The Albany Academies coordinate single-sex and coeducational learning environments to develop diligent students of high character who become curious, critical thinkers.
December 18, 2020
The Skim

  • Upcoming Holiday Travel and Hosting
  • Fine Arts Winter Presentations
  • NYSSMA Solo Piano Festival Registration
  • A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms
  • Beverwyck Residents enjoy the Arts
  • Academy Road
  • End of Year Giving
Dear Friends,

Happy Winter Break! I hope it’s a time of rest, rejuvenation, and reflection.

Yesterday, we sent out the last COVID update of 2020, highlighting the cases that sent the school into remote learning after Thanksgiving. Now that we have personal experience about how contagious the virus is, I hope we are all redoubling our efforts to keep ourselves and our families healthy as we enter into Christmas and Kwanzaa celebrations. I won’t speak for you, but after these are over, I will be quite happy to usher in 2021 and say goodbye to 2020.

But regardless of the challenges of the last eight months, I am also looking forward to spending some quiet time with family, focused on our blessings and making memories. These will be what lasts long after this year is over.

I wish the same for you and yours.

Sincerely,
Upcoming Holiday Travel and Hosting
 
We hope you are beginning to plan for the upcoming holiday season, including managing travel and hosting so that it does not pose a health risk to your family or our school community. As a secondary consideration, we worry that not doing this might put our ability to continue to operate the school in an in-person learning mode at risk.
 
Please follow New York State's guidance regarding quarantine restrictions for out-of state-travel:

For any traveler to New York State from out of state, exempting the contiguous states, the new guidelines for travelers to test-out of the mandatory 14-day quarantine are below:

For travelers who were in another state for more than 24 hours:

  • Travelers must obtain a test within three days of departure from that state.
  • The traveler must, upon arrival in New York, quarantine for three days.

On day 4 of their quarantine, the traveler must obtain another COVID test. If both tests come back negative, the traveler may exit quarantine early upon receipt of a second negative diagnostic test.

For travelers who were in another state for less than 24 hours:

  • The traveler does not need a test before they depart from the other state and does not need to quarantine upon arrival in New York State.
  • However, the traveler must fill out a traveler form upon entry into New York State and take a COVID diagnostic test 4 days after they arrive in New York.

Please note that these are domestic travel guidelines. Please consult the NY Travel State Guidelines for information about international travel.

While we would prefer that students did not travel, we have aligned our travel guidelines with NY State’s. If you have a student enrolled at the school and they have or are planning to travel out of NY State, exempting the contiguous states, please do the following:

  • Follow the November 3rd, NY Travel State Guidelines.
  • If possible, plan your travel to have minimal impact on returning to school. For example, families that travel in the first week of a two-week break would have the second week to complete quarantine and testing requirements, if necessary.
  • Please choose either the 14-day quarantine option or the test-out option for your child upon return if required by the length of travel.
  • Contact the school nurse to let them know about your child’s temporary remote learning needs in support of his or her quarantine. Please note that temporary remote learning is only provided to support legitimate medical needs and is NOT available for convenience purposes.

We also hope that families will use appropriate judgment about hosting people who have traveled from out of state. For more information on planning for the holidays, see the CDC’s Coronavirus Guide to the Holidays. 

I know how unusual it is to have us weigh in on your out-of-school plans, but we are living in a time when we are interconnected by the decisions we make.
Fine Arts Winter Presentations
Fine Arts Winter Presentations
Well done to all our PreK-12 students and Fine Arts faculty for all the amazing Winter Visual and Performing Arts presentations these past two weeks. We are proud of the fact that our Fine Arts teachers have been able to continue their great programs. If you missed any of the wonderful presentations, please click here to watch them over the winter break.
NYSSMA Solo Piano Festival Registration

Registration is open for the NYSSMA Solo Piano Festival. This year’s festival dates are March 5 & 6, 2021. The festival will be done entirely in a virtual format, with students playing their solos through Zoom (or a similar format decided by NYSSMA) in order to be adjudicated. The registration fee is $16 for Levels 1-4 and $24 for Levels 5-6. In order to register, please submit the following information along with a check payable to The Albany Academies to Matthew Streifert before January 8, 2021. (Please be sure to check your calendars carefully before you select a preferred day and time as it can be challenging for them to change the appointment once the final schedule is made.)
 
Student Name:
Student Grade:
Solo Level (1-6):
Preferred Day (Fri/Sat):
Preferred Time (Morn/Aft/Eve):
A Glimpse Into Our Classrooms
The AAG Kindergarten students have been reading many different versions of gingerbread books. They have enjoyed meeting the different characters and reading about the different character's adventures. They each made their own gingerbread girl and are even writing their own gingerbread story. Looks like they will be publishing another class book!
Visual Art teacher Sarah Bowen had a helper (son Elliot) during her art session with AAG Grade 4 students. They worked on Pop Art Emojis as a study in popular icons as well as a useful outlet of expression.
Students in Ms. Kelly's AAG Grade 2 class have been busy working hard to solve 2 Step Word Problems. Check out their Bar Models! Great job!
Students in Chinese I "visited" China this week. They prepared and presented dialogues that imagined the questions you would ask to get to know someone if you were a tourist visiting China.
Mrs. Mitsios’ 5th Grade history students are currently wrapping up their study of Ancient Egypt by creating and illustrating their very own Egyptian myth. The myth must integrate what they’ve learned in class, as well as attempt to explain why certain events occur in nature, as many actual ancient myths strived to do.
As the theme of the month, Character Strengths was the focus of the AA 4th Grade mindfulness lesson with Mrs. Fruehwirth this week.  
The 4th Grade Boys learned about some of the most important character strengths that are valued for us. These character strengths apply to everybody in the world.
Kindness
Love of Learning
Perseverance
Bravery
Honesty
Fairness
Love
Curiosity
Teamwork
Forgiveness
Gratitude
Leadership
Humor
Hope
Creativity
Zest
Beverwyck Residents Enjoy the Arts at the Academies

Our Fine Arts Department put together a Winter Fine Arts presentation for the Beverwyck community. It's been a holiday tradition each year for the Office of Institutional Advancement to hold a lunch and student performance at the retirement facility for alumni and alumnae. With that not being possible this year we decided to provide a virtual program that the entire community could watch in the comfort of their room on a special channel available for Beverwyck residents.
Academy Road Online Newspaper

Academy Road has a number of new articles including one on the Composers of the Month, reviews of new tv shows, an op-ed on the college application process, and an actor's perspective of doing the play Almost Maine, online. Click here to view Academy Road.
Year-End Giving

As 2020 comes to an end, the Office of Institutional Advancement would like to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all your support! 

With 2021 in sight, our students serve to remind us that HOPE for the future is really what The Albany Academies is all about.

If you have not yet made your donation to the 2020-21 Annual Fund, you can easily make a year-end gift by following this link, https://annualfund.albanyacademies.org/g/2020-21-giving or you can mail a check to the school. No gift is too big or too small and every dollar is needed to support our families in 2021. 

We HOPE you find joy during the coming holiday season and we look forward to a new year full of HOPE and promise. 

Click here to view our 2019/2020 Annual Giving Report.