The Lawrence Elementary School​

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Principal's Corner

                         
Principal’s Newsletter for March 2020

Parent Conferences are right around the corner on Wednesday, March 11, Thursday, March 12, and Friday, March 13. I want to strongly encourage all families to either attend the parent conferences or conduct a phone conference with your child’s teacher. This is a great opportunity to hear how your child is doing and to work with the teacher on how to help your child improve. Sharing your goals for your children and discussing ways to collaborate on achieving those goals is ideal! There will be early dismissal at 1:25 p.m. on those days and lunch will be served.

                                   
Spring Book Fair: March 9-13, 2020

Our Spring Scholastic Book Fair is here. Please make plans to visit our Book Fair and be involved in shaping your child’s reading habits. The funds we raise through Scholastic are used to enhance the literary selections in both your child's classrooms, as well as the library.

The Book Fair will run from Monday, March 9 - Friday, March 13 (same week as parent-teacher conferences). Please consider volunteering your time during the Book Fair; it is a week-long event that requires a lot of help from our families. A huge thank you to Parent Kelly Weisenberg and Administrative Assistant Mary Monarca for organizing the event and beautifully decorating our library with a dinosaur theme.  

Dr. Seuss’s Birthday Party on Read Across America Day on March 2 was another great success. I love seeing so many families attend and participate in arts and crafts, reading, family games, and of course face-painting. I want to thank our two amazing and creative face painters, Aimee Blair from Party Face and Mildred Martinez, for making this a special night. A huge thank you deserves to go to Teachers Melissa Nelson, Kerry Darby, Kelly Tuttle, and Shannon Johnson for co-planning this event and organizing the materials with me. This annual event is a great way to celebrate reading and family time.

Thank You Note - Kind Hearts in our Community

Dear students, faculty and staff at Lawrence School,

WOW!  Your recent deliveries of food to Amazing Grace were huge!  197 pounds on 1/17/20, 66 pounds on 2/12/20, and a whopping 947 pounds on 2/7/20!  That’s 1,210 pounds of food! Your donation fills dozens of shopping bags for those families who turn to Amazing Grace for some of their food. 

We are very grateful that you care about folks in our community who need a bit of help and that you are willing to lug all those boxes and cans to school for those families.

Thanks to all! 

With heartfelt thanks, 

Mimi Rich, Coordinator Families Feeding Families

Food Donation Program

 News from the Library Media Center

 Students in grades three and five will have a chance to practice the Question Formulation Technique. Third graders will be conducting an inquiry into how toys are made, and fifth graders will be studying what the census is and why it is important. In conjunction with their classroom unit on regions, fourth graders will be Mystery Skyping with other classes in the United State to guess each other’s location. First and second graders will be exploring books nominated for the Charter Oak Children’s Book Award and the Nutmeg Award.       

Once again, the PTA is holding the Scholastic Book Fair in the library media center during the week of March 9.  Stop in before or after your child’s conference and pick out some great books.  THANK YOU to the PTA for all the work they do to support literacy in our school!               

Kerry Darby, Library Media Specialist

IB UPDATE: We are well into our second IB units of the year in Grades 1-5. 

First Grade is inquiring into How the World Works and how living things need natural resources to grow and survive through their study of plant and animal life cycles. They had a recent visit from Mystic Aquarium to learn about animal adaptations.  They are experimenting with bean plants growing under different conditions to explore what plants need to survive.  They are learning the Spanish vocabulary for the life cycle of several plants and animals. 

Second grade is inquiring into Where We Are in Place and Time and how people's actions and beliefs shape our world through their study of biographies, including famous artists like Matisse. They are exploring what they believe the qualities are that makes someone a hero and applying what they've learned from famous people's lives to see how they can make a difference in their community. 

Third grade is inquiring into How the World Works and how our world is composed of natural and man-made structures through their study of non-fiction text structures, Colonial CT history, architectural styles, and the structures of animal adaptations. They will be applying what they're learning to a project where they create an animal and give it behavioral and structural adaptations to enable it to survive.   

Fourth grade is inquiring into Where We Are in Place and Time and the discoveries, explorations, and migrations of humankind through their study of the regions of the US.  We've been able to hear personal migration stories from many of our own students' families and students learned how to come up with deep interview questions to gather information they need. 

Fifth grade is inquiring into Sharing the Planet and how human advancement can cause conflict with other living communities through their study of the colonies and their relations with indigenous peoples and how environmental disasters affect living communities.  They will work as "influencers" to create their own vlogs as they pretend to be colonists convincing someone to settle in their chosen colony. 

Kindergarten is just about to begin their next unit, Sharing the Planet, where they will inquire into the features of three animal habitats (polar, rainforest, and desert) and will learn about how animals can impact their environment.  They'll be developing research and social skills as they conduct experiments, learn about how animals survive, and then create their own books about an animal from our local environment.    

Our Learner Profile attribute that we are focusing on in March is Risk-Taker.  Being a global citizen who takes risks means we approach uncertainty with determination, we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas, and we are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.  We are encouraging our students to take chances with their learning, to make a new friend, and to speak up when they notice someone not being treated nicely or fairly.  

                             Smarter Balanced Practice for Families

Information on how families can access Smarter Balanced practice tests can be found on our website: (https://www.middletownschools.org/)

• Click on the blue circle that says Curriculum and Instruction
• On the left, click on State Standardized Testing/Assessments
• Click on Smarter Balanced
• Click on  Click here for Smarter Balanced Practice & Training Sites. Note: You do NOT need to enter your name, just hit the sign in button and the test will appear as a guest sign in. Just pick the grade level. If you have trouble with your browser, see below.
• Click on the box in the top left that says Take the Practice and Training Tests
• Make sure the button next to Guest User is toggled to ON
• Click on the green Sign In button at the bottom of the page
• Choose the grade level and click on the test you wish to practice.  There are options for Math and ELA practice tests and practice performance tasks.  Science (NGSS) can also be practiced (near the bottom of the page), but it is only Grade 5 level.

Looking for Preschoolers 3-5 Years Old

A Family & Consumer Science class is being offered to high school students with a child care concentration. The students will be given the opportunity to work with 10 preschool aged children to teach them in a nursery school program.

PRESCHOOLERS HAVE TO:       BE RESIDENTS OF THE COMMUNITY

     BE AT LEAST 3-5 YEARS OF AGE          BE POTTY TRAINED

HAVE AVAILABLE TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM MIDDLETOWN HIGH SCHOOL

THE PRESCHOOL IS FREE!

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED OR KNOWS ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED, PLEASE EMAIL KRISTEN HAMILTON at bluedragonsprek@gmail.com OR CALL 860-704-4500 EXT. 4022

THE PRESCHOOL WILL RUN from End of October 2020 - June 2021 School Year

It is offered on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:30am-12pm.

It is located at Middletown High School (200 LaRosa Lane).

Social-Emotional Strategies:

A focus at Lawrence School is in helping students to be able to recognize their feelings and to help them learn strategies to self-regulate and respond appropriately to triggers. Communicating their feelings in a constructive way is emphasized, and the Meta-Moment is shared with students.

We discuss that all of us – every student in the school, every teacher, every parent – we all have triggers, something that may get us angry or upset. Learning to recognize our triggers and the triggers of others helps us with our emotional responses. Taking the time to stop and think about the best way to respond to a peer or adult when one is triggered is emphasized.

Sample Strategies:     Take 3 deep breaths, Get a drink of water, Count to 10, Go to the Calming Corner [take a break], Draw, Write, Read a Book, Think of a Place/Person/Pet that makes you happy, Talk to someone you trust, Squeeze or hold a comfort object, Positive self-talk

VISION:

The Lawrence School is an inclusive community that supports and values the academic, social, physical, and emotional development of every student through an engaging and relevant transdisciplinary curriculum that fosters students as collaborators, communicators, thinkers, and global citizens.

MISSION STATEMENTS:

1. We foster students’ emotional intelligence because we believe social-emotional learning is key to the development of the whole child.

    

2. We cultivate a growth mindset among students, families, and staff because we believe in the value and importance of perseverance, varied learning dispositions, risk-taking, goal setting, and reflection.

    

3. We foster a safe and welcoming environment that promotes a mutually-supportive school community of empathetic and collaborative individuals who are globally responsible, curious, and action-oriented.

    

4. We engage learners by purposefully planning lessons that encourage inquiry and critical thinking, value student interest, and promote collaboration and discourse among all students.

    

5. We value a balanced and comprehensive arts and physical education program that enhances the core curriculum and allows students to explore, experience, and appreciate world cultures and language experiences while encouraging creativity, curiosity, and healthy movement.

    

6. We provide rigorous challenges so students take ownership of their learning as they use reasoning and thinking skills and academic risk-taking in order to develop creativity, perseverance, and recognition of their role in the global environment.

Statement of Non-Discrimination

The Middletown Board of Education is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, and it does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, age, marital status, civil union, military or veteran status, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or past or present physical or mental disability in any of its education programs, activities, or employment policies.  All educational programs and offerings, including vocational education and extracurricular activities, subscribe to this policy. Marco Gaylord, Director of District Operations, has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the district non-discrimination policies and may be reached at 311 Hunting Hill Avenue, Middletown, CT  06457; phone (860) 638-1485.