Dear Ivymount Families,
I am thankful that the Ivymount Community remains in good health and is proactively demonstrating caring and kindness through our combined actions. We encourage all members of our community to continue to follow CDC recommendations on how to make your Thanksgiving celebration safer and to review the updated travel guidelines we emailed last week. See more below.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the PTA's digital thank you for our amazing Ivymount staff. See below for more information. The deadline to contribute is tomorrow.
Here at Ivymount, we are an extremely grateful group of educators; our students bring so much personal and professional joy to all of us every day and we miss seeing them in person. We are thankful for our families - your partnership has been crucial these many months. And we deeply appreciate the dedication and creativity of our staff. I wish all of you a wonderful holiday.
Reminder - we will be closed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
IvyNotes will take a break next Sunday but will return on Sunday, December 6.
I hope you have a good week and a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Susan Holt
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Upcoming Events
Monday, November 23
Ivymount Book Fair Begins
Wednesday - Friday November 25 - 27
Thanksgiving Holiday
No School for Students/Staff
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If you're planning to shop on Amazon on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, we want you to know that your holiday shopping can also help Ivymount. In the past several years, almost $5,000 has been raised through the AmazonSmile program for the Ivymount Foundation. These funds support staff training, technology and other materials for your student.
Click on the button below to find out more about how to designate Ivymount as your AmazonSmile recipient.
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In addition to requiring testing after traveling to a state that exceeds a 10% positivity rate, the guideline revision now includes testing after traveling to states that have 20+ cases per 100K.
Staff and students that travel to one of these areas will need to get tested upon return home and provide a negative PCR test result before resuming in person services either on campus or in the home.
We will have testing on site at Ivymount on December 1. More info will follow.
In light of the upcoming holidays and recent rise of COVID-19 cases in our area, we also want to highlight additional details of the November 10th advisory:
- Marylanders are strongly advised against traveling to any state with a positivity rate above 10% or any state with average case rates above 20/100K. Anyone traveling from these states should get tested and self-quarantine while awaiting results. This public health advisory applies to personal, family, or business travel of any kind. Marylanders are advised to postpone or cancel travel to these areas until their positivity and/or case rates decline.
- We encourage out-of-state visitors to be tested within 72 hours prior to arrival and to cancel travel if they receive a positive result. Visitors waiting for their test results should stay at home between the time of their test and their arrival in Maryland or to self-quarantine upon arrival.
- All Marylanders should refrain from attending public and private indoor gatherings of more than 25 individuals in one location and should practice physical distancing to the extent possible.
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Book Fair Starts Tomorrow |
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The virtual Ivymount Scholastic Book Fair has thousands of award-winning and best-selling books, boxed sets and other products available to browse, right at your fingertips!
The book fair will run from tomorrow, November 23 to December 6. All orders will be shipped directly to your home.
All purchases benefit Ivymount!
We spoke to Ed Tamulevich, Ivymount Library Media Specialist, about the book fair.
Tell us about the Scholastic Book Fair and how it benefits Ivymount School and Programs.
The book fair is more than a decade-long tradition at Ivymount. Not only has it brought great reading opportunities to students and staff, it has also raised thousands of dollars for Ivymount and added hundreds of items to our library. That then benefits students of both Ivymount and The Maddux School.
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Are there any themes, titles, or authors that you're particularly excited about this year?
The virtual catalog is vast. It's actually much larger than an in-person fair. I'll be purchasing titles involving social learning, minority history and fiction, graphic novels, and some very beautiful picture books.
Do you have any specific recommendations?
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Freak the Mighty is a classic by now, addressing the overcoming of disability, bullying and deep friendship.
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Undefeated is a beautifully illustrated Caldecott winner.
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All Because You Matter is a great starter on the Black Lives Matter theme in picture book format.
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Kind is a collection of tales beautifully illustrated by at least a dozen artists delivering on its title, a perfect non-judgmental resource for social learning.
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The Witches is the Roald Dahl classic, brought to the screen by two movies, one brand new. I encourage readers to love the novel, the author and this graphic novelization!
Are there any books that families may find helpful in the midst of the pandemic?
I suggest that families look for books about optimism, overcoming adversity, family, friends, patience, the power of science, and examples of worthy, diverse individuals. These themes are classic in children's literature. There are several titles about practicalities aimed at a younger audience. Two that I'll mention are Now Wash Your Hands and Thank You, Helpers.
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Mental Health Presentation
Looks at Family Dynamics
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The past eight months of school, work, parenting, social isolation, and potential health concerns has created the "perfect storm" to cause family stress.
In a presentation last week, the Ivymount Mental Health team offered some tips on how to manage stress that impacts the family unit. Michael Stromberg, Mental Health Lead, recommends a three-part framework that includes:
- Examining and sharing family belief systems so that together you can face a shared challenge
- Resetting expectations and showing compassion
- Allowing opportunities for family members to share how they are feeling
"As parents, you’re setting the rules but it’s about allowing all family members to have a say and to create a sense of fairness. Set goals for your family. Decide together what you want to work on or prioritize. Then involve family members in that," says Stromberg. He suggests families be open to learning from failure. "To build resiliency you’re probably going to have to fail. Have self-compassion. You may not live up to your own standards for how you want to handle stress but self-compassion helps you get back to the point where you can problem solve."
Stromberg emphasizes that while the pandemic will change all of us to some degree, it doesn’t need to define us as individuals and as families. "It’s important to step back and recognize that what you’re doing is not normal and you’re doing a good job," he says.
The Mental Health team will be sharing materials and video recordings from the fall parent training sessions in the coming weeks.
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Student Newspaper Covers
November Topics
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Many Ivymount students have been learning about journalism, writing, current events, and news production this fall. As part of their Site Based Work Experience class, MLN HS students recently published the second edition of their newspaper - The Ivymount Times. They covered the presidential election, health and travel during COVID-19, the history of important events in November, Halloween 2020, and Thanksgiving facts. |
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Outreach Plans Theater Event |
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Save the Date
Saturday, December 12
10 - 11 am
Ivymount Outreach will be hosting a virtual hour of fun with online bingo and an interactive performance with theater group Only Make Believe. More details and registration information coming December 1.
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Last Chance to Thank Staff!
Add Your Message by tomorrow
Use Your Smart Phone to Quickly Post a Thank-You to Our Ivymount Staff
We hope you'll take the opportunity to help the PTA in creating a digital thank you for our incredibly hardworking Ivymount staff.
Kudoboard (kudoboard.com) is a website that makes it very easy for families to attach messages, photos and videos to make a group e-card. Use your phone to post a photo or video clip of your child and/or yourself expressing your gratitude to the Ivymount staff. We plan to post the card this week so all staff and families can view it before Thanksgiving .
To add messages, photos and videos, go to this link:
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PTA's Biggest Fundraiser Order Now!
Get your holiday shopping done early while supporting the Ivymount PTA with some awesome and unique products from Boon Supply (*Formerly known as Mixed Bags Designs).
Help us spread the word about the fundraiser by emailing, posting and tweeting the Ivymount PTA’s Boon Supply link with family, friends, co-workers and neighbors – anyone can purchase and with this link and 40% of the profits go to the Ivymount PTA: boonsupply.com/ 68316
These are the same amazing products that were available when the company was called Mixed Bags Designs, plus some exciting new items as well!
Use the link boonsupply.com/ 68316 and order on your phone, tablet or computer and 40% of proceeds from the fundraiser goes to the PTA, which helps us to support our awesome teachers and staff.
Please email Ivymount Parent Monique Wintz with questions.
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Ivymount
School & Programs
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