The K-8 Yarmouth PTO provides field trips, visiting specialists, enrichment supplies, and community events through financial support from you, our school families.
Enrichments & activities that the PTO funded last year:
All Three Schools (Rowe, YES, HMS):
- Parent Education – ‘Maine Girls’ follows a group of immigrant and US-born teenage girls, exploring the role young people can play in facing the unfamiliar, showing vulnerability, and bridging divides. After the 30-min movie, 4 local leaders working in related fields will guide a Q&A session.
- Teacher Appreciation – One of the things our staff likes most is a warm lunch or breakfast provided by our parents. They love being able to take a break from making a lunch and having an opportunity, no matter how short, for a couple in-school chats with colleagues. So we provide our teachers with home-made or parent-provided meals three times throughout the year. In addition, during teacher appreciation week, staff are provided with treats or a coffee bar.
- Events to connect new families with existing families – Examples of our Welcome Committee events include apple picking, mom’s night out, family dinner out, ice skating, coffee with the principal, movies, bowling with laser tag, and more.
- Make-it Take-it Craft Fair – At this beloved event, children make crafts to give away (or keep) as holiday gifts, spend time with friends, and enjoy a pizza lunch, snacks, and baked goods.
- Ice Cream Social – A yearly tradition every spring that everyone looks forward to. Students enjoy ice cream (of course), a huge book sale, showing off their own displayed artwork, and choosing which baskets to put their raffle tickets in.
- Silver Graphics – Parents can pick from over two dozen fun and beautiful keepsakes that feature their child’s artwork.
- Movie Nights – We hold a movie night for each school population. Students get to vote which movie they most want to see and then enjoy a family movie night with friends, popcorn, and baked goods.
- Spirit Wear Merchandise – This is not a fundraiser for the PTO but more of a service we provide to parents and staff who are interested in purchasing Yarmouth gear.
- As part of our Raise Craze-Wave of Kindness Fundraiser, students and the entire community are invited to two kindness activity days during which they make artwork for a local assisted living facility, write cards of appreciation to first responders, decorate placemats for Meals on Wheels recipients, and make toys for shelter dogs and cats.
Rowe:
- As part of their solar system unit, first graders take a field trip to Southworth Planetarium.
- A specialist and three live owls from Chewonki Owls of Maine visit first graders to talk about owls native to Maine and New England.
- As part of their life cycles unit, kindergartners take a trip to Pineland Farm to explore the life cycle of pumpkins, as well as have fun navigating a corn maze.
- Rowe playground will receive TWO new play structures!
- A skate date with new and existing families provides a way to bridge new families to the existing school community.
- Moms’ night out – Rowe moms meet at Gather to connect with other moms – and to eat delicious food, of course.
- Moms’ night out – Rowe moms meet at Color Me Mine in Portland for some creative fun and socializing.
- Healthy Kids, Happy Kids encourages healthy lifestyles by teaching students how to bicycle safely.
- Coast Encounters brings live intertidal specimens for kindergartners to see, touch, and learn about. Students learn about environmental stressors and survival skills.
- Coast Encounters presents horseshoe crabs to first graders and teaches them the vital role they play in shorebird migration and keeping humans free of disease.
- Art teacher, Emily Landry, attends the annual National Art Education Association conference held in Boston. The conference showcases the latest in research, teaching, and assessment, as well as interactive learning through hands-on workshops and museum and art studio tours. It allows participants to experience exemplary examples of best practices and methodologies supported by research.
- Incoming kindergartners and their families have a playdate at the Rowe School playground to meet their future fellow classmates and get used to their new outdoor school surroundings.
YES:
- Third graders experience a day of adventure at Camp Ketcha.
- Second graders experience Arctic sculptures with artist and teacher, Kat Gilles.
- Second graders learn about some of their favorite small water creatures with a presentation from Chewonki about tide pools.
- Second graders watch Mr. and Mrs. Fish, a Rocky Shores presentation.
- As part of their Maine studies unit, fourth graders visit the Maine Historical Society in Portland! They view the museum’s exhibit, “Maine Eats” and tour the Longfellow House.
- A celebration of reading for all YES classes! Each class receives a pumpkin, and classmates work together to turn their pumpkins into favorite storybook characters.
- Late in the school year, third graders see the show, Life of Jane Goodall at Merrill Auditorium to learn about the primatologist and her work.
- Third graders visit Mt. Apetite to explore and learn about different rocks and minerals from a geologist.
- A matinee movie with the entire theater to ourselves! Coffee and hot chocolate at the nearby starbucks so new and existing families can spend time together afterward.
- Field Day – A beloved yearly tradition at YES in which students participate in numerous physical activities on school grounds. The PTO organizes activities, equipment procurement with the help of our beloved gym teacher, Meg Pachuta, and lots of parent volunteers.
- YES students and their families are invited to a night of bowling and laser tag at Spare TIme.
HMS:
- Sixth graders see “Air Play” at Merrill Memorial Auditorium, which will tie into their science curriculum and fiction unit.
- New parent coffees are held three times a year with the principal and assistant principal to welcome newly arrived parents and answer questions and concerns.
- A school year’s worth of bird seed! Sounds simple enough, but seed is what brings the birds and enables a number of school clubs to carry out their activities.
- Seventh graders see a Christmas Carol in Lewiston and eat lunch at Bates College.
- Eighth graders each receive over-ear headphones to use throughout the year.
- Fifth graders receive kindness t-shirts.
- Shirts and tie-dye supplies. Eighth graders come together to tie-dye shirts that will be worn throughout the year for various events.
- In support of their science ecosystems project, seventh graders receive a 3D printer and Ipad Mini 3 to help their drone capture data.
- Three social studies teachers attend a conference in Portland titled, “101 Best Strategies for Teaching Social Studies.” The focus is on strengthening students’ motivation and achievement in social studies.
- As part of our Raise Craze-Wave of Kindness Fundraiser, students visited residents of a local assisted living facility for a game night and conversation.
- PTO reps meet with new parents for coffee at Brewer’s Marina to share summer camp information.
- United Arts received a competition set of Rubik’s Cubes to teach the logic and algorithms behind the cube. Set includes a Learn to Solve program to assist teachers and students learning to solve the cube, Rubik’s Cube Unit Study teacher’s guide and student workbook and STEM unit.