The Core

Thank you for the big turnout for our End-of-the-Year Bus & Car Parade. It was a real treat for our staff to be out in the neighborhoods feeling the love and support from all our students and families. The smiling faces, posters and excitement from everyone as we traveled through the Orchard district made yesterday afternoon a memorable way to end our unprecidented school year!

We had nice closure with our fifth graders. Though we could not celebrate together, we were able to touch base by stopping by each home to drop off a Celebration Bag for each of our 5th Graders - we love our PTO! Then Wednesday night we had a viewing party and enjoyed our celebration ... video style. Here's a link to the video if you want to see it: https://www.wevideo.com/view/1745737697 .

One tradition we have at our final All School Morning Meeting is for all of us to line up the hallway and have our fifth graders and staff who are leaving walk through the lines getting high fives and fist bumps. Since we couldn't do it this year, we decided to add the pictures from the parade yesterday. Special thanks to Tommy Hamlin, Amy Frostman and the rest of the Arts+ Team for the high-quality production level of the Morning Meetings and Fifth Grade Celebration.

There is so much to look back on but we know we still have a ways to go. Hang in there and I will share information over the summer with you whenever we get more details about school re-opening in August.

• Report Cards are being mailed home on Monday.
  
• Class Placements will be mailed home in early August.
  

Have a great summer, stay safe, stay well and take some time to read with your child.

Mark Trifilio

Happy Fathers Day to all our Dads (a week from Sunday)!

Great news! Orchard School's library will be lending books to families all summer long in a Summer Library-to-Go! Although the library itself will not be open, please use this online form. Book requests received by Tuesday at 5 PM will be ready for pickup in the school lobby by Wednesday at noon. The program will begin checkouts on June 17th and will end on August 19th. Remember that there still are thousands of online books available on the "Cool Tools for Schools" web page (https://tinyurl.com/cooltoolsforschool), too. Thank you to the PTO for supporting Summer Library again this year. Happy Reading!

Have a great summer!

Donna

Donna Sullivan-Macdonald

Library Media & Instructional Technology Specialist

Hello, Orchard Families!

The 2019-2020 Memory Book is on its way! The Memory Book is similar to a yearbook, commemorating the school year with pages for each class and photos of extracurricular and school events. New this year (and hopefully only this year…): adventures in homeschooling!

Memory Books cost $12 each. This year each Orchard student will receive a Memory Book. If you are able to contribute to the cost of your child’s Memory Book or help cover the cost of a classmate’s Memory Book, your generosity will be much appreciated! To donate any amount, please visit https://www.konstella.com/open/sales/5ec7ee2e0cda5de54884a4cd.

If you have any questions, contact Carrie Lyon at caroline.lyon@comcast.net or Laura Smith at lpetriesmith@gmail.com. Memory Books will likely be sent out over the summer.

Thank you!

Carrie and Laura

Dear Orchard Students and Families,

We’ve been enjoying hearing from students about the many ways you have all been practicing resilience in this unexpected and challenging time of physical distancing. This is a time more than ever to continue to practice and grow our Resiliency Skills, our ability to face and positively cope with life’s challenges.

As a global community we are working together to flatten the curve of the virus, as a society and as individuals we also have the opportunity to adjust our ‘stress-response curve’. What can we do to function, and even thrive, to the best of our ability in such stressful and uncertain times? The 7 ‘Cs’ of Resilience are a helpful guide in finding our best, most healthy ways to respond.

Below are the 7 Cs of Resilience:

• Coping

• Connection

• Contribution

• Competence

• Confidence

• Control

• Character

The 7 Cs: Practical Ways to Build Resilience in Kids -- for more tips for parents.

Please see the 7 Cs of Resilience Chart below (http://www.portlandpediatric.com/console//page-images/files/building-resilience/All%20Ages/Seven%20Cs.pdf)

which provides an outline for the related strategies and practice activities posted in our Google Classroom. These could be used in family conversation about ways each member is practicing and developing their resiliency skills, along with the following personal learning and development extension activities, as we move into summer.

The school counseling team in the Burlington School District has generously shared a variety of activities connected to each of the resilience components listed in the chart. So helpful to share resources in these times.

Thanks for all you do each moment and day to support your own and your family’s resiliency. We certainly are all in this together!

Have a safe, healthy and restorative summer. We look forward to seeing you and your child/ren again in the fall.

Warmly,

Auriel Gray, Orchard School Counselor for grades 3-5

Aili Beeli, Orchard School Counselor for grades K-2