Lincoln Elementary School

Dear Lincoln Families,

I hope this finds you feeling refreshed after Spring Break and excited for the week ahead as we return to full-day in-person schooling.  We are so excited to welcome everyone back to full-day instruction on Wednesday, April 21^st.  Please keep in mind we will be on our hybrid schedule this Monday and Tuesday, with cohort A coming to school in the morning and cohort B coming to school in the afternoon.  On Wednesday, all students will report to school beginning at 8:00 with school officially starting at 8:15. 

I hope you had a chance to view the video I sent out on April 7^th, which gave a number of details about our return to Level 1.  If you missed it, here is the link: Return Video.  In keeping the video at a manageable length, one thing I didn’t touch on was the Social Emotional aspect of our students returning full time.  Many of our students have expressed a tremendous amount of enthusiasm about coming back full day, and they are counting down the minutes until the cohorts are joined together and recess and lunch resume.  Other students have let us know they are a little nervous about the transition.  Uncertainty about friends, getting to know students in the opposite cohort, having more students in the classroom, and the reality of a longer school day are just a handful of the worries students have shared over the past couple weeks. 

With this in mind, our SAIL team has compiled a number of resources for our teachers to utilize with students when we are back in school full time.  When we bring the two cohorts together, it truly will be like another first day of school.  Teachers will be taking the time to build community in the classroom, to help facilitate friendships, and to support students in developing their academic stamina.  We will be establishing and modeling expectations on the playground, reinforcing the importance of our safety protocols, and cheering our students on as they once again pivot to a change in their daily schedules.  At home we encourage you to re-establish any bedtimes that may have inched later and later over the past year, as we know this new schedule, even with all of the supports we are putting in place, is going to make for some really sleepy kiddos!

This school year has certainly been a wild ride!  Thank you so much for your ongoing support through all of the changes and transitions.  The strength of this Lincoln community is truly inspiring, and I am so grateful to be a part of it.  In just a few days we will be returning to our regularly scheduled programming so to speak, and I could not be more excited for this next step toward a post-pandemic reality. 

Grounded in Gratitude,

Dr. DeMicco