The Pulse of the Pride

Lyme School Friends,

It is that time of year where there is much to be done. Here at The Lyme School we, too, are hustling and bustling to finish everything that needs to be finished before 2022 comes to a close. We look forward to the new year of 2023 and what lies ahead for us.

We have been working hard at school. Whether collaborating with another class, writing an essay, completing that presentation or something else, our students are happy and engaged. On Friday's, we come together and celebrate as a school the many accomplishments of our community. In recent weeks, we celebrated the Lyme Lions Lego Robotics Team and started a game called Super Staff Stumpers Trivia Game where all classrooms get to participate.

So, here comes the snow. We are excited about the snow at school and look forward to outdoor play during recess. Please remember students should bring appropriate winter gear for the outdoors every day as we do go outside unless it feels like 10 degrees.

This is our last newsletter of 2022. The next edition will hit your inbox on January 6th.

Please don't forget we are dismissing at 1PM on December 22nd as we head into the break. Students will have lunch at school.

If you are traveling, travel safe. If you are staying home, enjoy your staycation. I hope everyone gets some rest, stays healthy, and enjoys the time together. We will see our students back on January 3rd. Happy New Year!

We hope you had a fun and safe snow day today!

John P. D'Entremont, Principal

12/22 - 1PM Dismissal (Students will have lunch at school.)

12/23/22 - 1/2/23 - School Closed

1/3 - School Back in Session after Break ***School is closed on Monday, January 2nd***

There are some lost and found items that were set up in the lobby during conferences. The lost and found will be disappearing as we head out for break and will be donated. Please take a look in the last few days before break! Thank You!

Students must have a pair of clean sneakers at school to use the gym.

Students should bring winter gear with them every day. We go outside unless the temperature feels like 10.

Please communicate these to the office as well as the teachers.

We have opened a Lyme School Apparel Store with a variety of apparel and accessories all customizable with a variety of school logos. The Lyme School PTO will earn 12% of all sales. Thank you for supporting our school and go Lions! #LYMESCHOOLROCKS

Still happening through December 21st collecting winter coats of all sizes and food. Food and coats will be delivered to the LISTEN Center and The Haven on December 21st.

We are asking for the following food donations:

Rice

Pasta

Sauce

Canned vegetables

Condiments (ketchup, mustard, salad dressing, salt, pepper, etc)

Stuffing

Cranberry sauce and other canned fruits

Boxed muffin, cupcake, and cake mixes

Peanut butter

We also encourage gently used coats and jackets that are free of rips and tears.

We hope that you will join in, contribute, and provide the best gift to those in need: giving.

Thank you very much for being a part of our school's effort to help our fellow community members.

~Middle School Advisories

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

We continue to experience elevated sickness among both staff and students. We are doing our best to keep everyone healthy.

Dr. D. has made several announcements about washing hands. Thanks for your help in reinforcing this reminder.

Please remember to:

• Wash hands frequently with soap and water.
• Clean/disinfect commonly used surfaces.
• Avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouth.
• Keep a good bedtime routine and get plenty of sleep.
• Be physically active every day.
• Spend time outdoors every day.
• Find ways to manage your stress that work for you.
• Drink plenty of fluids (water).
• Eat nutritious foods at every meal.

Each evening our building is cleaned and we continue to disinfect surfaces around the school.

If your child is experiencing symptoms, please test for COVID. If a person is not positive but has any symptoms, we request a mask.

We want to keep everyone healthy and all of us adhering to these simple guidelines will help. Thanks so much.

On December 22nd, we will be celebrating together as a school community. This is a big event! It is one of those great moments where our school community comes together to celebrate as a whole school with a whole school event. Our oldest students will be helping our youngest and our students will spend time together across grade levels. During the day, students will participate in the following activities: reading, crafting, gym games, trivia, and outdoor fun. The activities will be facilitated by older students and others get to participate. Of course, the theme is winter and what a perfect way to head into it with all this snow this weekend!

Returning to school after a long break can be hard. It can be hard for students of all ages. Here are some tips to help you with this process:

For All Students:

• Start reminding your children that break will be ending soon. This should happen several days ahead. For some students a visual countdown can be helpful.
• Letting students know that their friends and teachers will be happy to see them is a great strategy and helps students look forward to the transition back.
• Routines are important. If you had a specific routine before break...you have to get back to those routines again and pronto. The big one that comes to mind, of course, is bed time. Get your children back to bed at their school bedtime several days ahead.
• It is about them not you! If you can't keep your emotions in check, it is going to be hard for your kiddos. If you are stressed getting out of the house in the AM and running late, your children are sensing and feeding off that emotion. Keep calm and carry on!

• Small children struggling after a break returning to school by crying or acting out is normal.
• The best goodbyes are brief! Don't drag it out. It may seem harsh to leave your child at the door or just drop them off in the car loop, but don't worry. We've got them and can get them inside and can get help if we need more help from inside the building.
  
• Stories and books can help. There are stories and books such as The Kissing Hand by Audrie Penn or Worry says What? by Allison Edwards that can help our students prepare for school and understand that it is going to be OK.

If we can be helpful with other tips, please reach out. Have a great break!

Why do we use a positive approach to problem solving?

Behavior management that relies on punishment, coercion, or exclusions can increase student stress and can fail to support students’ and teachers’ future skills for engaging in effective teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2019).

Restorative practices, positive behavior supports, and mindsets focus on supporting students as they identify the problem, reflect on how their choice affected others, understand and accept responsibility for their actions, and when needed, take steps to repair relationships and build new skills. This inclusive approach strengthens relationships by asking students to reflect on how they impact their school community and participating in reflective, collaborative conversations with teachers and peers. This helps the student by building relationships, supporting their ongoing development, and providing tools that students can access as they learn and grow. This process helps them contribute to their school community and feel good about themselves.

Steps to Problem Solving:

• Students reflect and Identify what happened - they think about why the incident happened-adults ask open-ended, non-judgmental questions or statements to engage students in discussion and reflection.

• Students and adults understand what the problem was from all perspectives.

• Through reflection students understand their part and take ownership of their part in the situation/problem.

• Students identify all of the people affected by the problem.

• Students and adults discuss how to repair the relationship of those affected (if needed).

• Together students brainstorm some solutions.

• Collaboratively the adult and students identify any supports that might be needed to ensure success.

• Students choose the best solution to try.

• Collaboratively a plan is made in the event that the situation or problem may happen again.

• Students check in with the adult to evaluate how the solution went.

• Students try alternatives if needed.

As always, do not hesitate to reach out if you have concerns about your student(s).

Need a book to read? Check out an Award Book!

Students in grades K-3 are abuzz with excitement for many reasons this week, including voting for their favorite of the 2022 Ladybug Book Award Nominees. Lyme School ballots were cast this week and results will be revealed next week. We will have to wait until next month to learn the state-wide results! (2022 Library Catalog List and Previous winners).

Each school year, all students throughout the state of New Hampshire have the opportunity to read and vote for their favorite books in one of three award categories: Ladybug (Grades K-3), Great Stone Face (Grades 4-6), and Isinglass (Grades 7-8). Links to the library catalog lists for these categories are included throughout - thank you to Miss Judy for compiling! When browsing books on the shelves, you can easily find books nominated in each of the three categories by looking for the award icon on the book spine.

Each year, twenty books are nominated by Children’s Librarians of the New Hampshire Library Association for the Great Stone Face Award. Grades 4-6 have until April to read Great Stone Face Award Nominees. (Library Catalog List) Read now, vote in April!

Nominations for Isinglass Award (Grades 7 & 8) come from teens and teachers/librarians around the state throughout the year. The 2023 Isinglass Award Nominees can be found on this Library Catalog List. Voting happens in April. Read now, vote in April!

Please be on the lookout for library books around your space and return items to book drop locations at school or at the library. We send overdue notices periodically. Thank you for your help in returning books!

Most parents probably remember their own experiences in reading groups in elementary school. Traditionally, teachers grouped children by reading ability and taught these groups with different reading books and activities. The groups often had names such as the “Bluebirds” and the “Cardinals” and everyone knew who was in the high group and low group. Nowadays, we teach students in small groups for better reasons than just leveled reading instruction and our groupings are not fixed and not necessarily even decided by ability. Small group instruction is occurring in all grades at our school and we are proud of that fact!

Students in kindergarten through grade 2 regularly learn in small groups for both math and literacy instruction. Now our 6th graders are working through Humanities stations focused on writing (with the teacher), geography practice, and reading independently with guiding questions.

Teachers often work with small groups after whole group instruction to reinforce or reteach specific skills and concepts. This allows for a smaller student-teacher ratio. When teachers work with just 4-6 students at a time, they can personalize their instruction. They can evaluate individual students' strengths and find any gaps in their skills. Checking for understanding and adjusting the pacing of the lesson are more easily done in a small group than in whole class instruction. Individualized feedback to students is also provided in the moment.

Providing some additional practice time is often just what is needed for students to master key concepts. Our teachers use standardized assessments (Track My Progress), formative assessments in class (pre-tests, for one example) and their own tests and quizzes to determine the skills or concepts for which students may need more instructional support. From this data, they form the small instructional groups.

We believe small group instruction provides a comfortable environment for many students who may not want to participate as fully in a larger setting. Students enjoy the close attention from the teacher and once teachers get used to the management of rotating small groups, they enjoy the individualized attention they can provide to their students.

Making small group instruction work well is not easy! Teachers are tasked with designing meaningful, self-directed activities for students to work on in class while small group instruction is taking place. We are also fortunate at the Lyme School to have very talented educational assistants that support teachers and students as small group instruction takes place in many of our classrooms!

Congratulations to the Kindergarten class for successfully performing The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns for their teachers last Friday! They did an amazing job!

The third graders will be walking around the Lyme Common on Monday 12/19 from ~12:30-1:15 singing some snow-filled tunes! Families and community members who are available at that time are welcome to come listen to the 3rd grade (as well as sing along!).

K kids collaged snowpeople and printed winter villages using marker caps, cardboard, and legos. 1st grade students are sculpting clay snow people and second graders are working on a winter tapestry using fabric scraps and burlap. 3rd grade students are painting their own versions of a starry night and drawing winter villages, and 4th grade students are making winter gnomes with clay, 5th grade students are animating digital winter drawings with some falling snow.

At the end of a very long day of competition (and travel) at the First Lego League State Championship Tournament, our team was ranked 14th out of 44 teams for the robot game part of the competition. They also scored highly for their modeling of First Lego League Core Values and their innovation project (they invented a wind-powered regenerative braking system for cars). This is a tremendous result for this rookie team and they should be super proud.

Having some genuine fun during PE and Team Sport Play….nice job students!

Students in the primary grades have continued their work with eye- hand coordination activities. Recently, students worked with paddles and medium sized foam balls with a focus on hitting the ball in the air as many times as they could. Using their “ eyes and hands as a team”, students had to focus and use their motor planning skills to try and accomplish this challenging task.

Eye- hand coordination is an essential developmental skill for children in the primary grades as it reinforces the brain’s work with being able to combine visual and manipulative skills.

SAVE THE DATE!! This year, the middle school will be presenting Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach JR. More information about the show will be presented to students later this month. For now, please put March 17th and 18th (Friday and Saturday) into your calendars for show dates!

This week, a group of first grade engineers designed a tower using just 10 sheets of paper and tape that supported 100 pounds!

Lyme School PTO Meeting Link:
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/hqd-ixad-cri
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 407-545-7995‬ PIN: ‪522 319 072‬#

The next Board meeting is Thursday, January 12th at 7 PM at the Lyme School.

Jingle & Mingle

Our Annual Holiday Party is Back!

Sunday, December 18th, 3-6pm

at the Lyme Center Academy Building.

We have cookie decorating, music, caroling, festive refreshments, the Kids' holiday gift shop*, and outdoor fun**

If you enjoyed submitting a song, poem, story or dance to our virtual variety shows the last few years, please spread your talent and cheer in person this year! Dan Freihofer is generously emceeing the event. We will have sound equipment setup, and a stage ready for you to perform! Please bring your own instruments and join in the fun!

Sure to be fun and festive, we look forward to spreading holiday cheer with you in-person this year!

*We are looking for gifts in new or like new condition for the Kids’ Holiday Gift Shop. Ideas for donated gifts: jewelry, scarves, ties, games and puzzles with all the pieces! We would love help with wrapping presents too! Are you interested in participating? Please let us know! We’d love your assistance.

**Weather permitting.

Please email jingle@cclyme.org or call 603-795-0603 to RSVP.

ALL Together has Elementary and Middle/High School Parent Handbooks available free of charge.

These handbooks are a practical guide for parents, guardians, and others who interact with youth and addresses today's toughest issues.

The Elementary edition: "Raising kids isn’t easy, start the journey off on the right foot. Cell phones, social media, anxiety and even issues with alcohol and drugs are starting earlier than ever. Learn how to set boundaries and keep your child safe."

The Middle/High School edition: "This edition of our Parent Handbook addresses some of the toughest issues affecting today’s parents and their teens. This resource will raise awareness immediately and educate readers on the latest trends, misconceptions and warning signs associated with each issue. This handbook is being used to help prevent issues such as addiction, violence and suicide across the United States."

Please fill out this form if you are interested in a FREE handbook.

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