August 26, 2022

Dear Lower School Families,

We are finishing up our first week of the new school year, and it has been a joy to see the enthusiasm of the students and our families similarly matched with the enthusiasm of our faculty as children return to “school mode” after the long summer break. I asked a student on the first day as he exited his car if he had had a good summer. He said he had a great summer and when I asked what the best part of it was, he replied, “Coming back to school today!” It was an exhilarating way to start the day and see the excitement on students’ faces as they met new friends and got reacquainted with “old” friends.

Carline

While at the start of every year we experience lengthy afternoon carlines as we re-establish routines for returning families and establish routines for new families, please note the following to help make it run smoothly:

• It is imperative that all drivers remain in the carline and do NOT pull out to bypass the carline for the safety of all.
• Make sure you have registered all cars that will be picking your children up with SchoolPass. If you are not registered, we do not know you are arriving in the carline, thus your children remain in their classrooms.
• Only utilize “Parent Pick Up” if you are walking up to the blacktop to pick up your children. Please also carry your car tags with you when you walk up to pick up your children. All dismissal is from the blacktop playground for parents walking to pick up children.
• When dropping off in the morning, please have your children unbuckled, masks on (if wearing one), goodbyes said and backpacks ready to go as you enter the carline.
• Pull all the way forward when dropping off and picking up.
• For safety reasons, all students exit and enter vehicles on the passenger side.
• Parents should remain in the car at all times. The faculty and staff on duty will assist your child with exiting and entering the vehicle.
• When picking up, please have your name cards clearly visible on the passenger side of your windshields at all times on campus.
• When picking up, your children may want to walk right up to your cars while the line is moving. Faculty on duty will guide you and your children to a safe pick-up location.

Bus Details

If your children will ride a bus home from school regularly, please be sure to set the defaults in SchoolPass with your children’s buses and days they will be riding. If you have any problems setting the defaults, please email Michelle Saling (salingm@columbusacademy.org).

Snacks

Snacks are provided to students daily. If additional snacks are needed, students may bring fresh pre-cut fruit or vegetables to school to supplement their snacks. Please note: these are the only acceptable snacks that can be brought from home.

Back-to-School Night

Back-to-School Night for Lower School is on Thursday, September 1. We will continue with the same format as last year, providing two identical sessions for each homeroom teacher. This was helpful for families with more than one child in the Lower School. This evening is for parents and guardians only. There is no childcare available at the school for this event.

Schedule for Parents

Session 1 – 7:00-7:40 p.m.

Transition Break – 7:40-7:50 p.m.

Session 2 – 7:50-8:30 p.m.

Evening Concludes – 8:30 p.m.

Lower School Campout

The Lower School Campout will be held on September 16-17. Please use this link to learn more. Due to COVID, we have been unable to host it since 2020 so we are excited to re-introduce this event to our lower school families next month.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be on Friday, September 2, for only our Lower School. These meetings are “listening conferences” where teachers listen to you tell them about your children and share important information. Your children’s homeroom teachers have shared with you the details, and you can sign up for either an in-person conference at school or online via Zoom. There are no classes for lower-schoolers on this day, but there is school for Academy students in grades 6-12.

Parent Book Club

The Parent Book Club will continue this year, and the first book is entitled “The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed” by Jessica Lahey. You can find the book in many public libraries as well as online. We will meet on the fireplace-side of the dining hall on Tuesday, September 28, from 8:30-9:30 a.m. to discuss chapters 1-6 of the book. Please use this link to sign up.

From the book’s back cover:

“Modern parenting is defined by an unprecedented level of overprotectiveness: parents now rush to school to deliver forgotten assignments, challenge teachers on report card disappointments, mastermind children’s friendships, and interfere on the playing field. As teacher, journalist, and parent Jessica Lahey explains, even though these parents see themselves as being highly responsive to their children’s well-being, they aren’t giving them the chance to experience failure—or the opportunity to learn to solve their own problems. Everywhere she turned, Lahey saw an obvious and startling fear of failure—in both her students and her own children. This fear has the potential to undermine children’s autonomy, competence, motivation, and their relationships with the adults in their lives. Providing a clear path toward solutions, Lahey lays out a blueprint with targeted advice for handling homework, report cards, social dynamics, and sports. Most important, she sets forth a plan to help parents learn to step back and embrace their children’s setbacks along with their success.” 

Early Childhood Admissions Showcase (for 2023-24 enrollment)

​​The Columbus Academy Admissions Team will host an Early Childhood Showcase on Thursday, October 6, starting at 8:30 a.m. Parents who are interested in our Explorers (ages 3 and 4), Pre-Kindergarten (ages 4 and 5) or Kindergarten (ages 5 and 6) programs for the next school year are invited and encouraged to attend. This adults-only event will provide attendees with the opportunity to meet our early childhood teachers and to learn how they bring student creativity and curiosity to life. More detailed information about this event will soon be posted on the school’s website.

Parenting Article

This week’s article is from the University of California Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and is entitled “How Children Think About Their Own Well-Being Online.” For those new to our school, this site is an excellent resource for families.

Congratulations to all of us for making it through this first week together. It is going to be a wonderful year!

Mark Hansen

Head of Lower School