Are You Ready to i-Ready

 We made it through the first week, which felt like the longest week in history.  The good news is most things went very smoothly and the students were much better at wearing masks than we imagined.  The best news is that carline went from almost 1 hour to sending everyone out in 20 minutes.  Friday's carline was great and we will keep getting better.  Thank you all for having patience and sticking it out while we fine-tuned the process.  

Our morning carline is still not done before the bell.  Gina and I are going to try to improve this too.  Beginning on Monday, Gina and I will start opening car doors at 7:25 like last year.  We will ask the students to social distance in the breezeway and outside the gate until 7:30.  At 7:30, Teresa Searls will prop open the Art Room exterior door and then release her students to their classrooms.  I will remind parents that students can get out of their car anywhere along the sidewalk and students who exit their car closer to the art room will be able to enter there.  This should speed things up.

It is important to remember the reasons behind many of our COVID-19 procedures.  Not only do they prevent the possible spread and exposure of COVID, but it also helps with contact tracing.  Our medical professionals on our local committee have advised one of the strongest parts of our re-opening plan is the separation of cohorts.  If a student in one class becomes sick, the strict separation of classes/grades will minimize the contact tracing and possible quarantine of more students and staff.  If students are not staying separated in the hall or outside, the cohort plan will not work.  We understand this becomes more difficult with Extended Day, but our numbers are still very low and there is plenty of room for social distancing.  We cannot eliminate all risk, but we can take whatever steps are in our power to reduce risk. Gina and I would like to share some Social Distancing and Mask reminders:

• All students in grades 1-8 should wear masks when inside and outside if they cannot maintain 6 feet of social distancing
• All staff should wear masks inside the building at all times unless alone.  If you enter a room and someone is alone and without a mask, please pause and give them time to put on their mask
• Maintain as much distance as possible among staff when eating lunch (this is the most vulnerable time for possible spread according to our committee)
• Have students maintain as much distance as possible when eating lunch
• Institute procedures that reduce the number of shared touch surfaces (giving each student their own assigned device or manipulative set, having students sharpen pencils at home, etc.) See Maria's list of procedures for ideas
• Practice having students maintain 6 feet between themselves in the hallway
• No unnecessary staff entering classrooms, and if they must enter, they should remain separated from students

Alton shared a schedule with everyone for i-Ready testing this week.  If you have any questions, please reach out to Alton for assistance.  

Friday is a noon dismissal and our topic for discussion is STREAM.  At 2:30 there will be a webinar related to i-Ready and distance testing.  All teachers should be present until 2:30 at which time some will be dismissed.  Since we are a big group, please eat lunch prior to the meeting.  We will begin at 1:00 pm and location will be announced.  

Thank you all and have a great week!