The Pulse of the Pride

Lyme School Friends,

Happy 2024! With the start of the new year, our students returned on Wednesday to reengage in their school routines. We have had a great three days!

From our students, we heard about all kinds of exciting December break activities from traveling to exotic stay-cations. One thing is for sure...students are glad to be back and back into their consistent schedules.

January is a busy month and we try to get into our routines quickly. The temperatures are still continuing to swing drastically, so please ensure your students have proper clothing and layers for school each day.

As we get later into the winter, our 4th graders will be communicating with community members as pen pals. If you know of a community member that wants to participate in engaging with our 4th graders through writing, please have them reach out to Elise Foxall at efoxall@lymeschool.org this month.

We also want to remind you that we make a decision about whether or not to have school due to inclement weather by 5:30 AM. If we do close or delay school, you will get a message from ALMA soon after 5:30AM if not the evening before. Thank you for your patience and flexibility when we do have to close due to weather and/or road conditions.

The next newsletter will hit your inbox on January 19th!

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

Happy New Year,

John P. D'Entremont, Principal

Dates:

January 15th - School Closed/No School

January 23rd - NH Primary (school is open during voting)

February 19th - 23rd - School Closed/No School for February Break

March 12th - School Closed/Teacher In-Service

March 15th - Trimester Ends

We have a number of items in our lost and found. We have attached a few photos for you to take a look. Please help us reunite items with their owners.

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

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 the standards based report cards.
7. Received a first trimester report card via email on December 4th.

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

It is a good time for a reminder on what to do when your student is ill.

1. Please notify the Main Office and/or Nurse at nurse@lymeschool.org

2. Students should stay home from school if they have a temperature of 100.4 F or higher and can only return when they have been fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.

3. Students should stay home from school when experiencing nausea/vomiting or diarrhea.

4. It is recommended to test for COVID-19 if your student has a fever, sore throat, significant coughing and congestion or runny nose.

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 Health Office has a supply of rapid antigen COVID-19 tests if needed.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping to keep our Lyme School community healthy during this winter season.

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.

Hello, Lyme Families!

Happy New Year! Hope you had a wonderful break!

In December 2022, we had our first ever Winter Solstice Celebration multi-age event - it was a major success! The second year was another great opportunity for fun and connection for our school community. For new folks, this event is essentially run by our middle school advisories. Our students in 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade helped lead our K-5 multiage groups as well as plan and facilitate the activities visited throughout the day.

Students spent the morning reading books together, playing soccer, basketball, and other movement activities in the gym. They enjoyed face painting, winter crafting, LED lantern decoupaging, and tried their hands at some marshmallow target toss. Huge kudos to our middle school students who put in a lot of effort to make this day special and successful. They did a commendable job at ensuring that students kindergarten through 5th grade were engaged, felt comfortable navigating new people, spaces, and experiences.

I wish families could have been flies on our walls as it was truly heartwarming to see these big kids smiling, connecting, and playing with our lower school students. This was also a chance for staff to spend time with colleagues and students that they do not regularly see. Reflecting on more challenging times when gathering together was not possible, we’re grateful for this time that we can be together. Thank you to all the students, teachers, and staff who made this day such a success!

Looking forward to more multiage experiences!

During the morning meeting, the whole school learned the results of the state-wide vote for the Ladybug Book Award!

The winner of the 2023 Ladybug Book Award is…

Cover photo from Amazon.com

For a full list of state-wide votes/results, click here.

This year we will give the writing portion of the NH state assessments in Grades 3-8 between March 4-15. The state plans to hand score all student responses this year. They will use the hand scored responses to build scoring models for the writing to be machine-scored again starting next school year.

The rest of the state tests will be given in late May in Grades 3-8. All students take both reading and math tests and only those students in Grades 5 and 8 take a science test.

The notification letter from the Department of Education is attached and below.

Please do reach out if you have any questions.

Happy New Year, Lyme School!

A big highlight from our first few days back was the 5th grade beginner band's first full ensemble rehearsal. We got our bearings for our new routine and successfully played several songs. We're looking forward to growing as a band!

Reminder to second grade families: our in school performance of Peter and the Wolf will be on Friday, January 26th in the morning. We hope to see many of you there!

In our short week in the Art room, clay sculptures are out of the kiln and being glazed, 8th grade is learning about sewing machines, 4th grade is drawing cities of the future (inspired by some architecture around the world), 3rd grade is weaving, Kindergarten started their first papier-mache project, and 2nd grade did a little guided drawing and created the classic Polar Bear/Northern Lights drawing.

Thank you to the Giving Tree! The Art room has some new beautiful Art Books.

I am very grateful to all of the Lyme families and wish you all the best in the New Year.

Ms. G

Games!

We play a lot of games in Spanish class. Research shows that play-based learning is one of the most effective ways for students to grow, develop, and learn. Besides all that, it's fun! Students in 4th grade recently learned descriptive adjectives while playing the game Guess Who in Spanish. 1st graders play "Pesca" (Go Fish) to help learn some new "outer space" vocabulary words, and Kindergartners are pointing out colors in the classroom while playing "Color Detector" to help learn and practice their colors. All of these games are fun and help students increase their Spanish proficiency!

It's been an exciting start to the new year as lower school students have delved into the world of technology, creativity, and problem-solving. The Kindergarteners are taking their first steps into the exciting realm of coding, using the child-friendly programming language, Scratch Jr. First and second graders are building on their programming skills by creating animated stories. Their faces light up with joy as they bring characters to life, create interactive scenes, and craft animated stories.

Coding isn't just about computers; it's about fostering a range of skills. Through Scratch Jr, our students are developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills. They're not just learning to code; they're becoming digital storytellers, using technology as a canvas for their imagination.

At home, I encourage you to ask them about the characters they've created, the scenes that they've imagined and the challenges they've overcome through the stories they're telling.

This trimester, nearly a dozen students elected to be part of the mindfulness elective. Mindfulness is a practice that allows for individuals to obtain strategies for reducing stress and quieting both the body and mind.

This elective takes place three times a week and has involved guided meditations, led by Mrs. Damren, music meditations, breath work, art , and journaling. Students do reflect after most of their experiences, which allows them to internalize each session and take away a learning tool to help them stay in the present.

Most recently, students were given cards of reflection, which asked them to write about a given task listed on the card. The cards included things like focusing on breathing, rating past, present, and future thoughts, writing about what they are grateful for, and thinking about a place that brings them happiness.

Mindfulness in schools has been shown to help students decrease their stress levels and be able to better focus on themselves in a more positive and productive way.

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