South Lawrence East Elementary
2023-2024
We want to talk a little about school attendance.
Since the pandemic, we have experienced very high rates of chronic absenteeism. This year almost 30% of our students will be chronically absent. This means that about 210 students have missed more than 18 days of school. Too many of our kids have missed 30, 40, even 50 or 60 days of school. Chronic absenteeism has significant negative impacts and usually leaves students behind their peers not only academically but also socially. This gap often persists for years that follow.
As we end this year and think about next year, please consider the importance of school attendance. Help us cut that rate of chronic absenteeism!
Shout out to our kids and teachers for working hard this year. Our growth data is looking very positive this year!!!!
Principal: Ms. Butterfield
Assistant Principal: Mr. Cassely
ILP 2 and PA 2 have been working on their geometry skills, identifying lines and angles. PA 2 is working on using parts of speech to write a paragraph. ILP 2 is finishing up their unit on Shapes and will start their next unit on Swiss Family Robinson where the focus is on working together to create a community.
ILP 1 is learning about nouns and verbs utilizing the story Chicken Little. In math they are working on their addition skills, both single digit and double digit addition.
PA 1 started a new unit “On the Farm” learning about animal habitats. Our “classroom store” is going great! Throughout the day, students are working towards “purchasing” a small item at the classroom store for working hard throughout the day.
Unified Champions Game Day is Friday May 10! The students have been learning to work together with their partner to complete different activities (kicking a soccer ball, obstacle course, throwing a ball through a hoop)
First graders are learning...
SEL: First grade is focusing on being peacemakers and learning how to solve problems. We are learning how to be an upstander by standing up for others by using our voice.
Math: In math we are learning 3-Dimensional shapes, equal halves and fourths, and time. We are also continuing place value by adding and subtracting with numbers up to 120.
Skills: In skills we are finishing unit 6 practicing spellings such as “kn”, “wh”, and “ce”. We are starting unit 7 where we will learn different spellings for the long vowel a and o sound.
Listening and Learning: For listening and learning we have become geologists, as we study the layers of the Earth. We are also learning about the 3 types of rock and how they are formed.
Second graders are learning...
Skills: Second grade is about to start our last unit of Skills for the year! We have learned a variety of long vowel sounds and spellings all year. We worked on decoding words with 3 and even 4 syllables! This last unit is pulling everything we learned together, and getting your child ready for 3rd grade texts.
Math: We are finishing up measurement and data, and moving on to arrays and repeated addition. This is the foundation for multiplication and division.
Knowledge: We are currently learning about Immigration and how the United States is oftentimes called “The Land of Opportunity”. Students have been learning what push and pull factors there might be for families who move to the United States.
SEL: We are also working on Immigration during SEL this month. We will be talking about celebrating cultural differences and what the immigrant experience is like. We will be having discussions as well as reading stories based on characters who are immigrants.
Third graders are learning...
ELA: 3rd grade has been busy learning about how the 13 colonies were found, as well as defining attributes of each. We have been practicing reading nonfiction and realistic fiction accounts from the colonies in the 1500-1700s. This unit will be great for us to master in preparation for 4th grade next year when we’ll learn about the Revolutionary War.
Math: We are working hard on building our math skills and getting ready for math MCAS in less than a week! Ask your 3rd grader what a quadrilateral is and the attributes of rectangles, squares, rhombuses, trapezoids, and parallelograms. We’ve been also working on analyzing graphs - bar graphs, pictographs, and line plots!
Fourth graders are learning...
ELA: We just finished our unit on the American Revolution! Students have been practicing their writing in depth! They specifically focused on writing informational essays. Ask your child what they wrote about! We ARRRGHH also started an adventure story unit, where we will be reading Treasure Island.
Math: We have begun our final unit which is about geometry! Students have been diving into lines, angels, and using protractors. Intervention has been strongly math focused to prepare for the math MCAS.
4th Grade Reminders
🏆Congratulations to Room 207 for winning class of the month!
It is important that students wear closed toed shoes to school to prevent injuries at school.
We will be sending home the permission slips to Camp Otter soon and be on the lookout!
We have a 3 day field trip coming up!! We will be heading to Camp Otter May 20, 21, and 22!
Fifth graders are learning...
Math: Grade 5 will be finishing up this year with a measurement project called “Volumeville”. Students will work in teams to build towns from grid paper and then calculate the volume of each building and the total volume of their town. Each team will present their project to the whole class and display them for upcoming 5th graders (current 4th graders).
ELA: Grade 5 is currently reading William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Students are enjoying learning about the characters and practicing reading parts as actors, using tone, facial expressions, and body language. We will be finishing off the year with a Mystery unit featuring archaeology and dinosaur fossils. It is always a popular and fun way to end the year!
Science: Currently 5th grade is reviewing and solidifying previously taught standards. After MCAS students will be engineering roller coasters, using their knowledge of energy transfer and the engineering design process
Greater Lawrence Boathouse
Looking for a summer program for your child? The Greater Lawrence Boathouse summer program lets students learn the essentials of sailing, kayaking and water safety. Click on the link to find out more about this exciting summer program.
Lawrence Public School students who can pass a swim test can be dropped off 8:00 am to 8:00 pm every day through the summer. The program is free for Lawrence Public School students as long as the paperwork is filled out. If you or your student is interested please reach out to Ms. Baril in Rm. 228.
If you or your child are interested in art. Checkout the Essex Art Center! They offer discounted classes for all Lawrence children.
They have a variety of courses that range from beginner to advanced in ceramics, stained glass, drawing, painting, digital art, and animation.
Lawrence Boys and Girls Club
Lawrence Boys and Girls Club is a great place for students to participate in different activities like sports and arts afterschool.
- We are still selling SMENCILS for $1.00 each. Students can purchase in the office during the school day. Be on look out for holiday SMENCILS too.
- We sent out order forms to order school t-shirts and we still have some left. If you still want a shirt please turn in order form to the office (cash only).
