Lovettsville Connection
October 2022
Dear families,
Our first full month of the school year was a busy and productive one. Students had a refresher on how we will continue to implement our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Program. The students and staff at Lovettsville will focus on Respecting Yourself, Respecting Others, and Respecting Our School. On September 1st, we had a school-wide assembly where students reviewed the behavior expectations in all areas of the school and our new cafeteria incentive plan. Please ask your child about what these behaviors mean and reinforce them at home. We appreciate your support of this program, which is focused on teaching pro-social behaviors. More PBIS information can be found on the school webpage.
We have already enjoyed many fun events at school so far this year including our 1st PTO meeting and Family Coffee. We enjoyed 2 mornings having Breakfast with Bears and seeing so many families back in the building. Our After School Programs (ASP) started on September 20th and will run until November 2nd. Fall has officially begun and with it will bring more exciting events including, but not limited to, last weekend’s Oktoberfest Breakfast, Family PE Week the week of October 3rd, our Book Fair the week of October 17th, and Family Reading Night on October 19th. Please be sure to check the school and PTO website for the most up-to-date information about school events. We welcome all to join us at the next PTO Meeting on October 7th at 7:45AM and the Family Coffee directly after the meeting to discuss Technology and Safety.
Respectfully,
Linda Textoris
PE News
The students have settled very nicely into the daily PE class routines of an exercise warm-up, brief skill practice, and then application of that skill into some really fun games/activities. This month they will focus on overhand throwing, fitness concepts, fire safety and cooperation games.
Parents, we hope to see you at our “Family PE Week”. We invite you to attend PE class with your child to play and see what PE is all about. Be sure to dress to move including tennis shoes!! See your child's teacher for times.
A few reminders to help us all have the most fun:
- Students must wear sneakers to PE.
- Shorts need to be worn under dresses.
- Dr. notes are required to be exempt from PE classes.
- Outdoor PE classes will continue as the weather permits.
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Please contact Hugh.Brockway@lcps.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Art News
Happy Fall from the Art Room!
With over 500 paper quilt pieces, we have put together the largest collaborative art project LOV has seen in years! I loved seeing their individuality shine in this first project and the excitement at seeing the process all come together.
We have just finished our art projects for Original Works! Stay tuned for more details in the next few weeks on ordering. This is always one of the first projects we do to ensure holiday delivery.
Kindergarten: Kindergarteners are currently strengthening our cutting skills with a dot mobile project. I’m so impressed with the skills that they have come in with… nice work families!
1st Grade: !st graders are learning all about lines and creating magic line carpets! We will be ending the month with lessons on the color wheel and a fun fall inspired art project.
2nd Grade: 2nd graders are learning about pointillism and famous artists associated with this art movement. They are enjoying learning about this new skill and using it with paint.
3rd Grade: 3rd graders are learning all about Hispanic Heritage Month and famous Hispanic artists. We are creating papel picados and decorating the school with our beautiful banners. I have enjoyed hearing the students' personal connections with the Hispanic culture and filling the front display cabinet with items from home.
4th Grade: We are jumping right into the elements of art and learning about line and color this month. They are loving practing line with zentangle patterns.
5th Grade: 5th graders will be learning some higher level art skills this month and focusing on shading, dimension, and scale. I’m so impressed with how they are rising up to the challenge, they are all so truly talented!
Sincerely,
Michelle Rancourt
LOV Art Teache
Technology News and Updates
October is recognized as National Bullying Prevention Month, so in this newsletter I would like to provide parents with some tips to help prevent your student(s) from being involved in Cyberbullying. For most of us, this is not something we ever had to deal with as children and young adults. And as a parent, this is one of the biggest worries I have as my children get older and become more digitally active.
So as parents, what should we do if we find out our children are being bullied online? This can be an extremely emotional discovery for parents, and the immediate and most human reaction is to probably retaliate in some way. But the best way to handle the situation, as difficult as it may be, is to help your child diffuse the situation, protect themselves, and make rational efforts to stop the bullying.
Here are 6 tips parents can take if they feel cyberbullying is occurring:
1. Define cyberbullying. Make sure your child understands that cyberbullying is repeated and unwanted mean or hurtful words or behavior that occurs online (text messages, social media, etc.)
2. Check in with your child about their online life. Just like you ask your children about how they slept at night, what they did at school, etc., make sure to ask them about their online life - who they are chatting with, what online games they are playing, etc.
3. Role-play. If your child thinks they might have trouble removing themselves from digital drama, brainstorm and practice ways they can be successful with this. Talk about words they can use - especially focusing on keeping things positive rather than adding to the negativity being displayed.
4. Encourage your child to be an upstander. If they know a friend or classmate is being bullied, let your children know that supporting their friend/classmate can make a big difference.
5. Take digital breaks. If you notice digital drama occurring, help your child set limits on their device usage so they can remove themselves from negativity.
6. Review worst-case steps. Talk to your child about the steps they should take if they are experiencing online bullying. Make sure they know that besides you, their teachers and counselors are there to support them. If bullying continues, take screenshots or print out evidence. Block the bullies on social media sites and from text messaging your child.
For more information, please see the following resources from Common Sense Media:
Cyberbullying
Objective: Students take on this tough topic and play the active role of upstander to build positive, supportive online communities and combat online cruelty.
Library News
Library is in full swing at Lovettsville. Students in kindergarten and first grade have been talking about making connections, book care, and being a good library citizen. Second grade through fifth grade talked about being a responsible digital citizen and media balance. We will continue discussing ways to be a good digital citizen throughout the year.
The students in grades 3-5 were shown how to use Destiny Discover, the online catalog of books that are available in the school library. Students also had the opportunity to explore MackinVIA and Comics Plus. MackinVIA is a collection of eBooks offered through the library. It can be found in LCPSGO. Comics Plus is a new database located in MackinVIA. This database offers a variety of graphic novels for students to enjoy.
Students in kindergarten through third grade went on a story walk in the outdoor classroom. They heard the story Dragons Love Tacos. Students then retold the story when they returned to the library. Grades 4 and 5 coded with Ozobots. They listened to the story Creepy Carrots then sequenced the story with different color codes.
Ask your students about the read and ride area and the puzzle tables. These are a few of the new places to enjoy in the library.
The Scholastic Book Fair will be at LOV October 17-21. Family Night will be Wednesday October 19th from 3:00-6:00. Be on the look out for more information about the book fair as well as a family reading event on the 19th.
Please do not have students return books during any activity that may take place after school. This will help to ease any confusion on the student’s part as well as ours. Thank you!
Happy Reading!
Music News
What a great start to our school year! Student’s have been singing, playing, dancing, and composing to music. In the month of October, students in Kindergarten and First grade are continuing to find their voice through vocal exploration activities and singing games. Students are also reinforcing steady beat in music and simple rhythms through body percussion activities and playing on instruments. Second grade students are engaging in singing and rhythm games to reinforce new rhythm concepts in music. Third and Fourth grade students will be learning about the treble clef staff. Students will also be learning to read complex rhythms for unpitched percussion instruments. Fifth grade students will be continuing to work on music for their Veterans Day program.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Veterans Day Music performance - Please join us on Friday, November 11th at 8:30 am as we honor our veterans and members of the armed forces. The performance will be held in the Lovettsville Elementary Gym and will feature our talented 5th grade Bears.
Mr. Ford thanks all parents for your support of our music program! Please feel free to contact him anytime through email at antonio.ford@lcps.org.
School Counseling - The Supporter
Hello Lovettsville Families,
It has been a pleasure visiting classrooms and getting to know our students during the month of September. Our classroom lessons focused on Introduction to the School Counselor and Building a Positive Growth Mindset. Students did a great job of identifying things that they CAN do well now, and things that they cannot do, YET!
As a reminder we are always available to discuss student concerns. We can be reached via phone or email, and conferences can be scheduled in person or virtual.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Katie Routzahn: Monday - Friday
Supporting grades Parrish, Stokley, 1st, 2nd, Gary, Kamholtz, Sjostedt, Ciancio, Condon, 5th
Cindi Walton: Monday & Friday
Supporting: Miller, Robic, Meadows, Deater & Wise
Main Phone Line 540-751-2470
Our School Counseling Webpage: https://www.lcps.org/domain/29416
LCPS will continue implementing the Second Step Bullying Prevention Curriculum district wide for elementary grades K-5 for the 2022-23 school year. The unit will be taught during our October and November classroom school counseling lessons. As you know from the Second Step SEL curriculum taught daily by our classroom teachers there are wonderful resources available for teaching and discussing these important topics at home. The school and home partnership is a vital component of successful bullying prevention. We appreciate your attention to the grade level family letters below with Second Step activation key codes (different for each grade level) so you can receive wonderful information to reinforce what is being taught in our upcoming lessons. As always please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Family Information Letters
Gifted News
Now that we are a few weeks into school I wanted to share what each Gifted program will look like here at Lovettsville.
SEARCH
K-3rd Grade
Mrs. Bohn will deliver interactive, bi-weekly lessons to all students in grades K-3. SEARCH lessons encourage students to take intellectual risks and to develop an excitement for learning and discovery across a variety of thinking skills. The curriculum spirals developmentally through five components: reasoning, perceiving, connecting, evaluating, and creating.
FUSION (formerly FUTURA)
4th and 5th Grade identified students
The school-based collaborative FUSION program is a new model for delivering gifted services to formally identified 4th and 5th grade gifted learners. FUSION provides gifted services for students at their home school. Mrs. Bohn will partner with classroom teachers to challenge gifted learners by enriching and extending the grade level curriculum. In addition, gifted learners meet in the Gifted Resource room for 2 hours a week to collaborate on a variety of challenging, project-based learning activities designed to integrate the five C’s of 21st century learning: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, and Contribution to Real-World Problem-Solving.
This year’s focused theme is INNOVATION.
DCI-Differentiated Classroom Instruction
4th and 5th Grade identified students
Beginning in the spring of 2022, the LCPS Gifted Education Department added a new level of gifted services for 4th and 5th grade students. It is called Differentiated Classroom Instruction or DCI. Students who, during the gifted identification process, demonstrated exceptional performance in one domain, language arts or mathematics, were found in need of DCI in their area of strength. Students are identified for DCI mathematics, DCI English language arts, or on occasion both domains.
Mrs. Bohn meets weekly with the DCI students to provide enrichment via deeper learning, rigor and hand-on project based learning.
EDGE (Empowering Diversity in Gifted Education)
2nd-5th Grade
The EDGE program’s mission is to identify, nurture and challenge high-potential students who have been historically underrepresented in LCPS advanced academic and gifted programs. The classroom and Mrs. Bohn will work in tandem to promote academic rigor, to foster a growth mindset, and to prepare these young learners for more challenging and rigorous academic pathways.
GIFTED IDENTIFICATION PROCESS
Like last year, there will be universal screening for all third grade students to identify students who are eligible for and in need of gifted education services. The process begins in October with talent development and portfolio lessons and concludes in May with parent notifications.
There is a video shared by Wendy King, the Gifted Education Supervisor on the LCPS Gifted webpage explaining the programs in detail https://www.lcps.org/Page/211705. Feel free to check it out if you are interested. If you have any questions feel free to reach out Kristie Bohn, the gifted resource teacher, at Kristina.bohn@lcps.org.
Congestion Must Go (CMG)/Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Newsletter
Lovettsville Elementary School
Email: linda.textoris@lcps.org
Website: lcps.org/lovettsville
Location: 49 South Loudoun Street, Lovettsville, VA, USA
Phone: 540 751-2470
Twitter: @LovettsvilleES