Week 19

Students have been working together all week to build this Snow fort.

We are back into the full swing of things in the Elmore School! Even though we had one bitter cold day this week where we were stuck inside the children have had good spirit throughout the week! They have been working hard to move the snow into a pile in order to carve out this awesome snow fort . They have added to it by piling more snow on the outside so they can carve out more from the inside. This is engineering at it's best! Play really is a child's "work".

On Monday Students were treated to another reading reward. They watched the film, Because of Winn Dixie. I chose this film as we just finished reading the book (read aloud) last week. Students have been logging so many reading minutes they are over half way to reaching their next goal and next reward!

During Literacy we continued our mini unit on Poetry. We have listened to several poems be read, have shared in reading several poems and have now had the opportunity to write a handful of poems. This week we focused on adding intentional line breaks, using beautiful language (where students were encouraged to use a Thesaurus to find help them find beautiful words for more basic words), and showing, not telling to share about a feeling (describe the feeling rather than name it). Some of their work is truly inspirational and I was very moved by the poetry they created! Students will be choosing one of the poems they have written and we will be publishing a book of original poems which families will have the option to purchase as a keepsake! Stay tuned for more on this soon.

Reading groups have also restarted and we are working on phonics rules (this week learning the ee, and ea rules for the long e sound) and spelling strategies. Additionally, students took the STAR Reading assessment this week. This was our second benchmark of the school year. We will administer the assessment again in May. This Assessment is just one of the tools we use to gage where students fall in meeting the end of the year reading goals.

Our focus in Math this week was reading clocks. Students had several days to practice reading an analog clock to the hour, 1/2 hour, 1/4 hour, and level 2 students also learned to read a clock to the 5 minute intervals, while 3rd graders read time to the minute. Students also took the STAR Math Assessment this week.

In Science we finished our Science unit on Plant and Animal Superpowers. In this unit students explored how parts of plants and animals are essential to their survival. Students also made observations of parent and their offspring to determine how they are similar and how their behaviors help offspring survive.

I am happy to announce that we are working on plans for Nordic Skiing (and possibly snowshoeing). Lisa Cross and Ryan Heraty have been working behind the scene at Central Office to make this happen for us. It looks like we will have 4 afternoons of skiing at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center this winter and we will have transportation provided by Lamoille Valley Transportation. The dates have yet to be determined, but I will let you know more when the dates have been set. I need to get an idea of how many students have equipment so I can determine out how many students will need equipment. Please take a moment to fill out this Questionnaire

Ms. Leapold will be taking a break from teaching recorders to 3rd graders for the time being. Instead, she would like to begin teaching with 2nd and 3rd graders Ukulele! This may begin as early as next week! I am so grateful to Lisa for taking the time in her busy schedule to offer these lessons to the Elmore students. She is doing this as a favor to me, and I could not be more grateful! If you see her around the community be sure to thank her for taking the time to come out to the Elmore School!

I'm happy to report that we made it through our Test to Stay period with no further positive Covid-19 cases. I'd like to resume Hot Lunch on Friday. Oliver's family is on the Schedule for Friday, January 21st. They are planning to bring Meatball Subs with Cheese! School lunch will be available on Tuesday - Thursday. Please EMAIL your lunch orders.

As you have probably heard The Agency of Education shared new Covid-19 Guidance for Schools this week. Below is a summary of these changes (taken from the Lamoille Ledger)

Contact Tracing - The contact tracing process is changing. It was reported that schools are being directed to stop contact tracing but that is not accurate. The process is actually becoming more conservative. What is changing is the formal process which has been extremely cumbersome on our health staff. Prior to this week, all positive cases required extensive formal documentation that was shared with the Vermont Department of Health (VDH). We will still be alerting all close contacts but will not be required to submit the same paperwork requirements to the VDH. This will expedite and improve the process from a risk mitigation standpoint while taking some burden off of our health care staff.
Test to Stay - Once we receive the test kits, this program will be implemented at home instead of at school. In the event there is a positive case, all close contacts will be notified and unvaccinated students will be provided test kits for the next five days. Test kits will also be provided for vaccinated and unvaccinated staff. Vaccinated students may also have access to test kits to be administered on days 3 and 5 after exposure.
Masking - As most already know, state health officials are encouraging students and staff to not rely on a single-layer cloth mask. Health experts are recommending higher quality masks, including N95 or KN95 masks or a surgical quality mask underneath a cloth mask. Our district has provided these higher quality masks for all staff members. We have also ordered a high quantity of child size masks that will be available for those that need them. The agency is encouraging districts to require masks for all students through February at this time.

Announcements:

All LSSU schools are closed on Monday, January 17th, and Friday, February 4th (Teacher Professional Development).
Library will be Tuesday this week. Please help students remember books and activity bags.
ALL Students need sneakers for PE on Tuesday and Friday!
Winter Break is February 21- March 1. School resumes Wed. March 2nd.
The 100th day of school will be Feb. 3rd (Provided there are no school closures between now and then). Students will be asked to make a 100th day project to celebrate this day! More to come on this soon!