Lyman Memorial High School

September 2021 Newsletter

Hello from the Lyman Adminstrators!

We hope everyone had a nice restful summer! We are so happy to have everyone back at Lyman and look forward to a wonderful school year. There are a lot of exciting things happening in the Lyman Community and we felt the best way to share this with all of you is to start a monthly newsletter. The newsletter will have updates from departments, information about upcoming events, college and career readiness updates, important links, important information and so much more!

For the 2021-2022 School Year we want to share our goals and expectations:

. Continue to create a positive learning environment by addressing the social and emotional needs of our students. One way we will be doing this is through our new SEL curriculum, ONEDER.

. Increase our outreach to the community through this newsletter and redesigned Open House on September 14 (More information below).

. Increase the opportunity for student interventions by restructuring our flex period that is now called PAWS (More information below).

. Allowing more student choice and meeting student interest by continuing to develop our Senior Project with different pathways (Traditional Model, Community Engagement, Work Study/Internship, and Project/Performance).

Please feel free to contact us if you need anything at James.Apicelli@lebanonct.org and Samantha.Mccarthy@lebanonct.org!

Mr. Apicelli and Ms. McCarthy

PAWS

Positive Academic Work Support

PAWS EXPECTATIONS

Purpose of PAWS:

PAWS classes meet four or five times a week depending on the week. When possible, students will stay with their PAWS teacher over the course of their four years. Lyman Memorial High School’s PAWS program has four purposes:

Create positive and caring relationships among staff and students, which promotes an emotionally and physically safe environment for all students.
A support system to promote high levels of learning for all students
School wide exposure to relevant and important issues, which include social emotional learning and growth and college and career readiness.
Help with your portfolio and senior project

PAWS IS...

Academic and intervention time
Time for teachers to connect with students
Time for teachers to check in on students’ academic progress
Time to discuss important issues relevant to the students’ grade level

PAWS IS NOT…

Free time
Phone time for students
Just a study hall

Classroom Rules:

Be Respectful: Show respect to everyone and everything in PAWS
Be Prepared to succeed: Come to your PAWS class with a positive attitude and the materials you need to complete assignments. I will be checking your grades weekly with you.
Be ready to participate.
A few other rules: Phones may not be out unless given permission by the teacher.

Travel Procedure

Students should remain in their PAWS classroom unless scheduled to meet with another teacher ahead of time. They can continue to use Bulldog pass for bathroom Teachers should schedule their students no later than 10 am the day of their meeting.
Teachers will sign an online tracking sheet that will note which student is to attend their PAWS class to receive extra help. Notify your PAWS teacher once you come in and he/she will check to see if you’re on the list for the day to go to another PAWS class for extra help.

Upcoming Events

October 13, 2021 - PSAT Test. All Sophomores and Juniors will be taking the test at Lyman on this day. 9th graders interested in taking it should see Mr. Johnson in room 205 or contact him via email (zachary.johnson@lebanonct.org) by September 14, 2021!

College and Career Readiness

- Make sure to listen to announcements and check in with the Guidance Office to learn about virtual meetings with college and university representatives.

- Counselors will be meeting with Senior English Classes this month to discuss the college admissions process.

- Seniors should plan to meet with counselors individually to discuss their post-secondary plan.

- Seniors planning to attend a post- secondary school, should be developing a list of schools, researching admission requirements, meeting with college admission representatives, touring schools, and working on their college essays.

- Next steps for seniors are requesting letters of recommendation, completing applications, completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA).

- Seniors should start to research scholarship opportunities. There is scholarship and award information on the school's website. Students can also review the scholarship binder in the Guidance Office.

- Juniors should be exploring possible majors in college, planning for the PSAT in October, getting involved in extracurricular activities and volunteering.

- Juniors will be meeting with their counselors in the winter to start building a list of possible schools or planning for other post-secondary opportunities.

- Scheduled Event: "How to Pay for College" night will be October 19, 2021 at 6:30pm virtually. All are invited to attend and more information will be forthcoming.