like better is that in doing this experiment, it prompts a vulnerability for you and for others – that leads to a deeper kind of relationship… You can do all of the social gatherings humanly possible in the first year as a head of school and not actually get to know people. You have good reason for that to be a proud moment. Doing that experiment, showing that the school is a learning institution that’s growing and changing, which we all hope to be as schools, and to model how those conversations can go when collectively we get to better answers than alone… that’s not just forward movement for the school and for you as a leader, but it’s also a chance to have deeper connections and relationships, which is the goal of a first year. So: smart move!

Well, it also keeps humans central! Which is what we’ve been talking about… and which I expect will continue to be my bedrock goal moving forward.

Welcoming Our New 7-8 Class Teaching Team: Pete Nowak and Nicole Favreau

Pictured above: Nicole and Pete's 3-4 class photo from the 2008-2009 FSP yearbook.

Beloved teachers, Nicole Favreau and Pete Nowak have long been a special part of the FSP community. Back in 2008, Nicole and Pete taught third and fourth-grade together. Grace, Nathaniel, Grace, Nathaniel, Sam, Owen, Bianca, Abby, Randa, Darrah, Daniel, Megan, Yacob, Jenaya, Violet, and Elena might all have a story or two to share from their time as third and fourth-grade students during Nicole and Pete’s first year at FSP. Pete remembers one of the highlights when they took the 3-4 class to Vinalhaven… exploring tidepools, finding sea cucumbers, and students singing along to former head James Grumbach playing guitar.

This coming 2022-2023 school year, Nicole and Pete will once again be a grade level team as Nicole steps into a new role as the lead 7-8 science teacher.  

Nicole, who majored in Environmental Studies with a Plant Science minor at the University of Vermont, spent her summers in college thinking about plants both wild and domesticated. One favorite summer was spent as a backcountry wilderness forest ranger, tending to wilderness trail systems, exploring the backcountry with horses and rucksacks of canned food, and cataloging the western wildflowers of the High Uinta Mountains in the Wasatch Cache National Forest of Utah. She remembers that she was even convinced to dress up like Smokey the Bear on a fire safety float at one point!  

Her love of gardening began in Washington State the following summer with the Oregon Tilth Association where she learned how to run a market farm and CSA in the semi-arid cherry orchards of the Cascade Mountains. She shared her love of plants and the wilderness with students as an outdoor educator for the Chewonki Foundation for several years, helping Chewonki to write a new curriculum and always thinking up meaningful adventures to take middle and high school kids along including hiking Vermont's Long Trail, a month long study of sustainable agriculture in Italy, or experiencing life along the Maine section of the Appalachian Trail. Nicole’s work with Chewonki led her to go back to school for a master's degree and inspired her to begin the FSP Outing Club back in 2008 after finding her teaching home at FSP. “I have been fortunate to be a part of helping to build the FSP community ever since, with opportunities for teachers to teach what they are passionate about, like studying the work of early botanist Kate Furbish through a unit on native flowering plants on the FSP campus and helping to install a pollinator garden at the new campus. I hope to bring my passion for botany, biology, soil science, and ecology to the classroom this fall as seventh and eighth-grade students begin to ask questions about truth.”

Looking ahead, Nicole is excited to explore these essential questions with students in her first year teaching seventh and eighth-grade science at FSP: 

How do we know when something is true? (Inquiry)

• How do we tell the true story about our waste (in our water, on our land, and in our air)?

How do we defend the truth? (Reflection)

• How do we use data to defend the truth about pollutants in our environment?

How do we stay committed to the truth? (Action)

• How do we stay committed to telling the truth through our actions (stewardship and ecological restoration) in our environment?

Kindergarten Hatches Baby Chicks

We know it is spring at Friends School of Portland when the kindergarten class embarks on their annual chicken hatching project!

Initially, in late March, students shared what they thought they knew about chicks.

"Chicks are cute."

"Chicks are baby chickens."

"Chicks have beaks, wings, and feathers."

"Chicks come from their moms"

"Chicks need fertilizer to grow"

"Chicks come from eggs"

"Baby chickens don't fly"

"The boy chicken puts the chick in the egg. I don't know how he does that."

"The boy chicken guards the eggs that have chicks growing in them so that the only eggs the farmers can get are the ones with no chicks."

"Chicks come from an egg a boy chicken lays. Eggs that you eat come from a girl chicken,"

"Chicks need food and water."

"Chicks are birds."

Over the course of March and April, students investigated their initial thoughts and questions as they anticipated hatching chicks of their own in their classroom. In mid-April, their eggs were moved off the rotator ready to start making their appearance outside of the shell. Students arrived in the morning to see that the first chick hatched, and by the end of the day four were outside of the shell. Every half hour of the day was assigned to two kindergarteners to monitor for changes. The class was surprised by how much there was to report!

Chicks were then moved to their brooder to get ready for children to decide together on names. Sir Cheepsalot, Cutie, Encanto, Chatty Kathy, Cookie Dough, Blueberry... to name a few!

Students welcomed Laura Mailander from Cultivating Community to school to collect their newly hatched fluff balls. She shared about the organization that she works for and answered many questions from curious kindergarteners who had learned much from their initial chick and chicken conversations!

"Will they be bossed around by older chickens?"

"How do the chicks survive in a box when you drive them to their new home?"

"Are they being raised for eggs, meat, or pets?"

"What about foxes on the farm?"

"Which ones might be roosters?"

"Will you eat the chickens?"

"How many chickens do you have at your farm?"

Cultivating Community is an organization that works in food justice, particularly empowering new Americans by teaching sustainable farming practices. Students look forward to donating their chicks to their good work. Students also look forward to a chance to visit their farm to see the chicks loving life at their new home.

Welcoming Visiting Poet, Samaa Abdurraqib

Samaa Abdurraqib visited our middle school students on Tuesday, April 12 for a series of readings and workshops. Samaa, a local poet, was able to join Friends School of Portland for National Poetry month with a generous grant from the Maine Literacy Foundation. Samaa led three interactive workshops with students reading her original poetry and that of Wanda Coleman and Terrance Hayes. After students read works by other poets, each student took time to write their own American Sonnet, a form of a sonnet that comes with many freedoms but should have 14 lines. "Samaa validated students' work and ideas. She brought a good sense of humor that students really connected with," shared one middle school teacher.

Middle school students shared their experiences:

"I hadn't heard of Wanda Coleman or Terrance Hayes before. I really liked their poems and how Samaa explained that she didn't always know what a poem is about. But that she knows when she likes one!" - Eighth-grade student

"She was really cool." - Sixth-grade student

"I liked her poems and the poems that she shared." - Seventh-grade student

"It was really cool to talk and hear from someone who writes and publishes poems. She was really honest about if she liked the poem or not, and if she knew exactly what an author meant. I liked knowing that a poet just likes things and tries things out." - Fifth-grade student

At the end of the day, fifth and sixth-grade students shared their poetry in a simple coffee house reading with their younger buddies. First and second-grade students were thrilled to share their appreciation and acknowledgments of their older buddies' work!

"I really liked the words you chose."

"You are brave for reading."

"I liked all the poems."

"Can we hear more? I liked them all!"

Take a listen to Samaa reciting her poem "The Hard Part" here.

A Handful of Stars: Book Study with the Third and Fourth-Grade

As the culmination of their book study of A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lloyd, third and fourth-grade students made mason bee houses to raise money for Mano en Mano, an organization that supports migrant workers in Washington County.

After reading Cynthia Lloyds' book, students chose different interest groups to research several topics related to the text including mason bees, lowbush blueberries, migrant workers in Maine, and the non-profit Mano en Mano which assists Maine's migrant worker community. Students created informational posters to share what they learned with their peers.

Next, students learned more about mason bee homes and how to construct them. Students made prototypes with help from Spindrift Carpentry and assessed their models' ability to be replicated, the cost, and the aesthetics. One model was selected to replicate. Over the next weeks, students created two mason bee homes in pairs.

After completing their bee homes, students visited Love Lab Studio in Portland to set up their mason bee homes to be sold and meet with Eva from Mano en Mano.

Students created labels with blueberry ink paint, wrote letters to customers, and set up homes. Speaking with Eva was a highlight for many. She shared the history of Mano en Mano and her work with the organization. She works with students across the state year-round and is based in Portland. Students were especially interested to hear about how the many blueberry farms in Maine and the Blueberry Harvest School have continued to operate during the Covid pandemic.

A big thank you to Spindrift Carpentry, Hancock Lumber, Love Lab Studios, Satronen Sound, and the many parents and families who contributed their time to make this project happen! All proceeds of the mason bee homes sold at Love Lab Studios will support Mano en Mano's Blueberry Harvest School. If you haven't gotten your mason bee home yet, check out the home in this year's FSP auction!

View the video of the 3-4 Class Mason Bee Project here:

Book Review Study with the 1-2 Classes

First and second-grade students' recent writing unit took them on a field trip to a local bookstore, Print. Students enjoyed being out in the world, cozying up in the stacks, and eagerly sharing new books with their friends. Print employee, Stephanie Heinz read one of her favorite books to students and answered many questions about book buying and publishing. Stephanie shared the ways that Print displays books with "shelf talkers," short reviews. Students will be reading a book and writing a book review to be displayed at Print in the coming weeks.

Reflections and Connections: Visiting Artists' Week

Visiting Artists' Week is an FSP tradition. In March, we welcomed ten artists to share their talents with mixed-age groups of students. Work centered around the theme of Reflections. Project mediums ranged... mask-making, collage, rust art, comic bookmaking, printing, music composition, and more. The Friday assembly was a treat! Students shared their work with one another and their parents.

Below is a little more about each artist who joined us this year and a few process photos of the amazing work our building of artists created together!

Ellie Barnet grew up in Midcoast Maine. Raised at an Inn specializing in art workshops and surrounded by an artistic family, she knew from a young age she wanted to be an artist. She received her education in Fine Arts at Boston University, majoring in painting. Since graduating Barnet has studied with Knox Martin at The Art Students League in New York City, and attended workshops taught by Lois Dodd and Joel Janowitz.

She currently lives and works in Portland, Maine. Her work can be found at the Harmon Meek Gallery in Naples, FL and the Elizabeth Moss Gallery in Falmouth, ME, as well as in the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, the Polk Museum of Art, the Museum of Art-DeLand, and the Golisano Children's Museum of Naples, FL.

Ellie offered Collaborative Collage

Christina Bechstein is an artist, mother, and educator who has taught in art, design, and architecture programs across the United States. Her art practice is interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature, encompassing and overlapping such fields as social sculpture, large-scale community-based public art, activism, sculpture, textiles, film, and performance. 

In her social business project Love Lab Studio, Christina works to make simple creativity public as a force to co-create a better world. Christina is also part of a new pilot group in Portland Maine, Sister Makings, that tends to community and relationships and brings new neighbors, local women, and our children together over crafts, food, coffee, and gardening.

Christina offered a Mosaic Quilt 

Chris Child is an Emmy award-winning TV composer and has contributed music for a broad range of TV shows and commercials. He has composed the music for video games developed by Harmonix, including 2016’s Amplitude for the Sony PS4 game console and Rock Band.

Under his artist name Kodomo, he has released several critically acclaimed albums, EP's, and remixes. He performs in New York City and electronic music festivals around the world (Montreal, Barcelona, Paris, and Tokyo). Child is also the owner of the record label FOIL Imprints embracing a spectrum of electronic music genres.

Chris offered Electronic Sound Art

Flor Cron is a queer Peruvian-American farmer, performer & transdisciplinary artist who works with intuitive movement, dirt, installation, printmaking, fiber, Instagram, and food.  

From a young age, Flor frequently traveled to Peru to visit her maternal family. There, their passion for movement, food, and textiles was ignited. Flor lives in Portland, Maine, which is settled on stolen and occupied territory of the Wabanaki Confederacy.

Through performance and making with the readymade, available materials, Flor locates the present moment and the relationship between her two cultures. She explores the defeat and transformation of trauma through the twin powers of vulnerability and forgiveness, and how exposing pain can transcend trauma.

Flor offered Experimental Printmaking

Leah Gauthier is an intermedia artist living and working in Cumberland, Maine. She makes wild-inspired embroidered paintings, living sculptures, and community works exploring food as an agent of social change. 

Gauthier’s art has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has been an artist-in-residence at MacDowell, Eyebeam, and The Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland, and has received grants and awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and others. She has taught at Butler University, Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art Indiana University Bloomington, the School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston, Tufts University, and Maine College of Art and Design. 

Leah offered Mixed Media Bookmaking, exploring lost meals

Bella Harvey majored in sculpture at Maine College of Art and Design and while there gained an interest in creating wearable art and the concept of identity through masks and puppets. Her masks and puppets are influenced by Bread & Puppet Theater’s large-scale paper-mâché masks, Jan Svankmajer’s multimedia stop-motion films distorting the human form, and Yuri Norstein’s animations created using 2D paper puppets. She works in many mediums such as plaster, foam, clay, and paper-mâché usually in tandem.

Bella offered Mask Making

Cora Kircher is a comic artist who lives in Portland, where they work in a restaurant. They drew and wrote separately for a long time before realizing that combining the two mediums was the best way for them to make art. Cora's art often centers on relationships and the natural world, using imagery and dialogue to create a story. Cora believes that art can be many things, but personally tries to make art that is political, emotional, and/or funny, and is really looking forward to making art with cool people at FSP!

Cora offered Graphic Story Telling

Roberta March started to pursue her art education later in life and is now a second-year MFA student. Her first degree was in business administration and she received a master's in marketing, followed by a career in human resources in banking. In London, Roberta attended Hampstead School of Art for a foundation diploma in Fine Arts. After she relocated to Houston she studied for four years at The Glassell Studio School of Art. 

She moved to her new home Portland, Maine in 2019. She became an American citizen the same day she started her MFA program at Maine College of Art where she is a candidate to graduate in May 2021.

Roberta offered Butterfly Mosaic Making.

Sarah Navin When she's not behind the front desk, Sarah is writing and illustrating a creepy webcomic called Darker Further Down, which she shares at instagram.com/coinswallow. The story follows two young women living in a thoroughly haunted and distorted Maine town. Sarah writes (and reads!) plenty of weird fiction, and is still exploring the possibilities that visual storytelling has to offer.

Sarah offered Mind’s Eye Me

Amy Wheeler is a writer, photographer, and intuitive artist living in Maine. Her artistic beginnings are likely coded in her DNA with many makers and creator thinkers running back three generations on both sides of her family. She is a retired teacher and belongs to the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Freeport. 

Amy offered Rust Print Poetry

Gratitude for Lee Chisholm and Linda Ashe-Ford

Outside our front office, we display our collection of all-school photos taken each year since our first year. Lee and Linda have touched countless students and their families during their time at FSP. Thank you!

Linda Ashe-Ford will be retiring at the end of this school year. She joined FSP five years ago and has significantly grown our Aftercare program during this period of FSP’s growth. A colleague who works in Aftercare said: “Linda is amazing to work for and to work with. Her ability to communicate with thoughtfulness and understanding to both students of all ages and those who work for her is really special.” An eighth-grader said, “Linda is absolutely amazing. Before Covid, we used to have cooking club, and I miss it so much.” On top of her work in Aftercare, Linda has contributed professional and personal expertise to our DEI work, supporting FSP’s “difficult conversations,” establishing our antiracist scope and sequence, mentoring preschool staff, consulting with teachers and administration about inclusivity and equity work, and assisting our first parents of students of color affinity group. 

Lee Chisholm will be retiring after fourteen years with FSP. His exploratory and wonder-filled approach to science and math, combined with his artistic passions (poetry, watercolor, and sculpture, to name just a few), have bolstered our middle school program since nearly the beginning of the school. Known as a master storyteller, Lee has been an intrepid and authentic presence for his students and colleagues. Lee and his late wife Sukie have been involved in every play production in FSP history! When alums look back on their time at FSP, Lee’s name rings out as one of those teachers that changed their lives and who embodies what this school means to them.

Lee will continue to be involved in our play productions… Linda will continue to consult with us on our developmentally specific DEI work… We look forward to the ways that Linda and Lee will continue to connect with the Friends School community!

Please save the date for a retirement celebration to be held at FSP on Saturday, June 4 at 4 pm. More details to come!