Hello Students and Families,

This Friday, we will be hosting our first Fun Night. Fun Night is an exciting after school event for students. At Fun Night, students can play games, eat snacks, enter to win raffle drawings, dance, and hang out with their friends. In order for your child to attend Fun Night, they must have 5 or fewer missing assignments. If they do have more than 5 missing assignments and would like to attend, please help your child prioritize their missing work and get it submitted as soon as possible.

There is a $5 entry fee. Your child can pay this any morning this week before school from 8:30-9:00. PTO representatives will have a table set up near the media center. If your child does not pay the entry fee, they will not be able to stay after school on Friday.

At Fun Night, kids can purchase tickets for food, games, raffles, and photo opportunities with their friends. Ticket will cost $1 each or get 20 tickets for $15. The cost of individual items are listed below:

Snow Cones - 3 tickets

Pop - 2 tickets

Popcorn and Candy - 1 ticket

Games - 1 ticket

Raffle Tickets - 1 ticket

Printed Pictures from the Photo Booth - 1 ticket for each photo

(If there are four kids in the photo, it will be 1 ticket for each person if they want a picture)

PTO is still looking for some donations of small ($5 - $10 gift cards) and prize items.

Dismissal for Fun Night will begin promptly at 5:30 and should go quickly if everyone follows the dismissal map and procedures below. 5th grade students will be picked up in the front pick-up line, similar to our normal dismissal process. 6th grade students and multi-grade level families (5th grader and 6th grader) will dismiss from the gym area on the West side of the building. Please DO NOT park your car and walk to find your child. Once our first students are in their cars and pulling away, the lines should move quickly.

The money we earn at this Fun Night will go toward supporting our LIS Christmas for Teens event. If your family is in need of support during this holiday season, please complete the form linked below.

We hope everyone enjoys our first Fun Night!

Together we shine brighter!

Have a wonderful week,

Mrs. Hardwicke

Principal

PTO is looking for a few more parent volunteers to help run our games and stations during Fun Night. Fun Night will be held on Friday, November 22 from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Volunteer sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084EA9AB23A4FD0-52930651-lisfun

We are also looking for prize donations. If you would like to donate items to be shipped to school, please use our Amazon Wishlist link below.

Amazon list:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/201CCE88SKLOU?ref_=wl_share

We are also collecting donations of $5-$10 gift cards for our raffles. These can be dropped off in the main office.

The LIS staff and students would like to assist you in making your child's holiday season a happy one. If you need assistance with holiday gifts for your LIS student, please complete the form below before December 2nd to assist our elves in their holiday shopping. Gifts and food baskets will be available starting Wednesday, December 18th at LIS during school hours. The LIS Christmas for Teens program is for LIS students only. You do not need to select all items, so please select only what is needed and we will do our best to get the items on the list. We would like to thank our PTO for helping us sponsor this generous event.

Please consider taking a moment to share a quick note to our staff members by clicking the link below below.

PTO has opened up a spiritwear shop online. Orders can be placed throughout the year.

Mrs. Plant and her general music classes performed musicals last week. The students worked very hard to learn new songs and choreography for their musicals and did a fantastic job performing in front of audiences. Way to go, Trojans!

Buddy Bag Form Link: https://forms.gle/ScwTgvpuFmg7es16A

Liberty Intermediate and Liberty Elementary schools have partnered up with NWI No Child Hungry to provide Buddy Bags for students in need.

The Buddy Bag program is designed to help fight childhood hunger. Buddy Bags are kid-friendly sacks of food that are sent home with students on Fridays to ensure they have enough to eat on the weekend. In each bag, students get a shelf-stable breakfast, lunch, dinner, fruit cup, applesauce, sweet snack, and salty snack. Each student who participates in the Buddy Bag program receives meals for both Saturday & Sunday.

The program is free of charge and is run anonymously in partnership with NWI No Child Hungry and their generous sponsors. For more information about this program, or if you would like to make a donation, you can check out the NWI No Child Hungry website.

Currently this program is only for Liberty Intermediate and Liberty Elementary school students. If you have more than one student in these schools, the program will provide a bag for each student that is signed up.

For other questions about the program, contact the counselor at your child's school:

Liberty Elementary School: Mrs. Stainko

Liberty Intermediate School: Mrs. Smenyak

Self-Worth

• Self-worth is the belief in one’s own value as a human being and the sense of one’s preciousness and pricelessness. When people have positive self-worth, they believe that they are worthy of being seen, heard, and valued. It is the opposite of shame.

• Self-esteem is different, as it is driven from the satisfaction in one’s performance (e.g., positive feedback on a completed task).

• When people with positive self-worth perform poorly, they can bounce back more easily knowing that they still have worth and value despite their performance. However, when someone with low self-worth performs poorly, they experience deeper shame and are more likely to move into survival behaviors (fight, flight, freeze).

Application at Home (if desired):

1. To help your teens build positive self-worth, make an effort to meet their needs (emotional and physical) consistently. Delight in them (take an interest, laugh at their jokes, praise them), and show them that you see them, you hear them, and that they matter.

2. Let your teens know that even when they make mistakes, they still have worth and value. Tell yourself this, too!

Ms. Sullivan is one of our new Exceptional Learning teachers at LIS this year. Before coming to LIS, Ms. Sullivan taught at Westchester Intermediate School and Pine Elementary School in Michigan City. She is a PNW and Youngstown graduate. She is also starting another degree program through Indiana University. Ms. Sullivan loves helping her students grow academically. She also enjoys teaching them strategies and skills that will help her students function in their everyday lives. She is such a wonderful addition to our staff. Thank you for everything you do for our students.

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Pasta

Favorite Subject as a Student: Math

Favorite Hobby: Drawing or Reading

An interesting fact about Ms. Sullivan is that she volunteers at an animal shelter. Cats are her favorite animal.

As part of our commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all our students, we want to inform you about an important update regarding students who are injured and wearing medical devices such as walking boots, crutches, casts, slings, or splints. Effective immediately, any student with a medical device will be required to provide a doctor’s note confirming that they are cleared to participate in both gym class and recess. If a doctor advises against participation for any specified duration, the student will need to provide a subsequent note from the doctor clearing the student to resume these activities once they are healed.

This update is designed to ensure that all students can safely engage in physical activities while also considering their health and recovery. If you have any questions or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Health Clinic. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Sixth grade students will have the opportunity to participate in both LIS intramural sports and Liberty Middle School athletics. If your child wants to participate in middle school sports, they must have a current physical on file, dated after 4/1/24. Sixth grade students can ONLY participate in Middle School Cross Country, Westling, and Track and Field. Below is a link to the Liberty Winter Sports page. This winter, students can participate in Middle School Wrestling. Mr. Nick Bamber is the athletic director for Liberty Campus. Please reach out to Mr. Bamber with any questions.

11/11-11/26 LIS Student Council Food Drive

11/18 Challenger Field Trip (Nelson and Berry)

11/19 Challenger Field Trip (Krutz and Ray)

11/20 Challenger Field Trip (Mercon and Young)

11/22 Fun Night - PTO Sponsored for Christmas for Teens - after school, dismissal at 5:30

11/26 - Kona Ice During Lunch

11/27-11/29 No School - Happy Thanksgiving!

Cell Phones, Smart Watches, Earbuds, & Earphones Usage

5th and 6th grade students are not allowed to use their personal communication devices (cell phones and smart watches) during the instructional day. Items used for communication should be stored in lockers to be kept safe throughout the day. If students need to contact a parent/guardian during the day, they are welcome to do so from the office. Classrooms also have phone access. Similarly, students are not permitted to wear personal earbuds with bluetooth capabilities attached to their phones (e.g. Air Pods, etc.). Students will need to use their school-issued iPad earphones for Exact Path lessons and select ILEARN testing sessions. The only time audio ear pieces are permitted are for teacher-assigned classwork and medically-approved needs.

iPad Use

• iPads are the property of Duneland Schools. Students should keep the devices in operable condition.
• Students should refrain from downloading apps, pics, etc. that are not permitted under school and/or corporation policy.
  
• Students are required to bring their charged iPads to class. Intermediate curriculum is designed to utilize iPads for lessons and enrichment activities.

Information regarding student bus transportation for the 2024-2025 school year is available on DSC website under the Transportation Department.

TRACK STUDENT'S BUS WITH MYSTOP APP

The Duneland School Corporation Department of Transportation has now made My Stop available to our families.

My Stop is a web-based application which will allow parents to access live bus GPS information using a smartphone, tablet, or computer and securely view the current location of your child’s bus on routes. The system also provides the bus’s estimated time of arrival at your child’s bus stop.

Please read the attached letter to parents for more information on how to use My Stop to track your child's bus.

The DSC Child Nutrition Department utilizes NutriSlice as its menus program. This app is available for iPhone and Android through your mobile app store. Parents can also access the full website for Duneland Schools on a computer via this NutriSlice link.

This app will allow parents and students to view the menus as well as the nutritional info for each menu item at any of the Duneland Schools. This program will be developed further incorporating images of the actual food items being served at each of the Duneland schools.

To make an appointment please call 219-763-8112. Let NorthShore know you are a Duneland School student or staff member and that you would like to make an appointment at the Duneland School Clinic located at the old CMS.

Learn more about the Duneland Early Learning Classes at the the HUB. Click on the image below to enroll.

DuneNews

You can access the most current issue of the DuneNews by clicking here.

LIBERTY INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

School Website: https://www.duneland.k12.in.us/Domain/13

Address: 50 W. 900 N. Chesterton, IN 46304

Phone: 219-983-3690

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