January 29, 2021

Dear Lower School Families,

Report Cards have been available online in MySchoolApp since January 26th. To access the report cards, log in to your accounts, select your lower school children’s names, click on the Progress tab and then on Report Cards. For quarters two and four, report cards are both narrative and checkboxes. I recommend you sit down with your children and ask them to talk about how they feel about their progress this quarter and share the comments with them. Questions such as “What are you most proud of?” and “What areas do you think you need to focus more attention on?” can be positive ways to start conversations with your children. If you have any questions about report cards, please contact your children’s teachers directly.

Thank you for your feedback about school lunches. There will be a few changes made that will include hot items multiple times per week. The upcoming week’s menu, for instance, will include chicken nuggets and turkey corn dogs. Our goal is to provide a healthy kid-friendly meal while balancing safety protocols when eating inside the classroom.

I am very happy to report that Mr. Ditty, our lower school counselor, has returned to work from his medical leave earlier this month. He returned two weeks ago and is doing very well resuming his counseling responsibilities as well as his wellness classes. He is currently working part-time and gradually increasing back to full-time. Everyone was happy to see his smiling face when he returned! He also wanted to send his sincerest thanks to everyone for all of your wonderful support during his medical leave.

Feel free to read the latest Student Support Services Newsletter where you will find contributions from all three counselors, our nurses and our specialist in health and wellness.

If you need to drop something off at school for your children during the day, please place it in the marked box in the foyer and notify your children’s teachers that you have left something. Make sure you have your children’s first and last names both clearly marked on it.

Students are encouraged to wear red or pink to school on Thursday, February 11th, because that is the day we will celebrate Valentine’s Day. Lower-schoolers may “dress down” that day if their clothes reflect the spirit of Valentine’s Day. Friday, February 12th, is a professional development day for our faculty so students will not be on campus.

The Parent Book Club will begin reading Best Friends, Worst Enemies by Dr. Michael Thompson. We will meet on Tuesday, February 9th, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. via Zoom to discuss chapters 1-5. Please complete this form if interested in joining.

This week’s parenting article is from The Greater Good Science Center and is entitled “Five Childhood Experiences That Lead to a More Meaningful Life.” It can be found using this link.

Upcoming Events
  • February 10: Explorer Parent Presentation (more info to follow)
  • February 11: Valentine’s Day Celebration (see above)
  • February 12: Professional Development day for faculty (NO SCHOOL)
  • February 15: Presidents Day (NO SCHOOL)
  • February 24: Faculty Collaboration Day (NO SCHOOL)

Be well,

Head of Lower School