Dear Families:
Here we go! Tomorrow starts our 2020-21 school year. This is not at all the beginning each one of us wanted or expected but we will make the most of it. We enjoyed seeing students at Meet the Teacher/Materials Pick-Up Day today. Thank you for your efforts to help us set up our students for success.
Our theme for the 2020-21 school year is “This Is the Day the Lord Has Made. Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad.” Last spring when the staff decided on the theme, it seemed we would be celebrating as we hoped to return to our classrooms for in-person instruction. Covid has other plans for us. We will still rejoice, even though we are apart. We are St. Anne School. Let us rejoice and be glad!
Teachers returned to their classrooms and inservicing last week. I am so proud of how they have worked over the summer on professional development and best practices to deliver high quality remote instruction. We learned much from our experience last spring and using data from the parent and student surveys, we hope to make access to instruction easier and to provide more opportunities for face-to-face interactions.
Please join us for our all-school Prayer Assembly via zoom tomorrow morning at 8:30am. It is a tradition that we will continue remotely until we are able to gather again. Mrs. Mills has been preparing songs and we will announce birthdays each week, though the pencils will need to remain at school for the time being.
Tomorrow is also a noon dismissal for students. Teachers will be doing their Morning Message following the Prayer Assembly so look for the link from your child’s teacher. This week will focus on getting to know one another, routines and training of procedures for accessing google classroom. We want to make sure students are comfortable with processes before starting academic lessons
Middle School students (6th -8th grades) will be participating in a Leadership Mass on Friday, September 4th at 11:00am in the church. Unfortunately, we only have room for the Middle School students and no other members of the family. We hope to plan class Masses at other times to bring students together in prayer. Just a reminder to the Middle School students that you must sign-up for the Mass in advance or you will not be allowed to join your classmates.
Just a reminder that there will be no remote school (or in-person for PreK) on Monday, September 7th due to Labor Day.
Finally, we are holding two Back-to-School Zoom Nights for parents to learn more about their child/ren’s curriculum and outline for the year. The Middle School sessions will be held starting at 6:30pm, Wednesday, September 9th with the PreK -5th grade sessions on Thursday, September 10th, also starting at 6:30pm. More details to follow next week.
Have a good week!
Mary
