And just like that, it is October! The first month was busy here. What a big difference we have seen this year in our students transition back to school. After only a few days, students were right back in the swing of routines and procedures and engaging in the curriculum. And while Covid is not entirely gone, we have far fewer cases to report. When they do happen, your child will receive a letter and a test kit. I will do my best to also send a robocall to families as well. As always, if your child tests positive for Covid, call the main office so that we can correctly record the attendance, and alert the nurse. Please plan to quarantine your child for five days after a positive Covid test. Students can then return to school, masked, for the following five days.
We recently participated in a whole school assembly called the NED Show, which focused on teaching students the power of "yet". NED stands for: never give up, encourage others, and do your best. We will continue to have yo-yos for sale in the main office. Your child should have received an order form. If you haven't seen it, check the book bag. The sale will go through October 14th. There are lots of really cool yo-yos for them to choose from.
We are jumping right back into a rigorous curriculum. Many of our students are back on the bus, as our transportation issues have subsided this year. Others have opted to transport their children. We are teaching right up to 3:15 or later. If you come any sooner than that to pick up your child, he or she will be missing instruction. Even if it's only 15 minutes per day, that adds up to 1.25 hours a week; 5 hours of lost instruction a month, and 50 hours of lost instruction every year, which is roughly ten days of school. Please keep that in mind as you are deciding when to come and pick up. Also, if we have not met you in the office yet, you will be asked to show a photo ID. Please bring it with you. This is especially important when it is someone who does not regularly pick up your child.
As you now know, our open house is Thursday, October 6th from 5:00-7:00 PM. I have to apologize for the late notice. I thought I had put something out as a save-the-date long ago in September. Hoping that despite my error, many of you will be able to join us for our first in-person open house since 2019! I can't believe it has been that long. We are looking forward to seeing you then!
Parent/teacher conferences begin this month as well. Teachers will be reaching out to schedule conferences soon. We try very hard to accommodate parent schedules, so make sure you communicate with the teacher if you are able to get here for an in-person conference, or you would rather confer over Zoom or phone.
As always, thank you for sharing your amazing children with us! It has been wonderful to be back here with them for another school year! We love our School 46 family!
