Lynch Elementary School Newsletter

Dear Lynch Community,

Two weeks ago, I presented Lynch's 2009 MCAS scores at the October LPA meeting. It was my pleasure to present an update on how Lynch fared on last year's MCAS tests. Each spring, students across the Commonwealth take myriad MCAS exams. For our grade 3-5 students, there are seven tests - Grade 3 Language Arts, Grade 3 Math, Grade 4 Language Arts, Grade 4 Math, Grade 5 Language Arts, Grade 5 Math, Grade 5 Science. I am very pleased to report that, for the third year in a row, Lynch continued to do very well on the MCAS exams compared to our past scores, our peers in Winchester and across the state. This is wonderful news and all credit should go to the students, staff and families of the Lynch School.

There are four scoring categories for MCAS (W- Warning, NI - Needs Improvement, P - Proficient, A - Advanced. In third grade the highest category is labeled Proficient Plus instead of Advanced). Ideally, we seek to have as many students as possible score in either the Proficient or Proficient Plus/Advanced categories. The scores mentioned below reflect the percentage of students scoring in either Proficient and Proficient Plus (Grade 3) or Proficient and Advanced (Grades 4 and 5) categories.

Of particular note, I would like to mention that last year's fifth grade students did incredibly well in all three MCAS tests. This is important to me as principal since it is vital that we have our fifth grade students leave Lynch and be on equal footing with all elementary students as they enter McCall Middle School (or a Middle School of their choosing). Again, credit to last year's fifth grade students for their efforts and achievement. Kudos to the fifth grade staff as well as all staff (I remind all of us that the PreK-2 staff play a huge role in developing learners during the primary grades so that any future Grade 3-5 success is directly attributable to our PreK-2 staff.).

Continued below

HalloweenFest

HalloweenFest

Friday, October 30th 6:30p - 8:30p

Volunteers Still Needed!

It's not too late to volunteer and help make this evening fun & safe. Click here to pick a time slot that works for you:

Lynch HalloweenFest. We need help with set up, clean up and everything in between! Also needed are nut free donations for the bake sale. Please contact Hillary Baker if you can help - hillarybaker@comcast.net

Art Fundraiser Orders Due
If you haven't already, it's not too late!!! Drop off your child's masterpiece and order form in the main office @ Lynch by this Wednesday, 10/28. If you have any questions, please email Roseann Sauer at roseannlilly@verizon.net.

Message from Principal Goodwin continued

Lynch MCAS 2009 Results

Grade 3
Language Arts - 76% P+ and P.
Math - 79% P+ and P.

Grade 4
LA - 85% A and P.
Math - 75% A and P.

Grade 5
LA - 86% A and P.
Math - 92% A and P.
Science - 89% A and P.

Again, thanks to all students, staff and families for their great work during the 2008-2009 academic year. This year we are continuing to focus on our instruction of writing as well as enhance our teaching of "word work" (i.e., the specific teaching of phonemic awareness as the foundational skill that leads to fluent readers.) Throughout the year, I will provide detailed information of what we are doing in these areas as well as information that you can use at home to support your child(ren). Again, thanks to everyone involved in supporting our student's academic and social/emotional achievement.

Future Event FYI: The Winchester Multiculural Network is sponsoring the showing of "Including Samuel". This will take place on Tuesday, October 27th at 6:30 p.m. at McCall Middle School. Samuel is a student with special needs that is fully included within his local school. Including Samuel" is the documentary made by his father Dan Habib highlighting the great rewards and challenges associated with including his son in his local public school system. I watched this last spring and came away humbled by the strength, honor and dignity present within Samuel and his family. A must see as far as I am concerned.

The Lynch 5th Grade Students vs. Faculty Basketball game will be held on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 7 p.m. To quote Jenny Bove, Lynch School Pyschologist, quoting Vince Lombardi, "Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." The Lynch staff is committed to working together on behalf of all student and staff endeavors. Stay tuned!

Halloween Parade: Lynch's preschool and kindergarten students will conduct their annual Halloween parade at 9 AM on Friday, October 30th.

No school Day: There will be no school on Wednesday, November 11 due to the observance of Veterans' Day).

Halloweenfest 2009: Looking forward to the Lynch Halloweenfest (the evening of Friday, October 30th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Lynch Dining Room). Thanks to the Halloween Social Committee for organizing this fun event on behalf of the Lynch community.

Thanks: A big thanks to Kathy Williamson and Barbara Foot (and dozens of additional volunteers) for organizing last week's Book Fair. Thanks to everyone who purchased a book. It makes a difference for your child(ren) and our school.

Take care,
Stephen Goodwin
Lynch Principal

Note from Physical Education

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Each school year, students in grades one (1) through five (5) participate in a bi-yearly (fall and spring) physical fitness assessment. Our fitness assessments are:
�Curl-ups (stomach and trunk strength),
�Sit and reach (leg and back flexibility), and
� Jog/walk 400 meters (grades1-2) or 800 meters (grades 3-5) (endurance).

Recorded on the student's progress reports are their percentile in accordance to their gender and age. This percentile is compared to the national average (not our school average). Standards for Lynch students are used from: http://www.presidentschallenge.org/educators

For example, your child's raw Sit and Reach score is 32cm. If the national percentile for a score of 32 is 80%, then this means your child did better than 80 percent of the national group of students for their age group. If a student recorded below the 25th percentile in all three categories, we consider this - Needs Improvement.

If the student was absent or medically cleared for the assessment we record that they did not participate (D.N.P.).

Our other goal for the fitness lessons is to have our students obtain a better knowledge of the components of fitness and aware of life-long activities that can better a person's overall health.

BOX TOP$ SHOP
HALLOWEEN SALE at the BOX TOP$ SHOP this week. All Halloween Items will be half price. Come visit this Wednesday from 8:20-8:40. Please be sure to clip all Box Top$ neatly on the dotted line.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF
It's that time of year again! In just two weeks your child will bring home an orange Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF box. This is a great opportunity for our children to make a difference in the lives of millions of children around the world, while still having fun. Make Halloween count! Trick-or-treat for UNICEF

Go-Direct Raffle - Win an iPod Touch!

Don't miss your chance to win an iPod Touch! Every family that makes a donation to Go-Direct before Halloweenfest on Friday, October 30th will automatically be entered in the raffle to win a brand new Ipod Touch.

You can also buy raffle tickets at Halloweenfest for other great prizes including a game of you choice with Dr. Goodwin, Mr. Dupuis and Mr. Domina.

Go-Direct is the primary source of funding for the Lynch Parents Association and we need your help! We are still a long way from our goal and our hope is that every Lynch family will contribute. Your donations pay for the enrichment activities like Authorfest, the Kids View Magazine and community building events like the Halloweenfest. For more information click here.

Checks payable to the Lynch Parents Association can be sent to school with your child, to the box in the Lynch Office or bring your donation to the Book Fair or Halloweenfest. Families can also donate using PayPal to easily setup monthly withdrawals instead of one lump sum - just click here.

Every child benefits -- Every dollar counts!

Language-Based Learning Disabilities Group

First Meeting for Language Based Learning Disabilities Group

As two members of the Winchester Special Education Parents Advisory Council, (PAC) we are forming a sub-group of PAC for parents of children, all ages, who have a Language Based Learning Disability (LBLD) like dyslexia. Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, November 4th at 7:30 in the McCall Middle School Library. If you are interested in learning more or being a part of this group, please join us on November 4th. For more information or to add your name to our e-mail list, please contact either Amy Kraft at akpk1282@verizon.net or Kim Lazarus at kimberly.lazarus@verizon.net.

Beyond Lynch - Community News and Events

Click here or on the individual links below for more information about the following events and programs. Please subscribe to the Lynch Website RSS feed. This is a great way to stay up to date with all the new events and information continually posted on our website. Just click on this image at the top right of every page.

Email Marketing by