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     Lake Station Community Schools

    Elementary Student Families

    2020 / 2021

     

    Dear Elementary Student Families,

    Welcome back for a 2nd time!  On Monday, September 21st, 2020, those students who are returning will start back to school.  Our E-Learning kiddos will continue with their flexible E-Learning curriculum.  We are so excited to see some of our kiddos in person!  Please read through this letter carefully for updated information on our return to school.  E-Learning kiddos please continue to reach out to your teachers through Google Classroom and Classroom Dojo.  Also, please make sure that you are signing in for attendance, by midnight, every day.  Parents if your child does not sign in you will need to call them off from school.  Also, E-Learning Parents – if your child is not regularly logging in and completing E-Learning assignments the Principal will be calling to suggest putting your child back in school so that he / she does not fall too far behind.  Thank you.

    Returning Students – Please be sure to check your child’s health EVERY morning before sending them to school.  Please do a temperature check – we are sending home a thermometer for every family – please check your kiddos temp every morning.  Also, it is mandatory for students to wear a mask – please no gators – we are sending home health pouches with an example of a mask, for every kiddo. Please read through the materials in the pouch.  Parents – it is absolutely necessary that if the school nurse calls you, because your child is sick, that you have a plan in place to get them picked up within the hour.  We will not be holding sick kiddos in our nurse’s offices for hours on end – it is unsafe for everyone.  Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

    The school will open its doors @ 8:10 am – PLEASE DO NOT drop your student off early or have them arrive too early if they are walking.  Our new procedures for entering the building will be one child or family of children entering at a time.  Walkers will be held on the sidewalk - masked and three feet apart and will release one at a time.  Car riders – Parents DO NOT leave your vehicles – at this time Parents can not enter the school to take their kiddos to the classrooms – we will come to your car and have you release your masked kiddos for entry into the school.  We will reverse this process for dismissal and we will start dismissal, for the first week, at approximately 3:00 pm.  Again, we apologize, but at this time Parents can not enter the building to drop kiddos off at their classrooms – this is for everyone’s safety. Thank you for your cooperation.

    Parents please have a conversation with your kiddo(s) about social distancing.  We need to keep space between each other.  Also, please teach your child a virtual hug sign – for example, I form a circle with my arms and say that I am sending a virtual hug.  We all want to hug each other – we are so happy to be seeing kiddos, but we must remain vigilant in staying safe and keeping each other safe.  Thanks so much for your cooperation in this matter.

    Each school will hold a virtual Open House within the next couple of weeks – we will send home lots of information about the event – we hope that you can log on and join us!

    Thanks for all that you do and all that you have done!!  We appreciate all of your help and support in these unique times.  We will all get through this if we all continue to work together.  Take care and stay safe.  Please contact us if you have any concerns or questions; Bailey #219-962-1302 – Hamilton #219-962-1824.

    The Elementary Principals

    Tara Gordon - Hamilton and Terry Kolopanis - Bailey

     

     

     

     

     

    Lake Station Community Schools

    Elementary Student Families

    2020 / 2021

    Dear Elementary Student Families,

    Welcome Back!!  First, we hope that this finds all of our families healthy and safe.  We would, then, like to take this opportunity to thank all of our Students, Parents, and Student Caregivers for doing such a wonderful job of completing and turning in the elementary packets that were passed out to families from March through the end of the last school year. You did a wonderful job! These were very stressful times for everyone and we really appreciate everything that you accomplished!

    The start to the 2020 / 2021 school year is going to bring new challenges for all of us, so we would like to thank everyone, in advance, for their participation, communication, flexibility and patience.  We will be starting the school year using a digital E-Learning format which means we will be using technology.  Kindergarten will be the only exception to this – they will be using a hybrid curriculum of a Kindergarten packet and digital E-Learning curriculum. The digital E-Learning will be presented in a flexible approach so that working parents can help their students in the evenings and on the weekends. There will be daily online lessons and activities – these will be recorded so that parents and students can access them at their convenience.  The differences between last spring’s packet work and the digital E-Learning experience is that the packets were only assessed for completion – the E-Learning experience will use our adopted curriculum – there will be live instruction, assignments, quizzes, tests, ongoing progress monitoring to assess student growth and grades / assessments – all done on the computer.  We will also be counting daily student attendance – students / parents will need to log-in by midnight of every school day to be counted present – Parents need to call students off if they are ill or need to be out for any reason.  Kindergarten packets will be assessed for student progress and growth combined with their E-Learning progress and growth.

     

     With all of this in mind please note that there are several things that our Parents need to complete.  

    1. Please go to the Lake Station website and register your student(s).
    2. During the registration process be sure to check whether you need a device – we are trying to provide one per household. Also, check whether you have internet access.
    3. If you need a device provided by the school district you must fill out the device usage form which is also online. We will contact households about where and when the devices will be passed out.

    Our first student day is scheduled on Monday, August 17th – this day will probably consist of teachers reaching out to students to get to meet them – teachers will be reaching out to Parents to introduce themselves, give Parents and Students their contact information, and to get Parents and Students signed up for the digital classroom.  If you are having issues, please be sure and contact our offices – Bailey # is 219-962-1302 – Hamilton # is 219-962-1824 – there is also a twenty - four hour helpline # 219-230-4596 – where you can leave a voicemail message for Teachers, Principals, or Tech Support and we will return your call the next school day.  Our Principals’ emails are tkolopanis@lakes.k12.in.us – Bailey Principal and tgordon@lakes.k12.in.us Hamilton Principal.

    Again, we want to thank you all in advance for your patience and flexibility.  We know that these continue to be stressful and anxious times for everyone.  We need to all work together to try and make this digital E-Learning the best experience that it can be.  We know that our families will be doing their best and please know, that the schools are trying, their very best, to make this as positive of an experience as is possible.  We are all in this together – we all want what is best for our students.  Please be sure and communicate with us if you are having issues – we can’t fix what we don’t know about.  We will be communicating with you regularly to let you know about any and all changes /events.  We can’t say it enough – thank you so very much – we appreciate your entrusting us with your child’s education.

    Take care and stay safe,

    Mr. Kolopanis – Bailey Principal             Mrs. Gordon – Hamilton Principal

     

  • Welcome New Families - Welcome Returning Families 2019-2020

     

    I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to Alexander Hamilton Elementary School for the upcoming 2019/2020 school year.  I am looking forward to seeing all of our students, parents and staff.  I hope that you have all had an enjoyable summer and are well rested to begin the new school year.

     

    Alexander Hamilton's teachers are all returning!!- we are still looking for a new Art teacher- I am very excited to welcome everyone back, our Hamilton staff and I look forward to a great year of collaboration and working to make Hamilton students the best they can be!!

    Our Open House date will be determined at a later time.

     

    We are looking forward to a great academic year.  We are continuing with 90 minute Reading blocks, using certain components of the Reading First program. We will continue implementing our new Math facts program from last year – we will continue to work diligently on our Math facts at all grade levels. Hamilton’s students showed consistent academic progress throughout the course of last year and we are expecting scores to improve even more during the 2019/2020 school year. Also, we have a brand-new math curriculum which is very exciting.

    Our students will continue to take grade-level math and reading comprehension tests every three weeks.  These tests will assess skills mastered during our 30-minute SUCCESS time which we will continue this school year. These test scores help the classroom teacher determine which academic standards students have met and which standards need to be introduced or readdressed. We are also very excited to implement PLTW. This is a STEM type curriculum-our student will create projects in the Computer Science, Microbiology, and engineering areas. At the 5th grade level our students will attend The Starbase- which is 25 hours of STEM Curriculum which is aligned with Indiana Educational Standards. We are so fortunate to get the opportunity to participate in the amazing program.

     

    Parents, just a couple of housekeeping items – Alexander Hamilton will continue to use clear back packs.  The back packs can have colored trim / straps but they must be clear not colored plastic.  They are widely available now – I would recommend Walmart, Staples, Target, Meijer and Office Depot.  They are also available online.

    Please make sure that your student comes to school on time every day.  It is so important to their academics because time missed is truly time lost. Please check your student’s agenda every day – this is our home / school communication system and any important information from the teacher will be written in the agenda.  Any information that you need for the teacher to know needs to be written in the agenda.  If you are changing how your student goes home in the afternoon it MUST be written in the agenda for that day.  If there is no note your child will be put in the line where they normally go home. Please be sure that if your child is a car rider that you send a note to the teacher and we will get a car rider number assigned to you.  If you don’t have a number, for any reason, you can let the student helpers know your number verbally and they will release your student.  Car rider parents MUST line up to pick up their students.  DO NOT come into the office early to have your child signed-out – we WILL NOT release students early! Please line up at the end of the school day on the south side of 29th by the playground.  Please access 29th off of Hamilton or Henry so you don’t need to make a U-turn.  Please, DO NOT BLOCK our neighbors’ driveways. Also, NEVER go around the STOP arm on a stopped bus-this is a huge safety concern at dismissal- access 29th using Hancock if you need to bypass the busses to pick up a preschooler.  High school brothers and sisters picking up walking students MUST wait across the street from the school on the corner of 29th and Lake Streets.  Walking parents need to wait down by the school sign on the concrete or sidewalk – DO NOT congregate by the release doors - this just complicates our dismissal procedures.

    Also, parents we are using a new security check-in procedure – districtwide - so please be aware that you need to have a state issued I. D. with you when you come to the schools.  You will be stopped and asked for your I. D. and we will issue you a badge with your picture on it after the new system has run a national background check.  Please be aware that this is for the safety of all students and we do thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation as we implement this new practice.

     

    Our P.T.C. can always use volunteers for the activities / fundraisers that they plan throughout the school year.  Please sign up to volunteer if you have any free time.  Our P.T.C. will be selling Spirit Wear as soon as the school year begins – students will be allowed to wear their Spirit Wear every day throughout the year.  Thanks so much for all of your support!

     

    As always, I want to thank you, parents, for all that you do.  Please look for our Hamilton newsletter, which goes home every other week, containing upcoming events, important dates, and times.  Try to take every opportunity to involve yourself in your child’s education.  You do make the difference!  I’m looking forward to seeing you and your child / children at the beginning of the school year.

     

    Sincerely,

    Tara L. Gordon

    Principal

    Alexander Hamilton Elementary School

     

Last Modified on September 18, 2020