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March 2003 Newsletter
So much good has been taking place and a significant
amount of learning is evident. I’ve seen reading begin
to soar, writing reach new heights, curiosity piqued, research developed
and eyes light up. There has been much laughter and good will
throughout. The near-record snowfall has continued to give more
options for our children’s outdoor activities – sledding,
building snow forts and sculptures, making “angels,”
tracking animals, writing poetry. Even though most of the
adults are tired of the snow, we are making the best of it while
it’s here.
Royal Readers’ Day was March 7th. A special thanks goes
to librarian Laura D’Amato for organizing so many meaningful
and fun activities to celebrate the impact of a good book!
Many dressed as book characters and loved seeing each other in the
morning assembly.
We also enjoyed school-wide quiet reading, buddy reading with older
students, book exchanges for all ages and some great snacks.
Congratulations to Fifth Grader Rohun Hulyalkar! He is one of 100
students statewide qualifying for the state level of the National
Geography Bee. The participants are in grades 4-8, so a 5th
grade participant is pretty impressive. Rohun was also part of this
competition last year as a fourth grader and did quite well.
This year’s state contest is in Columbus April 10.
New playground in the works. Renovation of our playground is still
in the planning stages but should be ready for “unveiling”
to the public in early April. Included will be a new play structure,
reconditioned grass and hills and a few fun surprises. We
are planning for much of the work to be a community project which
will include the helpful hands of parents and some upper school
students. The cost of the entire project is being underwritten
by donations from two foundations and a few individuals. They
will be recognized at the appropriate time.
French teacher Heather Cannon is expected to be on maternity leave
from late April until June. Taking her place for those six
or seven weeks will be Mrs. Barb Ridel who has substitute taught
for us over the past two years and has a degree in French literature.
She already knows all of the students, faculty and the schedule,
which is a big advantage for such a replacement teacher.
Morning drop-off of your child is important to us, making sure everyone
is safe. PLEASE follow proper protocol, even if you are in a hurry.
Better late than injured. A few simple but important guidelines:
•Driving slowly around the loop, please pull up curbside in
front of the lower school near the flagpole.
• Make sure your child gets out on the passenger side so as
not to be in the driveway.
•Do not park in front and leave your vehicle. If the
driver needs to leave the car, he/she must park in the visitor lot
and walk the child in. Please do not let your child walk across
by him/herself.
•Do NOT drop off near the bus loop
A reminder that re-enrollment contracts are due Monday, March 10.
Annie Get Your Gun is on Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8,
in the Bettcher Convocation Center at 8:00 p.m. The 1999 revival
of Annie Get Your Gun will take center stage. Upper School
students will sing and dance their way through one of the most popular
Irving Berlin musicals. This updated version played on Broadway
with Bernadette Peters in the title role. LRA's Marissa Sertich
plays Annie and Mike Riffle is Frank Butler in this classic battle
of the sexes. For an evening of rollicking good fun, come
see the show!
One more week for snow pants, hats and gloves! All must go home
March 14 and then we will hopefully be able to wash and store that
clothing for a younger child to use next year. If you discover
missing clothing items – and I hope you do because we have
growing piles of extra clothing here – please do check our
lost and found!
Uniquely LRA – Did you know?
• And once again, the LRA JETS (Junior Engineering Technology
Society) teams rose to the occasion and did themselves and their
school proud! The JV Team scored a 1st place berth in the
district and the Varsity team earned the 2nd place position in the
division.
• On Friday, February 28th, LRA fielded three teams and participated
in their third annual Mock Trial District Competition at the Elyria
Municipal Court under the direction of Dr. Mozumdar and Mrs. Sparks-Roberts.
At the end of the day-long competition LRA swept with 1st, 2nd and
3rd places. All our best to the "Blue" team who will go
on to State Competition on March 13th.
• The Upper School Digital Imaging and Graphic Design class
recently created and posted a website for the MS/US Library.
Students collaborated with Mrs. Rachelle Bilz (MS/US Librarian)
to produce a website that would be useful for both teachers and
students. The home page address for the website is: [ http://fc.lakeridgeacademy.org/~Dig
]http://fc.lakeridgeacademy.org/~Dig Imag
Does your young child know her/his phone number, address, parents’
names? Sometimes I come across children who don’t know
basic information that is really needed for safety reasons.
If your child doesn’t know this by heart, please do work on
it with her/him.
Concerned about your young child’s social interactions? Looking
for good reading? Over spring break, consider picking up the
book Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives
of Children. Authors Michael Thompson and Catherine O’Neill
Grace really help parents and teachers understand what makes our
children tick and they offer us sound advice. Consider a few
sentences from the first chapter: “If another child
unexpectedly hits and hurts your child, you want to hit that child
back, but you must not. If other children ignore your child,
you want to scream, but you probably will not. If your child
lacks the ability to negotiate the complex social currents of the
group of which she is a part, you want to hand her the skills to
do it, but you cannot. We cannot step in and fix it because
children have to learn to do that for themselves. Children fear
adult attempts to fix their social lives.” (p.8). Regarding
the importance of first attachments: “Research suggests that
the quality of that first attachment has a profound impact on how
children later get along with friends, perform in school, and react
to unfamiliar situations. The first friendship becomes a template
for future human connections.” (p.15). I think any thoughtful
parent will get a lot out of this insightful book.
May you and yours have a terrific spring break whether you stay
home or venture off!
Jim Whiteman
Head of Lower School
News from Instrumental Music
Cynthia Bush
Congratulations to all our LRA students who participated in the
Lorain County Solo & Ensemble Contest on February 15!
All of our participants received (I) Superior ratings on their solos
and ensembles. They are:
Yasmin Saaka (Upper School violin solo)
Collin Sims (Middle School cello solo)
Alyssa Cook (Lower School piano solo)
Amigos String Quartet (Middle School quartet)
Members: Noël Breuer, violin
Samantha Fay, violin
Kristie Yu, viola
Collin Sims, cello
Congratulations also go to Kelsey Sims, violin, who played her Book
I (Suzuki) recital Saturday, February 15, and graduated to Level
II.
Library Happenings
Laura D’Amato, Lower School Librarian
Friday, March 7th was our Royals Reading Day! Thanks
to everyone who dressed up for the special day! Also, thank
you to the parents who assisted with our Book Exchange!
Grades K-1 participated in "Paws to Read" from mid-January
through mid-February. Students who participated wrote down
book titles on yellow slips of paper. The papers were brought
to the library, where they were "stamped". I then
rolled up the papers and stapled them to the lion's mane on the
hallway bulletin board outside Mrs. Schmidt's room. If you
haven't seen the lion, be sure to take a look. K-1 students
are currently guessing the number of slips of paper! What's
your best guess?
Second graders have been learning to use our Online Public Access
Catalog (OPAC). This is the computer version of the "card
catalogue". Many students have become quite proficient
at using the OPAC to find books and then locating the books within
the library collection. Storytimes have been devoted to Caldecott
books. Ask your second grader to tell you about the Caldecott
Award.
Grade three has been finishing up an introduction to the Dewey Decimal
System. Ask them about the "Fabulous 500's".
Third graders have been continuing to use the library in connection
with classroom projects and are developing their research skills.
Fourth graders have been selecting books for pleasure reading.
They are trying to Read across America, and with the start of their
regional studies, should make nice progress on this project.
Fifth graders continue to use the library for pleasure reading and
research-related activities. Fifth graders read Newbery books
throughout the year, and on January 27th, 2003, the 4th and 5th
graders together celebrated the announcement of the 2003 Newbery
Awards with an "Academy Awards Style" presentation.
Don't forget to visit my Lower School Library Website at fc.lakeridgeacademy.org/~damatol
for helpful links and information related to books & reading.
Happy Reading!
Nurses’ Notes
What Color is Your Rainbow?
What color is your rainbow of fruits and vegetables, that is?
Did you know we are supposed to have 5 to 9 servings of fruits and
vegetables per day? A good way to remember to get them all
in each day is by thinking of the rainbow. For example, eating
3 different colors of fruits and vegetables for each meal is an
easy way to reach 9 servings of both in one day! In the many
different colors of fruits and vegetables there are thousands health
promoting PHYTOCHEMICALS. Research is just beginning to understand
how they work to improve health, so it’s important to eat
a wide variety of colorful orange/yellow, red, green, white, and
blue/purple vegetables and fruit each day. Each of these different
combinations offers a variety of phytochemicals as well as vitamins,
minerals, and fiber. Fruits and vegetables give us quick energy
to think, play, and work or work out!
Physical Fitness goes hand-in-hand with eating smart to be healthy.
Elementary-aged children should accumulate at least 60 minutes of
a variety of activities per day, every day. They should not
have extended periods of inactivity. Adolescents and
adults should engage in three or more sessions per week of activities
that last 20 minutes or more and that require moderate to vigorous
levels of exertion. “Moderate” includes walking
briskly, dancing, swimming, and bicycling on level ground.
“Vigorous” includes jogging and high impact aerobics.
So go ahead and chase that rainbow, there will be a healthy pot
o’ gold at the end!
Meg Boyer, R.N.
Cathy Hongosh, R.N.
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April 14, 2003
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