Weekly Notes October 30, 2020

Weekly Notes: October 30, 2020

Friends and Families,

In a normal October newsletter, I'd be sharing stories about learning and about childhood from my travels across campus, and I'd likely be celebrating this wonderful Autumn season (although it has been quite rainy this week...) and wishing those of you who celebrate Halloween a fun and safe holiday. I'd still like to do that .... but this year, sadly, most of us are consumed by a particularly polarizing election and by senseless violence rooted in racial inequality right nearby. And we're consumed of course with this historic pandemic as we try to figure out how best to proceed.

We are watching the local and national COVID statistics very carefully, particularly as they have trended upwards in ways that make many of us nervous. We also are looking for as much guidance as we can find, not only from the Chester County Health Department, but from CHOP and elsewhere. Sadly, there is no clear path. Going strictly by the most recent incidence rates per 100,000 citizens in both Delaware County and Philadelphia, we would be advised to transition back to distance learning (DL). Looking at the recent positivity rates (percentages of tests that are positive) tells a somewhat more mixed story, as they are higher than desired but not necessarily indicative of a return to DL.

CHOP recently released a report urging each school district and independent school to make a "local decision" based not just on the numbers, but on the strength of their school's staffing and on its health and safety protocols. CHOP suggested that the thresholds for different schools differ; one school's tipping point may not be the same as that of another. The CHOP report goes on to say that school leaders should base decisions to revert to virtual learning on "case positivity rate, incidence rate, current success with mitigation strategies, availability of staff, and the continued reliability of contact tracing programs to keep pace with the growing number of cases." This suggests that some schools might be better equipped than others to "weather" this recent spike in COVID cases. The report also states that in many schools safety protocols have successfully limited in-school transmissions and contained these to small clusters when they've happened.

Yet all of this is to say that the path forward is not clear, and, as parents, I want you to be prepared for any possibility, including a possible switch back to DL even prior to Thanksgiving. I wish I could be more definitive right now. While we feel good about the health and safety guidelines we have put in place, and while we know how much our children are benefiting from in-person learning, we also know that our school community is as vulnerable as many other schools ... and that our staffing and teaching model can only sustain so many cases of exposure or even suspected exposure.

I promise to keep you all in this loop and to share our thinking as openly as I can. I also am grateful to every parent who has already completed the survey that we sent on Wednesday. Please add your voice to the survey data if you haven't already, as your feedback is very important to all of us. We'll close the survey at 5PM this Monday, November 2.

So perhaps I should get back to the topic of this beautiful fall season?! Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns, as always.

Best, Tr. Neal

Kindergarten Learns about Composting

At school we have a large outdoor compost pile, a worm bin in a warm basement, some food and newspaper scraps, and lots of fallen leaves that students will be raking and adding to the compost pile!

Kindergartners were excited to come to Science and Shop on the Library porch to learn about composting and investigate living creatures such as the mealworm beetle larvae. They observed what "mealworms" do with wet leaves and egg carton pieces, and which end has a mouth and which end "poops".

Tr. Kate's 1st and 2nd Graders Present at Gathering

Tr. Kate's 1st and 2nd Graders have been studying the metamorphosis of monarchs. They drew the changes from the egg, to the larvae (caterpillar), then the pupa (chrysalis), and the adult butterfly. They also painted monarchs. Students drew and painted self portraits for displaying on the classroom walls.

Tr. Jill's 2nd Grade Math

Class

Under the big tent, Tr. Jill's 2nd grade students program their calculators to count by 4.

Pre-K Has a Special Spanish Teacher

LFS is fortunate too have multi-lingual teachers who can fill in if Tr. Amanda is busy. Tr. Neal worked with the Pre-K students on colors, singing about rojo, verde, azul and amarillo.

Tr. Zac's 4th Graders Work in Math Groups

Tr. Zac took a few pics of kids working in math groups through Zoom. Some are playing top it and others are checking work together. We finally got our Zoom peer conferencing to work so we can keep distance AND hear each other. Fabulous! Thanks, Tr. Zac!

Tr. Dee's 3rd Graders Do Math, Hear a Story

3rd grade students during math workshop solving number stories.

Enjoying a read aloud in third grade.

Thanks, Tr. Dee !

email Dottie Duffy

ZOOM PIANO LESSONS

Hi to all: My name is Emily Nicholson and I’ve been teaching piano at Lansdowne Friends School for many years. I also attended Lansdowne Friends years ago. It has been a very topsy turvy year to say the least, and I regret not being able to come in person to teach in the Meetinghouse but completely understand and support the “why”.

This is what I have decided: I can teach children who have had some experience already with a few piano lessons, but unfortunately it is not my desire to start a child out as a total beginner with virtual lessons. I have two or three slots open in my afternoon schedules on Tuesday and Wednesday and am already teaching some LFS students virtually on those afternoons who have been studying with me for a few years now. Guess what? Zoom piano lessons actually work and are not that difficult to set up, as long as you have a laptop situated next to a piano keyboard.

If you would like to have your child develop his or her musical interest with piano instruction, please contact me at 610 316 2783 (facetime is OK!) or email me at [email protected]. We can discuss whether virtual lessons will work for them. My openings on Tuesday are at 3:45 – 4:15, and then at 5:00 – 5:30. On Wednesday I have a 5:15 – 5:45 available.

My pricing is the same as before: $28.00 per ½ hour lesson. I have been receiving payments via Venmo, and I send an email invoice in advance of a monthly pay period.

Looking Forward,

Emily Nicholson ‘65

Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance

From the Borough

The Mayor and Lansdowne Borough Council will be hosting a trick or treat bag give away at the Lansdowne Landing on Saturday,

October 31 from 11am - 1pm (or until we run out of bags). During this time children can come with their families and pick up a pre-packed trick or treat bag. Families are then encouraged to stroll through the Farmer's Market for additional opportunities to trick or treat. Costumes are welcome but not required. All children should be accompanied by their parents and of course mask up!

Follow our journey