Lyons Upper Elementary School -

LUES will celebrate WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY on March 21st. Rock Your Socks in support of Down Syndrome Awareness. Wear mismatch socks or fun socks on Friday, 3/21/25. Did you know individuals with Down Syndrome have 3 copies of chromosome #21- therefore, we celebrate WDSD on 3/21.

Your LUES leprechaun will bring home a lucky report card today 3/17/25 for St. Patrick's Day! Please sign it and return it tomorrow.

LUES FAMILY FOCUS FOR MARCH: KEEPING STUDENTS MOTIVATED Create a Positive Learning Environment- Ensure your home is a conducive space for learning and studying. Minimize distractions, provide supplies, and establish a routine that includes study time. Clutter and chaos can cause a lack of motivation for children.

LUES FAMILY FOCUS FOR MARCH: KEEPING STUDENTS MOTIVATED Celebrate Effort, Not Just Outcomes: Emphasize the importance of effort and hard work. Praise your child for their dedication and perseverance rather than solely focusing on grades or end results. This can keep them motivated when they are struggling academically. This also teaches children that the most important thing is to try your best. NO one can ask more than 100% of what someone is capable of.

Congratulations to our 2nd 8 weeks Honor Roll and Star Honor Roll recipients! Great job guys! #shine

LUES FAMILY FOCUS FOR MARCH: KEEPING STUDENTS MOTIVATED Show Interest and Support: Sometimes a child can become unmotivated when they feel unsupported. Demonstrate a genuine interest in your child's hobbies, passions, and academics. Ask about their day, actively listen, and offer support when they face challenges.

This week, we celebrate Exceptional Children’s Week! We celebrate the unique strengths, talents, and achievements of our exceptional students. #ExcellenceFor ALL

📚 **Read Across America Week: A Huge Success with Our Guest Readers!** 📚 Thank you to all our guest readers for making this week special and for igniting a passion for reading in our students. Together, we celebrated the joy of literacy.

Let's work together and give kids their best chance to learn! Check out the attached flyers for more information.

Set Realistic Goals: Encourage your child to set realistic goals. Help them break these goals into manageable steps so they don't feel overwhelmed. Remember to celebrate their achievements along the way, no matter how small. These small accomplishments can be an easy way to boost their motivation. Once they meet their goal, you could celebrate with a reward as an additional motivator.

Click THIS link for setting up e-wallet for easy shopping the book fair 📚 #shine https://www.scholastic.com/bf/lyonsupperelementaryschool

Come shop the book fair at LUES! Thursday, March 6, is the last day! You may also shop online at fairs.scholastic.com/bf/lyonsupperelementaryschool We have a table of $5 and under items! We also have the newest Dog Man book and the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book! #shine

LUES FAMILY FOCUS FOR MARCH: KEEPING STUDENTS MOTIVATED Keeping students motivated can be a challenge, especially towards the end of the school year. It takes encouragement, guidance, and a supportive environment to keep students motivated through the course of a school year. We will send out some strategies to help inspire and motivate your child to reach their full potential at home and school. Remember that each child is unique, and what motivates one may not work for another. It's essential to tailor your approach to each child's personality and their own needs. Building a strong partnership between home and school is key to crating a motivating and supportive learning environment!

LUES is holding its FY26 Comprehensive Needs Assessment Meeting 4/9/25, 5:30 pm, TCHS Cafeteria. Please plan to attend.

LUES will celebrate Positive Behaviors by hosting March Madness Basketball Competition. Students can attend if they have had no office referrals or no more than one classroom referral from 2/14/25-3/14/25 (excellent behavior for 20 days). Come dressed in your best basketball outfit.

LUES READ ACROSS AMERICA- WEDNESDAY 3/5/25 DRESS UP DAY- MISMATCH WacKy WedNesDaY!

Come shop our Scholastic book fair this week: March 3-6!! Ship online at book fairs.scholastic.com/bf/lyonsupperelementaryschool #shine

Toombs Family Connection partnered with Toombs County Schools to implement a new pilot program called MENTOR Toombs. This program goes along with the Get TOOMBS Reading initiative that our community has been working toward for the last few years. Last month Paige Williamson, Toombs Family Connection Director, and Rhonda Benton, Toombs County Schools’ Family Engagement Coordinator, met with Leslie Hale from MENTOR Georgia to learn best practices and prepare to train other volunteers themselves. Tuesday, February 18, a group of eleven volunteers from our community met for the first official MENTOR Toombs training. During that time, participants practiced leading activities, learned WHY a program like this is important now, and took turns reading to one another to listen for sight words and better understand the mentor role. This program is focused on literacy and it’s specific to first grade students at Lyons Primary School at this time. We hope to expand to other schools and grades next year. The requirements to participate in this program are as follows: Application Background Check 4 Hour Training Weekly Commitment of one-two hours per week If you or someone you know would be interested in joining this program for the next school year, please contact Paige Williamson at familyconnection9@gmail.com or Rhonda Benton, rhonda.benton@toombs.k12.ga.us.

3/1/25 Queridos padres y guardianes, LUES implementará su tercer y último diagnóstico i-Ready® del 17 al 25 de marzo de 2025, un innovador programa de evaluación adaptativa para lectura y matemáticas. i-Ready ayudará a los profesores a evaluar las necesidades de todos y cada uno de los estudiantes de su clase. Los resultados de la evaluación adaptativa brindan a los maestros un curso de acción instructivo personalizado para cada estudiante. Una evaluación adaptativa es: Diseñado para que los estudiantes obtengan aproximadamente un 50 % de aciertos y un 50 % de errores y encuentren un nivel de colocación “perfecto” en lectura y/o matemáticas para cada estudiante de la manera más rápida y eficiente posible. Útil para mostrar lo que su hijo "puede hacer" y cuáles deberían ser "los próximos pasos", individualizando para cada estudiante. Me gustaría contar con su ayuda para preparar a su hijo para esta evaluación. Por favor anime a su hijo a: Desayuna bien y descansa para el día de la evaluación. Haz lo mejor que puedas en cada pregunta y trata de no apresurarte. Trate de no preocuparse por las preguntas que no saben; recuérdeles que se espera que respondan correctamente aproximadamente la mitad de las preguntas. Tome "descansos" y diviértase con los breves "descansos del juego" que están integrados en la evaluación. Tenga papel y lápiz a mano para las preguntas de matemáticas. Sea respetuoso con otros estudiantes que tardan más en terminar Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre el diagnóstico e instrucción de i-Ready, no dude en comunicarse directamente con el maestro de su hijo. También puede obtener más información sobre i-Ready visitando www.iready.com/tour. Atentamente, Rhonda Piedra Directora de LUES

3/1/25 Dear Parents and Guardians, LUES will be implementing their 3rd and final i-Ready® Diagnostic March 17-25, 2025, an innovative adaptive assessment program for Reading and Math. i-Ready will help teachers assess the needs of each and every student in their class. The results of the adaptive assessment provide teachers with an instructional course of action personalized for each student. An adaptive assessment is: Designed for students to get about 50% correct and 50% incorrect and will find a “just right” placement level for reading and/or mathematics for each student in the quickest, most efficient way possible. Helpful in showing what your child “can do” and what “the next steps” should be, individualizing for each student. I would like to enlist your assistance in preparing your child for this assessment. Please encourage your child to: Eat a good breakfast and be rested for the day of the assessment Try their best on each question and try not to rush Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will get about half of the questions correct Take “breaks” and have fun with the short “game breaks” that are integrated into the assessment Have paper and pencil handy for math questions Be respectful of other students who take longer to finish If you have any questions about i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher directly. You can also learn more about i-Ready by visiting www.iready.com/tour. Sincerely, Rhonda Stone LUES Principal