High Plain Elementary Corner
Ms. Leveque's and Mrs. Lyons' Weekly Newsletter
From the Desks of Ms. Leveque and Mrs. Lyons
Please note that Wednesday, October 8th is an early release for all students. Dismissal is at 12:15.
October 4, 2025
Dear HPE Families,
This week we have our first early release of the year. Wednesday is a 12:15 dismissal for all students. Students will have the option of eating a lunch at school. If you want your child to eat lunch, you must order ahead of time. Otherwise, we know that some families wish to eat lunch together at home after school. In addition, your child's teacher will follow the typical Wednesday dismissal unless you change it in PickUp Patrol.
We also have our PTO sponsored Scholastic Book Fair running from Tuesday-Thursday. Families are welcome to come shop together after dismissal on Wednesday from 12:30-1:30. We respectfully ask that you wait until 12:30 so that we can complete dismissal. We encourage you to setup an online account ahead of time so that your child does not need to bring cash into school. We thank the PTO for their commitment to bringing a book fair to our students and making sure that all students have the opportunity to visit. Finally, on Friday, we have school pictures through O'Connor Studios. Information about both of these events are listed below.
We have lots of enrichment opportunities beginning at the school. Our Fifth Grade students had the opportunity to visit Pfizer on a field trip sponsored by the science department. The experience was designed to spark curiosity and excitement for science while engaging students in important practices such as collaboration and problem-solving. The students thoroughly enjoyed this hands-on learning opportunity. We love to partner with local businesses for enrichment so that we can show our students all the Andover has to offer.
Enjoy,
Ms. Leveque and Mrs. Lyons
-Tuesday, October 7 - Thursday, October 9: PTO Sponsored Scholastic Book Fair
-Tuesday, October 7: First Day of Sukkot
-Wednesday, October 8: Early Release day for students; 12:15 dismissal
-Flu Clinic for 5th graders. Sign up required in advance.
-Scholastic Book Fair family shopping time 12:30-1:30
-Friday, October 10: School Picture Day. Details below.
-Fall Assessment Reports sent home in backpacks.
-Monday, October 13: Fall Recess (No School)
HPE 2025-26 School Supply Lists
School Year Hours:
Monday-Friday, 8:45-3:30
As part of our HPE Student Council, we have a news team that has a weekly report for our students. Thank you to Mrs. Chaves for producing this work! We also have students working with Mrs. Roussel on a Hawks Newspaper. We've been able to create a website so you can view both from one spot. Click on the tabs at the top of the site to move from the newspaper to the news. The newspaper has not been published yet, but HPEtv is going strong. Here is the latest news.
Fall DIBELS (Grades 1–5) & Reading/Math MAP Growth (Grades 3–5)
On October 10, 2025, parents and guardians will receive Family Reports that summarize your child’s beginning-of-the-year assessments. These reports will be sent home with your child.
- DIBELS (Grades 1–5): A literacy screener that helps us understand your child’s reading development and guide instruction.
- MAP Growth (Grades 3–5): An adaptive assessment in reading and math that shows your child’s current learning level and growth over time.
For more information:
- MAP Growth: NWEA Family Toolkit or Andover Public Schools MAP Assessment
- DIBELS: Andover Public Schools mCLASS Literacy Assessments
These beginning-of-the-year results help teachers inform instruction, personalize learning, and monitor the growth of individual students. Administrators use the data to assess performance and progress at each grade level, school, and district. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher or principal.
The students have been very busy checking out books this year. During September 3,476 books were checked out of the library. All of the top 10 books that have circulated are graphic novels. They include Catwad, Smile, Guts, Sisters, Ghosts, Four Eyes, and The Witches. Additionally, the students are doing a great job returning books on time. There are currently only 109 overdue books. If your child forgets to return their library books on their library class day, they can return them any morning between 9:00-9:15 am. They don’t need to wait a week to get a new book. There were 24 books put on hold during September. The fourth and fifth graders have been busy reading the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award books. 47 students have already reported reading at least 1 and we have nine students that have already read 5 books and have qualified to vote in April for the winner.
The second grade classes will participate in the Global Read Aloud. This is a program in October where over a million children worldwide read the same picture books by a featured author/illustrator. This year’s author is Oge Mora. She visited our school in 2024. We are participating in a postcard exchange with 30 schools across the United States and Canada as part of the program. Additionally, we will be connecting with a school in Portland, Oregon to share thoughts and materials related to the books.
Every year, the third week of October is coined Digital Citizenship Week. Digital citizenship is about teaching young people how to act responsibly online. In today's digital age, students have a heap of information at their fingertips, and with all this exposure, it's important they know the basics about digital etiquette and online safety! The second and third grade students had classes on Digital Citizenship in September. Feel free to ask them questions about things in our digital suitcase. During October, I will be covering Digital Citizenship with the students in the other grades. The Kindergarten classes will discuss the importance of being able to stop using technology when there are other in-person activities that are important. The first grade classes will discuss how it feels to use technology as well as the differences between websites and apps geared to children and adults. The fourth grade classes will learn that upstanders are people who speak up for someone being bullied, as well as how to protect personal information online. The fifth grade classes will discuss online friendships and the difference between online and in-person friendships. We will continue these discussions periodically throughout the year.
Dear High Plain Families,
We are reviewing with our students the many safety precautions we have in place when they are in school. This week, all students practiced bus evacuation drills with our transportation department. It's a requirement that all students participate even if they don't typically ride the bus as they do go on field trips. You may hear your children talking about Fire Drills or A.L.I.C.E Drills. A.L.I.C.E. is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Communicate, Evacuate.
A.L.I.C.E is designed to prepare students for life inside and out of the classroom, at school, at home, at the mall, at an afterschool program, at restaurants, or any other place the child goes. We are teaching life-long safety skills.
This school year we will participate in both Fire Drills, supported by the Andover Fire Department, and A.L.I.C.E drills. During the next few weeks, we will hold our first A.L.I.C.E drill, supported by the Andover Police Department. We will provide families with an update after our drill is complete. If you wish to review the A.L.I.C.E. drill with your children, we wanted to share this resource. Our teachers do an incredible job making sure that these drills are explained in child friendly terms. After a drill, teachers discuss with the students how it went and answer any questions.
In addition to drills, we also talk with our students about following good safety practices. This involves never opening a locked door for someone- even if it is someone they know. All visitors are asked to enter via the main entrance. We utilize the Visitor Aware System, a modern web-based system that allows our office staff to track everyone who enters our school and stop any threats at the door. All visitors will be required to show state-issued identification (license, passport) in order to enter the building.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership to ensure we keep our students and schoolhouse safe.
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