The Pulse of the Pride
Lyme School Friends,
I wanted to start off this newsletter by thanking you all for your patience. It has been an interesting last couple of days this April. This morning was a series of unfortunate events with fiber wires down, generators failing, trees and wires down all of which combined, resulted in closing school for the day. We will be debriefing communications with Lyme Emergency folks in order to determine steps forward in the future on weather days like today. Please know that student and staff safety are always a top priority.
The last two weeks have been another busy two weeks. Students have been active and engaged in classrooms. It has been fun to observe our middle schoolers working on their performance, set design, and stage crew for the upcoming spring musical, "Madagascar". I think it is going to be a good one! In the lower school, we have been completing our math screeners which is another checkpoint and opportunity to determine student growth. It is always cool to listen to our lower school teachers talk in meetings about student success and how they are using the data they collect to drive their work.
It is hard to believe that it is already April and two thirds of our year is completed. The third term can go by fast as there will be a lot to do and celebrate. We will be having the drama show soon, music events, and field days. All are listed below. Let's hope for warmer weather and no snow when we return from the break.
In the teaching and learning section below, we are asking families to complete a survey. These surveys are to gather feedback on parent/guardian and teacher conferences and our communications. We thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to provide this feedback. Links and directions are in Ms. Foxall's section below. THANK YOU!
If you are traveling for the break, please be safe. We will see everyone back at school on Monday, April 15th.
The next newsletter will hit your inbox on April 19th one week after we return from the April Break!
Regards,
John P. D'Entremont, Principal
ALMA - Latest Updates
If you are having trouble, please reach out to Amanda Perry or John D'Entremont.
So far, you should have:
- Gotten yourself logged in.
- Received an emergency alert.
- Double checked your contact information.
- Completed ALMA Start Registration for this year.
- Been given instructions to opt in to the Directory. [To opt in to the directory, you can click on the link for “my info” or get there through your profile icon in the top-right corner. You can toggle your visibility in the directory.]
- Received preliminary information about the standards based report cards.
- Received a first trimester report card via email on December 4th.
- Received a second trimester report card via email on March 20th.
Second trimester report cards were published and emailed on March 20th. We did have a bit of a glitch and not all report cards ended up emailed at the same time. That was fixed. We also had an issue with not all standards getting to the report card specifically with Design Lab. That also was fixed. Report cards are published to the ALMA portal and you can see them by logging in any time. Please let us know if you have questions.
Lyme School Apparel Store
The Lyme School Apparel Store has a variety of apparel and accessories all customizable with a variety of school logos. The Lyme School PTO earns 12% of all sales. Thank you for supporting our school and go Lions! #LYMESCHOOLROCKS
Enjoy the Solar Eclipse!
This 2024 Solar Eclipse Webpage provides a list of resources, educational materials and events for teachers and parents regarding this rare and exciting learning opportunity on April 8.
We sent solar eclipse glasses home!
Please know that Judy Russell has informed us that the library also has some glasses if someone else in your household needs a pair!
As of March, 1 2024 The Center for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance to provide "practical recommendations and information to help people lower risk from a range of common respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, flu and RSV."
These recommendations are Core Prevention Strategies that we can all take to protect one another and help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses. These strategies focus on the following:
1. Staying home and away from others if you have respiratory virus symptoms including fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose and headache.
2. Normal activities can be resumed if your symptoms are getting better for at least 24 hours AND you have not had a fever (or using fever-reducing medication) for at least 24 hours.
3. When symptoms have improved, taking added precautions (good hand hygiene, masking and testing if you will be around other people indoors) over the next 5 days can help reduce the risk of spreading the virus to others.
We follow these guidelines. Please review the following links from the CDC for more information and reach out to me with any questions/concerns.
Thank you for your efforts in keeping our Lyme School students, staff, and families healthy.
Early on in my graduate program, we learned that the term “Guidance Counselor” was outdated and not comprehensive. “School Counselor” was now the encouraged and accepted title. I didn’t really think much of it, but then learning more about the history of this profession, it made a lot of sense- it’s akin to shifting from “Gym Teacher” to “Physical Education Teacher”. I know Ms. Damren gets it! I don’t fault people for continuing to use the term “Guidance Counselor” as it’s been around longer and is far more familiar to people, but I wanted to take the opportunity to educate and advocate for using a title that more accurately reflects this role in schools. Hopefully, our flexible brains will allow for the adoption of School Counselor into our nomenclature.
Here is a great article that explains why the name change occurred as the role has taken on a far more comprehensive approach to student success.
Here are some results from a research study that studied how the name of the profession influences perceptions of competence.
Hope everyone has a fantastic April break! Enjoy the ECLIPSE (with your special glasses!) We will see you the following week 🙂
With Gusto,
Mrs. Stanton
From the world of data privacy, please see this letter regarding our new partnership with The Education Cooperative: TEC info for parents
The fourth grade finished their “Wildlife Warriors” podcast show and you can listen to the episodes here.
PE News
Students in the lower grades have continued their work with eye- hand coordination. As the students build upon this skill, the manipulative skill of tossing and catching has been introduced. The use of colorful scarves allowed students to toss a scarf into the air and having it come down slow to enable a catch to be made more readily. The catch is made with an “ alligator mouth” which involves a clenching with the hands to ensure more success. Students then bring the scarf into their bodies so that the catch is secure.
The skill cues of “ eyes up, alligator, in” helps reinforce the skills of tossing and catching and helps students remember the skill pattern.
Art Update
March 2024
Minneapolis, Minnesota
I made it to Minneapolis, MN! I am spending a few days this week at the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Conference with thousands of educators from around the country. The 2024 NAEA National Convention is a comprehensive opportunity for all educators engaged in the visual arts, design, and media arts to experience exemplary models of best practices and methodologies supported by research. Our keynote speaker yesterday was the artist and educator Lynda Barry. She had these amazing words for us:
“Imagination is the soul’s immune system.”
There have been so many opportunities to think deeply about how and why we do this very important thing. I am grateful for rooms full of art educators who bring their perspectives and experiences to the conversation.
See you all after Break!
OUR VALUES
● Fairness ● Acceptance of Others ● Integrity ● Responsibility
● Perseverance ● Individuality ● Compassion ● Courage
John P. D'Entremont, Principal
Elise Foxall, Academic Director
Geoff Tomlinson, Student Services Director