Panther Press

September 6th-No School-Labor Day

September 7th-First Day of Caverly Pre-K

September 7th-Grade 5 to Starbase

September 8th-Virtual Lothrop PTO Meeting

September 13th-Grade 6 to Starbase

September 14th-Grade 5 to Starbase

September 16th-Lothrop Open House@ 6:30 PM-7:30 PM

September 17th-Early Release-Dismissal @ 11:30 AM

So many smiles from our Lothrop Staff and Learners. We planned well, executed and it has been a fabulous start to the school year! Without diminishing the extra efforts of all, one of my teachers sent me some pics with a caption-"It feels normal." While we are diligently wearing masks inside and social distancing where we can, it does feel normal and our learners are thriving. An extra bonus to this fabulous start was the beautiful weather that allowed classrooms to be outside for a fair amount of time. We feel very fortunate.

We welcomed 28 new Kindergarten learners and next week we will welcome 26 new Pre-K learners. Classrooms spent the majority of the week working to build a community through cooperative activities and discovered the school and classroom expectations through modeling from the teachers and practice.

Today we officially opened the Lothrop Community Walking Path with a whole school walk. One of the children remarked, "It would be cool if we stretched the whole way around!" While we didn't make it the entire 1/4 mile, we certainly covered a good portion of the path. We began our whole school morning meeting on the blacktop with the Pledge and greeting. Ask your child if they can show you the greeting! (Pics to follow)

The next few weeks will be spent diving into grade-level content and getting a feel for what individual learners need through baseline assessments. Once the baseline assessments are complete, our interventionists will determine who would benefit from math/reading based on the data from the assessments, other data points from the classrooms, and data from last year if appropriate.

I encourage families to reach out throughout the year to your classroom teachers, the school counselor, and myself should you have any questions, concerns, or ideas. I strongly believe in home-school communication as it is how we best educate and grow our children.

As we get rolling, you should hear from your child's teacher/team and myself on a nearly weekly basis. Should you not be getting this information, please reach out to your child's teacher, or Sara at the front office, as there may be a problem with your contact information in Powerschool.

This is the start of my 7th year at Lothrop and it is a true pleasure!

Best,

Deb

Debbie Alexander

Principal, Lothrop School

Thank you families for your continued efforts to keep our children safe during drop-off and pick-up times. I appreciate the efforts to let children get themselves out of the car whenever possible AND we want to reassure our kindergarten families that we know that you will need some time at the beginning of the school year to help your child learn how to gather their gear and get out of the car. We also know that some vehicles require support from an adult, even for older children. We have all been there and can be patient.

As a reminder, please follow vehicles in front of you out of the lower lot, as you may not see a child getting out of the left side of a car if you are attempting to pass.

Last, thank you everyone for using the lower lot for drop-off and dismissal. It made for very safe transitions.

Technology permission forms are coming in steadily. Thank you :) Classrooms will be issued Chromebooks as soon as we have them all in. Today your child should have brought home a paper copy of the Acceptable Use Policy and permission form. Please sign and return on Monday if you have not already done so. We appreciate your help with this.

The Pittsford Food Shelf is eager to assist our neighbors with food and timely help. You might be surprised by how much we have to offer. There are no qualifications to participate beyond proof of residency. For questions or to place an order or schedule an appointment please contact Director Joel Tate at 483-3002."