A Letter from the Lower School Headmaster
Dear Lower School Families,

We are excited to announce there are no new components being added to distance learning this week. Phone calls, emails, Zoom conferences, remote learning packets, and Google Classroom will continue for the duration of the school year. We apologize for any frustration encountered with passwords and accessing the digital version of the weekly packet and sincerely hope most of those struggles are behind us. We hope the videos as an added supplement to the instruction in the packets is beneficial as your scholars are continuing to learn.
Student Material Pick-up

For those of you who were not able to pick up your child's materials this week, round two pick up for materials from students’ desks and cubbies will be Monday, April 27 from 11am to 1pm. Please come through the green car line with your students’ placards, and faculty will place the materials directly into your trunk. It is important for everyone’s health that you remain in your cars throughout this process.
Field Day Shirts

If you ordered a Field Day shirt and have not yet received it, shirts will be available for pick-up from Mrs. Rogers in the courtyard on Mondays during packet pick-up and drop-off. Thank you for your patience with the unavoidable delay in delivering these orders.
On Christmas Day, 1863, at the height of the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem he called "Christmas Bells." It was later set to music and is now known more widely as the carol "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day":
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
Longfellow was inspired to write the poem as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit—resilience meaning the ability to recover from a difficult situation. Our community is resilient, even in the face of this terrible crisis. Our awareness, understanding, and compassion will carry us through this challenging time together, and we will emerge one day soon in goodwill, in strength, and in virtue.

Sincerely,
Marcy Finn
Headmaster, Lower School
Great Hearts Irving