August 2012

Dear Lower School Families,

 

I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer! I hope that you are finding time to slow down your pace and enjoy, whether it’s exploring the city or relaxing somewhere out of town, visiting with friends or relatives, or reading a good book. I hope summer brings relaxing and rewarding moments to you.

 

Please look over all documents in this packet. Important things you’ll find included are a a letter from your child’s teacher, information on how to sign up for your child’s welcome conference, and important instructions on entering your emergency contact numbers into LREI Connect. If your child is in third or fourth grade, you’ll also find information about the overnight farm trip. Please fill out farm forms and return them to school as soon as possible. (It may seem far in advance for October, but it helps us to be organized and communicate with the farms ahead of time).

 

Below you will also find some important information about arrival and pick-up schedules on the first few days of school. Please read this carefully and share information with your caregiver if s/he helps with pick up and drop off.

 

Welcome Conferences
Lower School families have welcome conferences with their child’s teacher early in the school year. These appointments are a time for parents to convey important information about their child directly to the teachers. While our current students’ previous teachers have already passed along information in June, direct communication and relationship between parents and teachers is also very important to us. Welcome conferences will be 15 minute appointments, and parents should choose a time online. Beginning on August 27^th you will be able to sign up for an appointment via a link that will be emailed to you. Please choose an appointment time from the available choices only. Please do not request different days or times from teachers directly as we are trying to consolidate welcome conferences on these days.

 

Welcome conference appointment for Fours, Fours/Kingergarten, and Kindergarten will range from September 6^th to 11^th in the afternoons. First through Fourth Grades will have their meetings on September 13^th and 14^th. Please note September 13^th and 14^th are regular school days for all lower school students and all are expected to attend though they will have a somewhat special schedule.

 

Parents should bring any thoughts they’d like to share about their child to the welcome conference. Parents can expect teachers to ask about such things as academic goals, friendship or social development concerns, personality, milestones, family changes and so on. Please save questions about the classroom and curriculum for Curriculum Night, when they will likely be answered by teachers’ talks (Curriculum Nights are September 20^th for grades 1 through 4 and September 27^th for grades Fours through K). To get a detailed overview of the curriculum ahead of time, please read the curriculum section of LREI’s website, found under the “our program” tab. You can choose to read here in depth and by department or by grade level.

 

School begins this fall on Thursday, September 6^th. Early childhood students have an introductory period for the first few days of school to allow them time to get to know each other, their room, their teachers, new routines, and the school building in a successful way. Please read the enclosed letter from your child’s teacher for the specific phase-in schedule for your child.   First graders have half days for the first two days of school. Second graders have a half day just on the first day. Third and Fourth Grades have a full, complete day of school from the very first day.

 

School begins at 8:30am for all Lower School students and ends at 2:45pm for Fours, Fours-K, and Kindergarten; First through Fourth grade end their day at 3:00pm. Early Childhood through First Grade students are dropped off and picked up right in their classrooms. Second, Third, and Fourth Graders are dismissed by teachers at the end of the day in two locations, the front door for Third Grade, and the side door on Bleecker Street for Second and Fourth Grades. All students are signed out on a list by teachers to a parent or caregiver with whom the teacher is familiar. Please be patient during dismissal for the first few days of school while teachers look at faces and take time to get to know each child’s grown-up. If during the school year someone new will pick up your child, for a play date for instance, please be sure to send a note to school that day for the teacher. Please be aware that an email sent to the teacher during the same day, may or may not be received in time. Please understand that teachers cannot release students to anyone when a parent has not given written permission.

Children and parents who arrive together before school generally spend time in the library reading or gathering on the benches in our hallway. Stairwell doors leading to classrooms open at 8:30am. For children who need to arrive at school early and without a grown up, the school makes Early Bird supervision available at no charge from 7:45am in the cafeteria. This will begin on the first day of school. Associate teachers supervise children and bring them to their classrooms at 8:30. Early Bird is on a drop in basis.

 

Afterschool
During the week of September 10^th – 14^th free childcare is offered after 3:00pm for children who have a full day of school. Simply write a note to let your child’s teachers know each day that you would like for your child to attend. Online registration will open for all Afterschool Programs beginning on September 10^th.  Afterschool programs will begin on September 17^th. Please note there is no Afterschool or childcare on September 6^th or 7^th.

 

LREI Connect
This letter is one of the very few analog communications you’ll receive from school. If you are a new family please log in right away using the instructions that were emailed to you to enter all of your emergency information. If you have a question or need the instructions again, please contact Autumn Giles, Lower School Assistant, at agiles@lrei.org or by calling the school. Once you log in, it is critical to edit your profile with personal information, emergency contacts, internet information, sign in information, and your address and phone numbers as soon as possible. We use this information right from the first day of school directly from Connect to create the safety information we refer to when children are sick, or when a parent needs to be contacted for any reason, and for field trips. Please do fill this information in right away.

 

Thereafter, please log in to Lower School’s LREI Connect Page frequently during the school year to see important dates highlighted, parent association news, and other community announcements such as plays and musicals. On the LS News page you’ll find all this plus a link your child’s classroom page where there will be newsletters and photos posted throughout the year. Each Thursday, you’ll receive an email from me with a short article and a link to the LS News page on Connect as a reminder.

 

Looking forward to seeing you all, both new and returning families, on September 6^th!

 

Warmly,

Namita Tolia

Lower School Principal