Lovettsville Connection
November 2022
Dear families,
It’s hard to believe we just finished the end of the 1st quarter! It has been a great start to the school year, and we look forward to what the next 3 quarters will bring.
This past month we enjoyed a variety of events at Lovettsville Elementary. It is wonderful seeing so many families in the building helping during the day and participating in our school and PTO events. The fall Book Fair was a busy week of shopping, buying, and now reading lots of new books. It is always fun to host our Family Reading Night during the Book Fair so students and families can enjoy stories read by our staff members and friends from our community. Thank you to everyone who organized and attended our Spooktacular Dance! It was a fun night enjoying dancing, a costume contest, and treats.
We have some exciting events coming up this month including our Veteran’s Day Ceremony on the November 11th at 8:30. We also have our PTO Holiday Photo Fundraiser on November 5th from 9:00am-2:00pm at Long Stone Farm. Please check out the PTO website for details about how to sign up. Our next PTO meeting is on November 16th at 3:00pm in the library. We hope you can join us!
Please be sure to check the school and PTO website for the most up-to-date information about school events. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Respectfully,
Linda Textoris
Principal
Techology News
Each year, the counselors, librarians and I all work together to provide digital citizenship lessons to students. Last month I highlighted one of the topics – cyberbullying – since October was national bullying prevention month. This month, I will share the other topics we cover throughout the year as we work to help students become well rounded digital citizens.
Topic: Media Balance and Well Being
Goal: To show students how to use media in healthy ways that give meaning and add value to their lives.
Topic: Privacy and Security
Goal: To help students understand why it is important to protect their personal information when online.
Topic: Digital Footprint and Identity
Goal: To help students understand why it is important to think about how things they share online might affect themselves and others.
Topic: Relationships and Communication
Goal: To help students reflect about how to build positive relationships, avoid risky online talk and understand why some conversations are better had in person than through media.
Topic: News and Media Literacy
Goal: To help students learn how to identify reliable and trustworthy sources online as well as learn how to give credit to the sources they use.
More information on all of these topics can be found on the Common Sense Media website as well as our school website.
PE News
Things are progressing very well for all classes in PE! We are so pleased with the participation and effort put forth by every student! This month they will focus on dribble, passing and shooting a basketball, and overhand throwing.
Carrot Growing in PE update: In early September, all students in every PE class helped plant nearly 2,000 carrot seeds in the raised beds in our school garden. Each week, PE classes take turns watering, weeding, and caring for the carrots. There is a friendly competition for which grade level will have the most. The carrots are looking great! We will hopefully harvest them later this month and then donate them to the Western Loudoun Food Pantry.
Please contact Hugh.Brockway@lcps.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Art News
Happy November!
Wow, it’s hard to believe we are already in Quarter 2! With the holidays approaching, there is some exciting news to share! You will be receiving an email soon about ordering custom gifts with your child’s artwork from Original Works. All orders will be shipped for holiday gifting! Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks.
Here is what our busy LOV artists have been up to…
Kindergarten: We have been perfecting our cutting and gluing skills and creating some fun art projects! Be on the lookout for a super special Thanksgiving treat that will surely be a keeper!
1st Grade: We just finished our Veteran’s Day line art project and are rolling right into learning about our primary colors and famous artist Piet Mondrian.
2nd Grade: It’s clay time! 2nd graders will be starting their Native American unit in class, so this is the perfect time for some Native American pinch pot making. Please make sure your child is dressed for ALL the mess. : )
3rd Grade: We will be working on landscape/one point perspective drawing. Please make sure to ask them to show you how it’s done!
4th Grade: It’s all about SPACE! We are doing our famous galaxy art project that focuses on value. This is a favorite and reinforces what they are currently learning about in science class.
5th Grade: We are in full prep mode for Veteran’s Day. Students are currently working on a special American flag drawing and creating patriotic decorations for the Veteran's Day performance on the 11th. I hope you can make it to the Veteran's Day Ceremony!
A special thank you to all our amazing art room parent volunteers! Parents, if you would like to get involved or join your child for an art class this year, please feel free to email me and we can set something up!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Rancourt
LOV Art Teacher
Library News
Library was the place to be for the book fair! I want to thank everyone who came out and supported the fair. Thank you for your patience and understanding on Family Night with only one register. I also want to thank the volunteers who came and assisted with counting money and making sure the students received what they needed. Without the volunteers, we could not have a book fair, so thank you.
Students in Kindergarten-Second grade have been talking about making connections and retelling a story. We have been going over the alphabet in Kindergarten-Second grade as well. Kindergarten and First got to use Legos, Keva Planks, Magnaforms, and puzzles to be creative. Students in grades 2-5 had the opportunity to complete tasks using Legos and Keva Planks, or create sticker art. We are reviewing the difference between fiction and nonfiction in all grades. Grades 3-5 have begun hearing book trailers for the Virginia Readers Choice books. These book titles can be found in their Library Schoology course in the virtual library.
If you are looking for typing practice for your children, go to their Library Schoology course and click on the green “Tidbits” folder. There are several typing websites available to help encourage using the keyboard.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Happy reading!
Mrs. Wetmore
Music News
Student’s have been singing, playing, dancing, and composing to music. In the month of November, students in Kindergarten and First grade are continuing to find their voice through vocal exploration activities and singing games. Students will be learning to compose their own Turkey Dinner rhythms to perform on instruments. Second grade students are engaging in singing and rhythm games to reinforce new rhythm concepts in music. Students will also use parachute games to reinforce form 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 Veteran's Day program.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Veteran's 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.
School Counseling - The Supporter
CONTACT INFORMATION
Katie Routzahn: Monday - Friday
Supporting grades Parrish, Stokley, 1st, 2nd, Garry, Kamholtz, Sjostedt, Ciancio, Condon, 5th
Cindy Walton: Monday & Thursday
Supporting: Miller, Robic, Meadows, Deater & Wise
540-751-2470
Our School Counseling Webpage: https://www.lcps.org/domain/29416
3 R's of Bullying
Our October classroom lessons focused on the Second Step Bullying Prevention Curriculum LCPS is implementing in all K-5th grade classrooms. We hope you registered through Second Step to have access to the parent information for each grade level. Students will have 4 classroom lessons that focus on the 3 Rs and the Power of the Bystander. We will also be covering lessons on cyberbullying based on materials from Second Step and Common Sense media. We appreciate your attention to the follow up link so you can receive wonderful information to reinforce what is being taught during our lessons. The school and home partnership is a vital component of successful bullying prevention. As always please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
Please click HERE for the Second Step Bullying Prevention Follow Up Home Links for the classroom lessons being taught in each grade level. Thank you!
World Kindness Day
We Challenge You To Celebrate World Kindness Day November 13, 2022
World Kindness Day is a global day that promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to yourself, and to the world. The purpose of this day, celebrated on November 13 of each year, is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together.
Gratitude
We will be taking a pause on Bullying Prevention and Education mid November to focus on a lesson and schoolwide project celebrating GRATITUDE!
Gifted News
Boredom Can Be a Good Thing
As parents and teachers, we often worry if we see a child unoccupied. In our accomplishment-driven culture, we think that every moment of a child's life must be occupied with some goal-directed activity. If a child says he/she is bored, we feel guilty and immediately set about trying to find some challenging activity to interest our child. But is this helping children or, inadvertently, are we harming our child's ability to create his/her own mental stimulation?
Several recent articles recant the "boredom is bad" belief. In "AHA! Parenting," author Dr. Laura Markahm states that: "If we keep them busy with lessons and structured activity, or they "fill" their time with screen entertainment, they never learn to respond to the stirrings of their own hearts, which might lead them to study the bugs on the sidewalk (as Einstein did for hours), build a fort in the back yard, make a monster from clay, write a short story or song, or organize the neighborhood kids into making a movie. ”
In another article from Time Magazine, Carl Honoré, author of Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting, observes that "With children," he argues, "they need that space not to be entertained or distracted. What boredom does is take away the noise ... and leave them with space to think deeply, invent their own game, create their own distraction. It's a useful trampoline for children to learn how to get by."
In the same Time article, Dr. Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and the founder of the National Institute for Play — who has a tree house above his office — recalls in a recent book how managers at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) noticed the younger engineers lacked problem-solving skills, though they had top grades and test scores. Realizing the older engineers had more play experience as kids — they'd taken apart clocks, built stereos, made models — JPL eventually incorporated questions about job applicants' play backgrounds into interviews. "If you look at what produces learning and memory and well-being" in life, Brown has argued, "play is as fundamental as any other aspect.''
In a Chicago Tribune article, we read that: "I think boredom has a great deal to recommend it," said Phil McKnight, professor of education and Western civilization at the University of Kansas. "We live in a world of multistimuli, which often precludes the time to reflect or be creative."
Numerous other articles concur: boredom is good for children, because only from boredom do original ideas spring. Not only are we not harming our child when we allow him/her to be "bored," we are giving our child the opportunity to explore his/her own creativity.
As we approach the long, dark months of winter, it's tempting to try to fill our children's every minute with structured activities. Perhaps, however, children might be better served by being left alone to pursue interests of their own. This can be difficult for the child who has never had to rely on his/her own resources, but given space, time, and a few raw materials (paper, pencils, colors, old bits and pieces of household items, fabric scraps, and other "junk"), children will eventually use their intellect and creativity to amuse themselves, and that's the whole point!
Mrs. Bohn
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