High Plain Elementary Corner
Ms. Leveque's and Mrs. Lyons' Weekly Newsletter
From the Desks of Ms. Leveque and Mrs. Lyons
Week of December 7, 2025
Dear HPE Families,
The joy was felt throughout the building Tuesday as we had our first snow! You could hear the collective gasps as the first flakes were seen through the window and then to be able to be outside while it was coming down embodied all that childhood should be. As a friendly reminder, please read our cold weather reminder below. We are growing hearty New Englanders.
As another reminder that per MA Law, there is no vehicle idling on school grounds. With the cold weather in the air, we ask that you turn vehicles off if you are early and waiting in the car line.
Enjoy,
Ms. Leveque and Mrs. Lyons
-Monday, December 8: Grade 3 String Informance, Grade 3 families welcome from 10:30-11:15
-Wednesday, December 10: Picture Retake Day (information below)
-Monday, December 15: First night of Hanukkah
-Wednesday, December 24 - Sunday, January 4: Holiday Recess; No School
-Wednesday, December 24: Christmas Eve
-Thursday, December 25: Christmas Day
-Friday, December 26: First day of Kwanzaa
-Thursday, January 1: New Year's Day
-Monday, January 5: Welcome back students!
School Year Hours:
Monday-Friday, 8:45-3:30
Andover Public School 2025-2026 Calendar
As part of our HPE Student Council, we have a news team that has a weekly report for our students. Here is the latest news.
This is just a reminder that Wednesday, 12/10/24, is Picture Retake Day at High Plain!
If you purchased a photo package and would like to have your child's photo retaken, please return the entire package to school and your child's photo will be retaken.
If your child was absent on the original picture day in October, your child's photo will be taken, regardless of photo order.
If your family is new to the school since October, your child's photo will be taken, regardless of photo order.
Snowman Gift Drive
Dear High Plain Families,
Our annual Snowman Gift Drive is back! Each year, we work together as a school community to support families who may need a little extra help during the holiday season.
This year, we’ve returned to purchasing actual gifts. In the main office, you’ll find our snowman display with gift tags that list items a child has wished for. If your family would like to participate, please stop by, choose a tag, and return the unwrapped gift with the tag attached to the main office by December 10th.
Thank you for helping make the season brighter for members of our school community. We appreciate your kindness and generosity!
Peter Brown
We are fortunate to have a supportive PTO community that brings in enrichment opportunities for our students. Our HPE students have embarked on an author event program through Bookelicious where we are invited to 6 interactive virtual author events with celebrated authors and illustrators. Each of our grades will be able to participate in at least one author session. Included with the virtual session are five hardcover books for our school, showcasing that author's work and student activity guides.
This week, Peter Brown presented to our first, second, and third graders. Peter Brown is an author and illustrator of children’s books. His titles include New York Times bestsellers like The Wild Robot, The Curious Garden, Children Make Terrible Pets, and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. Peter received a Caldecott Honor for his illustrations in the picture book Creepy Carrots! This presentation fully enhanced the Arts and Letters curriculum that our students are engaged in. As Peter discussed his books, he talked about animal habitats, adaptation, and how to show movement in artwork. Our High Plain students and teachers loved the presentation and cheered wildly when Peter announced that he had children from Massachusetts on the program. We look forward to this series continuing to enrich the work that we do in our classrooms.
By Jodi Slomsky
During November, the High Plain students checked out 2,268 books from the library. There were 18 books put on hold during November. As the books become available, they are delivered to the student’s classroom. The number of overdue books has increased to 236 books. Please ask your students if they have any library books that need to be returned. Some of the books were checked out in September. It is a good practice to have someplace to keep the library books so your student knows where to locate them. Additionally, several books have been returned wet to the library, please make sure water bottles are kept separate from library books to decrease the chance of damage. There are 78 4th and 5th grade students that have read at least 1 MCBA book this year. Thirty-four students have already read 5 Massachusetts Children Book award books and have qualified to vote in April.
In December, the Kindergarten students will continue to learn about new authors each week. We will also be reading some holiday books. In first grade, we will continue to read Caldecott award winning books and discuss the different artwork that the illustrators use. There are some holiday books that have won the Caldecott medal. In second grade, we will be learning about fairytales. We will read fairytales by the Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen. The third grade students will continue to learn about how the library is organized and will be learning how to use our online catalog. The fourth grade students are working on a country research project and will be creating slides in Canva. The fifth graders are wrapping up a unit on evaluating information and then they will be gearing up to start their Capstone research projects in January.
December Update
Grades 3–5
Students in grades 3–5 have begun their volleyball unit, which will take us through Winter Break. This week, our focus is on the overhead set. Students are practicing this skill in four different stations:
- Station 1: Two-hand set off the wall with a partner
- Station 2: Partner volley back and forth, seeing how many consecutive volleys they can complete
- Station 3: Group “keep it up” activity with the large Omnikin ball
- Station 4: “Five and back” with a partner
Moving forward, students will begin working on the underhand bump, followed by the serve.
Grades K–2
Students in grades K–2 have started their throwing unit. They are working at different stations to learn how to throw and catch a variety of objects with a partner. Students learned the fundamental skill of creating an “L” with their dominant arm and stepping with their opposite foot when throwing.
As we enter the cooler weather leading into winter, we want students to have a consistent outdoor experience between grades and classrooms. To support this, we have set guidelines for temperature/weather type when deciding outdoor vs. indoor recess for all classrooms. Below are guidelines for outdoor recess.
Students will be outdoors if the temperature (including wind chill) is 20 degrees or warmer and it’s not raining, sleeting, hailing, or blizzarding. We use Weatherbug.com to determine the temperature.
On questionable, cold days the office will make an announcement before the first recess announcing outdoor or indoor recess. If no announcement is made then it is outdoor recess.
If students want to play in snow, they must be wearing snow pants, boots, jackets, and gloves/mittens. If students do not wish to play in the snow, they will remain on the blacktop.
With a large amount of students out on the playground at each recess, we need to be extra vigilant about safety. There is no throwing of snowballs or ice. A behavior slip will be used to re-teach and discuss the safety concerns if a student does not follow this rule.
Label each article of clothing so that if something is misplaced, it can be returned to you as quickly as possible.
Please be aware that all students go outside when the weather meets these conditions.
Please send your child to school wearing appropriate outdoor clothing for the weather. We highly encourage you to practice getting dressed in the snow gear as quickly as possible- make a game of it and time it! The expectation is, if your child is well enough to come to school, they are well enough to go outdoors.
Thanks for taking the time to remind students of the winter expectations. Snow play is beloved by many and we want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to safely enjoy their recess time during these months.
Our PTO plans lots of fun for our students and families. Please sign up for the PTO Newsletter at www.highplainpto.org so you don’t miss out on fun events. We will be at the Open House Curriculum Night so come say hello!
SCHOOL BUS
Bus transportation to and from school is provided free of charge to elementary students. Kindergarten students must be met by a known adult at the bus stop. Bus routes will be listed in the Aspen portal.
NAME/BUS TAGS (For Kindergarten and Grade 1 Students)
Your child’s teacher will give you a name tag necklace on the first day. Please have your kindergartner or first grader wear the nametag until further notice. The information on the tag is based on what families have entered on the back to school forms.
CAR PICKUP/DROPOFF
Please note that there are differences in morning arrival and afternoon car pick up. In the morning, you may arrive between 8:45-9:00 by using the High Plain Rd. entrance or the Cross St. entrance. In the afternoon, you can only arrive through the Cross St. entrance. The High Plain Rd. entrance is closed to allow buses. In the afternoon, dismissal begins at 3:30. Both morning and afternoon arrival, all vehicles must turn right when leaving the drop off/pick up line.
WALKERS & BIKE RIDERS:
· For morning arrival, a school crossing guard will be at the Cross Street/Brady Loop entrance.
· All AM walkers and bike riders should use the Cross St. entrance and the sidewalks that follow the front side of the school.
· Bike Riders: Only students in grades 3, 4, and 5 may ride a bike to and from school. A permission form must be completed with the main office.
Communication with our families is essential to the success and wellness of our students. To assist our families and help them connect with the appropriate staff who is best suited to answer questions, we have updated our “Who We Are” page on our website. The information will guide families to resources on how to reach staff with concerns and how to stay connected to news and events across the district.
This is a reminder that the High Plain Road entrance is closed to cars at dismissal. It is the access entrance for buses only. The Cross Street entrance is how cars enter for car pickup. This is a safety concern. We have seen cars try to sneak in daily and it's simply not fair to those who are following the dismissal procedures. We ask you to be respectful of your fellow HPE community members and abide by this rule.
Breakfast and lunch are once again free to all students. Breakfast is served from 8:45-8:55 each morning and no advanced ordering is needed.
Lunches will need be preordered. Lunch requires families to order in advance to ensure we have the correct allergy-friendly lunch for all our students. It is very important that our cafeteria has an accurate lunch count each day. Please review with your children each morning what you have ordered for them.
Information about the Andover Public Schools lunch program, as well as menus and instructions for online ordering, may be found on the website here: http://www.andoverschoolnutrition.com/
We are all working to manage the age of technology and are looking for support between school and home. Many children have new smart devices and the elementary schools have some guidance.
A kind reminder to our families that cell phones must be turned off and in students’ backpacks at the start of the school day. Smartwatches may be worn as regular watches, however, students are not allowed to text, communicate with others, use applications, take pictures or videos, or access social media services and websites.
Should parents/guardians urgently need to reach their child during the school day, we ask that you call the main office. Students are also allowed to come to the main office if they need to contact someone at home. If a cell phone or watch becomes a significant distraction, school administrators will reach out to parents/guardians. The Andover Public Schools is not responsible for lost, stolen, damaged, or broken devices.
To promote healthy digital habits during the school day, the resources below may be helpful to use. We appreciate your partnership as we work to keep interruptions to the school day at a minimum.
Resource for Apple Watches:
How to set a School Time schedule
Open the Watch app on your iPhone. Tap All Watches, then tap your child's watch.
Tap Done, then tap Schooltime.
Turn on Schooltime, then tap Edit Schedule.
Choose the days and times when you want Schooltime to be active.
Tap Add Time if you want to set up more than one schedule in a day.
Resource for Gizmo Watches:
How to set up School mode
Open the. Gizmo Hub app.
Tap the. School mode switch. turn on or off. If necessary, set up a School Mode schedule.
In School Devices
K-3 Devices will stay in school.
4-5 Devices can be brought home if directed by the classroom teacher to complete an assignment. Otherwise, they will remain in school.
Please make sure that you arrive with your license. We cannot check you in and let you enter without your license or state issued ID. You also need to have a valid CORI form on file. Please help us with these required safety steps.
School Hours of Operation
8:30 am: School office opens
8:45 am: School drop off
9:00 am: School day begins
After 9:00 am: Children are tardy and must be accompanied by a parent into the office
After 2:00 pm: Unless it's an emergency, no dismissal changes
Students must be dismissed before 3:00
3:30 pm: School ends
Ms. Sarah Leveque, Principal
Email: sarah.leveque@andoverma.us
Website: https://aps1.net/212/High-Plain-Elementary-School
Location: 333 High Plain Road, Andover, MA, USA
Phone: 978-247-8600