Earth, Wind and Fire Drill...update! SB 9-18-2020
Translations via Google Translate:
A couple of firsts for the books today:
- First Fire Drill of the year and without the use of the actual alarms (so there are two firsts right there). I decided my obnoxiously loud voice was suitable for today rather than assaulting everyone with our wonderfully efficient alarms.
- We danced through dismissal to the dulcet sounds of September by Earth, Wind and Fire. We’ve been giving the Gr6 students a head start for the past few days so they could get to the busses first. Rather than announcing when the Gr7 and G8 students could go we gave them a specific cue to listen to in the music. I guess they heard it because we didn’t leave anybody behind. We’ll give the B Pod Gr6 students the head start next week, as well, and then we might start mixing it up and give the other grades opportunities to lead the way.
The A Pod parents did a really nice job adjusting to the new traffic patterns and paying attention to Mr. McElhinney’s instructions out back. Now, it’s the B Pod parents turn. Again, if you haven’t already watched Mr. McElhinney’s videos or read the instructions...don’t wait until Monday morning. Stony Brook Bus and Parent Drop-off information 2020
Along with our fire drills, we will be conducting our other safety drills throughout the school year. Each year we share the following reunification information with all of our families in the event that any school needs to evacuate their campus and go to another school for some reason. Please review the following information and keep it in a safe location so that if our students need to be transported to another building you will have access to how you will be able to pick your child up from that new location: WPS Reunification Parent/Guardian Info 2020
One of our Gr7 students has an opportunity for his art work to leave the Earth and fly to the International Space Station through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Many of you will remember that last year our students had the opportunity to design experiments that could ultimately be conducted by astronauts in space. Some of our experiments were chosen for this incredible opportunity and now Finn Paquete’s winning design for the mission patch from our school contest has a chance to orbit the Earth. All of the winners from various schools have been compiled together in a google form from all over the nation. We need to get community support to vote for Finn's artwork. If he wins, his artwork will be made into a real cloth patch,flown to space, and signed by the astronauts on the international space station. His work is the second section of submissions under the upper grade level category; names are not included and it is simply listed as the Westford, Massachusetts submission, but that is Finn’s design. Please take a moment to support his efforts.
--
Notes from the Clinic:
I am so grateful that so many of you have already sent in a record of your child’s flu shot. We will be providing flu clinics school-based sometime this fall: Date and time to be determined. The local pharmacies-Walgreen’s and CVS-do have flu vaccines available. Please note, the flu vaccine for the 2020/2021 school year needs to be after August 1st, 2020. Flu vaccines earlier than that are not accepted. Continue to email these records to me at (shanly@westfordk12.us), fax (978-692-5391) or they can be hand delivered.
There is some confusion about what constitutes a close contact and the difference between isolation and quarantine. I have attached a link to a document that explains this more clearly. Management of COVID cases in schools An individual is put in isolation if they have COVID and are put in quarantine if they are a close contact. Please call me if you or your child is diagnosed with COVID or have to be put into quarantine because they have been identified as a close contact. The information shared will be confidential.
All remote and hybrid students need to turn in their yellow emergency cards. (Pod B will be getting those cards on Monday). For the remote learners, the cards can be dropped off in the main office or mailed back to me. Please continue to send in the 7th grade physicals and immunization records along with the Epipen paperwork.
The WPS nurses Blog is: https://westfordpshealthservices.weebly.com/. It was wonderful to see the school filled with students this week. Looking forward to welcoming Pod B on Monday. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns.
Sue Hanly, MSN, RN, NCSN
978-392-6974 (direct line number)
Next week, we will be conducting our Virtual Back to School night for all families in both A & B Pods and both Hybrid and Remote Learning Academy. The event is scheduled for Thursday September 24, 2020 and we will be looking to start at 6:00. The specific schedule and information as to how to access meetings with the teachers will be sent out next week before Thursday night.
Over the past few years we have had tremendous success with our MathCounts program here at Stony Brook and it is already time to start thinking about it again. This year the competition will take place remotely as all practice and competition will be conducted online on the AoPS Contest Platform. For more information about this, please go to https://www.mathcounts.org/programs/competition-series. Any student interested is welcome to come join us and have fun! The first official practice competition round is mid-October. Please contact the school team coach, Jinqi Xu, before that. His contact information is xujinqi@hotmail.com
Finally, students will have the opportunity to request a J.V. Fletcher Library card during the next few weeks. The public library membership will expand the opportunity for students to access online resources such as research databases, ebooks, and audiobooks. J.V. Fletcher Library cards will be mailed to students’ homes. If you would like to opt out of this opportunity or have specific questions regarding it, please contact Mrs. Smith (nsmith@westfordk12.us), Stony Brook Librarian.
We are looking forward to seeing all of the B Pod hybrid students during the morning class sessions next week both in their Google Classrooms and here in the building.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Chris
Dr. Christopher Chew
Principal
Stony Brook School