GRAMMAR GAZETTE
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Greetings, Fabulous Lower School Families!
Welcome to the first monthly edition of the Grammar Gazette, a Lower School-specific newsletter for School of Grammar families. Please look for these communications on the second Thursday of every month to learn more about Lower School happenings!
The highlights of this past month include events that have brought our school together for the first time in almost 2 years, and the feeling of moving in this direction toward normalcy has truly been indescribable.
Additionally, there is a special board meeting tomorrow, Friday, March 11 at 6:15pm. The agenda consists of proposed changes to Nova's current COVID mitigation strategies.
As always, thank you for your continued support of your children, your teachers, and of Nova as a whole. We are incredibly grateful.
Warm Regards,
Brooke Tousignant
Lower School Principal
Congratulations to all of the students that have competed in recent academic contests!
Spelling Bee
After many rounds of competition between Nova scholars in grades 3-8, Colette Bove, Grade 5, was our school champion, with 3rd grader, Neel Vijay, as our runner-up. Collette will represent Nova at the Regional Spelling Bee on Tuesday, March 15. Best wishes to Colette!
History Bee
There were 21 contestants from grades 4-8 in our school History Bee. At the end of the competition, first place went to Nathan Kang, in 7th grade, with 8th grader Alexander Hungs coming in 2nd place, and Thomas Bates, grade 7, in 3rd place. All 22 finalists have been invited to the Regional History Bee in April, and we wish them all luck!
Battle of the Books
Our top 12 teams of 3rd-5th graders will move on to the next round of Battle of the Books, taking place on Wednesday, May 6. The winning team will progress to the final Battle of the Books competition at St. Croix Prep on the evening of Monday, May 16. Happy reading to all of our finalists!
SUMMER SCHOLAR ZONE REGISTRATION
Summer Scholar Zone 2022 Registration is now open! Summer Scholar Zone is open to current K-5 Nova students. The Summer 2022 Handbook is officially available on our website and includes information regarding prices, billing, dates, and other essentials.
Register for Summer Scholar Zone here!
Please note that there will be a daily capacity of 35 students this summer, so act fast and select your desired days right away! A daily activities calendar will be available to families no later than Friday, April 29. Registration closes on Friday, May 6.
If you have any questions, please reach out to scholarzone@novaclassical.org.
Due to recent unsafe driving and parking practices, we want to remind families of our drop-off and pick-up procedures.
Most importantly, there is NO PARKING, STOPPING, LOADING, AND UNLOADING at any time in the parking lot at any time.
Please review our Nova Arrival & Dismissal Procedures newsletter.
More information can be found on this map.
Thank you for your adherence to these rules to create a safe, efficient traffic flow every morning and afternoon.
REINTRODUCING THE NPTO ROOM PARENT PROGRAM!
Interested in supporting your child's classroom and Nova as a whole? Become a NPTO Room Parent! We will be fully implementing the program in the fall, but there are some great opportunities to be involved this spring!
Room Parents will be responsible for two main things this year:
1. Organize at least one informal, community activity for your grade. Ideas include: gathering after school on the playground for a parent meet-and-greet, volunteer activity, or planning something special for teacher appreciation week (1st week of May). Please note that Nova cannot host these events in its building due to liability and staffing considerations.
2. Plan, build, and deliver your grade “gift basket” for the Great Gatherings silent action on May 14th. The gift baskets must be delivered to the Great Gatherings committee by Friday, May 6th. See more on the Great Gatherings website. Past grade baskets have included themes such as: movie night, pamper yourself, coffee lovers, sports, etc. Feel free to be creative!!
Questions? Contact novapto@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your help! We look forward to reconnecting with everyone.
Sign up to be a Room Parent on this Sign-up Genius.
Join us for a magical evening of fantastic and fairy tale art! Featuring 2D and 3D art from all LS students!
Thursday, April 7th, 5-7 PM in the Nova gymnasium.
In addition to the art displays there will also be several free and fund-raising activities including a mermaid pearl toss, castle punch wall (donations gladly accepted), and silent art auction of beautiful collaborative pieces by each grade! All proceeds will benefit the Nova LS art department. Friends and family are welcome!
We are also searching for volunteers to help with set-up during the school day (4), and running stations the evening of the event (12).
Sign up here if you’re interested!
Volunteers need to have a background check on file. Sign up or check your volunteer status here.
Spring Conference Information
Spring Conferences will be from 8am-4pm on Thursday, April 14 (virtually) and will be optional and based on teacher invitation. Teachers will contact families they would like to meet with to discuss your child's progress. More information regarding sign-ups will be forthcoming from your child's teacher(s) after spring break.
Ms. Virginia (Ginger) Gabor has accepted a new position, as our Community Engagement Coordinator, working with new families from an enrollment standpoint, coordinating volunteers, and supporting development. We will miss her in the Lower School office, but we are excited to see her move into this role - she will surely thrive in it!
Ms. Nadia Hussain will be taking over office manager responsibilities as our Lower School Program Coordinator and Scholar Zone Director. She has done a wonderful job leading Scholar Zone and we are thrilled to continue working closely with her in this additional capacity! Ms. Hussain can be reached at nhussain@novaclassical.org.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Friday, March 18: No School - Staff Work Day
March 21-25: Spring Break!
Thursday, April 7: LS Art Show
Wednesday, April 13: April Virtue Assembly @ 9am
Thursday, April 14: Conferences, 8am-4pm
Friday, April 15: No School - Staff Work Day
Thursday, April 21: Kindergarten Round-Up @ 5pm
Friday, April 29: No School - Staff Work Day
