The Lion's Roar
McAvinnue's Community Newsletter: Week Of September 22nd
MCAVINNUE'S PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Hello McAvinnue Community!
We are in the full swing with this new school year! All of our systems, are up and running at McAvinnue! We are pushing out new and exciting content for our students and our teachers are hard at work with lesson planning and assessing the needs of our students. We have any things that will be coming quickly over the next few weeks. Please be on the lookout for information in the weekly "Lion's Roar" Community Newsletter, on all of our social media platforms, on our school website, and through Class Dojo with your child's teacher.
We just completed our first round of iReady diagnostic assessments this past week! The iReady assessments give us an idea of where our students are in terms of the current curriculum. There is no "grade" that is provided for this assessment. Over the next few weeks, we will review the results to ensure that our students are on track in both Reading and Math to start this new school year. We will use the results to help us plan for tackling the curriculum moving forward and providing the supports that students need to be successful. If you have any questions about the assessment, please reach out to your child's teacher or you can send me a quick message at mdomina@lowell.k12.ma.us.
As you are aware, we have rescheduled McAvinnue's "Back To School Bash" to Thursday, September 25th. We are set and ready to go with the new date...and we hope to see everyone on Thursday evening. For more information, please the the section below.
Finally, the first day of Fall will occur on Monday, September 22nd. With the weather changing, the mornings have been much cooler with the afternoons warming up on most days. It is important to have your child dress in layers each day moving forward until the Winter. Light jackets and sweatshirts are great options. Depending on the weather forecast for the day, shorts are still appropriate if the afternoon temperature reaches in the 60's or 70's. You may need to make some adjustments for your child if the weather remains in the 50's.
We are looking forward to another amazing week at "the best school we all know"!
Here are a few items that you need to be aware of. Please mark your calendars for the following events and activities at McAvinnue for this upcoming week:
- Monday, September 22nd - McAvinnue Reopens @ 9:10 AM
- Monday, September 22nd - First Day Of Fall
- Thursday, September 25th - McAvinnue's "Back To School Bash" @ 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
- Tuesday, September 30th - Grade 3 Field Trip: Concord Museum (Rooms 301 & 304)
- Wednesday, October 1st - Grade 3 Field Trip: Concord Museum (Rooms 302 & 303)
- Thursday, October 2nd - Kindergarten Field Trip: Parlee Farms
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the Main Office at McAvinnue or send Mr. Domina a message a mdomina@lowell.k12.ma.us.
Allergies? Asthma? Medications? - Please Let Nurse Danielle Know!
If your students have any medical concerns or diagnosis, please make sure Nurse Danielle is aware. Also, if they have any medical conditions, for example allergies or asthma, that require medications such as Epipens or inhalers here at school, please remember she needs updated paperwork and medication yearly.
Please reach out as soon as possible to get her the necessary paperwork and to arrange drop off of new medications. Nurse Danielle's email address is dralls@lowell.k12.ma.us and she can also be reached by calling (978) 937-2871 ex. 47858. Our fax number is (978) 937-2880.
Drop-Off Logistics
- Arrival begins at 9:10 AM each day. The late bell rings at 9:25 AM.
- Please pull up to the 4th Avenue side of the building when dropping off your child.
- As you approach the 4th Avenue sidewalk, a faculty member will greet and support getting your child safely out of the vehicle.
- This area is a drop off area ONLY. You will not be permitted to park in this location.
- Please be sure to drive all the way down to the end of the sidewalk so we can fit as many vehicles in this location as possible.
- Ensure your child is ready to go and do not get out of the car so we can keep traffic moving.
- Students accessing our CSA program will be dismissed out the 4th Avenue door near the rear of the school building by the exit driveway.
- Large bus students will enter using the back door located in the rear of the school building.
- Small bus and van transportation students will use the 4th Avenue door near the rear of the school building by the exit driveway.
Morning Lining Up Locations
- Grade 1, 3, and 4 students will use the Main Door to enter the school building.
- Grade 2 will use the 4th Avenue doorway near the front of the school to enter the building.
- PreK & Kindergarten will use the Early Childhood door to enter the building. This door is located to the right of McAvinnue's Reading Garden and to the left of the Main Door.
Pick-Up Logistics
- Grade 1 will be dismissed out the Main Door.
- Grades 2, 3, and 4 will be dismissed out the 4th Avenue door near the front of the school.
- Kindergarten students will be dismissed out the Early Childhood door. This door is located to the right of McAvinnue's Reading Garden and to the left of the Main Door.
- Students accessing our CSA program will be dismissed out the 4th Avenue door near the rear of the school building by the exit driveway.
- PreK students will be dismissed out the 4th Avenue door near the rear of the school building by the exit driveway. Please contact Ms. Annie for the specific dismissal time.
School bus transportation is provided to students in grades K-4, who live greater than .75 mile from their residence or alternate address to their assigned school. Middle school students (grades 5-8) must live greater than 1.5 miles from their residence or alternate address to their assigned school.
Kindergarten through 4th grade students will receive a printed bus pass via postal mail. These passes were mailed out on August 23rd. You can also look up your student's bus pass information by using their Student ID for the username and date of birth for the password at the link below. This is the same information that students use to log in to their Chromebooks for school.
Please note that Kindergarten and 1st grader students must have an older sibling (4th grade or older) or parent present at the bus stop in the afternoon in order to depart from the school bus. If a parent or older sibling is not present, the student will be brought to the Moody School, located at 158 Rogers Street. A driver’s license or valid identification must be presented to the staff in order to dismiss the student.
You can use the LPSD "Bus Lookup Tool" using the link below. You will need to use you child's LASID or lunch number along with their birthdate to access this helpful system.
There also is a helpful video that you can watch that will walk you through the process.
Is Your Bus On Time?
The Lowell Public Schools Transportation Department has added a live spreadsheet to its webpage that indicates in the AM or PM if a school bus (grades K-8) is running late and by how long.
Check it out today: https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/Page/5990
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
CSA
McAvinnue's Mindfulness Pose Of The Week - "Mountain"
This week upcoming week we will be practicing a pose called the "Mountain". This pose is the foundation for all of our yoga poses and will allow us to find our center using a solid anchor and home base!
We will practice the "Mountain" pose daily as a classroom and as a whole school during our "Morning Announcements" on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during this up and coming week. You can get an early head start and practice this technique before we launch into another exciting week!
ST Math puzzling is already creating a splash of success. JiJi is riding the waves of problem-solving into classrooms, sparking perseverance and progress.
Our Puzzle Goal Progress: 9%
Puzzles Solved: Over 79,000!
Golden JiJi Trophy News: This week’s trophy rides the wave to Amara Torres, who is surfing through ST Math with an impressive average of 78 puzzles solved per week!
Postcard Celebrations: JiJi postcards are popping up at classroom doors... each one a reminder to celebrate perseverance, puzzle progress, and classroom pride. This year, JiJi doubles as our travel guide! Every postcard highlights a special place in the world. Maybe somewhere you’ve visited, or maybe a destination for the future. Together, we’ll explore it through JiJi’s eyes.
Let’s keep the puzzles flowing, the progress growing, and the celebrations glowing. Here’s to riding the tide of learning all year long at McAvinnue!
Do you remember how excited your children were about maths* when they were young? How they were excited by patterns in nature? How they rearranged a set of objects and found, with delight, that they had the same number? Before children start school they often talk about maths with curiosity and wonder, but soon after they start school many children decide that maths is confusing and scary and they are not a “math person”. This is because maths in many schools is all about procedures, memorization and deciding which children can and which cannot. Maths has become a performance subject and students of all ages are more likely to tell you that maths is all about answering questions correctly than tell you about the beauty of the subject or the way it piques their interest.
Given the performance and test-driven culture of our schools, with over-packed curriculum and stressed out students, what can parents do to transform maths for their children? Check out the steps below that you can consider at home from Professor Jo Boaler.
The attachments below are available in both English and Spanish. The document contains links to some helpful resources.
McAvinnue's "Morning Announcements" are back once again for the 2024-2025 academic school year! We are excited to bring these back starting on Monday, September 15th!
Like we had successfully done during previous school years, a new edition of McAvinnue's "Virtual" Morning Announcements will be presented to our students on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. We will continue to use Tuesday and Thursday each week to be used for "Open Circle"....our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program that focuses on community building, prosocial decision making, and appropriate responses to daily stressors both within the school and home settings.
This will continue to be a great way to bring our school together each day focusing on the same message to get the energy, commitment, and engage up before we launch into another great day at "the best school we all know".
McAvinnue's Morning Announcements will occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week starting on Monday, September 15th!
You can check out current and past editions of McAvinnue's Morning Announcements on our YouTube channel using the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hxiBuRjqjqfASl_RLMleQ
You can check out the latest edition of McAvinnue's Morning Announcements below for last school year!
Operation Nourish
Need help with supplementing with food on a weekly basis? No worries...we have you covered!
With our partnership with the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, we can provide weekly pre-packaged bags of nutritious food that students can take home on Friday.
All you need to do to enroll in this program is to contact Mrs. De La Luz at adelaluz @ lowell.k12.ma.us or send a Class Dojo message to her or Mrs. Teague-Powers. Just include your child's name in the message and we will take care of the rest.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the school directly for support!
Student Handbook 2025-2026
The LPS Student Handbook is a great tool to use to fully understand the expectations of the role of our students as well as the partnership needed for our families to ensure that the school year is a great success.
You can access the district elementary student handbook by clicking the button below. You will find various policies and procedures focusing on attendance, grading, discipline, bus expectations, and more.
Please reach out directly if you have any questions.
McAvinnue's School Attendance Information
As you are aware, attending school is first step each in the learning process for our students. It is critical that our students arrive to school on time each day so that they can access all of the engaging and meaning lessons that have been planned by our teachers and related service providers.
The McAvinnue Attendnace Team will monitor student attendance on a weekly basis and will reach our directly to families when they notice frequent absences, a pattern of absences, or an increased number of consecutive absences within a short period of time.
Please refer to McAvinnue's Student Attendance Booket below that will provide additional information. This booket will be sent home with students in multiple languages. It is important that you review this information for your own awareness and to be fully prepared to support your child with the first step of the learning process...attending school on time.
The handbook is provided in four languages below.
Spanish
Portuguese
Haitian Creole
Breakfast and Lunch Is Free for All LPS Students
All student breakfast and lunch menu items will be free of charge on all school days including Early Release Days!
Lowell Public Schools Food and Nutrition are "Powering Potential" for students and faculty with innovations in our menus and enhancements to our overall dining operations. When your child dines with us, rest assured that we will be serving delicious, nutritious meals prepared with the utmost attention to safety. We encourage every student to fuel up with breakfast and lunch meals each day so they can be energized and prepared to succeed throughout the day, in and out of the classroom.
Please keep up to date on our program, nutrition education, monthly menus and back to school letters on the LPS Food and Nutrition website.
Any concerns please feel free to email foodservice@lowell.k12.ma.us
McAvinnue Spirit Gear By Prep Sportswear
We have an online store if you wish to order any McAvinnue gear! It is open 24 hours per day and there is no due date for orders. Anytime you want to order...on any day!
The company is Prep Sportswear and has been reliable with solid product quality from reputable brands.
There is a 25% off deal occuring now on all items! This is a major discount if you are interested in purchasing McAvinnue merchandise.
Like during previous school years, we are also exploring additional local options to purchase McAvinnue gear. Stay tuned for more information in the month of September.
To access our current online store for McAvinnue spirit gear, please click the link below.
General Information
How can I update my contact information (phone number/email/address)?
- Go online to the Family Resource Webpage (https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/UpdateContactInfo) and fill out the “contact us” form. Families who don’t have access to the internet can fill out the form in person at the Family Resource Center. If an address change is related to economic factors or housing instability (family moves in with relatives, eviction, hotel/motel, fire or unsheltered, please contact the McKinney Vento Office located at the Family Resource Center in person (151 Merrimack Street), by phone (978-674-4321) or go to the webpage at https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/HomelessAssistance.
How do I update my emergency contacts?
- If you were in the school last year we will send a verification sheet out. if you are new we will send home an emergency form to fill out on the first day of school.
How do I register my child for the new school year?
- All school registrations are completed online using a computer or laptop. You can access the online application by going to https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/SchoolRegistration. If you only have a mobile device and don’t have access to a computer or laptop, you can register in person at the Family Resource Center (151 Merrimack Street). Please call the Family Resource Center if you have any questions (978-674-4321).
What should I do if I need to register my child(ren) and I don’t speak English?
- The Lowell Public Schools is committed to providing translation and interpretation services for families who require assistance in a language other than English. The online registration application and website is translated in Spanish and Portuguese and can be accessed by going to https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/SchoolRegistration. For all other languages, please call Vannak Khin at (978) 328-6782 to arrange services. In-person language interpretation support for registration can be accessed by visiting the Lowell Public Schools at 151 Merrimack Street. Families can also call the Family Resource Center at (978) 674-4321 to make an appointment with a Bilingual Family Liaison.
How old does my child need to be to enroll in preschool or kindergarten?
- A child must turn 4 years old on or before September 1, 2023, in order to apply for preschool and 5 by September 1 to apply for kindergarten. A family can apply for preschool by going to https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/PreschoolRegistration to fill out an online application or https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/KindergartenRegistration for kindergarten. For registration questions, please call (978) 674-4321.
How do I apply for a transfer for my child to change schools in the new year?
- Per the 2023-2024 School Assignment Policy, all students have the option to request one school transfer per year.
- Families can apply online at https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/SchoolTransfer or can come to the Family Resource Center in-person to complete the application. Transfers are assigned on a space availability basis.
Cub Scout Pack 7 Information
Cub Scout Pack 7 is looking for new cubs to join their pack! Tons of fun and learning experiences for all kids in Kindergarten through Grade 5. For more information, visit www.pack7lowell.com
Pack 7 meets at St. Rita's Church directly across from McAvinnue!
Community Resources & Daycare Options for Families
Looking for before or after school daycare options for your child? Here is a short list of options and information for your consideration.
Here is a list of daycare options in Lowell:
Community Team Work (CTI): (978) 454-5100
Families who are already enrolled in a CTI program...
Call or text school-age coordinators to request a slot
Billy 978-995-0028, wma@commteam.org
Karen 978-729-7216, kshannon@commteam.org
Families who are not enrolled in a CTI program
If you’ve filled out a CTI application in the past...
Contact Karen (978) 729-7216, kshannon@commteam.org to see if where you are on the waitlist (if there is a waitlist)
If you’ve never filled out a CTI application...
Fill out an application at 17 Kirk St., 126 Phoenix Ave
Or call the main CTI number (978) 454-5100 to request an email version of the application.
YMCA: (978) 454-7825; 1 YMCA Dr in Lowell
Karen Espinola is the school-age director
Fill out a application online or at the YMCA to request a slot
Debbie Doben is the preschool director if your child is preschool age
Family Childcare: Call programs to see if they have openings near you
Bethel Family Childcare (978) 458-6577
Clarendon Family Childcare (978) 454-3026
Child Development and Learning (CDE) (978) 275-2843
ACRE Family Childcare (978) 937-5899
CTI: See above contact information
Girls Inc: (978) 458-6529, 220; Worthen St. in Lowell
Accept girls ages 5-14 years old
Accept Child Care Circuit vouchers, DCF vouchers, and private pay (income-based, sliding scale)
Call Pam Lerocque (Director of Finance & Administration) to check on openings
Boys and GIrls Club: (978) 458-4526; 657 Middlesex St in Lowell
School-age openings for after-school
Teens who are working with the Department of Children and Families can call BGC or DCF to see if they’re eligible
The Family Leadership Institute
Throughout the year, the FLI runs a variety of programs including: survival English classes, family college visits, mental health and financial literacy workshops, and more. For more information about the FLI visit: https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/Page/5263.
Local Food Support
Click the link below for a list of local food pantries that are willing to help.
You can also reach out to Mrs. De La Luz, McAvinnue's Social Worker, for support navigating these and other options at adelaluz@lowell.k12.ma.us.
Community Vaccination Information
Please keep in mind that certain vaccinations are required for students to participate in learning at all Lowell Public Schools.
If you have any questions regarding vaccination requirements, please contact Nurse Danielle at the school. She will be glad to help you out and provide you with the information that you require or request.
McAvinnue's School Website
Please visit our website at: https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/mcavinnue
Follow McAvinnue On Social Media
Click the buttons below to access our social media sites!
Our Vision
#McAvinnuePride #BeTheDifference #NextLevel
Email: mdomina@lowell.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/Domain/21
Location: 131 Mammoth Road, Lowell, MA, USA
Phone: (978) 937-2871
Facebook: facebook.com/McAvinnueElementarySchool/
Twitter: @McAvinnueLPS
