The Pulse of the Pride

Lyme School Friends,

Welcome to December!

We have gotten right back to work since returning from our short break! As is typical, the newsletter is always full of useful information! Don't forget to check out the PTO section for the latest PTO news. This note home provides information about conferences, report cards, transitions, and safety.

Our first round of parent/guardian and teacher conferences are next week. School is closed for a teacher in service day on Friday, December 8th in order to create time for parents/guardians to connect with teachers. The link to sign up for middle school conferences was sent in the last newsletter and lower school (K-5) teachers emailed directly to families. If your schedule does not match the teachers, please reach out. We are happy to work with you and find an alternative time.

We will be emailing home report cards on Monday. This is our first time doing this with ALMA. Although we have done all the training and necessary preparations, our fingers are still crossed that everything turns out OK. Our hope is that you receive the report cards on Monday in preparation for your conferences. Specific information about reports can be found in Mrs. Foxall's section below if you missed news in previous newsletters. Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we continue to learn this new student information system.

This time of year can be difficult for some students with many transitions. Breaks from school, conferences, delays, snow days, inside recesses, etc. are all reasons why students struggle with their routines. Although we try to give students plenty of advance notice of what is coming, sometimes we can't this time of year. Therefore, it is important to keep the lines of communication open with your students to help them navigate these important changes. For younger students specifically, it can be really hard to be flexible.

Safety is always a priority for us. One of the things we do at school is practice for different types of emergencies. Students know how to evacuate school for emergencies such as a fire since we do fire drills frequently, but some of our other procedures are not as familiar for both staff and students. This past week, we reviewed with all students and recess staff what a Reverse Evacuation is and why we have this emergency process in place. A Reverse Evacuation is used when students outside of the building enter the school quickly in order to avoid a dangerous or potentially dangerous situation outside. Fortunately, we have not had to implement this procedure. Later this winter, we will also be practicing the Shelter in Place procedure. If you ever have questions about our emergency response actions/procedures, please reach out to me.

The next newsletter will hit your inbox on December 15th!

School is closed December 22nd - January 2nd. Students will return after the winter break for 8AM on January 3rd.

As always, please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

Regards,

John P. D'Entremont, Principal

Dates:

December 4th - Report Cards Emailed Home

December 5th - 5th Grade Small Group Ensemble - 5:00 pm

December 8th - No School Parent/Teacher Conferences

December 22nd - January 2nd - School Closed/No School

If you are having trouble, please reach out to Amanda Perry or John D'Entremont.

So far, you should have:

1. Gotten yourself logged in.
2. Received an emergency alert.
3. Double checked your contact information.
4. Completed ALMA Start Registration for this year.
5. Been given instructions to opt in to the Directory. [To opt in to the directory, you can click on the link for “my info” or get there through your profile icon in the top-right corner. You can toggle your visibility in the directory.]
6. Received preliminary information about the standards based report cards.
7. Received a first trimester report card via email on December 4th.

Welcome to our newest member of the community! Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Gelineau on the arrival of Callie Ruth, born at 9:47 November 24TH at 6 lbs 5 oz. Many of your children know Mr. Gelineau as our talented Tech Guy!

Mary in 8th grade was awarded first place in the Daughters of the American Revolution Pemigewasset Valley Chapter Essay Contest this year. Her essay has been entered into the state contest. Mary wrote on the following prompt:

On May 14, 1897, John Phillip Sousa played his new march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” This song would become the national march of the United States on December 11, 1987. Imagine it is 1897 and you are a newspaper reporter for “The Philadelphia Times.” Your newspaper editor has asked you to write an article about the song being performed that day. Your article needs to tell us about Sousa’s life and the story behind the song. It is the first performance of the song, so make sure your article includes your thoughts about the music and how the audience reacts to what is seen and heard that day.

Well done, Mary!

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

As a result of the American Heart Association and Dartmouth Health, we have been able to start instruction of Hands Only CPR to our middle schoolers. Nurse Miller has been attending health classes and teaching this skill to our students.

Please review the provided links regarding COVID-19 recommendations from the Center for Disease Control (CDC):

• Individuals who are experiencing symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19 should isolate at home and follow CDC's recommendations Isolation and Precautions for People with COVID-19

• What to do if you were Exposed to COVID-19

The Lyme School Nurse's office is here to support you and your child and to promote healthy outcomes for students and staff.

Hello Lyme School Families!

Hope you all had a great week! AND, I bet at some point, you encountered a PROBLEM! Well, of course you did! We experience problems all the time because not everything can go our way and not everything is in our control - it keeps life interesting, that’s for sure ;-)

One unit I explore with students is called “Size of the Problem”. This is something I start in Kindergarten and deepen student understanding and application in first grade and beyond. We reference it throughout lower school Stanton Time as well as it is very applicable when we’re having big feelings or reacting to our situations. All feelings are valid and all feelings matter - it’s not about taking those away from others or ourselves. It’s about recognizing that our actions are also valid and matter and have an impact on those around us. We are working on the skill of recognizing our feelings and responding to those emotions in a way that doesn’t cause more upset or hurt for ourselves or others. We also talked about how we all say and do things when we are highly emotional that we wish we hadn’t. Kids AND adults have opportunities to repair and recover from those instances if and when they acknowledge them. We talked about how a big part of “Responsibility” (a Lyme school value) is about taking ownership of our behavior and recognizing when we said or did something we are not proud of or that was harmful. That self-reflection is an essential part of learning so we can make a plan and respond differently next time.

Below is a chart that is used to teach students about problems - how problems come in all shapes and sizes. How we determine the size of the problem is we ask ourselves a few questions:

• Is there danger? (Yes/No)

• How many people does it affect? (Just me? A few? Many? The Whole World?)

• Is a possible solution simple or complex or there isn’t a great solution?

• How much time does it take to solve (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years?)

Some students readily offer information about their school day and will give parents every detail possible. While getting information from other children about their day can be like pulling teeth. For these kiddos when asked about their school day they frequently offer one or few word answers like “okay”, “good,” “fine,” “I don’t know, ” or some children won't even reply at all.

Dr. Puckett-Perez, PhD, reminds us that, in general, kids want to talk about their day—they just prefer to do it in their own way. Recognizing and being sensitive to this individuality can help reduce resistance in these conversations.

Parents and caregivers can employ various approaches to encourage more profound discussions. Some children require time to process their day before opening up, while others need to feel comfortable and ready to engage. Additionally, the location can play a crucial role—some children may express themselves better in the car or at bedtime, while others might feel more at ease talking during an activity or game.

To facilitate richer conversations, consider using open-ended questions rather than specific ones that can be answered with just a word or two. Questions like "What is the silliest thing that happened today?" or "What part of your day was exciting or boring?" encourage more thoughtful responses. Using prompts like "Who, What, Where, How" or "Tell me more about…" tends to be more effective than closed-ended questions starting with "Do you…"

Sharing your own school experiences can also create opportunities for connection. After sharing, inquire if similar situations occur in their classroom or at school. Additionally, incorporating games like "Would You Rather" or the "Thorns and Rose" during dinner can offer a playful context for children to share about their day. Here is a website with the Thorn and Rose game.

Students in Ms. Collins’ 6th grade Social Studies class completed their research and podcast series: Shining a Light on the Dark Ages. This week students and teachers listened and gave feedback. Click the link to enjoy listening to their creations!

The fourth grade students finished up their poet research project and created posters using Canva for Education. This was a new creation tool for the students to learn and they excelled at using and sharing their knowledge with each other as they made their posters. You can see the posters on display outside the 4th grade classroom, across from the gym, or digitally here.

On the circulation side: all students received overdue notices this week. Please help students take a look around at home for any overdue books. If there are any books that are on the list that you think have been returned please let me know - we have had some discrepancies that have been happily resolved by checking the shelves!

With our switch to using ALMA for our student information system, we were also able to begin using standards-based report cards. This shift aims to provide a more comprehensive and transparent view of your child's academic progress.

Standards-based report cards are a departure from traditional grading systems that rely solely on letter grades, percentages, and even the 1-4 scale we used in the past. Instead, our new report cards focus on assessing students' mastery of specific academic standards or learning objectives. Our report card standards are aligned with approved national educational standards for each subject area. These standards outline the essential skills and knowledge students should acquire at each grade level, serving as clear benchmarks for academic success. Rather than receiving a single letter grade for a subject, your child's report card will provide detailed feedback on their performance in specific skill areas.

We feel a standards-based report card helps students, parents, and educators better understand the expectations for each subject at each grade level, fostering a sense of accountability and a shared commitment to academic success. The emphasis on specific learning objectives encourages a growth mindset, emphasizing progress and improvement over time.

Lyme School students are rated on each standard using a four category scale:

‘B’ - Below Standard - Student is performing below the expected standard.

‘M’ - Making Progress - Student is making progress on learning the standard.

‘M+’ - Meeting Standard - Student has mastered the standard.

‘E’ - Exceeding Standard - Student is exceeding mastery of the standard.

Aside from a rating on each standard, families will also see an overall rating as an average of all the standards. Teachers may also include a brief narrative describing how a student is fairing in a particular class. Specialists have included a comprehensive course description outlining topics and skills covered in a particular class.

We welcome feedback on our new report card, so please reach out with comments or questions.

After months of hard work and many iterations on their robot designs, both of our middle school robotics teams have successfully qualified for the State Championships in the First Lego League! This achievement is a testament to the teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving skills demonstrated by the teams.

Event Details: Date: Saturday, December 2nd Location: Windham High School

About the First Lego League: The First Lego League is an international robotics competition that challenges students to design, build, and program a robot using LEGO Mindstorms technology. Teams are also tasked with identifying and solving a real-world problem related to the annual theme. This year's theme, Masterpiece, has inspired our team to think critically about how to use arts and technology to promote something they like to do and develop innovative solutions.

Our Team's Journey: Since the beginning of September, our robotics teams have demonstrated impressive teamwork and perseverance. They've tackled complex missions, fine-tuned their robots' performance, and developed a creative solution to promote Dungeons and Dragons to a wide audience, and make it more accessible. The students' passion for building with Legos and coding the Spike Prime robots have shone throughout this journey.

Best of luck tomorrow Madelyn, Boon, Emil, Lucas, Owen, Elan, Forest, Jacob, Alex, Ismael, Bennett, and Jay!

And thank you also to the parent/coaches who have helped throughout the season, James Ricker, Dave Allen, Pete Roberts and Mike Novello

Over a dozen middle schoolers are taking up or expanding their ukulele skills in elective this session! A few days in and they are rocking the basics and have even played a handful of songs!

5th grade beginner band concert...

Is this coming Tuesday, December 5th! Our class has been diligent in preparing and welcomes anyone in the community to come by, learn about our instruments, and hear some music!

The Lyme Community is looking for student musicians! The CommunityCare of Lyme is looking for student musicians to perform at this year's CCL event on Sunday December 17 at the Lyme Center Academy building. Please reach out to Dan Freihofer if you have a student interested in performing! (Dan Freihofer: dan.freihofer@gmail.com)

We create a lot of stories in Spanish class! It's fun, it's silly, and we practice a lot of Spanish while we do it. After creating a story and recording a green screen video for it, each student in 1st through 4th grades creates a librito (little book). Students illustrate a librito, share them with each other, and then bring them home. Research shows that reading familiar text is one of the most effective ways to improve proficiency during acquisition of a second language, and these libritos are a great resource for that. Many students also like to use the books as a read-along book at home - listening to the audio from the green screen recording. We also make a copy of one student's book for each story and build a class biblioteca (library) of each of the stories we've created. These pictures are of the 4th grade's most recent "librito" session!

One thing that we can be most grateful for in PE is the positive energy and the willingness for students to try new things. Just before Thanksgiving break, the second grade spent class time performing a dance. Students were partnered up and asked to complete a series of dance moves to an eight beat count.

They far exceeded expectations and we had a fabulous time. The level of creativity could not have been greater and watching the kids was absolutely delightful!

Thanks, second grade, for a marvelous time dancing with the stars.

Dear Lyme School Community,

We hope you all are having a wonderful start to the holiday season!

Here's a list of everything that's happening in this busy month of December for the PTO:

5th Annual Giving Tree:

The Giving Tree is back this year! The Lyme School Virtual Giving Tree offers a special opportunity for our community members to express their generosity and consideration for others.

We have two unique ways you can support our community. With the help of Mrs. Stanton, an anonymous list has been compiled of items requested from families within our school community who may need some extra support this holiday season. Additionally, our wonderful teachers and staff have provided us with a wish list of items to help support them as they provide our children with an exceptional learning environment. The Giving Tree is a way to show our gratitude and support for our school and greater community of families.

You can find most of the requested items on these Amazon Wish Lists:

Family Wish List

Staff Wish List

There are a limited number of staff requests not available on Amazon. You can sign up for these items on this Sign Up Genius Page:

Staff Sign Up Genius

When you order from the Amazon wish lists, please click the Lyme School address when choosing an address to send it to. It will not automatically do it for you! Anything you sign up for on the Sign Up Genius can either be dropped off at the front office or sent to the school:

Lyme School PTO Giving Tree

35 Union Street

Lyme, NH 03768

Our team of PTO elves will then consolidate all the gifts, wrap them as needed, and deliver them to the appropriate family/staff member.

Here are the deadlines for delivery of gifts to the school. This is especially important to ensure family gifts will be wrapped and delivered in time:

FAMILY GIFTS: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13

STAFF GIFTS: MONDAY, JANUARY 8

Thank you to those who have participated already!

Teacher Appreciation Breakfast + Luncheon

Please join the Lyme School PTO to help provide breakfast and lunch in recognition and appreciation of our teachers/staff during conferences on Friday, December 8th, 2023.

Please sign up to bring an item as listed or donate funds for the PTO to purchase items. A PTO member will be collecting any items outside of the school on Thursday, December 7th from 7:40-8:10am and will be setting up in the cafeteria on Friday, December 8th from 7:40-8:00am.

Thank you for your contribution!

Click to Sign Up!

Kids Holiday Shop at CCL's Jingle + Mingle

The PTO will be hosting the Kids Holiday Shop at Jingle and Mingle this year on December 17th!

All proceeds made at the shop will be donated to the Lyme School PTO. Please donate any gently used items to be sold in the shop. The children will then have a chance to buy holiday gifts for their loved ones at the shop on the ground floor, while you participate in the merriment on the top floor! Donated items can be brought to the Lyme Center Academy Building from December 8th-15th.

We are looking for small-medium sized nice giftable items. No old electronics, furniture, or books please. Thank you!

NEW Solstice Celebration + Lantern Walk

Join us for a Winter Solstice Celebration + Lantern Walk sponsored by the Lyme School PTO and rePlay Arts!

The Winter Solstice Celebration + Lantern Walk will be a luminous celebration of the Winter Solstice, a time of change and community unity. This event symbolizes hope and togetherness, embracing the beauty of change and the different cultures and traditions that make up our vibrant community. It's a reminder that even in the darkest of times, light can bring us together, guiding us towards hope and renewal. Everyone is welcome to join in this journey of light and community, as we mark the passage of the seasons and the joy of togetherness.

The event will take place on Thursday, December 21st, from 3:30-6:30pm at the Lyme School.

• The event will start with lantern making in the Art Room and Design Lab from 3:30-4:30 pm.
• Indoor Music will be played/sung by musicians from our community, including Lyme School students from around 4-4:30.
• We will then proceed to walk towards and around the Lyme School field with our lanterns while singing and playing cold-hardy instruments.
• We will be back at the school to warm up and enjoy each other's company over light refreshments, desserts, and hot beverages by 5:30/6pm.

We're looking forward to celebrating with all of you soon!

More details to follow.

Lastly, the next Lyme School PT Meeting + Cookie Swap will take place on Wednesday, December 6th at 7 pm, both virtually and in person. Please email at pto@lymeschool.org for the address of where we'll be meeting in person or for the Google Meet link. As we have a number of events in the works, we appreciate all the help we can get!

Thank you!

Cheers,

The Lyme School PTO

Will take place on December 7th and then December 14th, 2023 at the School.

The holiday season can be joyous – but also sad, stressful, overwhelming. It’s helpful to understand and manage our own emotions and stress levels – and to have some perspective about how others may be affected by the holidays.

Start the season with a better understanding of the challenges and some ideas about how to cope with stressors and competing priorities.

Join the CCL Mental Health Team for a community conversation
with Dr. Bill Hudenko
Wednesday, December 6th, at 6pm on Zoom

Learn more and register for this FREE community discussion HERE.

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