Dear Lions Park Staff,
I hope your children had a wonderful first few days of school! Our school staff has so enjoyed having so many students back in the building and seeing the others on Zoom. There is very positive and excited energy in our school. Students have been doing activities to get to know their teachers, classmates, and school building. We have also been explicitly teaching routines and expectations.
We are hopeful it has been a seamless transition for your child. However, it is perfectly normal for concerns or questions to arise. You are strongly encouraged to start by talking with your child’s teacher if there is something that is worrying you or your child about his or her school experience. If you don’t feel better after a conversation with the teacher, you are welcome to tell the teacher you are going to reach out to me or Mrs. Dean to join the conversation as you continue to work together to find a mutually agreeable solution. I came across this article, and I thought it provided some good suggestions about how to have these difficult conversations. While the examples given are for younger children, I think the ideas still apply in our setting.
We are looking forward to welcoming you to our Back to School Night on Tuesday, August 24th! Our event will be a combination of video, live zoom, and in-person. I will share a recorded video with welcome messages from our Board of Education, Superintendent, PTO board, and Education Foundation. We will have an optional meet and greet at the school from 6-6:30 for all parents wishing to see their child's classroom(s). Homeroom teachers will then have half-hour presentations on Zoom with fourth and fifth grades from 6:40-7:10 PM and second and third grades from 7:10-7:40 PM. Ms. Manteuffel will have presentations for her groups as well. All other teachers will be available on Zoom for informal conversations to say hello and ask questions. A full schedule with room numbers and Zoom links will be shared on Monday evening.
We will be doing some districtwide beginning of the year assessments starting next week. Next week students will take MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). Students will take two computerized MAP tests- one in reading and one in math. Each test takes approximately one hour. Also, during the next few weeks students will participate in brief assessments to look at their reading fluency and math problem solving. The reading fluency test involves having students read three passages aloud for one minute per passage. The math problem solving test is computerized and asks students to solve a variety of math problems. Students will also have the opportunity to read with a teacher and answer some oral questions to find their reading level.
Please help us to keep Lions Park safe at arrival and dismissal. You can drop off your child using our "kiss and go" areas on School Street, Council Trail, and in the back parking lot. If you wish to park to pick up your child, please ensure you are parked legally on Elm Street or School Street, south of Council Trail. We appreciate your attention to parking/stopping only on the west sides of the streets and to avoid blocking driveways.
Warmly,
Katie Kelly
Principal
Lions Park School
