The Pulse of the Pride

Lyme School Friends,

We have had a great two weeks and we are looking forward to our two day week next week!

There is much going on around our school. Our kindergartners are working hard on their in-school performance of The Carnival of The Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Our 5th graders are working hard in the newly developed band program where they will be doing some small group performances soon. Our 4th graders have been excited and engaged by their in class research work on poets. It has also been fun seeing our 8th graders meet representatives and tour their high school options.

Please remember that the temperature continues to drop and it is getting colder. Please ensure that students are dressed appropriately while waiting for the bus. Students should also have layers for school each day. It is always good practice to pack an extra set of clothes, especially for the younger kids.

Here are a few highlights in the newsletter:

• We hope many families will attend the "Ice Age" movie at the Nugget Theater for the 8th graders' fundraiser for their DC trip. Details are below.
• We are also offering a tour of our school on Saturday morning at 9AM for any community members interested in learning about the mitigation projects that are being discussed by the School Board. Details are also below.
• Information about Parent/Teacher Conferences can be found in Mrs. Foxall's section below.

The next newsletter will hit your inbox on December 1st!

As always, please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and short break. Please remember that school is closed November 22-26. We will see students back on Monday the 27th.

Regards,

John P. D'Entremont, Principal

Dates:

November 17th - End of Trimester

November 22nd - 24th - No School

December 4th - Report Cards Emailed Home

December 5th - 5th Grade Small Group Ensemble - 5:00 pm

December 8th - No School Parent/Teacher Conferences

December 22nd - January 2nd - School Closed/No School

Ice Age on Saturday, November 18th at 10am at the Nugget Theater in Hanover.

Tickets are $10 and you can email lymeclassof24@gmail.com to reserve your tickets and for payment information.

FOR LYME SCHOOL FAMILIES ONLY: If you feel it would work for your child to watch Ice Age under the supervision of an eighth grader, a “drop-off” option is available for an added fee (additional $10 per child). Children in K-4th grade are invited to participate in the drop-off option, and tickets must be purchased in advance, so these seats can be reserved with a caring eighth grader. The movie will start at 10am and should end at 11:20am. For families taking advantage of the “drop-off” opportunity, your child(ren) should be checked-in by a parent/guardian in the lobby of the Nugget at 9:45am and pick-up will be at 11:20am. A parent/guardian phone number must be provided and that individual must be accessible in the event a child needs them.

Congratulations to Grady in 6th grade for being chosen as the 3rd place essay contest winner for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Patriot's Pen youth essay contest. Grady was presented at this morning's morning meeting with a certificate and $50 for his entry. Nice job, Grady!

Things continue to progress with our new student information system.

So far, you should have:

1. Gotten yourself logged in.
2. Received an emergency alert.
3. Double checked your contact information.
4. Completed ALMA Start Registration for this year.
5. Been given instructions to opt in to the Directory. [To opt in to the directory, you can click on the link for “my info” or get there through your profile icon in the top-right corner. You can toggle your visibility in the directory.]
6. Received preliminary information about report cards in this newsletter.

If you are having trouble, please reach out to Amanda Perry or John D'Entremont.

Dear Lyme School Families,

With the rollout of our new Student Information System ALMA, we have updated our report cards. As a result, we will be launching our Standards-Based Report Card at the conclusion of the first trimester at the beginning of December. We understand that this is new with several transitions the last few years and will be a learning curve for all.

A Standards-Based Report Card provides a more detailed and meaningful way to assess your child's academic progress. Instead of traditional letter grades, the report card will focus on specific learning standards and provide insights into your child's strengths and areas that may require additional attention. As a result, the Report Card will list grade level standards and students will be rated on each standard using a four category scale:

‘B’ - Below Standard - Student is performing below the expected standard.

‘M’ - Making Progress - Student is making progress on learning the standard.

‘M+’ - Meeting Standard - Student has mastered the standard.

‘E’ - Exceeding Standard - Student is exceeding mastery of the standard.

Aside from a rating on each standard, families will also see a narrative describing how a student is fairing in a particular class.

As we reported earlier in the year, families have real-time access to your child’s academic performance and attendance in ALMA at any time.

Thank you for your flexibility and attention as we fully launch the ALMA student information system this year.

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

Kati Miller RN BSN: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri

Matthew Greenway RN BSN: alternating Weds and coverage as needed

Celeste McCool RN BSN: alternating Weds and coverage as needed

Cold weather season has arrived. Please be sure to send your student to school each day with a warm jacket, hat and gloves for outside time.

It is highly recommended to LABEL all items of clothing.

In October, the Lyme School was awarded a Hands-Only CPR tool kit from the American Heart Association and Dartmouth Hitchcock Health. Over the next few weeks, Middle School students will get the opportunity to learn the life saving skill of Hands Only CPR, AED use and how to respond to a person choking.

This is very exciting! Please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Hands-Only CPR in Schools FAQs

-Nurse Miller

Please review the provided links regarding COVID-19 recommendations from the Center for Disease Control (CDC):

• Individuals who are experiencing symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19 should isolate at home and follow CDC's recommendations Isolation and Precautions for People with COVID-19

• What to do if you were Exposed to COVID-19

The Lyme School Nurse's office is here to support you and your child and to promote healthy outcomes for students and staff.

November is the month of GRATITUDE! During Stanton Time this week and next, we’ll continue to discuss what gratitude is, what science says about how it impacts our body, our brain, and our relationships, and how we can put it into action.

Here’s a little bit of what I share with students during Stanton Time:
Research suggests that having a regular gratitude practice can have amazing benefits:

• Gratitude opens the door to more relationships - you show appreciation for others - you will have positive connections with people and maybe more and deeper friendships.
  
  

• Gratitude improves physical health - Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and report feeling healthier than other people.
  
  

• Gratitude improves psychological health - Gratitude reduces lots of toxic emotions, from jealousy to frustration, and regret.
  
  

• Grateful people sleep better - writing in a gratitude journal before bed increases the length and quality of sleep.
  
  

• Gratitude improves how you feel about yourself (self-esteem) - it reduces social comparisons, grateful and proud of who YOU are and what YOU can do.
  
  

• Gratitude increases mental strength - not only reduces stress, but it may also play a major role in overcoming obstacles (Psychology Today, 2015).

Students totally bought into this idea. We first filled our “Gratitude Jar” - Who are the people and pets what are the things, ideas, aromas, and foods, where are the places that bring us joy? Students filled their “jars” with these people, pets, places, things, and ideas that will be on display around the building. After we determined how to fill our jar, we talked about turning Gratitude into a VERB - it is the most effective and impactful when we SHOW and SHARE it! I invited students to take a moment today or this week to let someone (both in and outside of school) know they appreciate them and why.

Our Kindergartners are working on their gratitude books to bring home for the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope they share them with you!

Here are some ways to practice gratitude with your family! (Don’t just save it for when there is Turkey on the table!)

I’d like to take this moment to send loads of gratitude to my colleagues who work hard every day to do what’s best for kids and who are super fun to work with. Big thanks to our Lyme School families for their partnership and trusting us to be a part of their village!

LYME STAFF ROCKS, LYME STUDENTS ROCK, LYME SCHOOL ROCKS!

This week, students in grades K-3 listened to and discussed picture books from our American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month collection. Students and families can browse the Lyme School Library Catalog collection in celebration of this month’s theme.

Kindergarten students are becoming more familiar with using SeeSaw on their touchscreen Chromebooks. They log in using a QR code and navigate the home screen where apps are displayed. Mrs. Sanders and I have led small group and full group instruction to help our youngest students feel comfortable and proficient using technology in the classroom.

The fourth graders are in the midst of an exciting research project on poets. This collaborative integrated project involves using both print and digital resources to collect facts about an assigned poet. Students are also putting their language arts skills to work analyzing their favorite poem written by their poet. This week the fourth graders learned how to access and use Canva to create their final product for this project, a poster!

Students, families, and the community raised almost $10,000 through Blisters for Books to support the Converse Free Library children’s collection. Wow!!! This week and next, students in grades K-8 are giving Ms. Judy and I feedback on what books, ebooks, audiobooks and subjects they are interested in seeing more of in our collection. I will share some of those results in the next newsletter.

Have a great break!

It’s time for parent-teacher conferences soon! Our Trimester 1 ended today, November 17. Teachers will be preparing report cards next week and we anticipate sending reports home early in the week of December 4, barring no technocial difficulties with our new report system. We are hosting parent conferences during the week of December 5-9. Most conference are will be offered on the afternoon of Thursday, December 7 and all day on Friday, December 8th.

Lower school teachers are sending out a sign-up form next week for their parent-teacher conference slots. Middle school teachers conference schedules are available here for parents to sign up. Please let the teacher(s) know if you would like your conference to be in person, as we will assume it is virtual if we don’t hear otherwise.

Conferences are a great time for parents and teachers to get on the same page. This online resource from Care.com sums it up well: “The ultimate goal for both parents and teachers should be to get a well-rounded understanding of what is happening with the child in their day-to-day life because it informs how they end up performing academically”. The link above provides some questions parents can ask at a conference to get the most out of this valuable conversation.

We will be hosting our spring parent-teacher conferences on March 21 and 22 after Trimester 2 report cards.

Lots of skills can be practiced while making fun and engaging games. Children often learn best through play. Over the past few weeks lower school students have been challenged to build a fun and engaging tabletop marble run in the design lab. With some encouragement to use materials in innovative and creative ways, select and use tools appropriately, and persevere when things get hard, all students rose to the challenge. The results where pretty great!

In 3rd grade Spanish class, we are learning about terms for family members. We've looked at some family pictures of students and staff members as a way to practice some of our words. It was a lot of fun! Thanks to all the staff and 3rd grade families that sent in pictures. En esta familia, hay una madre, un padre, y tres hermanos.Can you guess whose family it is??

November is Native American Heritage Month! We've been learning and listening to Indigenous musicians like Laura Niquay (grunge/folk), Martha Redbone (soul), and Raye Zaragoza (pop). Click on the links for a listen!

5th Grade is busy preparing for their Small Ensemble Concert on December 5th at 5PM! All are welcome if you'd like to come and support our 5th graders!

The Lyme Community is looking for student musicians! The CommunityCare of Lyme is looking for student musicians to perform at this year's CCL event on Sunday, December 17 at the Lyme Center Academy building. Please reach out to Dan Freihofer if you have a student interested in performing! (Dan Freihofer: dan.freihofer@gmail.com).

Recently, the fifth graders had the opportunity to work with the kindergartners during a special PE time. The fifth graders acted as mentors and led the K kids through various activities, which included climbing the traverse wall, playing the game of Twister, shooting baskets at a lowered hoop, and building and creating structures with colorful small discs.

The fifth graders did a fantastic job helping and many new and wonderful connections were formed. Building our community is important and any time we get have our older students work with our younger students is a real gift and is part of the beauty of being in a small school.

Outstanding job, fifth grade !!

A decorated gym made for a “spooktacular” time for students during their PE classes. Games and activities were enjoyed by students during a fun week in the month of October.

Students in grade 6 recently studied the immune system. Definitions and vocabulary were introduced as it relates to diseases and viruses and the types of cells in our body’s defense system that work to fight off pathogens that can make us ill.

As a culmination to this unit of study, students took part in a project that had them demonstrating their knowledge of this unique system. They had to create their own virus or disease, explain how it impacts the immune system, describe the symptoms, and list any treatments or cures. This skill-based approach was a fun way to assess what they learned during this unit while being imaginative and creative .

Indigenous Heritage Month

“Every aspect of Diné weaving has teachings sowed from past generations that encourage learning generations to think critically about resource use, hard work, reverence, and persistence. “

Recently I have come across some new-to-me contemporary indigenous artists. This quote from the artist Tyrrell Tapaha (Diné) has informed how I teach about these identities and cultures. We are working with art materials that have long and varied histories around the world. It is both beautiful and daunting!

Kindergarten: first clay project (the pinch pot).

1st Grade: reading The Goat in the Rug and first weaving project

2nd Grade: Value is the lightness or darkness of a color, painting with black and white, process and discovery

3rd Grade: finishing up leaf watercolor paintings, starting on clay coil pots.

4th Grade: looking closely, line variations (hatching, scumbling), drawing grasses.

5th Grade: Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen, clay slab thankful boxes.

Sketchbook Elective: Elements and Principles of Art, the artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota) video clip from Art 21, and self reflection as this elective wraps up.

6th Grade: finishing sneaker drawing, Tinker Hatfield and sneaker design.

The 21 students who signed up for the Fitness for Life elective have been plenty active and very serious about their workouts. Each week, the group is given a workout to do each day of the elective. The workout consists of various components of fitness that they are required to perform. Running, jump roping, doing ladders, and running stairs are examples of the cardiovascular endurance activities, while plank holds, wall sits, and core fly activities meet the muscular endurance component. Finally, weight training, push ups, and bleacher dips fill the muscular strength component.

The workout lasts about 40 minutes and meets three times a week. Several work either with a partner or in small group, while others prefer to work independently. Each student works hard and has been taking their own fitness quite seriously. Their culmination and final assessment will involve them creating their own workout, approved by Mrs. D and performing that workout the last week we meet. I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with just as much as I have enjoyed watching their progress.

The next PTO meeting will be December 6, 2023 at 7PM.

Will take place on December 14th, 2023 at the School.

I want to let you know about an upcoming parent climate cafe we (CHICKS = Climate and Health Initiative for Children in Kearsarge & Sunapee, a program of NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action) are co-sponsoring with the Montshire, the Center for Advancing Rural Health Equity at DH, Moms Clean Air Force, and the Boys & Girls Club of Central NH.

You can access registration links for the cafes and webinar here:

https://www.nhclimatehealth.org/our-events/parenting-in-a-changing-climatehow-parents-can-support-their-childrenthemselves-in-a-warming-world

Free event on 12/2 at the Montshire for parents and young children. We also have an interactive webinar on 12/4 on parenting young children in a warming climate open to all, including all types of caregivers. Please feel free to share this link with anyone who might be interested!

CHICKS is working to build a grassroots statewide initiative to support these children and their families.

Bob Friedlander Jr. MD

Founder, CHICKS

Founder, NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action

nhclimatehealth.org/chicks

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