Riverside School PTA Newsletter |
Friday, October 9th, 2020 |
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FALL FUNDRAISER OPENS SUNDAY! |
Just because this year's fall fundraiser is not our traditional evening parent/faculty gathering does not mean you won't have an amazing opportunity to support our teachers and school (and treat yourself!) through an exciting WEEK-LONG silent auction that opens this Monday, October 12th through Sunday, October 18! Look out for an email arriving this weekend with your link to our silent auction.
Today is our last call for Fall Fundraiser auction donations. If you, or someone you know, has something they would like to contribute to the silent auction, please reach out to Megan Sullivan or Greer Williams today. Remember that donations directly benefit Riverside School students and teachers!
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BOO BASH DRIVE-IN MOVIE TICKETS SOLD OUT BUT JOIN THE WAITLIST! |
Come one, come all to the greatest Boo Bash of all! Step right up, and be thrilled by the greatest, most incredible drive-in movie on earth. This year will be a Halloween Circus theme featuring THE GREATEST SHOWMAN. **Please note that tickets have sold out.** Click here to access information about the event and to get added to the waitlist. The PTA is currently trying its best to accommodate families on the waitlist so please add your name if you are interested so that we have an accurate count.
Let’s make Halloween 2020 a memorable one.
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SCHOOL PHOTOS HAVE ARRIVED! |
School Photos arrived this week so be on the lookout either in your child's backpack or Friday Folder. For those that ordered digital files, your photos should have been received via email to the address provided.
Retake Day will take place on Monday, November 9th. If your child was absent on school photo day, please plan to send him/her to this retake day. If you are dissatisfied with your child's portrait and would like to try again, send your child to the retake with the entire, undamaged portrait package. No retakes will be given to parents unless, and until, originals have been returned.
Remote families will have the opportunity to participate in the November 9th retake day, whether your child did not attend the original photo day or you were dissatisfied with your child’s portrait. Like last month, you will have the opportunity to register for particular time slots as the date approaches.
If you have any questions or concerns about your order (late, missing, refunds) please contact Customer Service at CoffeePond directly by calling 1-800-632-2323 ext "0" or via email at Lifeguards@coffeepond.com. If you have any other questions, please contact either Mary Garth or Maureen Stanley.
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FITNESS WEEK AT RIVERSIDE SCHOOL |
Thank you to everyone who participated in Fitness Week this week! Staying active is an important component of a healthy lifestyle and we hope that you and your children had a fun-filled week of activities. Please be sure to have your child submit this document digitally by 5 p.m. today! The class with the highest percentage rate of participation will earn extra recess. In addition, one participating student from each grade (including in-person and remote students) will be randomly selected to win a raffle prize of Riverside gear. The winners will be announced next week.
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Please go to RIVPTA.ORG and follow the steps provided to update your information, including your child(ren)'s new teacher, for the Online Family Directory. Once your info is up-to-date, be sure to join the PTA to gain unlimited access to the directory. The PTA relies on the generosity of our families via our annual Membership Drive. Funds raised go towards student enrichment programs, classroom and building needs, as well as teacher support. If you have moved or have new phone or email information, please let the school office know as well!
Please note that Class Parents will be using contact information provided on the rivpta.org login to communicate to parents this year. And thank you to everyone who has contributed a donation to join the PTA so far - this is an important fundraiser to help us get up and running for the year.
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Because of the unusual circumstances of this year, it appears there may not be as much of a need for the Early Morning Program as in prior years. That said, the PTA is still committed to providing the Early Morning Program, and we will work with all our families to ensure we are able to provide this service if and when it is needed.
Effective immediately, we will require advance notice on a weekly basis if you foresee a need to use the EMP. To do so, please click the Pay Here button on the Early Morning Program page to pre-pay and fill out a form indicating up to ten dates that you will use EMP by 4:00 PM on the Sunday prior to the week your child will attend. Please feel free to reach out to Kristine Redlien or Clare Johnson if you have any questions about this new procedure.
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DOWNLOAD THE SCHOOL DISMISSAL MANAGER APP |
We are using School Dismissal Manager again this year. It is an excellent online tool that will notify the school when anything needs to be changed in your child's dismissal plan for a particular day. Please create a login to manage your child(ren)'s attendance and dismissal information (please refer to the email sent from the school on Wednesday, Sept 9th with more details). If you used School Dismissal Manager last year, you can log in with your existing credentials. |
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REMOTE LEARNING SCHOOL MESSAGE BOARD |
We would like to introduce our Riverside - Remote Learning School PTA Community Message Board. You can access the board directly by logging in to Rivpta.org, or you'll automatically receive an email every time a new message is posted on your registered email on Rivpta.org. Our goal is for the message board to serve as a one-stop location for important information about Remote Learning School for the Riverside community. We welcome your questions and suggestions! Please contact Emily Brown, Riverside - Remote Learning School PTA Liaison, with any questions or suggestions.
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Thank you to all who participated in this year's Walk/Bike to School Day on October 7th. It is great to see the Riverside community working together to reduce CO2 emissions. Keep up the good work!
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*NEW FORM* FOR ORDERING LUNCH (IN-PERSON STUDENTS) |
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Effective immediately, parents must enter any lunch orders at least one full school day in advance so that the kitchen can make sure what is ordered can be provided to students at the start of their lunch time. You can enter your child/children's lunch orders up to FIVE DAYS IN ADVANCE using the new order form that Mr. Weiss distributed to parents on Thursday, October 8th.
After submitting for one child for a particular day, just click on the "Submit Another Response" button and then enter another lunch order for a future date or for a second child, etc.
NOTE: Based on new funding from the state of Connecticut at this time, School lunches are FREE for ALL students who order lunch through December 31st. This decision is subject to change at the federal government's discretion. No accounts will be charged for meals (except for $1 bottled water) during that time. Please see the new order form for information on lunch options.
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Only eligible bus students are allowed to ride the bus in the afternoon. Non eligible students are not allowed to ride the afternoon bus due to the Covid restrictions, even for playdates. Other arrangements will have to be made.
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School lunch is FREE for ALL students until December 31st
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When dropping off anything in the bin outside please LABEL everything with your child's name and teacher.
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Parents must use School Dismissal Manager when their child will be absent or late for any reason and also if their child will be leaving early. Since parents are not allowed in the building at this time, entering an early dismissal in SDM will take the place of signing them out.
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When you arrive to pick your child up early, please let the office know you're outside waiting. We will not call a student out of class or send them outside until we know the parent is here.
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So far this year, we have had a number of students come into school with braces/casts and assistive devices. Our District Policy requires all students who need assistive devices, having surgeries, stitches or any injuries, to have a note from their doctor stating cause of injury, date seen, date of removal for PE/Recess. Students will also need another doctor's note to return to all activities.
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There have been many questions about concerns for being sent home/when to see a doctor regarding symptoms (flu, illnesses, COVID). Please visit the Yale New Haven School Nurse Algorithm approved by the CDC/DOH that we are following in all Greenwich Schools this year.
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REPLAY OF GPS PARENT INFO SESSION ON NAVIGATING GOOGLE CLASSROOM AVAILABLE
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If you missed the October 1st parent information session on navigating Google Classroom and supporting online learning from the student perspective, a replay of the session is now available. Visit the GPS Remote Learning page and scroll down to the first embedded video. An accompanying slideshow is also available.
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Board of Education meetings are easier to attend now that they take place over Zoom--stay informed! Here is a list of 2020-2021 academic year Greenwich Board of Education meetings. Information on how to access the meetings can be found on the GPS Accessing Virtual BOE Meetings page. All meetings start at 7:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
- Thursday, October 22, 2020
- Thursday, November 5, 2020 (Budget)
- Wednesday, November 18, 2020
- Thursday, December 3, 2020 (Budget)
- Thursday, December 17, 2020
- Thursday, January 21, 2021
- Thursday, February 18, 2021
- Thursday, March 25, 2021
- Thursday, April 8, 2021 (Retreat, no public comment)
- Thursday, April, 22, 2021
- Thursday, May 13, 2021(Retreat, no public comment)
- Thursday, May 20, 2021
- Thursday, June 3, 2021
- Thursday, June 17, 2021
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GPS WEEKLY DISTRICT DIGEST |
Subscribe to receive the Greenwich Public School weekly "District Digest" e-newsletter directly to your email inbox.
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ISD's October 10th Greenwich Color Challenge is back with a twist! Join us in our Virtual Edition and enjoy a 1.5 mile virtual color walk/run for you and your family to do at your leisure at a location of your choice! Please view the event flyer or visit the website to learn more and register.
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Jackson's SOCKTOBER Sock Drive
Last year, ten-year-old Jackson Bogardus was inspired by the local charity, The Undies Project (a charity that provides underwear to our low-income neighbors) and decided to start a local sock drive, “SOCKTOBER”, for the month of October. Jackson feels this is especially important as we approach the colder months. He also learned that socks are one of the items most needed in homeless shelters so he is collecting new socks for both adults and children and donating them to Inspirica in Stamford. 94 million people in the United States live in or near poverty. That's almost 1 out of every 3. Inspirica is more than just a homeless shelter. Inspirica seeks to break the cycle of homelessness by providing the programs and services that help their clients achieve - and maintain - permanent housing and stability in their lives.
Jackson's SOCKTOBER donation bins can be found throughout the Greenwich community and at his house. In addition, socks can be purchased and donated at Threads and Treads. Please help Jackson reach his goal of collecting 2000 pairs of socks to help those in need this winter and spread the word about SOCKTOBER.
Please call (203) 273-0511 if you have any questions or would like to learn more about Jackson's SOCKTOBER Sock Drive.
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YMCA of Greenwich Fall Programming Registration is open. The YMCA has developed new programs and services to keep our community engaged and active as we navigate through this ever-changing climate. Classes are limited in size allowing our instructors to focus on each participant and maintain social distancing guidelines. You can find more information in the YMCA Program Brochure.
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Neighbor to Neighbor Food Donation Drive
Every Thursday at St. Paul's Riverside from 10-11:30am. The need right now is particularly high. Items of greatest need are proteins such as beans, peanut butter and canned tuna, but all non-perishables are gladly accepted and appreciated. Just drive up, pop open your trunk and St. Paul's will get your donations to N2N.
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SUBMISSIONS
Have something to add? Email us at: peekweekriv@gmail.com Deadline for submissions is 3pm on Wednesday of the school week
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