Lower School Update - March 20, 2017

Field Opening Ceremony

Tomorrow(Tuesday) we will celebrate the opening of our new field. All Graded students will go to the field for a opening ceremony in the morning and then have a time with their grade level later in the day to explore. All Lower School students are asked to wear blue tomorrow.  

Report Cards and Student-Led Conferences
Second trimester report cards will be available on Veracross on Wednesday, March 22nd at 4:00pm. Please be sure to review your child's report card before you attend the conferences. 

This Friday, March 24th, and the following Monday, March 27th, we will conduct our second round of Student-Led Conferences. Please sign up on Veracross if you haven't already. During these two days there will be no classes for Lower School students. 

Thinking About Technology Use and Lower School Students

For those of you that spent time at our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) conference, you will remember Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair speaking about the benefits of technology, but also the challenges it can bring. As a school, we remind students that devices (whether tablets/phones/ipods/laptops) are a powerful tool for learning. We teach students the skills to use the tools appropriately (and give reminders when necessary).

We are also reminding students (and ourselves!) of their digital footprint to ensure they understand the impact of their online actions. The rise in popularity of messaging applications like What’s App prompt us to face increasingly frequent challenges of students using unkind language, posting inappropriate content to each other, and in some cases targeting individual students. This note is meant to be a reminder of the responsibility that comes with using technology.  Social media platforms have minimum age requirements for use as well as guidelines for responsible use. What’s App, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are applications for youth aged 13 and above. If your child is below this age, you are encouraged to remove these applications from their personal devices. If you continue to allow your child to use these messaging and social network sites despite the age recommendation, we suggest you monitor your child’s interaction on a daily basis as you assume responsibility for their use.

Here are some things we are doing at school to promote responsible use of technology:

• Limiting technology use to school appropriate tools and sites
• Reminding students that personal devices are best left at home
• Reviewing LARK policies found on pages 23 and 24 of our Lower School Handbook

Here are some things you can do at home to promote responsible use of technology:

• Reinforce the expectations for use of technology at school, including reviewing the LARK policies together
• Visit the Common Sense Media “Parent Concerns” section for a variety of resources on teaching your children how to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly
• Create a screen time agreement in your family.  Click here for an example and template that you can use.  

Keeping our children safe is our utmost and collective responsibility. We are working at school to teach the children the foundations of digital and online safety. We ask that you spend some time having similar discussions and routines in your own home if you haven't already.

Upcoming Important Dates

March 21	Field Grand Opening 8:45am  All LS Students Wear Blue
March 22	Report Cards Online for Parents 4:00pm
March 24 & 27	Lower School Student-Led Conferences (No classes for LS students)
March 25-26	Destination Imagination Tournament in Rio
March 28	Freedom From Chemical Dependency (FCD) Parent Coffee 7:00pm (Auditorium)
March 29-31	5th Grade Caminhos do Tietê Trip
March 29	3rd Grade Trip to Museu Catavento (Barkdoll/Ro)
March 31	3rd Grade Trip to Museu Catavento (Kulikowsky/Davis)
April 4	MS Parent Coffee for 5th Grade Parents 8:15am (Teacher Cafeteria)
April 8	Graded Run Against Cancer 10am-1pm Parque Burle Marx