The Lima City Schools will hold One-Stop Preschool & Kindergarten Registration from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday, June 18, at Liberty Arts Magnet School, 338 W. Kibby St.

Children who will be age 5 by Sept. 30 can enroll in kindergarten this coming year. Three, 4 and 5 year olds are eligible for preschool. Full and half-day programs are available for preschoolers. Busing is also available.

The event will allow parents to register their children and obtain information about kindergarten readiness, transportation, campus wear and more. Free physicals will be available, as well as the chance to win prizes.

Parents should bring to registration their child’s Social Security card, immunization records, original copy of birth certificate, current physical, proof of residency and custody papers (if applicable).

To ensure social distancing, parent and child will remain outside the building until it is their turn. Just the child and one parent should attend.

The Lima City Schools will again provide free lunches for children over the summer months through the Summer Food program.

Children and teens between the ages of one and 18 qualify for the summer meals. Children do not have to attend the Lima City Schools to get the lunches.

This year’s program will be handled differently because of the pandemic.

Students will not be permitted inside the buildings. Lunches can be picked up and taken home or children can eat outside the school while maintaining social distancing.

Food will be distributed at the following locations from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays beginning June 1 and running through July 30.

Freedom Elementary:  Enter Service Lane off Calumet Avenue.

Heritage Elementary: Enter off Rice Avenue

Independence Elementary: Enter off Tremont Avenue

Liberty Arts Magnet: Enter off Circular Drive or South Shore to Town Alley

North Middle School: Enter off O’Conner Avenue

Unity Elementary:  Enter off Third Street in front of school

Lunches on Monday will be a hot & ready-to-eat boxed lunch with an additional sack lunch for Tuesday and two breakfast meals.

Lunches on Wednesday will be a hot & ready-to-eat boxed lunch with an additional sack lunch for Thursday and an Uncrustable PBJ for Friday, with shelf-stable juice and three shelf-stable breakfasts for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Here are some tips on how parents can work with their children and keep learning going with using electronic devices. 

Kindergarten

For Reading

• Practice writing upper and lower case letters using correct letter formation. Time your child to see how many they can write in a minute.
• Practice sounding out and reading words found around your house
• Identify the letters and the letter sounds of items found around the house
• Use letter cards or tiles to create CVC words (short vowel words such as c – a -t) and practice reading them…. These can be real words or nonsense (made up words such as “sot”)
• Read to your child every day, talk about words they may not know the meaning of, and ask questions about the story content along the way. Reread the book over 2-3 days.
• After reading, have your child write about the story. It’s ok if the writing is not all spelled correctly.   Have your child tell you what they wrote.
• Practice fine motor skills like coloring, writing, cutting etc.
• Play I Spy using letter sounds to find objects

For Mathematics

• Practice writing numerals from 0-20+
• Practice counting 0-100
• Practice comparing 2 numbers up to 100+
• Practice adding and subtracting numbers less than or equal to 10. Allow your child to use objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds ( such as claps), acting out situations(using words like “how many more”, “add on”,”more”, “pull together”, “take from”, “take apart”), verbal explanations, or equations.
• Compare the size, height, weight of two objects using the phrases such as “more of”/ “less of” and allow your child to describe differences between the two objects. For example, which sibling is taller and how do you know, which is heavier: a basketball or an apple, etc.
• Play board games (such as Dominos) with your child which involves counting or matching.

How can families support student science learning at home?

Parents, families, and home guardians play a critical role in science learning at home.  Since no two families are alike, families can support their children in a variety of ways.

Don’t Forget!

• Student, family, and community physical and emotional well-being are most important! As schools close, and the news cycle is dominated by information about COVID-19, it may be frightening or confusing to children. Take care of your child’s emotional and health needs during this time. Do not neglect your own needs, and reach out to available community networks and resources.

• Home-based learning is unique and should not try to recreate school. Trying to support school-like learning in a home setting may frustrate teachers, students, and families without leading to real and lasting learning. Instead, work with your child to have meaningful science learning experiences that connect to your home lives, interests, and identities. Some everyday activities that can promote meaningful science learning could include cooking, baking, cleaning, reading together, building, painting and drawing, and taking a walk outside.

• When technology is available, use it in smart ways. Meaningful science learning can happen with or without devices or access to the internet. If you do have access to technology to help your child, use technology to enhance learning. People learn best when they can figure things out together. Consider using devices and internet access to help learners find information they can use to figure something out; to make connections with others to build ideas and get feedback; and to share their thinking.

Recommended Actions You Take

• Model the Learning Process. You don’t have to be an expert in science! One of the most supportive things you can do is to be a partner in your child’s investigations and thinking. Think out loud or describe what you are doing as you do it, whether it is cooking, fixing something, taking care of pets, or other housework. Ask questions, even when you do not know the answer! You and your child might learn something new together.

• Be a Thought Partner. Support your child’s reasoning by talking with them about their science learning. You can ask your child questions, like “What do you notice? What do you wonder? Why do you think that’s happening? What can you teach me about this?” Let your learner bounce ideas off of you–remember, you don’t need to know the answer, just help them surface current understanding, deepen their thinking, and identify and figure out next steps to figure out more.

• Talk! As you work with your children on their investigations, you can engage in a range of productive types of talk. You can try using some “talk moves” with your learners to help them think more deeply.  If you want to learn more about how to use these moves, different kinds of productive talk, check out this blog post about using talk moves, this primer that helps describe talk strategies, and this series of videos used to help teachers use productive talk.

• Focus on Science in Everyday Life. Many activities you regularly do can support meaningful science learning! To explore the kinds of connections that are possible, you can do Internet searches like “science of [EVERYDAY ACTIVITY]]” (e.g., construction, cooking, gardening, washing). This can open up all sorts of meaningful questions that may lead to your child making sense of something they observe in the world and solving problems they encounter (e.g., how does soap work, how do we hear sounds).

• Connect Science to Your Work or That of Your Family. There may be meaningful ways to engage your child as part of your own work that can contribute to meaningful science learning. In your work or that of another family member, how do you find the answers to your questions? How do you communicate techniques, processes, or ideas? What problems or challenges might you face? Share your work and allow your child to think and work with you in a meaningful, career-related context.

• Build from the Science-related Interests of Your Children. You know your child — consider whether they have personal, family, or community interests that they do not always get to pursue in school and let them do a project related to that interest. Think about challenges facing your community, ideas or activities your child is passionate about, or even ideas that have come from books or television. Science is everywhere!

• Don’t stress about creating a perfect homeschool experience. This situation is stressful and might be scary for your child and your family. Learning happens all the time–when we are baking or cooking together, building the best fort we can, making art, reading novels, writing stories, and taking a walk outside. Engage your child in activities you love doing together and explore what you can learn through those experiences. Your family might even look back on this time as some of the most meaningful learning experiences!

• See “Additional Science Ideas” below.

First Grade

For Language Arts

• Have your child read every day for 20 minutes independently and read aloud to someone 10 – 15 minutes.  When reading aloud pick 2-3 words that may not be familiar to your child and talk about what the word means.
• After reading a story, have your child write something important about the story, what they liked/didn’t like etc. 1-2 sentences.
• Create word family lists and have your child read the words (fall, ball, call, mall)
• Give your child letter tiles or make letter cards and have them make words using the letters. As an extra, use the word in a sentence.
• Play board games that require your child to read directions or game cards.

For Mathematics

• Practice counting up to 120 with your child starting at any number less than 120.
• Have your child practice recognizing and writing numerals 0-120+.
• Give your child real life addition and subtraction problems to solve with 20 using words such as: adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, comparing,and using objects around your home or items in your kitchen (such as beans)and drawings.
• Practice addition and subtractions problems where your child will have to find the unknown. For example, you have 5 siblings. 2 are reading a book. How many of your siblings are not reading a book?
• Help your child practice telling and writing time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks. If you do not have an analog clock, create or draw one with your child.
• Practice recognizing and counting pennies and dimes (include nickels and quarters once your child has mastered pennies and dimes. Have your child purchase adding and subtracting with using pennies and dimes.  Make it fun.
• Practice drawing circles,rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, half circles.
• Practice diving circles and rectangles into halves, fourths, and quarters.
• Play board games (such as Dominos) with your child which involves counting or matching.

For Science

• See instructions for Kindergarten.
• See “Additional Science Ideas” below.

Second – Third Grade

For Language Arts

• Read independently at least 20 minutes and write about something that you read
• Listen to stories read aloud by a sibling or parent and talk about the story characters, setting, problem, solution
• Read a recipe and work with an adult to make the food
• Keep a journal, writing every day. This should be at least 5 sentences with proper handwriting and punctuation.  Allow your child to write about anything of interest.
• Play word games and board games that require any kind of reading.
• Read aloud to sibling, stuffed animal or pet.

For Mathematics

• Grade 2-Practice adding and subtracting within 100 and have your child explain to you what strategy they used. Grade 3-Practice adding and subtracting within 1000; multiplication and division within100 and have your child explain to you which strategy they used.
• Have your child explain to you what the digits’ value means in a number. For example, 726 equals 7 hundreds, 2 tens and 6 ones.
• Practice solving real world money problems using pennies, nickels,dimes, quarters. (For example, play store with your child.)
• Practice solving real world money problems using dollars.
• Help your child practice telling and writing time in hours, half-hour, and minutes using analog and digital clocks. If you do not have an analog clock, create or draw one with your child. Also, have your child tell you how much time elapsed between 2 activities. For example: how much time elapsed between when they ate breakfast and when they ate lunch or dinner.
• Give your child real life problems to solve involving addition, subtraction, multiplication(grade 3) and division (grade 3).
• Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares and describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, or fourths and quarters
• Grade 3-Compare two fractions with the same numerator or the same denominator using <,>, or =. (Fractions to work with are ½,⅓, ¼,⅙,⅛ ). Such as if a recipe calls for ½ cup of flour but you only have ¼ measuring cup. Experiment to see how many ¼ cups are needed to make a ½ cups.
• Grade 3- Have your child practice finding the total number of steps needed to walk around your back/front yard (practice the concept of perimeter).  Ask your child about how many plates might it take to cover your table ( practice the concept of area).
• Play board games (such as Dominos) with your child which involves counting or matching.

For Science

• See instructions for Kindergarten and/or Grades 4-6, depending on the student’s interest.
• See “Additional Science Ideas” below.

Grades 4 – 6

For Language Arts

• Read every day for 30 minutes. Your child should hopefully have two library books and their reading book home with them.   Read and reread any story in the reading book.
• Answer the questions at the end of the story.
• Every day give your child 3 -5 new words that they are not familiar with. Have them investigate the word and determine what it means based on the word parts.   Challenge your child to use these words sometime during the day.
• Write every day…. Keep a journal of the happenings during Covid 19 or write whatever is on your mind. At this age, your child should be able to write an entire page (at least) on a topic.    Have them read their writing to you and add anything to make it better or correct things that are not clear.
• Read recipes and cook them for the family. Simple directions on the side of a box of food or frozen meal can be used.   Read the ingredients and nutritional information on foods.
• Play board games that require any kind of reading

For Mathematics

• Give your child a number (only 3 digit numbers for Grade 4) and have them figure out how to get that number as an answer to an addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problem.
• Have your child explain to you what the digits’ value means in a number. For example; 7,260,000 equals 7 million,2 hundred thousands,and 6 ten thousands.
• Have your child edit recipes (4th grade fractions whose denominators are ½,⅓, ¼,⅙,⅛,1/10,1/12 , 1/100).
• Have your child create math stories for you to solve involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers and or fractions. Make a mistake and see if your child can find your mistake.

Grades 5 and 6

• have a scavenger hunt with your child by creating a map using coordinates.  For example, 6 spaces to your right and 5 spaces down the hall(6,-5) and look underneath the bed.
• Have your students explain to you decimal and fraction values; also, how to add, subtract, multiply and divide decimal and fractions using drawing or equivalent fractions. (Not rules unless your child can figure out  a rule on their own ;-).
• Give your child real life opportunities to determine when area, perimeter, volume might be used. For example, if I want to make a table cloth for the kitchen table would I need to find the perimeter, area, or volume of the table? Answer: the area.
• Play board games (such as Dominos) with your child.

How can you continue science learning at home?

You do not stop learning science when you leave the classroom. Science is all around us, including at home! You can continue to explore the world around you, understand natural phenomena, and solve engineering problems from your own home.

Don’t Forget

• Your physical and emotional well-being are most important. Take care of yourself and do not be afraid to ask adults for information or support.

• Learning at home is a unique opportunity! Learning at home and learning at school are different. At home, you can work with your family. You can connect science to your home life and interests. This is an opportunity to explore something that really matters to you!

• Don’t stress too much! Learning science at home might be really new for you. Remember that a lot of people are feeling this way too. Do your best and explore science that matters to you. We will all figure it out together!

Recommended Actions You Take

• Explore science that matters to you! Is there something you’ve always wondered about–maybe why something happens the way it does, or a problem you want to solve? What do you already know about this? What does your family know? What are the next steps you might take to figure this out? You might:
  • Look for information from a trusted source.
  • Design an experiment and collect data about something you are wondering about.
  • Build or draw a model that shows why something happens or how something works.
  • Figure out a solution to a problem you have noticed and explored.

Be creative! You can use your science experiences to work on something you really care about.

• Set some goals for your own learning. Setting learning goals can help us make a plan to be successful. Think about something you would like to learn, understand, or solve. You can share your learning goals with a family member, friend, classmate, or your teacher to help you. Try to make your goals SMART:
  • Specific: What exactly do I want to happen?
  • Measurable: I will know I have reached my goal when…
  • Attainable: With hard work, is it possible to reach this goal in the time I have?
  • Realistic and Relevant: My goal is important enough for me to put a plan into action! I will do these things to reach my goal…
  • Time-bound: I will reach my goal by…

• Find a Thinking Partner! As you are doing your science learning, who can you stop and think with? They might be members of your family, your friends, or other students from school. A phone call, text, video chat, email, or even connecting on social media should work if you can’t sit down and talk with them in the same room right now. People learn best by talking and thinking with each other.

• Work on Your Own and With Others! When you try to figure out a science phenomenon or solve an engineering problem, think through your ideas first. Then check in with others to see what they think. If possible, do the experiment or design challenge together—even if you aren’t in the same location. If you get stuck or frustrated along the way, ask others to listen to your thinking, share other perspectives, or give feedback. Some ways you can think with others even when you’re not in the same place might be:
  • Keep a journal or scrapbook of your ideas and thinking. Swap with a classmate and write notes back to them, or talk through your ideas with a family member or friend.
  • When you are reading something, imagine a classmate or one of your teachers is also reading it. What would you say to them? What might they respond? Write notes about your reading, imagining you are discussing it with someone else.

• Reflect on your own learning! One of the most important ways we build our understanding is by reflecting on what we are learning, and how we are learning it. You can do this with a partner, or by yourself. When you finish your work on science for the day, think about these questions. You can write, draw, or talk through your answers with a friend or family member:
  • What are some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project?
  • What were some of the most challenging moments, and what made them so difficult?
  • What were some of my most powerful learning, and what made them so meaningful?
  • What is the most important thing I learned?
  • What moments during this work made me most proud?
  • Why was this project important to me, my family, or my community?
  • How did this work move me toward my science learning goals?

• Document and Share What You Learn! Try to capture what you think and learn in a way that you can share with others. You could write or draw your ideas, make a short video of your thinking and work, take pictures of your work, or record an important conversation you’re having with your family or classmate. Be creative! What makes the most sense for you to capture and share your own learning?

• See “Additional Science Ideas” below.

Grades 7-12

For Language Arts

• Read and write every day. Read for at least 30 minutes and write in response to what was read.   Read different kinds of text including fiction and nonfiction.
• Reread a favorite book and write about what you found different or interesting in the second read.
• READ AND WRITE every day!!!!!

For Mathematics

• Have your child practice adding, subtraction, multiplying and dividing integers(positive and negative numbers ) without using a calculator.
• Have your child write a story or children’s picture book explaining how to add, subtract, multiply or divide integers and include negative and positive fractions and decimals.
• Have your child pick items in from a sales add and give them a budget to determine which and how many items to purchase to make sure they stay with that budget but buy enough food to feed or toilet paper for the family.
• Have your child create their own measuring tool and use that tool to find the perimeter, area, and surface area ( find the area of each wall and add those areas together to get the total surface area).
• Have your child interview family members about how they use math in their everyday lives.
• Have your child tutor some of the grades K-6 activities with their siblings.
• Have your child record and graph the number of times an activity is done. Grades 8-12 can then find the rate of change (slope) of the activity. For example, Monday I completed 3 choress, Tuesday I completed 4 chores,Wednesday, I completed no chores, etc.  The ordered pairs would be (1,3), (2,4), and (3,0).  To graph these points, you would start at 1 on the horizontal axis and move up to the number 3 and place a dot for the (1,3) order pair.
• Play board games (such as Dominos) with your child.

For Science

• See instructions for Grades 4-6, and apply to student interests.
• See “Additional Science Ideas” below.

Additional Science Ideas

Consider providing districts with home learning activities that include options that depend on low or no technology that focus on students’ interests and the world around them. States and schools can provide learning menu activities as options for ways for students to continue learning at home with their families and peers.

Sample Elementary Learning Menu. This elementary learning menu includes options for family-supported science learning for younger learners at home.

Sample Secondary Learning Menu. This secondary learning menu includes ideas for older learners who may be more self-directed in their learning.

COVID-19 Resources

Ohio Department of Health: coronavirus.ohio.gov

-833-427-5634

Allen County Health Department, Allen County Public Health: 419-228-4457 https://www.allencountypublichealth.org/

FOOD

Grab & Go Lunches from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays at all buildings except South and West.

Weekly LCS Food Pantries open from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Freedom, Heritage, Unity and North. Call ahead for pickup

West Ohio Food Bank, 1380 E. Kibby St.,  419-222-7946, www.westohiofoodbank.org 

*Emergency Pick-ups: 3 to 5 p.m.Wednesdays and noon to 2 p.m.  Fridays (1 visit per month permitted). Check website for other distribution events. 

Our Daily Bread, Soup Kitchen 125 S. Central Ave., Lima 419-224-2086 https://odbread.org/our_daily_bread_3_010.htm

*Serving lunches Monday through Friday 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Churches United Pantry 129 S. Pierce St. Lima 419-221-3243  https://limacup.org/about/ 

*1 visit per 30 days permitted

New Life Church Food Pantry  1180 W. High St., Lima 419-999-1615 

                 *Open 3rd/4th Thursday of each month       3/19 12:00-1:30 3/26 12:00- 1:30

Salvation Army Food Pantry 614 E. Market St., Lima 419-224-9055  https://swo.salvationarmy.org/lima/family-servicesutility-assistance 

CHILDCARE

YWCA Northwest Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral 419-225-5465 www.ywcanwo.org/what-were-doing/child-care-resource-and-referral/

Contact LSH or your building for a list of High School students who are babysitting during the closure 419-996-3000 

FREE WIFI

Spectrum – Students can enroll for free for up to 3 months. Call 1-844-488-8395

HEALTH CARE 

Take steps to protect yourself – Wash your hands often,. avoid close contact, stay home if you’re sick, cover coughs & sneezes, clean heavily-used surfaces, etc.

*Contact Primary Care Provider or other Health Care Facility with questions about COVID-19

Spartan Health Clinic available by phone: 419-996-3436 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):  cdc.gov

TIPS FOR SCHOOL WORK/HELP

As of now, schools will not be back in session until May 1. We will continue to do school online.

Maintain a normal routine. Check Schoology and other platofrms daily for updates on classwork. Keep a schedule for when you will do homework. Contact teachers with questions you may have through Schoology, Remin, or email. 

The Bluffton University education department is offering free online educational enrichment in response to K-12 school closures in Ohio. Bluffton Study Buddies, Bluffton University education majors including student teachers, will provide academic help and educational games/activities through the Zoom videoconferencing platform beginning Wednesday, March 18. www.bluffton.edu/studybuddies

Watch the Lima City Schools’ Facebook page for lessons and fun projects families can do at home

MENTAL HEALTH

Social workers and counselors will be available through Schoology, email and phone. 

Spartan Health Clinic providing Telehealth visits through video chat, 419-996-3436

HopeLINE Crisis Hotline #: 1-800-567-4673 or Crisis Text Line: Text “4hope” to 741741

FINANCIAL HELP

Ohio Means Jobs Allen County has attained additional dollars to help people who have been displaced from their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. They will be giving out an additional forty $500 stipends. Get information at https://ohiomeansjobs-allen-county.com/

VOTING

Absentee Ballot Deadline for Ohio’s Primary Election Extended to April 28- Please go to
https://www.allen.boe.ohio.gov/ to request an absentee ballot to vote in this spring’s primary election.

CENSUS

It is vital for all residents to complete the 2020 U.S. Census. Funding coming into our community depends on it. You should have received mailings on how to complete. Information is available here: https://my2020census.gov/

GENERAL INFORMATION

Ohio Department of Education http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Student-Supports/Coronavirus

Talking to Children about COVID-19: Parent Resource https://ohioschoolcounselor.org/resources/Documents/COVID-19_parent_handout.pdf

211 United Way – Database with resource information available for multiple needs. www.211.org