{"id":29493,"date":"2025-12-18T13:53:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/?p=29493"},"modified":"2025-12-18T15:59:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:59:39","slug":"lower-school-division-news-december-18-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/2025\/12\/18\/lower-school-division-news-december-18-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower School Division News December 18, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29496 alignright img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/nclhx5yj.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LSFeat-1.png\" alt=\"A Lower School student building a gingerbread house.\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/>from James Ewer, Lower School director\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As we wrap up the year, I want you to know this: We have truly seen and loved your children.<br \/>\nWe have watched them learn and grow in real time. We have watched them take risks, make mistakes, and try again. We have heard them laugh. We have seen the tears, but hopefully not too many \ud83d\ude0a. We have watched a frustration show up and then watched your child push forward anyway.<\/p>\n<p>That. All. Matters.<\/p>\n<p>This year, I have seen our littles practice compassion. I have seen them choose kindness when it wasn\u2019t always easy. I have seen them name what they need and advocate for themselves with increasing clarity and courage. I have seen them learn how to be in community with one another. Not perfectly. But we are in fact doing it together.<\/p>\n<p>I. Could. Not. Be. More. Proud.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I want to thank you. You partner with us. You trust us. You show up with questions, hopes, and care. You help create the kind of school community where children feel safe enough to stretch and strong enough to keep going.<\/p>\n<p>As you step into break, I hope you give yourself permission to pause and:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>reflect on how far your child has come;<\/li>\n<li>celebrate the small wins that add up;<\/li>\n<li>make time for the people you love most; and<\/li>\n<li>rest in ways that restore you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thank you for being part of this community. Wishing you a blessed and restorative break. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year.<\/p>\n<p>Peace and love,<br \/>\nMr. Ewer<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark Your Calendars<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Friday, December 19: Caroling with the Madrigal Singers with Faculty, Staff, &amp; Alumni, 7:30-8 AM, Family Commons, All Are Welcome!<\/li>\n<li>Friday, December 19: A Soldier\u2019s Sacrifice \u2013 A Special Alumni &amp; Faculty Presentation, 8:15-9 AM, Recital Hall, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/Pages\/ResponsePage.aspx?id=WhF0RhAElEGqKJ0Oc6hq2LXAKRaRyhNNk_ybymlTG4tUNk5LUlc1VDFSVFlRRFI1QVlHOEtOS1JTRi4u\">RSVP &gt;<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Friday, December 19: LS Family Forum, 8:15-9:45 AM, Martin Lenz Harrison Library<\/li>\n<li>Monday, December 22-Friday, January 2: Winter Break \u2013 No Classes, PreK Panther Club Closed, Panther Club\/Den Closed<\/li>\n<li>Monday, January 5: Classes Resume<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from James Ewer, Lower School director\u00a0 As we wrap up the year, I want you to know this: We have truly seen and loved your children. We have watched them learn and grow in real time. We have watched them take risks, make mistakes, and try again. We have heard them laugh. We have seen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":29498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,28,24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29493","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\/29493","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=29493"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29518,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29493\/revisions\/29518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}