The Pulse of the Pride

Lyme School Friends,

The year is flying by. This is the last newsletter of May already. It is hard to believe that is the case.

Our spirit week hosted by the PTO was a great success and students and staff alike enjoyed the change of pace. The participation each day was outstanding!

Our May Pole celebration was a huge success! Thank you for attending and a big thank you to Mrs. Skelly and Ms. O'Leary for their leadership.

We want to remind families that school starts at 8AM and ends at 3PM. We have a number of students straggling in quite a bit after 8 and students lingering after school until 3:15. Please know that we open the doors in the morning at 7:45AM and after our buses depart students should already be picked up or be at the after school program. The library has asked that parents not use the library parking lot after school unless a family is visiting the library. Thanks for your help with these reminders for these last few weeks of school.

Reminder that we do not have school on Monday, May 29th.

The next newsletter will hit your inbox on June 2nd. Hello, June!

I will be out of town next week with the eighth graders in Washington, DC. Have a great weekend and week!

Regards,

John P. D'Entremont, Principal

Field Trips:

5/25 - MS Elective to Smart's Mountain

5/22 - 5/26 - 8th Grade DC Trip

6/9 - Mt. Washington Elective Hike (rain date 6/12)

Dates:

5/29 - School Closed

6/2 - MS Activity Night @ 7PM

6/14 - 8th Grade Recognition @ 5PM in the gymnasium

6/15 - Last Day of School, 2 PM Dimissal

For any parents interested in summer school programming with a focus on academics (reading, writing, math), please complete the attached Google Form. The plan is to run summer programming from July 5th-July 28th, 4 days a week (Monday - Thursday) from 8:00 AM - noon.

The district has Title 1 Grant money available which allows us to open programming to more students than in the past. Whether your child has an IEP, 504 plan, received intervention or you simply believe would benefit from summer programming, please complete the form attached and I will reach out to you within a week to discuss the programming and answer any questions you may have.

For any students who require special education services during the summer (like Speech and Occupational Therapy, individual academic work), case managers will schedule meetings to discuss these needs and the team will set up sessions as needed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call at your convenience (gtomlinson@lymeschool.org, 603-795-2125 ext. 106).

Warmly, Geoff

Director of Student Services

To purchase a yearbook, please send $15.00 cash or check to school.

Checks should be made payable to “The Lyme School”.

Please write “yearbook” in the memo line.

Enclose with your payment whether you would like the yearbook sent home or if you prefer to pick it up at the main office.

We hope to distribute books on 6/14/23.

We will have our final middle school activity night on June 2nd at 7PM - 8:30PM.

This is next school year's academic calendar for your planning purposes.

Please spread the word! If you know of a child entering kindergarten please have the family call the school at (603) 795-2125 and speak with Amanda Perry. We look forward to meeting our new kindergartners for the 2023-2024 school year!

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

Thank you for letting us know when your children are absent due to illness. If you are emailing Amanda Perry in the front office, you can also add nurse@lymeschool.org.

Nurse Miller is traveling to DC with the 8th graders, so she will be away next week. There will be nurse coverage all week just like Wednesdays all year.

Hydrate! Here are a few tip for staying hydrated:

• Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning.
• Carry a water bottle.
• Drink water at lunch.
• Make use of our water bottle filling stations.

Make tick checks a regular part of you and your child's nighttime routine.

Ticks can carry Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection that is spread to humans by infected ticks.

Most common symptom: Circular rash around the tick bite appearing anywhere from 3-30 days after the bite.

• Other symptoms: Fever, headache, fatigue, joint pain and neurological problems.
• Prevent Complications: Early detection (tick checks) and diagnoses with blood test
• Treatment: Antibiotics
• Prevention: There is no vaccine available to prevent Lyme Disease. Doing daily tick checks of your body every time after being in wooded or grassy areas and quickly removing any ticks are the best ways to prevent infection.

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

Thank you so much for your partnership in keeping us all healthy.

Hello Lyme Families,

Hope everyone is having a good week! Beautiful weather ahead!

I wanted to share some things going on in Stanton Time that absolutely have to do with people’s mental health - people getting what they NEED!

Third grade, students participated in a silly yet powerful activity about FAIRNESS, one of our Lyme School Values. We first came up with a student-generated definition of FAIRNESS - the majority of suggestions included the sentiment “everyone gets the same thing”. We then used that definition for the following activity: Each student got a card with an injury or an illness, these ranged from “dump truck ran over my big toe” to “scraped my knee while being chased by a zombie” to “Band-aid allergy”. As the credentialed and practicing physician for that 30-minutes, I went around to each student and gave them a treatment. Regardless of the injury, everyone received the same treatment - A BAND-AID (bummer for the kid with the band-aid allergy…sorry Henry). Some students were relieved by this treatment, some argued that the treatment was not effective. The students were outraged! “Why are you giving everyone a band-aid?! That isn’t going to help them! That isn’t what they need!” I told students that I was a fair physician and we agreed initially that fairness was when “everyone gets the same thing”. We started to think more critically about this definition of fairness. Eventually, students revised their definition: Fairness is when everyone gets what they NEED. We agreed that this definition was more suitable. It was a very fun class and students provided some great examples of when students might not be getting the SAME things, but when they might be getting what they need, and that is ok! We will discuss this more next class to see how this shows up in and outside of school and the classroom. Students also enjoyed discussing a thought-provoking image to see how they connected with our activity and definition of FAIRNESS. Very insightful future social justice advocates

Image source: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Diversity-Inclusion-discussions/The-difference-between-Equality-amp-Equity-images/td-p/1133961

I also wanted to share an event happening this weekend, see below for flyer and details

Please see this event happening this Sunday, 5/21 sponsored by Lyme Community Cares Mental Health Team.

This Sunday (5/21) from 4-7pm there will be a community conversation at the Lyme School on Mental Health & Suicide. This conversation is part of our efforts to uplift Mental Health Awareness Month by breaking stigma, together.

To learn more about the event, speakers please click here:https://www.cclyme.org/mhawarnessmo/

Will you join this important community conversation? Please register HERE.

It is important families are aware of what is out there and it is hard keeping up with technology.

We understand that all families are different. Some families decide to give their child a phone earlier than others. Some families have iPads, iPods, chromebooks, tablets and other devices at home and others do not. Regardless of your situation, it is important to keep the lines of communication open with your child and to pay attention to their online activities regardless of device. There are tons of resources out there for you.

This site has some basic general information about social media: what parents should know.

This site is helpful to reinforce messaging at home about social media.

This site is quite useful for families to navigate different platforms and parental controls.

This site explains how to set up parental controls from xifinity. If you have another provider, that company probably has a similar guide.

There are also resources out there to help stay connected with your teen. Here are some helpful tips. Here is an example of more formalized training.

Thank you for your partnership and continued communication with us to ensure our students are being responsible online.

There are so many amazing new titles to choose from in the Library Commons, with more on the way! The middle school students were browsing the shelves before advisory time this morning:

Two weeks ago, I shared the top circulated books for Lyme School students, which clearly showed graphic novels being the most popular. The sixth graders recently read graphic novels for humanities and created book recommendations using Canva. All comic recommendations are on display outside of the Library Commons:

As we approach the end of the school year, be on the lookout for overdue book notices. We will also start transitioning student check-outs to family accounts. If you do not have a family account at the Converse Free Library, please reach out. In the next newsletter, I will share summer reading and summer media resources.

We have begin our spring standardized testing required by the state. All students in Grades 3-8 take tests in Math and English Language Arts and students in Grades 5 and 8 also take a test in Science. Statewide assessments are an important part of a student’s core educational program. They provide an evaluation of student mastery of content and skills in core academic areas and help inform future instruction in the classroom.

These standardized tests are taken on the computer and are computer-scored. Student results for the NH standardized tests are generally available upon the student completing the test. In June, once all of our students have taken the tests, we will send home an access code and directions explaining how parents can access their student(s) results through the Family Portal, a secure website managed by the New Hampshire Statewide Assessment System.

Congratulations to the K-5 Classes for their wonderful Maypole Celebration! We had a great community turn out and lovely weather. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event happen. Happy Spring!

The Middle School Knitting Elective is also enjoying the lovely weather! Some student have knit before and many students are learning to knit for the first time!

Photography is one of my favorite things to teach! We began this elective by creating our very own Camera Obscura. We blacked out all the windows in the Art Room (no small feat) and poked one hole in the plastic. We waited for our eyes to adjust and were amazed to see the outside projected on the ceiling and walls. With this knowledge of the inside of the camera, we worked with some pinhole cameras and black and white photo paper. Students made photograms to understand how light sensitivity and darkroom chemistry works. Once they understood the sequence (develop, stop, fix, wash), they made images by exposing the paper in the pinhole cameras. A paper negative was made first, which we photographed and digitally turned into positive images. These last few classes, we have taken our cameras outside for photo walks and I have asked the students to think more deeply about composition.

For the past 29 years, a wonderful interdisciplinary opportunity has presented itself and allowed for what is being learned in the classroom to expand into PE.

Each year, the fourth graders study the Greeks and Greek mythology. As part of a culmination of their learning, the Greek Olympics take place in PE. Each city state competes in activities after the reading of the Olympic oath is read and the “torch“ is held in celebration of the games.

This is an excellent way to combine learning and friendly competition and for Mr. Dayno and I to collaborate and work together to allow the students to experience a rewarding and fun portion of the class curriculum.

This is an all time favorite and as they say “ Let the games begin!”

In 4th grade Spanish, we have a "bucket filling" system to help recognize just some of the many, many, good choices that students make every day. Señor Harkins puts paper clips into a cup when he "catches the students making good choices", and when that cup is filled, an activity is randomly chosen from a list of activities that the students created. The pictures below are from the final round of a lip-sync competition that was energetic and hilarious. Keep up the good choices, 4th graders!

This week, grade 5 wrapped up their health class learning about the components of a healthy relationship. We discussed what makes a relationship healthy, whom we have relationships with, and the importance of being surrounded by people who build us up, make us feel good about ourselves, and who we feel connected to in a positive way.

Our final activity included making word clouds and filling those clouds with people, places, and things that help build relationships that are strong and with whom and what brings us happiness .

This was a wonderful group to work with!! Their contributions to class discussions and their questions made for a rewarding session of adolescent health. They have a lot to be proud of!

Just another day of getting stronger and more fit in Elite fitness.

Very proud of this group!

Thanks for participating in Spirit Week!

For more information about the Lyme School PTO, please check out our web page.

You can also join our Facebook Group: The Lyme School PTO

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Warmly,

Brigette Cameron

Lyme School PTO Secretary

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#

Will take place on June 7, 2023.

Topic: Lyme School Board Meeting

Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/94551634224?pwd=cXNtQzQvYXQ1anJ4WkptR3B1LzhHZz09

Meeting ID: 945 5163 4224

Passcode: zrUr1R

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Meeting ID: 945 5163 4224

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I'm happy to announce that I'll be offering a STEM-based design camp this summer!

The camp will run August 14th-18th from 8:30-noon. It is open to rising 3rd through 6th graders. (Current 2nd through 5th grade)

The goal of Design Camp will be to have lots of fun doing a variety of hands-on design/build activities. We will be based in the Design Lab and many of the challenges will also take us outside. Activities may include water balloon launchers, gliders, hot air balloons, egg-drop, water bottle rockets, and more!

Please click here to register your child, or print the attached registration form and submit it to the Lyme School main office. Once the registration is complete, I will send along confirmation and payment information.

Thanks for your interest and consideration. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Mr. Brian Betournay

Spanish Summer Camp is open to current 1st through 5th graders, and will run from June 26th to June 30th. There are half and full day options.

From Señor Harkins:

At Spanish Summer Camp, we play a lot. We do a lot of the same activities and games that we do during Spanish class at school, but it is much more laid-back and summery. We spend a lot of time outdoors, we make up stories, play games, sing songs, and it's a great way to kick off summer. It happens right here at the school.

To register, you can fill out this google form, or contact Señor Harkins for a paper registration form (or for any other questions).

Super Quest is back for 2023 with an exciting theme focused on diverse ways to get around the Upper Valley. We invite you to share this challenge with your students and families as a fun, place-based activity they can do together this summer.

Super Quest 2023: Ways to Go - Choose your own adventure as you use diverse modes of transportation to get to and through Quests and partake of group Guided Quests involving public transit, biking, and our oldest "highways," our rivers! Go solo or make a team to fulfill a Challenge Card and be entered in a prize drawing. The program was developed in partnership with Advance Transit, Inc.

Learn more and download a Ways to Go! Challenge Map at https://vitalcommunities.org/valley-quest/super-quests/

Questing is a place-based education model of creating and exchanging treasure hunts in order to collect and share your community’s distinct natural and cultural heritage — your special places and stories. Valley Quest is a unique Upper Valley tradition that runs seasonally starting May 1.

FRIDAY NIGHT!!

May 19th

7:30pm
Alumni Hall, Haverhill
$20

This is going to be a great one! If you missed their video recording earlier this year, this will be another chance to see Haverhill's own folk band as they perform their new album, "Only This Far." According to Mallory, it is an "album of of forgiveness, of grief, of finding that jagged bittersweet, of pure joy. It's a collection of the the past few years...its an album about time...these endless days and too short years."

And....they made April's Top 10 for the Folk Radio Chart!

For Tickets: www.courtstreetarts.org

Doors open at 6pm. Dinner starts at 6:30pm

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