{"id":26772,"date":"2024-10-10T13:23:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T18:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/?p=26772"},"modified":"2025-11-17T12:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T18:54:24","slug":"lower-school-division-news-october-10-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/2024\/10\/10\/lower-school-division-news-october-10-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower School Division News October 10, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26776 alignright img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/nclhx5yj.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LSDivisionNewswp.png\" alt=\"LS Division News\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/>from Jennifer Le Varge, Lower School director\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark Your Calendars<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Friday, October 11: No Classes, All School Conferences, 8 AM-5 PM<\/li>\n<li>Monday, October 14: No Classes, Indigenous Peoples Day<\/li>\n<li>Wednesday, October 16: LS\/MS Grandparents and Special Friends Day, 8 AM-3 PM<\/li>\n<li>Wednesday, October 16: LS\/MS Grandparents and Special Friends Day Performance, 11 AM-12 PM, Nicholson Center<\/li>\n<li>Wednesday, October 16: LS PA Rainbow Club, 6-8 PM, Martin Lenz Harrison Library<\/li>\n<li>Thursday, October 17-Friday, October 18: No Classes, Fall Break<\/li>\n<li>Tuesday, October 22: LS Duty-Free Lunch with Parent Volunteers, 11:40 AM-12:40 PM, Playground and Family Commons<\/li>\n<li>Thursday, October 24: LS\/US Blood Drive, 12-6 PM, Gallery<\/li>\n<li>Friday, October 25: Bring a Friend to MPA Day, 8 AM-3 PM<\/li>\n<li>Wednesday, October 30: LS CHAMP Assembly, 8:15-8:45 AM, Family Commons<\/li>\n<li>Thursday, October 31: End of Quarter 1<\/li>\n<li>Thursday, October 31: MPA PA LS Halloween Parties, 8:30 AM-2:30 PM, Lansing Sports Center<\/li>\n<li>Thursday, October 31: LS Halloween Parade, 2:30-3 PM, Hallways<\/li>\n<li>Friday, November 1: No Classes, Grading Day<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are excited to welcome parents to campus for our Fall Conferences this week to celebrate all the learning and growth that the children have experienced since the start of the academic year. As you prepare for these conferences, the following questions highlighted by Harvard\u2019s Making Caring Common article, &#8220;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mcc.gse.harvard.edu\/whats-new\/parent-teacher-conf-questions\">15 Questions to Ask Your Child\u2019s Teacher That Aren\u2019t About Grades<\/a><\/strong>&#8221; may be helpful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can you tell me about a time my child showed empathy or helped another student?<\/li>\n<li>How does my child resolve conflict with their peers? Do they communicate effectively?<\/li>\n<li>Is my child comfortable participating in group activities and collaborating with others?<\/li>\n<li>How does my child react when they make mistakes? Do they check in and take responsibility?<\/li>\n<li>Are there any areas where I can support my child&#8217;s social-emotional development at home?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reminder that the following days are non-school days: Monday, October 14 (Indigenous Peoples Day); Thursday and Friday, October 17-18 (Fall Break). Please read on for more updates!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Wednesday, October 23, 2-3 PM: Students &amp; Screens Parent-School Community Discussion, &#8220;The Anxious Generation&#8221; by Jonathan Haidt<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Social media is ubiquitous in the lives of our young adolescents, and they are in front of screens of all kinds throughout the day. This has impacted them\u2014and all of us\u2014in many ways. While there are some obvious benefits to social media and other modern technologies, research shows an increase in depression and anxiety, and a decline in focus, attention, and face-to-face interaction.<\/p>\n<p>Parents, please join us on Wednesday, October 23, from 2-3 PM in the Recital Hall to engage in discussion on these topics anchored by the text &#8220;The Anxious Generation&#8221; by Jonathan Haidt. The discussion will be led by Jay Dean, upper school assistant director; Paul Errickson, middle school director; and Michael Moran, director of academic technology.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Friday, October 25: Bring a Friend to MPA Day (First Through Ninth Grades)<\/strong><br \/>\nBring a Friend Day is coming up on October 25! MPA students in first through ninth grade are invited to bring a friend to experience firsthand what it is like to be a student at MPA. The friend must be in the same grade or within one grade above or below the MPA student. Each child may bring one friend. Space is very limited by grade level!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thursday, October 31: Lower School Halloween Celebration<\/strong><br \/>\nOn Thursday, October 31, the Lower School children will celebrate Halloween at school. The Lower School Parent Association will lead Halloween celebrations for each class during the P.E. times. We will also have our Halloween costume parade at 2:30 PM on the day. Parents are invited to help with these celebrations and to watch the parade at 2:30 PM in the Lower School hallways. Please note that for costumes, students should avoid weapons, blood\/gore, and full-face masks for safety.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CHAMP Update: Mindfulness<\/strong><br \/>\nOn Wednesday, October 9, the Lower School students enjoyed learning more about mindfulness, our CHAMP attribute focus. We engaged in breathing exercises, learned about how to be an upstander to help ensure that all students feel socially connected, and learned from fourth grade about prime numbers. We also discussed some ongoing issues in the bathroom and underscored the importance of demonstrating CHAMP behavior consistently. Our next CHAMP assembly will be on Wednesday, October 30. Please wear your CHAMP colors!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from Jennifer Le Varge, Lower School director\u00a0 Mark Your Calendars Friday, October 11: No Classes, All School Conferences, 8 AM-5 PM Monday, October 14: No Classes, Indigenous Peoples Day Wednesday, October 16: LS\/MS Grandparents and Special Friends Day, 8 AM-3 PM Wednesday, October 16: LS\/MS Grandparents and Special Friends Day Performance, 11 AM-12 PM, Nicholson [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":26773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,28,24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-school","category-current-families","category-featured-posts","category-lower-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29300,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26772\/revisions\/29300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}