Dear Families:
Last Wednesday we donned our orange clothes and celebrated Unity Day, a national school-day recognition to celebrate diversity, kindness, friendship and inclusion. The 8th graders who led activities in each classroom did an amazing job. Unable to participate in-person, they “zoomed” into each grade-level pod or remote classroom and read stories, answered questions and celebrated with our students. I was able to participate in a second-grade presentation and the confidence, leadership and enthusiasm displayed by our 8th graders were a joy to watch. Even when some experienced technical difficulties with the technology, they stayed calm and poised. Nice job 8th graders!
Parent-Teacher Conferences are being held tomorrow and Thursday afternoons and evenings. This is a wonderful opportunity for teachers and parents to discuss student progress, though it will be completely different than our traditional in-person conferences. The teacher who you will be conferencing with will send you a zoom link. Once you enter the waiting room, they will let you in at the time of your conference. Each conference is 15 minutes in length and the Middle School (6th-8th grades) will have student-led conferences. Please log-on at the time of your appointment and respect the time limit. If one family is late or takes more than the allotted time, the entire schedule for a class can be thrown off. Just a reminder that classes are being dismissed at noon on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
As we enter the second half of our first trimester, I want to let you know about the addition of a grading category to our report cards. Due to difficulties some are facing with remote learning, there are students who are not participating or turning in assignments, despite repeated reminders. This has happened in the specialist areas of music, art, Spanish and PE. With no work for teachers to assess, it is impossible to assign a standards grade (ES-Exceeding standard, MS-Meeting standard, DS-Developing standard) The newly added grade is NWS-No work submitted. It will be used on the report card for students, working remotely, who do not submit any work in those subjects.
Our school Halloween celebrations will take place this Friday. Our distanced, outside parade around the block, for the students who are in the building, will begin at 11:30am. You are welcome to join the fun, watching our PreK to 2nd graders as they circle the block in their costumes. Please make sure that you keep a 6-foot distance from others and wear a mask at all times. Our 3rd through 5th graders will be having a costume viewing celebration in the small parking lot, with a scheduled time for each class. Remember, that the only acceptable mask for the day is a Covid cloth mask. Plastic and rubber masks that cover the nose and mouth must be left at home. This is certainly not the way we, or our students had hoped to observe Halloween, but like everything else these days, flexibility and creativity are key.
Finally, as daylight savings time ends next weekend, don’t forget to fall back one hour!
Have a great week!
Mary
