Leonard Middle School has had an amazing opportunity to work with Connie Carter from Operation Breaking Stereotypes. For the past 15 years Connie Carter has been doing similar work with students from Orono and the Bronx, New York. She is finally realizing her dream of breaking the stereotypes of our local cultures. Middle school students from Orono, Old Town and India...

If kind people are your kind of people, then stop by the sixth grade at Leonard Middle School. Kindness is being shown in many different ways. First, there is the Affirmation Wall. Every week, students write kind notes to one another, but they are more than just saying “I like you” or “I think you’re nice.” The students have to be specific, perhaps commenting on ho...

December 14, 2018 Dear LMS Community, We have an ugly sweater dance tonight from 6:00 – 8:00. I think it is best for me to refrain from any jokes about ugly sweaters. Next week we have our band concert at Hauck Auditorium on the UMO campus at 7:00 on December 19. Next Friday, December 21 is a full day of school and is our last school day before the holiday break. ...

December 7, 2018 Dear LMS Community, Mr. Hanson asked me to begin the note this week with the note below. Thank you, Mr. Hanson. "Your student should have brought home a report card today. For families that are new to our school, the report card may look different from those you have seen in the past. We are a proficiency-based school and therefore report u...

November 30, 2018 Dear LMS Community, We have reached the end of the first trimester. Grades close today and report cards will come home next Friday. It has been a great beginning of a special year, keep up the good work. Thank you to all the adults in our student’s lives that came to student led conferences this week. So many of our children beamed with pride as t...

November 9, 2018 Dear LMS Community, Last night a diverse group of ninety members of the LMS community met for a visioning exercise at OTHS. We began by considering the future. We asked ourselves what we would like our children’s lives to be in fifteen years and we thoughtfully created the perfect lives we all want for our children. Next, we had reflective discussi...

Our very own Danny Schlaefer organized the LMS Mock Election this year. Along with lessons that were facilitated in classrooms around the school, students were able to cast their votes. Student mock elections have a history of being surprisingly accurate in terms of predicting actual outcomes. Soon, we'll see how well our LMS students have predicted the outcome in Main...

October 23, 2018 Tracey O’Connell Harvesting Identity Some 8th graders in ART started a project last year with gourds that has reached completion. Mrs. O’Connell finished the project with Ms. Camp In the spring of 2018 the project, Harvesting Identity was initiated at the Leonard Middle School in Old Town, Maine, with support from a Maine Arts Commi...

Dear LMS Families, At Leonard Middle School we are continuing to implement proficiency-based learning and reporting. Many of you may know this as “standards-based” which has the same meaning. Our community has learned a lot about this philosophical shift over the past several years but because the report looks very different from what many parents are accustomed to, w...

Dear LMS Community, Welcome back to LMS, we are excited to begin the 2018 – 2019 school year. All students should have received or will be receiving a back to school letter from their teachers. The letters share a common message; welcome to a caring, supportive learning environment where we will help you have a great academic year. The message, we are here to help,...