LIS Shines

We hope you have been enjoying the summer! We have been busy preparing LIS for the upcoming school year. Our custodians have been working hard giving the building a deep clean and getting all classrooms and hallways ready for students and staff to return. Our office staff has been busy adding new registrations into the system, printing placement letters, and organizing supplies for our teachers. We have just completed a successful LIS jumpstart program, welcoming over 120 new 4th grade students to our building!

It is now mid-August and we know that many families start thinking about the details of the upcoming school year. This newsletter contains information to help you plan and prepare for a successful start in September!

There is A LOT of information in this newsletter to prepare our LIS families for the start of the 2025-2026 school year!

Some things to keep in mind for this month:

• Class placement letters will be mailed home on August 21st, and 6th-grade students will also receive their schedule in the mailing. Genesis will open on August 22nd for families to view their child's class placement.

• Be sure to log onto the parent portal on Genesis at parents.ltps.org to sign off on any district forms prior to the start of the school year.

Reach out with any questions, and we will send out one more newsletter about the start of the school year in late August.

Principal: Sharin Rello srello@ltps.org

Assistant Principals:

Gregg Zenerovitz gzenerovitz@ltps.org

LIS Main Office: (609) 671-5531

LIS Principal's Secretary: Jen Logue jlogue@ltps.org

Main office secretary: Dilnaz Shroff dshroff@ltps.org

Guidance secretary: Rebecca Neiswender rneiswender@ltps.org

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• Wednesday, September 3rd - 4th Grade Classroom meet & greet (more details below)
• Thursday, September 4th - First Day of School for Students (Full Day of School)
• Wednesday, September 17th - Back to School Night at LIS (times TBD)
• Tuesday, September 23rd - School's Closed for Rosh Hashanah
• September 24 and 25 - LIS Picture Days

LIS School Hours 8:45 - 3:30

• Doors open at 8:30 am. NO student can be dropped off or arrive at LIS before 8:15.
• Dismissal starts at 3:20. All students must be picked up by 3:40.
• If your child is eligible for bussing you will see their bus in Genesis at the end of August. LIS does not handle bus routes or times, it is determined by our transportation department.

If you need before or after care based on the LIS school hours, the YMCA program offers it right at LIS, see the flyer for more information.

• The Transportation Department will NOT be mailing out bus passes. You may print your pass through your Genesis Parent Portal when they become available
• The pick-up times are an estimate. You should be at the bus stop 10 minutes early. As timings become more steady we will update bus pass times.
• Your BUS STOP LOCATION MAY HAVE CHANGED. Your BUS NUMBER/ROUTE NUMBER MAY HAVE CHANGED. Please take note and discuss the route number and stop location with your child(ren) and make sure to check again before the first day of school in case there are any last minute changes.
• Many buses are at capacity, so it is imperative that your student ride the bus assigned to them from the stop assigned to them.

Our class placement letters will be mailed home August 21st, along with the supply lists (our teachers asked for a few supplies, but if your family can't afford them, we can provide them for you, just reach out to the grade level guidance counselor). The homerooms and 6th-grade schedules will open on Friday, August 22nd. (parents.ltps.org).

Our school counselors are grade-specific and will follow their students for their three years at LIS. Below are the counselors and their grade-level assignments. Please note that our LIS counselors do not work over the summer but will return all emails and calls during the first week back to school in September.

4th Grade School Counselor: Amy Lopez alopez@ltps.org

5th Grade School Counselor: Jen Holmes jholmes@ltps.org

6th Grade School Counselor: Danielle Bollaci dbollaci@ltps.org

September is almost here, and your child is officially an LIS student! The academic day looks very similar to what it did in 3rd grade; read below for more information on academics in 4th grade.

• Each day will start with Morning Meeting.
• Students will have a block of math before lunch & recess, and will have ELA directly after lunch & recess.
• Students will have a block of Science or Social Studies every day in the afternoon.
• Throughout the year, students will have lessons on Executive Functioning, reviewing important topics such as goal setting, metacognition, organization, and time management, etc.
• Owl Time, an academic enrichment and intervention block, as well as social-emotional learning lessons, is also held every day. Choir and instrumental lessons will often be scheduled during this time as well.
• Students will also have a special every day, which includes Art, Music, Enrichment & Tech, and PE. Once in a weekly rotation students will have a special named Research for Resolution which focuses on health and restorative skills for students.

SAVE THE DATE: On Wednesday, September 3rd at 2:30 our 4th graders and a parent/guardian will get to visit their classroom, briefly meet their teacher and classmates, and get to go to our playground for some popsicles and fun! See the flyer below for more details!

5th grade is an exciting time for our LIS students, they now know the school and are leaders to our incoming 4th grade students. The schedule and structure of the school day are very similar to the structure of 4th grade. The content starts getting more challenging, there are a lot of hands-on experiences in their classes, and we continue to work on students building leadership skills and character.

Our 5th grade classes will be departmentalized for STEM and Humanities, meaning they will have two teachers throughout the day instead of just the one like 4th grade. Your child will have their homeroom teacher for Morning Meeting and Owl Time each day, and will have that teacher for Humanities (ELA and Social Studies) or STEM (Math and Science) each day, and then their homeroom class will travel to another 5th grade teacher for the other STEM or Humanities subjects. This will better prepare our students for 6th grade, which is fully departmentalized.

• Academic information for 6th graders is below, as you will notice, some things are different at LIS for students when they go to 6th grade as they are now following more of a traditional middle school schedule:

  • 6th graders will have a different teacher for Science, Social Studies, Math, and English Language Arts, they rotate to these 4 classes every day. Students do not stay with their homeroom class for those academic classes, they are mixed with other students on their team. They will remain with their homeroom class for Owl Time, Special, and recess/lunch.
  • Academic classes are grouped by team, and there are 3 teams in 6th grade (A, B, and C). Students on one team will travel between the same 4 academic teachers. 6th-graders will still also be assigned a “house,” and this dictates what special, lunch and recess they attend. There are 2 houses in each grade (Responsibility and Citizenship).
  • Students will be assessed using numeric and letter grades, and grades will be available in Genesis on a rolling basis throughout the year. If you have not done so, please be sure you have access to your parent genesis account before 6th-grade begins, because that is how you can monitor your child’s grades: Parents.ltps.org
  • There are two Math courses available to 6th-grade students as well, Math 6 and Math 6 Accelerated. Letters were sent home to students that were recommended for Math 6 Acclerated the first week of July.
  • 6th graders will get new Chromebooks and cases on the first day of school (as long as the forms are filled out prior by families on Genesis) and students are required to bring them back and forth each day - they will be distributed the first day of school. This is part of our one-to-one Chromebook program in grades 6 - 12.

Check out our LTPS Summer Learning Portal for activities to keep you engaged over the last weeks of summer!

https://sites.google.com/ltps.info/ltpssummer-learning-2024/home

ELA Curriculum Information

https://sites.google.com/ltps.info/ltpsprek-6elawebsite/home

Math Curriculum Information

https://sites.google.com/ltps.info/mathematicsatlawrencetownshipp/our-vision?authuser=0

We deeply value the special moments in our students’ lives, including the celebration of birthdays. These occasions are an important part of building community and recognizing each child's unique place in our school family. In an effort to prioritize student health, ensure inclusivity, and support a safe learning environment for all, we will no longer allow food, candy or drinks for birthday celebrations.

This decision comes after careful consideration of several factors, including food allergies, dietary restrictions, and our ongoing commitment to student wellness. Birthdays will still be acknowledged and celebrated in fun, meaningful ways. Teachers may choose to recognize students with special privileges, birthday songs, class games, or other creative activities that make the day feel special for your child. In addition, each child will be recognized at the whole school level during our morning announcements.

These guidelines align with the Board of Education Policy 5331 (BOE Regulation 5331R).

Thank you for your continued partnership in making LTPS a safe, inclusive, and healthy environment for all of our students.

Interested? Sign up by clicking the flyer below.

The link below contains important information from the State of New Jersey on mental health resources, support for food insecurities, health travel tips, water safety, and more!