|
Dear STM families,
Last week we shared the bulk of our returning to learning plan for the fall. Although this may have answered many questions it is natural that more information comes with more questions. To this letter I am attaching a document with answers to the most frequently asked questions. You can also find it on our website under the 'Tigers Returning to Learning' tab. Here you will find all documents and details to our reopening plan.
We have made a substantial change to our reopening plan that will impact our families from PreK 3 to 2nd grade. Remote learning for our youngest learners will now be asynchronous, meaning that students will not be connected with the classroom in real time. Instead, teachers will provide parents with the needed materials in advance and parents will be responsible for assisting their child in completing and submitting the work. Teachers will set times on a weekly schedule to meet with their remote learners to provide academic support. More details about this process will go directly to our families in these grade levels. The decision to change from synchronous to asynchronous learning came after an extensive discussion and review of the current plan with our lower grade teachers. We feel this is the most age-appropriate method to reach our students in these grade levels.
Time is moving quickly, and we are less than three weeks from starting the school year. Our teachers officially return to campus next Wednesday, August 5th but they are already busy getting ready for your children! I have met with them several times in July and they are working on plans to kick off the school year in an innovative and memorable way.
A significant part of our preparation is based on classroom groups and numbers. Please complete the Google form attached to let us know how your child will attend school this year. Please remember that if you are selecting remote attendance, you are committing your child to being in school remotely for the entire quarter. If a Google form is not submitted for your child, your child will be defaulted to in-person attendance. We would like to have all commitments by the end of this week so we can group students and assign them to their homeroom teachers early next week.
This year we will host small Meet the Teacher meetings where students and parents will have an opportunity to come to the school, meet their child's teacher, visit their homeroom class and pick-up/set-up all materials and supplies. To keep our groups small, we will have five sessions spread out over a couple of days.
Wednesday, August 12th
8:00 - 9:00 AM
12:00 - 1:00 PM
3:00 - 4:00 PM
Thursday, August 13th
9:00 - 10:00 AM
5:00 - 6:00 PM
I will send more details and information about our Meet the Teacher meetings next week. In my communication I will also include a link to a Sign-Up Genius for this event. So that we ensure proper distancing and so we can provide you with the attention we would like to give you, we ask that you please reserve your spot prior to arriving on campus.
As we continue to prepare for students to be back on campus, I wanted to send you a few tips that would be tremendously helpful to us.
- We will need our younger learners to be as self-sufficient as possible. If they have not yet learned to tie their shoes, please send them to school in shoes with velcro instead of laces. For lunches, please pack items they can open themselves. Yogurt and ketchup packaging seem to be tricky for little fingers.
- We have relaxed the dress code for students through 3rd grade to allow for pull-on shorts or pants so that our students who are still working on mastering buttons and belts can have more time to be fully independent with these.
- For our older students, please encourage them to bring as little as possible to school. The more items we bring to school the more items there will be to keep clean and separate from others. Students should plan to take home all items brought to school.
- We recommend each child bring an additional mask to school in case the mask being worn gets wet or soiled. Although we will have additional masks on campus we may not have a mask that is comfortable for your child or that fits your child well.
We are moving through these times together. I know we are asking you to make a difficult decision for your child this week. In a time filled with unknowns, I am certain of one thing; we will provide your children with the best education we possible can regardless of the setting you choose. Sincerely yours in Christ, Carolina Bowman
Principal
| 
