Lea Express for Friday, December 7

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, December 11 – Thursday, December 13 — Quarter 2 Interim Reports

Wednesday, December 12 — Lea Winter Concert, 12:30 – 3:00 pm

School Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting, 4:30 – 6:00 pm — FamiLEA Cooking Club, 6:00 – 7:00 pm

EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

Spark Lab Workshop Biomedical
On Tuesday, December 11th, students participating in our Spark Program will network with graduate students studying biochemistry and molecular biology. Students will continue to work on a design activity alongside volunteers which focuses on developing social awareness.

Dancing Classroom Philly Semi-Finals
On Tuesday, December 11th, from 9-1, twelve students from our fifth grade homerooms will compete in the semi-finals! This is a regional competition. Our students will compete at Chester Arthur School, and we wish them the best of luck!

Winter Concert
On Wednesday, December 12th, we will be having our Winter Concert! There will be 3 performances over the course of the school day: 12:30-1:15 PM for Grades 3-5, 1:15-2:00 PM for Grades 6-8, and 2:15-3:00 PM for Grades K-2. Families are welcome and encouraged to attend!

FamiLEA Cooking Club
On Wednesday, December 12th from 6:00 – 7:00 pm, we will hold our monthly FamiLEA Cooking Club in Cafeteria A. Students and their family members are encouraged to come cook with us!

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM INFORMATION

Lea After-School Program
Lea’s after-school program director, Ms. Arttia, has started an enrollment wait-list for interested families. As after-school spots open up, Ms. Arttia will contact families on the wait-list.

Moving forward, the Lea After-School Program will dismiss at 5:00 pm on Wednesdays for staff professional development. Thus, all after-school students must be picked up by no later than 5:00 pm on Wednesdays.

Young Quakers Community Athletics
Young Quakers is still looking to recruit more middle school girls interested in lacrosse. If interested, please see Ms. Arttia in Room L3!

FAMI-LEA INFORMATION

School Advisory Council (SAC)
The Lea SAC discussed a wide range of issues at our November meeting.

• A counselor from Harrington’s SAC joined our meeting, let us know her school is going through some transitions with an outgoing SAC president and elections.  We offered ongoing collaboration with Harrington and Lea SAC groups.
• Pastor Joe Kwalk from Emmanuel Church joined us and offered to collaborate with Lea. We are going to explore the possibility of staff parking in their lot, as well as other ways the English congregation could contribute to Lea and vice versa.
• We discussed school events and needed volunteers.
• The Lea SAC is also going to meet with the Penn Alexander School SAC to have a conversation about our neighborhood and the enrollment dynamics between the two schools on December 4th from 5:00-6:00 pm in the Lea Library.  The Lea SAC is going to work on set of talking points, please let us know if you would like to contribute.
• The broken slides on the playground have finally been fixed and there are plans to convert the cafeteria into a hot buffet line very soon (electrical was upgraded, 2 new ovens, new electrical, and sewer lines have been addressed).  There are new water filtration systems on the 2nd floor and both the L-wing and cafeteria are up for conversion to water filtration stations as well. Principal Savage will again request a new building addition to replace the L wing and a full-service kitchen in her capital request for next year.
• Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT) were a big success in October, and the next APTT family meetings for Grades K, 1, and 3 will be held on January 30th.
• Over 300 people from partner organizations and the wider community have been registered to serve, work, or volunteer at Lea this year.
• Please be on the lookout for the family survey and note that there are ongoing surveys of staff, partners and students underway.
• If you have suggestions, questions or want more information please write to Molly McGlone (mcglone.molly@gmail.com).

The next SAC meeting will be December 12th from 4:30-6:00 pm in the Lea Library (please note that this is the second Wednesday of the month).

SAC meeting dates for 2018-2019: 12/12/18, 1/9/19, 2/6/19, 3/6/19, 4/3/19, 5/8/19

Home and School Association (HSA)
The HSA is selling Lea swag as a fundraiser! We have “be-LEA-ve” t-shirts as well as Lea pop sockets! Ask an HSA officer or email us at leahomeandschool@gmail.com. Baseball T’s are $15, regular T’s are $10, and pop sockets are $3. The next  monthly HSA meeting will be on Thursday, December 20th  at 3:30 pm in Room 105.

HSA meeting dates for 2018-2019: 12/20/18, 1/17/19, 2/21/19, 3/21/19, 4/11/19, 5/16/19

Lea Family Survey
Our Family Survey is designed to help us learn more about families’ perspectives on our school and its programming. A link to the online survey is available both in the “Spotlight” section and the “Parents” section of the Lea school website (https://lea.philasd.org/), and paper copies are available on the Partnerships Office bulletin board (Room 125 next to the Visitors Entrance stairway), which should be returned to Mr. Rich’s mailbox. It takes about 10-15 minutes to complete the survey. Please consider taking a few minutes to share your thoughts with us!

Family Café
Our Family Café program is an opportunity for Lea families to come together to support one another. The final meeting of Lea’s Family  Café will be on Friday, December 21st, from  9:00-11:00 am in the Lea Library. During the final meeting, participants who have consistently attended Family Cafe will receive a certificate of completion and a Walmart Gift Card. For additional information, please speak with our Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Liaison, Mr. Brown (antbrown001@gmail.com).

Volunteering at Lea
In order to volunteer in any capacity this year (including chaperoning field trips), parents/guardians and community members must attend a mandatory Volunteer Orientation Training at Lea with our Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Liaison, Mr. Brown.

The next training will be Friday, January 11th, from 2:00-3:00 pm. Please RSVP to Mr. Brown (antbrown001@gmail.com) if you plan to attend.

Cold and Flu Season
*FREE flu-shots* are available at CVS, Target, and city Health Centers.  Flu vaccines are the best way to protect yourself. Other ways to fight the Flu: 1) Boost your immune system- Eat well, drink water, and sleep enough. 2) Wash your hands and don’t touch your face. 3) Cover your cough. 4) Wipe down and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. If your child has the flu, do not send them to school until their fever has been gone for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.

Special Shout Outs for our Fami-LEA!!

Fami-Lea Fun Night was a wonderful success! Thank you to Mr. Brown, Mr. Liuzzi, Ms. Watts, and all of the staff who stayed to help run the event. We had a lot of fun! We are grateful to all of our families!

Dancing Classrooms Philly was tremendous! Our fifth grade students learned a lot about dancing, communicating, and trusting each other in order to perform at the highest level. We are very grateful to Ms. Coyne, Ms. Green, and Ms. Kessler for their amazing support of our students. Thank you to Mr. Mark McLeod for his expertise.