As we enter the final week before Christmas break, I want to thank our staff and students for working so hard in school this Fall to close learning gaps and follow new routines and procedures to keep everyone safe and healthy. With just one positive COVID case earlier in the Fall, we have managed to show that school can return to normal safely. The best opportunity for students to close the learning gaps from last Spring is in person learning at school. When students are out of school due to illness or due to symptoms related to the COVID checklist, we do provide some at home learning kits on a short term basis. When a class is quarantined due to a COVID close contact, such as the one isolated incident we had at CES this Fall, we provide online learning for the quarantine period. The practices continue at CES.
However, I want to clarify that home learning packets do not close learning gaps or replace the effective learning that happens in person at Cardston Elementary School. Our teachers work hard to provide effective learning opportunities to all their students in class. Their attention can not be split between in person learning and at home learning for any extended period of time. Because of this, as I said in my last letter, families making the decision to stay at home due to COVID concerns, are responsible to provide for their own learning needs through a homeschool program. We are currently working as an admin team to contact all families making personal choices to stay at home. Our goal is to encourage you to return to school where more effective learning for your children can happen. We realize there are personal circumstances that are impacting these carefully thought out decisions. We hope that our calls will be supportive and help you to start considering returning to school in person on January 11. We know that the longer students are away from school, the more challenging it may become to meet the current grade level learning expectations. Students not attending school this year, may not be prepared to move to the next grade level in Fall 2021. If you have questions or concern, want more information about our COVID protocols or just want to touch base about your personal choice, please feel free to contact the school.
This week we have a few fun events to get the kids excited about Christmas. Our kids are sacrificing a lot of the "normal" holiday celebrations this year. But we plan to have some fun anyway- especially realizing that school is the only place where they can gather with friends. Tuesday is "Who-Ville Hair Day" and Friday is "Christmas Pajama Day." We do have a virtual Christmas concert in the works, under the great leadership of Natisha Bevans. This will be prerecorded and available to watch at your leisure during the holidays.
January 4-8 we are back in school, but virtually from home. This online learning environment will require an internet connection and a device that can be used to access zoom sessions and in some cases, google classroom. Learning packets to support this learning will be sent home this week. If your family does not have access to a device available to your elementary students to access zoom online on a daily basis, please fill in the following google form or call the office or let your child's teacher know. We will send one device per household home. They need to be picked up by a parent or guardian at the school on Thursday or Friday this week during school hours. The school will contact you regarding pick up. We have staggered the online learning times so that grade levels do not overlap. If you have multiple students in one grade level and just one device, please connect with teachers to decide how you can accommodate this.
Thanks you for your support. We have had a great fall and are making so much progress in student learning! We are excited to be back online January 408 and in school with your students January 11.
