Weekly Notes November 13, 2020

Weekly Notes: November 13, 2020

Dear LFS Families,

I was reading in this morning's national news that the Ivy League officially canceled all of their winter sports. I presume that other college athletic leagues will soon follow suit. The person representing the league expressed confidence in the decision but also genuine sadness at having to take this step, given all the athletes, coaches, fans, and family members impacted. That feeling of sadness resonated strongly with me as we made the decision last week to transition back to distance learning following Thanksgiving.

It's not that we feel we have much of a choice given our need to keep children and staff members safe amidst the spike in the virus and as holiday and flu season await. And it's not that we feel unsure about our distance learning (DL) program. In fact, we are close to finalizing a revised DL schedule that offers a longer day for children in grades 1-6, that builds in outdoor on-campus times weekly for each cohort with their teacher, and that provides every group of students all of the specials classes each week, rather than on a rotation as before. And all of the time that we have spent with your children over these past five weeks (with one more to come next week) will make the transition to DL that much smoother, given the routines and relationships that have been firmly established. Even though DL will never match in-person learning, we believe strongly that we can continue to engage the children academically, socially, and emotionally, and keep them connected to their teachers and to one another. We also feel fortunate, as I mentioned to the kids at this week's Meeting for Worship, that we've had this time together this fall.

At the same time, it is sad that we are in this position and that our children and teachers won't have the opportunity over the next weeks to be together physically and to share the excitement that happens in our classrooms and across our campus. It's been so much fun for me getting to know each of your children too, and I'll miss seeing them out at carpool, recesses, and in classes. I look forward to welcoming them back as soon as we feel we are able. We recognize as well how hard this is on families, particularly those of you with young children.

Just as a reminder, here's the plan for the coming days:

November 23 & 24: No School (time for teachers to prepare for the transition back to DL)
November 25, 26, & 27: No School for Thanksgiving Break
November 30: No School (planned report writing day for teachers)
December 1-4: First days of DL for all students (Grades Pre-K to 6)
December 7-11: Continued DL
December 14-18: Continued DL
December 21 to January 1: No School for Winter Break
January 4-11: Continued DL (reassess ability to return Pre-K students sooner)
January 11-15: Continued DL
January 19: Reassess DL versus RTC (for some or all students)

I look forward to staying in close touch with you as we navigate these COVID twists and turns together, and I hope that you'll continue to attend our virtual parent coffees at 8:15 each Friday morning.

Have a great weekend!

Best, Tr. Neal

Tr. Mingh's Kindergarteners Host Gathering

Tr. Mingh's students read what they had written and drawn about autumn. They sang an acorn song and a pumpkin song. Great job! Thanks, students and Trs. Mingh, Andrea, and Amelia!

Tr. Jill's 2nd Graders Learn Math Outdoors

Tr. Jill's 2nd graders have math class outdoors, just like when they are in the classroom. She writes the problem on her white board, and students do their work on their own white boards.

Tr. Karen's 5th and

6th Grade Students

are an Editor's Circle

Tr. Karen has devised "Editor's Circle" specifically to give students practice writing and using language, while at the same time exercising their imagination and appealing to their sense of humor. Pictured are Tr. Karen 5th and 6th grade students enthusiastically engaged in Editor's circle during language Arts class. Thanks, Tr. Karen!

Tr. Zak's 4th Graders

Prepping for their Gathering next week, Tr. Zak's 4th graders work distanced and masked, but very much together.

3rd Graders with Trs. Dee and Steve

A chilly, wet Friday is a perfect time to read a story. Tr. Dee picks the perfect books. Tr. Steve teaches art on the porch. Beautiful work, third graders!

Pre-K Welcomes a New Student

Please welcome new Pre-K student, Maggie Fowler. Maggie is Emma Fowler's sister (1st grade). Please add Maggie's name to your Directory.

Maggie joined the class on a leaf walk, after reading "We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt," by Steve Metzenger. We then did leaf math by counting and sorting.

Also, the children learned about wool. Thanks to Tamara Suber and Santiago (and their sheep), we had some wool for the children to explore. They made their own "sheep" to take home.

Children's Scholarship Fund

Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia offers 4-year partial scholarships to K-8th grade students. Scholarships are now available for qualifying families for the 2021-2022 school year. If families meet their eligibility requirements, they can apply for scholarship support to be used at our school.

Our application is open through March 1, but families should apply by this Sunday, November 15 for their best chance at being selected in our random lottery.

Open House Nov. 17

Our next virtual Open House for Prospective Families takes place on Tuesday, November 17 at 9:00 AM. Please help us spread the word about Lansdowne Friends School to your friends and neighbors who may be looking for a school placement for the 2021-2022 school year. Interested families may call the school to register or email me at [email protected].

Thank you.

Nancy

School Community Association

The next SCA meeting will be Wednesday, 11/18, at 7:00pm. Please join us via Zoom as we discuss the transition to virtual learning. If you have any topics you’d like to add to the agenda, or if you have any questions, please contact Abby Martucci or Christy Vasquez.

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