June 1, 2022

Dear Lower School Families,

It is hard to believe that the 2021-22 school year finishes tomorrow afternoon! Our Lower School Closing Program begins at 2:00 p.m. in the Mackenzie Gymnasium (aka The Mack) with each grade sharing a song, and the program makes for a wonderful way to sail into summer! On behalf of the lower school faculty, we would like to thank you for all of the support you have provided this year and for entrusting your children to our care. We have enjoyed the academic and social growth seen this year. We wish you a wonderful summer filled creating many fond memories of fun times shared together.

We also want to thank our incredibly talented faculty members for their dedication to each student – creating a classroom environment that is welcoming and warm – and using their many talents to carry out the curriculum in both a dynamic and meaningful way. Our Lower School’s environment is one that they cultivate and develop, and they all deserve a long summer vacation! We also have a few faculty members who are leaving this year. Ms. Adrienne Moser has been at Academy for six years as our Speech and Langauge Pathologist. She is getting married later this month and moving to South Carolina. Mr. David Wong has been at Academy for three years leading our strings program at all levels of the school. He and his family are moving to New York this summer. Mrs. Kelsey Gilliam has been a lead PreK teacher at Academy for the past three years. She will be pursuing a new career outside of teaching. We are a better school because of their contributions, and we wish Adrienne, David and Kelsey all the best.

Report Cards

Report cards will be published on Wednesday, June 15, at 7:00 p.m. Please use the MySchoolApp to log in to see your children’s report cards and comments.

ERB Results 

For students in grades 3-5, you can access your children’s ERB standardized test results by logging into MySchoolApp, clicking on your children’s names and then selecting ERB Reports. To learn more about understanding ERB results, please visit this link. Please keep in mind ERBs are data points that we use to inform our academic programs. Your children’s grade reports will inform you of your children’s progress on grade-level standards this school year. If you have any questions about the ERB, please contact Director of Academic Programs Gabriel Paynter.

Lower School Closing Program and Last Day

The Lower School Closing Program will take place in The Mack at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 2. Parents and relatives are welcome to join us in this celebration of songs performed by each grade. It is recommended you arrive early as this event is very well-attended and begins promptly at 2:00 p.m. The school year comes to a close at the end of this program, and students will be dismissed from their homeroom classrooms. The Lower School Carnival organized by PACA follows immediately. Students attending the carnival are expected to have at least one parent or guardian present as the carnival is not supervised by Academy faculty.

Our dress code for the last day of school is below:

• Solid-colored, short-sleeved shirt (preferably bright) with NO LOGOS (may be turned inside-out)
• Fifth-graders will wear their specially-designed class t-shirts
• Dark-colored (black, navy, gray, etc.) shorts of any type (jean, cargo, athletic, etc.) of school-appropriate length
• Socks and tennis shoes     
• Hats are not allowed
• Your children may certainly wear dress code if they prefer   

Last Day Dismissal

Immediately following the closing program, all students will return to their classrooms to be dismissed to parents or guardians. Please pick up your children from their classrooms and head out to enjoy the carnival on Hondros Field. Students riding the bus will go home as normal unless SchoolPass is updated with a change and/or the school is notified otherwise. CASE is not available on June 2.

Parenting Article

This week’s article is entitled “Parents who raise ‘confident, smart and empathetic’ children do these 5 things when their kids misbehave” from CNBC.com. You can find it using this link.

Summer Activities

Many parents ask “What should we work on this summer?” Rather than jumping into a stack of summer workbooks, we encourage you to spend time with your children engaging in authentic learning activities. Go to the public library and read together. Write cards and letters to family and friends. Play math games such as Ken Ken. Come walk the campus grounds with your children leading the way or explore a local Metro Park. When possible, limit screen time. If your children are engaging with electronics, monitor for content that is developmentally and age-appropriate. Here is a slideshow from Academy with many summer resources you may wish to consider.

We wish you all a safe, relaxing and happy summer!

Be Well,

Mark, Brelle, and Gabriel