The Pulse of the Pride
August 19th, 2022
Lyme School Friends,
Well, we are back at it again for the final stretch of the year. The return from April Break is always one filled with enthusiasm. There is just something in the air and the flowers poking up and the warmer weather helps. Students have certainly enjoyed their time outdoors at recess.
At today's morning meeting, we talked about picking up after ourselves and keeping our campus clean. Things have appeared since the snow has melted and we talked about how it is our responsibility to help each other to remember to take care of our school.
We have begun planning for end of year events as well as next school year. Over the coming weeks, we will begin to finalize details and send information home. Thank you for your patience as there is much to be done!
The next newsletter will hit your inbox on May 5th.
Have a great weekend!
Regards,
John P. D'Entremont, Principal
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STANTON TIME ROUND UP!
Hello Lyme Families!
Hope you all had a lovely break last week. It’s been nice to be back in school with students as we continue to learn and grow in Stanton Time with plenty of classes left to have some fun!
Kindergartners are moving along in our Emotional ABCs which is an evidence-based, interactive program that teaches children how to better understand and manage their emotions. They get to hang out with “Moody” a little monster who experiences a variety of feelings. The program helps kids in many ways from recognizing face and body clues of others to how to handle big feelings.
First graders are beginning their Celebrating Diversity Unit - so far, we have read an engaging book called “Diversity makes us Stronger” which helped us define the word, diversity. See below for our brainstorm! Students recognized that diversity is more than just people’s differences, it’s about celebrating and being curious about others’ differences and how our differences make us unique and special. A great way to connect to our Lyme School values: Acceptance of Others and Individuality.
We have chosen our new language arts program and materials for Grades K-5! After piloting multiple program samples with their students, our teachers chose to move forward with EL Education K-5 Language Arts. This decision was the culmination of a two year process involving professional development, piloting of materials, and numerous discussions around the quality of the literature, the foundational skills taught, the ease of use and, of course, the cost. We are excited to be able to work with new reading materials next year that will support what we know about the science of reading, how kids learn to read, and enjoy reading.
Educators often look to EdReports to see how a curriculum or program has been rated when reviewing new materials. I have included below an explanation of what EdReports is and what they had to say about EL Education K-5 Language Arts. In short, this program scored very high in Text Complexity and Quality, Building Knowledge, and Usability.
From the EdReports site:
EdReports is an independent nonprofit designed to improve K-12 education. EdReports.org increases the capacity of teachers, administrators, and leaders to seek, identify, and demand the highest quality instructional materials. Drawing upon expert educators, our reviews of instructional materials and support of smart adoption processes equip teachers with excellent materials nationwide.
The instructional materials for EL Education K-5 Language Arts Grades K-5 include texts that are worthy of students' time and attention and that support students’ advancing toward independent reading. The materials provide opportunities for rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about texts to build strong literacy skills. Materials meet the criteria for materials supporting ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student development of foundational skills. The materials support building knowledge and academic vocabulary while students have opportunities to build writing, independent reading, and integrate skills with research and discussion. The materials meet the expectations of usability, being well designed and taking into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Materials can reasonably be completed within an academic year. There are ample resources as well as publisher produced standards alignment documentation.
Mindfulness Elective Culminating Project by Mrs. Damren
This trimester, Mindfulness was offered as an elective. Mindfulness is defined as “ being fully present and aware of feelings and surroundings”. This elective was meant to introduce this meditative practice as a means to finding strategies to manage stress.
As part of a culminating project, students were placed in small groups and and asked to plan a mindfulness activity for their final two classes. Each group researched and explored practices and activities that they will lead and share with our entire mindfulness community who have taken part in this elective.
Guided mediation, zen doodling, breath work, music meditation, and mandala coloring were some of the mindful practices that students learned. Hopefully, these practices can be used when students feel they could benefit from a moment to step away from the everyday busyness and noise and take time to just be.
Sculpture and Printmaking by Mrs. Girdwood
Middle School Electives this session were Sculpture and Printmaking. In Sculpture, students have been exploring wire, plaster, and metal while learning about sculpture around the world.
Printmaking students have been working through a process of creating relief plates called reduction printing.
In reduction printing, colors are printed in successive layers while the artist carves away at the block. This is a tricky process and takes a fair amount of fiddling and envisioning multiple steps. Printmaking has a learning curve… and the “aha!” moments are pretty rewarding!
Students “hard at work” for Spanish Stories
Students in Señor Harkins’ Spanish classes make up stories. There is a lot of work to do for a story to come to fruition. In addition to all of the acting that takes place as the characters in the story, one of the most sought-after jobs that students take on is “La Policía”. This lucky kid listens to Señor as he helps the class create the story, and if he slips up and speaks English, La Policía tosses a fuzzy ball to (at?) him as a reminder to stick to Spanish. Sol is showing off the full costume here :) Some other jobs are referee, applause, and artist. Students are always willing to take this work on and are the engine that makes the story go!
Lower School PE by Mrs. Damren
Students in grades K-2 have been working on their striking skills. Striking is a manipulative skill but also a great skill for building eye-hand coordination.
During PE, lessons are focused on the National Standards in physical education as well as the domains of learning. Students worked in pairs as they moved through the affective and social domains, taking turns and helping one another, while also working on their psychomotor skills of being able to perform and demonstrate their knowledge of a certain skill.
PE continues to be a busy, active learning environment, where students work together, practice their skills, and have some fun!
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