IvyNotes - January 3, 2021

January 3, 2021

Director's Note

Dear Ivymount Families,

As we start the new year, I want to extend a warm welcome back. I hope you had the chance to catch up with friends and family in new ways and enjoy some rest and relaxation.

Ivymount School will return to remote learning tomorrow. We are excited for students, staff and families to participate in an active January. In honor of New Year's resolutions for healthy living, we are introducing January's IvyMoves Movement Month this week. See details below on daily moves you can do from home, weekly virtual group movement sessions, and a closing virtual community event.

Starting the week of January 11, MAP students will be leading a school-wide food drive in support of the Manna Food Center. See below for more details. We hope that by working together, we can make a big difference for local families in need.

The health and safety of our Ivymount community remain our highest priority as we continue to see increased COVID-19 cases and transmission rates, both locally and nationally. In the coming week, we will communicate about updates to our Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Plan, as well as request our latest Family Survey to seek your current feedback and questions.

Tomorrow - Monday, January 4 - the Ivymount campus will serve as one of several Montgomery County COVID testing sites. Ivymount staff assigned to work onsite and with in-home services are required to test regularly. Ivymount families seeking a COVID test may also get one tomorrow. Here are the details:

No appointment needed
Testing offered to anyone who lives or works in, or regularly visits Montgomery County
Time: 10 am - 5pm
Location: Post High School (PHS) Building

Make sure to mark your calendars with the variety of IvyMoves and Ivymount PTA events and meetings described below. We look forward to working with your students and you, starting tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Susan Holt

Upcoming Events

Sunday, January 10

PTA Family Craft Event

Monday, January 18

Martin Luther King Holiday

No School for Students/Staff

Tuesday/Wednesday

January 19/20

Non-Instructional Days

No School for Students/Staff

Tuesday, January 26

January PTA Meeting

Saturday, January 30

IvyMoves Virtual ZamDance

Wondering how you can do your daily activities safely while protecting yourself and your loved ones from COVID-19? Ask these questions.

January is IvyMoves Month

This week we are kicking off our second annual IvyMoves month!!! Our goal is to improve the Ivymount community’s overall health and wellness by creating positive lifelong habits. This year, the PE team will be providing daily suggestions for movement, a live after-school workout session each Wednesday, and the month will culminate with a virtual community ZamDance event on January 30. We will also share videos on nutrition and activity to promote overall healthy living.

SAVE THE DATE!

In addition to your individual and family exercise time, plan to attend these live, virtual group events:

Weekly After-School Sessions on Wednesdays from 4 - 4:45 pm
Jan 6 - Dance
Jan 13 - Strength Training
Jan 20 - Yoga
Jan 27 - Movement Bingo

Saturday, Jan 30, ZamDance, 10 - 11 am

Use this link to attend the Jan 6 event: Click here to join the meeting

As a community (students, family, staff), we aim to reach at least 1,000 hours of activity within the month of January. We ask that you USE OUR ACTIVITY TRACKER to enter your minutes of family activity per week - with just a quick click to enter the total minutes by each Wednesday. We'll then follow up with a tally each Sunday in IvyNotes to show how we are doing. Just like with Spirit Week, we will encourage students to upload an image or video to FlipGrid about how they're staying active.

Let's get started with the moves shown in the calendar below for this coming week. Remember to also track the January 1-2 suggested movements of Arm Ups and a Family Walk. We look forward to celebrating with you and seeing your activity!

MAP Plans Month-Long Food Drive

MAP Program students will be hosting a school wide food drive from January 11 to February 12 through a contact-less donation box located in the Ivymount vestibule. All food collected will be donated to the Manna Food Center, a nonprofit food bank which serves families in Montgomery County.

To organize and prepare for the food drive, each MAP classroom was assigned a different aspect of planning. Students in room 236 made FlipGrid videos which have been combined into a virtual announcement for the drive to encourage our community to donate. Students in rooms 234 and 237 created fliers for the drive, and students in room 204 researched and identified where to donate the collected food.

How to Donate

Please consider stopping by Ivymount during the Jan 11 - Feb 12 timeframe to donate various dry and canned foods. Please wear a mask and only enter the vestibule when empty to ensure everyone’s safety and health.

Manna Food Center believes in providing healthy foods to all families. Most needed items are: