Pulse of the Pride - September 18

Lyme School Friends,

We have had another great week at school. Our middle school hike was fantastic and students paused to celebrate Constitution Day. Upcoming this week is Open House on Thursday and Blisters on Friday.

This year, school board members are going to be attending Open House, so it will be an opportunity to meet with board members and discuss the district. If you don't know who board members are just look for me or another administrator and they will introduce you. If you can't make Open House...don't worry as we will have a Celebration of Learning on April 15th.

In this edition:

• ALMA - We need your registration completed if not already done!
• Our technology philosophy under the curriculum corner.
• An update on the MS Hike by Ms. Stanton.
• Blisters schedule by Ms. Wetterhahn.
• All kinds of great updates by the specialists.
• A PTO update as well as information on the Thanks a Lounge project.

The next newsletter will hit your inbox on October 2nd!

Regards,

John P. D'Entremont, Principal

September

24 Open House 4 - 5:30PM

25 Blisters for Books

29 Portrait of a Learner Committee 5:00 - 6:30 PM

2 Bike/Walk to School

12 School Closed

13 Picture Retakes

These important forms include local field trip permission - which INCLUDES Blisters. If we do not get these forms submitted, you will have to sign your student out if you want them to participate.

If you are having trouble logging into ALMA, please reach out to Amanda Perry-Waterman in the office. There is always a link to log-in to ALMA on our school website home page.

You must complete the required forms for 2026-2027 in ALMA for all returning students. You will see this on the main page when you log-in to ALMA under your student(s) name. These are required forms for your students for this year! IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE THIS YET, PLEASE DO SO.

In ALMA, you will find your child's teacher(s) and schedule, a way to message teachers directly, and paperwork that needs to be completed for this school year.

On Wednesday, September 2nd, the Board and District Leadership Team met to address key priorities for the 2026-27 school year.

Key Discussion Topics:

• Tax Cap Vote: Due to new legislation, a community vote on a school budget tax cap will be held during the General Election on November 3rd. For an overview of the ballot question click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AmWU01x9RwP7Zn6hAJYawB0avXZb4KcA/view?usp=sharing
• Communication: Improving engagement with our constituents.
• Technology: Strategic use of technology across the district.
• Portrait of a Learner: A community conversation to identify the critical skills and dispositions our students will need to be future-ready.

Stay tuned for updates on these and other issues as the year progresses.

With ongoing media headlines about screen time, it is natural to focus on the numbers—specifically, how many minutes children spend in front of a device. However, in education, the quality of screen time matters far more than the quantity. Not all digital experiences are created equal.

At The Lyme School, technology is never a substitute for hands-on teaching or active play. Instead, we approach digital tools with intention, prioritizing active creation over passive consumption.

Active Learning in Action

Rather than simply watching screens, our K-8 students use technology as a tool to:

• Create & Design: Code programs, design solutions, and produce multimedia projects.

• Collaborate & Communicate: Partner on group projects, share peer feedback, and present ideas.

• Analyze & Research: Gather information and demonstrate deep subject understanding.

Protecting Balance and Safety

Guiding healthy habits is just as important as teaching digital skills. To maintain a well-rounded environment, we:

• Protect device-free time: Unplugged instruction, discussions, hands-on learning, and outdoor play remain the foundation of our daily school experience.

• Ensure full supervision: Every digital tool is carefully vetted, purposeful, and used exclusively in a supervised setting.

Beyond daily classroom learning, digital tools help us tailor instruction to individual needs. We use specialized software to provide reading and writing assistance for students who benefit from accommodation. Our benchmark assessments (Track My Progress) and required state assessments are adaptive tests our students take on their computers.

Ultimately, our goal is to prepare students to navigate an increasingly digital world thoughtfully, safely, and responsibly. By balancing intentional, high-quality technology use with meaningful learning, we ensure our students build strong critical thinking skills both on and off the screen.

Our program of studies documents are currently being updated to reflect technology use at each grade level. As always, we value our partnership with parents—if you ever have questions about how we use technology in the classroom, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Lyme Middle Schoolers and staff enjoyed a fantastic trek up Mt. Cardigan yesterday! Fueled by Wednesday’s Advisory Breakfast, our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders took to the trails for a day of nature’s beauty, fresh air, bonding, and physical challenge.

We also took time to celebrate Constitution Day at the summit! A big thank you to Mrs. Collins for leading a riveting trivia game that tested and demonstrated our students’ historical knowledge of this very important document.

This annual hike is a wonderful way to kick off the school year. Huge kudos to our students for having outstanding attitudes, showing consideration to fellow hikers, encouraging each other along the way, and participating respectfully in a period of silent reflection at the summit, where they journaled, read, or sketched. We are so fortunate to hang out with such great kids each day!

Community at the Core: The Power of Advisory

While events like the hike create lasting memories, the strong connections in our middle school begin long before we get to the trailhead. Much of that community foundation is rooted in the Lyme Middle School Advisory Program.

Serving as a primary home base, Advisory groups meet regularly at the start of the day and during snack time, offering a dedicated space where students can:

• Build Strong Connections: Small group sizes ensure every student remains with a consistent cohort of peers throughout their middle school career. Each advisory is led by at least two full-time staff members who serve as primary points of contact for both the student and their family. We hope this continues to streamline the middle school experience.

• Develop Life Skills: Morning check-ins, creating social contracts, having discussions about shared values, practicing routines - such as updating agendas, organizing and cleaning our lockers and checking Alma and email - help build essential executive functioning skills.

• Advisor Advocacy: Advisors serve as student advocates, guiding academic progress, supporting students social emotionally, and personal growth in a safe environment. Advisors conduct monthly one-on-one check-ins with students and stay in touch with families as needed.
  
  

Our Advisory Program grows stronger each year, and students consistently share that Advisory is a place where they feel comfortable, connected, and supported. Outdoor adventures like our hike give students the opportunity to take those relationships into the field - cheering each other on and building friendships across grade levels. This is the magic of advisory.

Thank you to our middle school families for helping students prepare for the trip, and to our advisors for guiding the way!

High School Choice Info for 8th Grade Families

Dates and details for High School Choice events are beginning to arrive. I will send an email within the next few weeks with resources and an overview of the process. In the meantime, feel free to explore the Lyme School High School Choice Info website. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions along the way.

Have a wonderful weekend!

With Gusto!

Mrs. Stanton

Hi Families,

We have had a wonderful start to the new school year! I have been talking with students about bus safety and wanted to share a few quick reminders with parents and caregivers. Our goal is to help every student have a safe and smooth ride to and from school.

Our drivers are trained to keep kids safe, but they need students to follow the rules so they can focus on the road. Unexpected behavior can be distracting and dangerous.

Bus Safety Reminders
We’d love your help reinforcing these at home:

• Be on time. Arrive at the stop 5 minutes early. Never run after a missed bus.
  
  

• Cross safely. Make eye contact with the bus driver and wait for the driver’s signal before crossing the road.
  
  

• Stay seated. Sit quickly, face forward, and keep hands, feet and belongings to yourself.
  
  

• Use quiet voices. Loud noises distract the driver.
  
  

• Keep the aisle clear. Backpacks and legs out of the aisle..
  
  

• Listen to the driver. They’re in charge!
  
  

• Be safe at the stop. Wait for the bus to stop fully before approaching. Always cross in front where the driver can see you.
  
  

How You Can Help

• Go over the rules together.
  
  

• Talk through “what if” situations (missed bus, left items, etc.).
  
  

• Pack bags the night before to avoid rushing.
  
  

• Encourage your child to speak up if something doesn't feel good.
  
  

Please feel free to reach out to me or your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns. We’re here to help!

Just for your information...Middle Schoolers practiced bus evacuation drills last Thursday when they returned from their hike and did a great job!

We have had a wonderful few weeks of getting to know library routines, reading books, and the processes for checking books in and out. All students can return books any time and have access to the commons daily.

A reminder that books are checked out for two weeks at a time. Whenever you are finished with a book, please return it to either school or CFL, even if it is not a library class day. I find it helpful to set a weekly reminder to search for books to load up into backpacks on the night before my kids have library classes!

Here is the library class schedule:

Monday: 3rd grade

Tuesday: 4th grade

Wednesday: Kindergarten and 5th grade

Thursday: 1st grade

Friday: 2nd grade

BLISTERS FOR BOOKS, the annual fundraiser for children's library materials at CFL, is all set for Friday, September 28. Students will complete laps around the green for about twenty minutes and the final ten minutes of each time slot will be reserved for snacks. More info: https://lymenhlibrary.org/kids/blisters-2026/ Thank you for your support of this long standing tradition in fundraising for books for the town collection. Please return pledge sheets by next Wednesday, September 23.

Here is the Blisters for Books schedule:

Grades 6-8 9:15-9:45

Grades 4/5 9:45-10:15

Grades K/1 10:15-10:45

Grades 2/3 10:45-11:15

Upcoming CFL Events:

Tuesday, September 22, 3-5 p.m. After School Movie

Friday, September 25, 9:15-11:15 Blisters for Books

Last year we had a great pilot session in the spring! STRUM is an intergenerational ukulele ensemble that creates music learning opportunities for all ages to learn side by side. This year our sessions will be Thursdays 5-6PM on November 5th, 12, 19th, and December 3rd with our concert on December 9th alongside our Lyme School bands! This link helps you join our email list or you can immediately preregister for the event! Feel free to reach out to Ms. O'Leary (soleary@lymeschool.org).

In addition to an awesome evening of music in the recently renovated HOP at Dartmouth, Ms. O'Leary plays with the ensemble :)

Ahead of their Mexico tour, the ensemble performs the premiere of 'Quinceañera' composed by Juan Pablo Contreras. Part of the Mexican Repertoire Initiative. Come listen to a dynamic evening of music on the classic wind band instruments you know and love! Tickets

It has been a wonderfully colorful and creative couple of weeks in the art room! We are celebrating the magic of mistakes, experimenting with digital tools, and finding inspiration in artists near and far. Here is a peek at what our student artists have been up to:

Studio Highlights: K-8

• Kindergarten: We read the book Beautiful Oops and explored the wonders of the "oops box," cutting, gluing, and bringing shapes and colors to life. We are learning that there are no mistakes in art, only new ideas. We also practiced putting words to our pictures.

• First Grade: First graders finished their messy art mats. They studied the work of Auguste Herbin and Jasper Johns to understand how artists incorporate letters and typography into visual art.

• Second Grade: We challenged our brains with a visual thinking routine around the collage art of Mark, Paper, Scissors. Students were then let loose with the instruction to "draw with scissors" like Henri Matisse.

• Third Grade: 3rd graders learned how Wassily Kandinsky "heard" colors to invent abstract art, then created their own concentric circle color wheels.

• Fourth Grade: After wrapping up their beautiful name illustrations, fourth graders are exploring symmetry in art.

• Fifth Grade: Fifth graders brought their drawings into the Procreate app. They are learning to work in layers to create vibrant, colorful backgrounds for their lettering. We are printing these street-art inspired works to become their art mats.

• Middle School Art Elective: Elective students tackled still life drawing this week. They composed and photographed their own still life arrangements, brought those photos into Procreate, and used digital layers to build their elements. We also drew great inspiration by looking at the vibrant still life works of Frida Kahlo and Janet Fish.

Hood Museum Art Start Program

Our 5th-grade students will once again participate in the Hood Museum of Art’s Art Start program. Each class will visit the museum four times throughout the school year. These visits include guided gallery time and studio work with a museum educator. Ms. Burns, Ms. Melton, and I attended the teacher orientation this week, and we are looking forward to visiting this exceptional community resource with our students! Stay tuned for dates and other information.

Community Art Spotlight

• Hood Museum Community Day: Saturday, September 26, 1-4pm. Step into the world of "Stone, Sand, and Clay" for a lively afternoon making art inspired by ancient cultures. Free and for all ages!

• AVA Art Gallery: Be sure to check out the attached flier for AVA Art Gallery's latest youth and family class schedule.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions. Have a wonderful weekend!

Warmly,

Ms. G

Here’s what’s up in the Design Lab these days:

Kindergarten — Kindergarteners are developing foundational design and building skills. They have been practicing how to safely and effectively use scissors, tape, and glue while constructing their own tabletop marble maze boards. Learning through play is the way to go at this age!

1st & 2nd Grade — Have just had their first “Design Week” Intensives: To explore the engineering design process, students were challenged to design and build their own apple pickers. They brainstormed, built, tested, and iterated on their designs to see how efficiently they could pick an apple that’s just above arm’s reach.

Middle School Elective — Robot Basic Training: In middle school, students are running through a series of hands-on "basic training" exercises. Our 7th and 8th graders have stepped up as mentors, pairing with 6th graders to help them learn the ropes of building and coding LEGO Spike Prime robots.

I love seeing these kiddos think critically, work together, and solve problems.

Best,

Mr. Brian Betournay

bbetournay@lymeschool.org

After just under fourteen days of the new school year, students have been busy in PE and health! Students in the primary grades have been learning about moving in general space using locomotor movements, or movements that take us from place to place. Walking, jogging, running, skipping, jumping, hopping, and galloping are part of the list of important developmental levels of movement. Not only do these movements allow students to explore general and personal space, but also allow for motor planning, as the brain and body work together to put movement patterning into action.

Students in the elementary grades have been working on their team building skills taking part in activities that foster communication, teamwork, and sportspersonship as they work toward success. Group fitness and soccer have been at the forefront to allow these skills to be fostered while also reinforcing manipulative skills of eye-foot coordination, agility, and running.

Middle schoolers in the ever popular team tournament play elective have seen two championships, the first being in soccer and the second in ultimate frisbee. Congratulations to all teams for the efforts and hard work!

Health, now being offered for a full 50 minutes once a week has been chock full of lessons around stress and stress management, mental health first aid, and the important skill of executive functioning. Group work allows for good discussions among classmates and lets students gain perspective on important "life skill" topics.

Proudly, both the Physical Education and Health Education curriculums are aligned with the newly updated national standards set forth by SHAPE America. Both programs are also skill-based, which fosters deeper learning opportunities, which are intended for more meaningful learning.

The new school year has started off very positive and I look forward to a fantastic year ahead with our kiddos!

Learning a new language is about so much more than memorizing vocabulary—it is about connection. Across all Spanish classes in Lyme, I intentionally teach our students that our class is a community. From day one, we explicitly practice what it means to be a supportive classmate, an active listener, and an encouraging peer as we navigate a new language together.

Fostering this strong sense of belonging is essential to our students' success. Language learning requires vulnerability, and students thrive when they know they are in a safe, inclusive environment where taking risks and making mistakes are celebrated as part of the process. By intentionally centering community in our daily routines, we create a warm, low-stress dynamic that makes learning Spanish not only effective, but engaging and fun.

Because most students at the Lyme School take Spanish, this sense of community extends far beyond a single grade level—we are a school-wide community of language learners! You can see this in action on our "¿Cómo te llamas?" bulletin board, where every single student is represented as a llama in our Spanish community.

Thank you for supporting our young learners and nurturing a vibrant culture of language learning in our school!

Happy Friday Lyme School families!

Our first meeting was very productive. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and for the feedback on the notes for those of you who had other commitments. We have some amazing parents who have volunteered to keep things going, so be on the lookout for upcoming event details! Our first event will be a bike/walk to school day that will take place Friday, October 2nd, with a rain date of Wednesday, October 7th. More details to come soon!

We would love to have more parents join in our team! If you are interested in learning more about the PTO, or would like to volunteer to help out with an event, please email Lindsay at pto@lymeschool.org.

Lindsay Mendyka

Chair

Lyme School PTO

pto@lymeschool.org

​Tax ID: 84-3088728

THE LYME SCHOOL PTO MISSION STATEMENT:

To support the school community through engaged involvement and raise funds for programs that enrich the student experience in a way that remains fun and sustainable for all involved

lymeschool.org/page/lyme-school-pto

Hello Lyme School Families!

The PTO has decided to have both a Fall and Spring Walk/Bike to School Day this year and hope most of your families can join in the fun! Our fall date has been scheduled for Friday, Oct 2nd (rain date Wednesday, Oct 7th).

A few safety reminders for the event:

• Helmets are required
• Wear bright colors
• Bike in single file

Parents, if you are interested in being a neighborhood organizer for the event or have any questions, please email us at pto@lymeschool.org

Refreshments will be served at the school entrance for riders and walkers starting at 7:30 a.m. If you can help with providing refreshments, that would be much appreciated. Here is the signup.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to this fun event!

After a summer of planning, shopping, assembling, organizing, and plenty of helping hands, I’m so excited to share that our Thanks-A-Lounge Project is officially complete!

Thanks to the incredible generosity of Lyme School families and a $3,550 grant from the Lyme Foundation, we raised just over $6,000 to refresh both of our teacher and staff lounges. What started as an idea for a collective thank you to our teachers and staff has become two welcoming, comfortable, and much more functional spaces for them to enjoy for years to come.

The first floor lounge received the biggest transformation, with new matching expandable tables, nesting chairs, comfortable lounge seating, new microwaves and a toaster oven, and a large French door refrigerator to replace furniture and appliances that had served the school for many years. Upstairs, we were also able to update the lounge with new chairs, a new microwave, and a new mini fridge, giving staff on the second floor a refreshed and more functional space of their own.

A huge thank you to the Lyme Foundation for their generous $3,550 grant and continued investment in our school community. Their support, combined with contributions from Lyme School families, made this project possible.

Thank you as well to every family who contributed and to the wonderful parents and students who gave their time to help assemble furniture, move things, organize, decorate, and bring everything together. A special thank you to Craig and Jay for all of their help throughout the process, and to Mrs. Thayer and Cedar Circle for generously providing plants that brought some much-needed life and greenery into the finished spaces.

It took a community to make this happen, and I’m so grateful to everyone who played a part.

Our hope is that these refreshed lounges serve our Lyme School teachers and staff well for the next decade and beyond. May they be places to recharge, connect with colleagues, share a laugh, and enjoy a well-deserved break during busy school days. Most of all, we hope they serve as a lasting reminder of just how much our families and community appreciate everything you do for our children.

Enjoy the before and after photos!

With gratitude,

Fauve Dela Cruz
Thanks-A-Lounge Project Lead
The Lyme School PTO

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

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