Daisy Daily for the Week of December 21, 2020

 

Our students and staff  had "SNOW" much fun

last week!!!

 

Daisy Friends,

This will be a super-quick week (#17) before the Holiday break.

Here are a few reminders:

• No Grade-Level Meetings with Administration this week.
• Classroom Teachers/Specialists/Support Staff: if you haven't already emailed a video or photos for inclusion in our Daisy Holiday Video (to Lisa, Alicia and me), please do so by noon on Monday.  We'll release it for all to enjoy on Wednesday.
• Early Dismissal on Wednesday, Dec. 23, at 1 pm.
• Spirit Days this week:
• Mon., Dec. 21--"Favorite Hat Day"
• Tues., Dec. 22--"Dress to Impress Day" (Dress fancy to ring in the New Year!)
• Wed., Dec. 23--"Pajama Day" (A comfy, cozy day!) Please feel free to show the holiday video at any time that works for your class.  We will deliver pre-packaged allergy-approved snacks to your classroom on Tuesday (popcorn, Pirate's Booty, candy canes, etc.) thanks to the generosity of Dunkin' Donuts/Finezza Family and another generous, anonymous donor.

Please join in the fun!

• Holiday Break runs until Jan. 4, when we'll all be back in school.
• The following days are holidays and Westbrook Public Schools will be closed:  Dec. 24, 25, 28 and Jan. 1.  
• For all future dates, please see our Daisy Staff Google Calendar at:
• DAISY STAFF GOOGLE CALENDAR
  

Thanks to all who joined in the festivity of the season by decorating classroom and office doors.  Our school looks beautiful and so full of holiday spirit!

Try to slow down a bit this week and really enjoy our students.  Please be kind to yourself--as you're always taking care of everyone else--and just think about how far we have come since September 1st with our students!

Wishing everyone a most enjoyable holiday season.  Even though it will be different than any holidays before, here's hoping for quality time with those closest to you.  Take care, be safe and see you in 2021!!!

Warmly,

Ruth

Dilma Ordonez and Jan Lynch in the kitchen, looking very festive!

Stephen Trojan and his "elf twin."

Morgan Fair wishing everyone "Feliz Navidad!"

Two elves on a shelf....

Daisy Daily for the Week of December 14, 2020

                       It was wonderful to welcome our students back to in-person learning last week!

Thumbs up for PURPLE!!!

Daisy Friends,

Hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful weekend.  Although Saturday was rainy, Sunday was certainly a perfect day to spend some time outside!

Of course, we'll all be watching the weather as we start a new week, which is our Week #16 of the school year.

A few notes about the week ahead:

• We'll hold Grade Level Meetings virtually, as scheduled in our Daisy Staff Google Calendar.  All links to meetings are in the calendar.
• Wednesday, Dec. 16, features Department-Based PLCs.  Meetings at Daisy start at 3:15 pm.
• As always, please refer to our Staff Google Calendar for all the specifics:
• DAISY STAFF GOOGLE CALENDAR

Of course, we'll remain flexible as parents/guardians may continue to choose to have their children transition into remote learning or back to in-person learning. Please keep in touch with the office (and vice versa) as we hear any new requests from families re: this.

Happy Hanukkah!

One of our student's parents joined a first-grade class, virtually, 

on Friday to talk about the traditions of Hanukkah.

As we enter this festive time of year, we're looking at new ways to safely celebrate some of our time-honored traditions.

• To add some sparkle to the holidays at Daisy, we have joined the Town of Westbrook's Door Decorating (Friendly) Competition by decorating and entering our front door.
• We invite anyone who would like to decorate their classroom/office doors to do so (just for fun; no competition) and to get our students involved!  No deadlines, no pressure; just for fun!
• Since we can't bring everyone together for a Holiday Sing-a-long in the gym this year, as is tradition, we are planning a way to showcase something from each classroom, that we can share school-wide as well as with the community.  Please think about featuring something that you're currently doing with students (a project, song, poem, craft, new learning, decoration, etc.) that you could either video or take photos of to share.  We plan to make a video of all the contributions to share this on our traditional Pajama Day next Wednesday, Dec. 23, before the Holiday Break.  Contributions can be a few photos or a brief video and should be emailed to Lisa Sizer, Alicia Adinolfi and me by this Friday Dec. 18.  The sky's the limit!!!
• Teachers--please be sure to respond to the PTO email re: either a reimbursement for holiday crafts or help in putting a craft together.  Some parents are helping virtually with crafts or reading a book, etc.  Please be sure that we send home the materials to remote learners as well.
• As you know, we have not accepted food/treats sent in from home this year, but I have enlisted the help from the PTO for some special, individually-packaged snacks that meet our allergy requirements to be available for ALL classrooms.  We are working with our school nurse for approved snacks, which the PTO will purchase and deliver for next week.  Perhaps to enjoy on Wed., Dec. 23, while watching our school-wide video on Pajama Day?

Kindergarten Students had fun learning about Coding in the Computer Lab with Ms. Godfrey.  Students participated both in-person and virtually and learned so much!

Also to add to the Holiday Fun, here are a few Spirit Days for students and adults, alike:

---Dec. 16--"White Out/Snow Day"

--Dec. 18--"Festive Sweater/Shirt Day"

--Dec. 21--"Favorite Hat Day"

--Dec. 22--"Dress to Impress Day"

--Dec. 23--"Pajama Day"

Please join in the fun!

Please take a moment and make sure that the voicemail message on your classroom/office phone is up-to-date. We had many room changes over the summer and we want to be sure that we are properly addressing messages to your room. If you haven't reset the message, you likely aren't able to retrive messages, so please look into that. If you need assistance, please email: techsupport@westbrookctschools.org

Let's make it a great week with our students! Maybe we'll get a little white stuff to make it even more interesting!

Take care,

Ruth

Daisy Daily for the Week of December 7, 2020

 

Daisy Ingraham is joining our town's Holiday Door Decorating Contest, just for fun!!!

Daisy Friends,

Please remember to check email regularly to be sure you have the latest updates from Superintendent Kristina Martineau and me.  We have both sent out emails to families and staff via School Messenger over the weekend and these are also posted on our district and Daisy websites.

We will operate according to our in-person schedule with Rotating Specials, starting with Special Rotation #1 tomorrow.  The email that I sent out to all staff explaning this is here:

Daisy Staff,

Thanks to all who joined our Daisy Leadership Meeting today to represent your groups re: getting ready for our students to join us in-person next week.

Here's a recap for all:

• We will return to our previous in-person schedules that were established for each grade level.
• We will adjust our Specials Rotation, starting with Rotation #1.  We will return to our 10 consecutive days for each special, in order to decrease exposure for students and staff.
• Families still have the opportunity to choose Remote Learning for their children.
• Please read the email that I sent out a little earlier with the Parent Letter that I sent out through School Messenger, which details information re: safety for in-person learning as well as information re: remote learning.
• We expect more families to take advantage of remote learning at this time.  Previously, we had 26 students in remote learning.  As of this moment, families have chosen remote learning for 40 students.  I expect I will hear more requests for changes over the weekend.
• I will communicate with each classroom teacher about your current class list w/ requests for remote learning.  I also ask that if you hear from a family re: this, please forward this to me and our office staff as well so that we can help you to be best prepared.
• Classroom teachers should communicate the status (in-person or remote) with each student's service providers.
• If you have concerns about coming back in-person, please let me know.
• Please consider adding another layer of protection, especially if you are working with multiple cohorts of students, by wearing your face shield over your mask.  We have district-issued face shields for all staff members.  If you don't have one, please stop by the office as we have a good supply on hand.  
• If you need a box of child-size face masks for your classroom or office, please let us know as well.
• I'll send more updates out in the "Daisy Daily" over the weekend.

As always, please let me know your concerns at any time.

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy weekend.  We're in this together and we're going to be ready to welcome our students back with very positive vibes on Monday!

Warmly,

Ruth

Of course, parents/guardians still have the opportunity to choose Remote Learning for their children.  They have been notified to access the schedule and links to live meetings in Google Classroom (for Grades K-4) and in Class Dojo for PreK.  Here is the link to the letter that I sent out to families re: this:

Daisy Parent Letter 12.4.20

Over the weekend, I sent updates to each grade level (and copied specialists) with the current information re: which parents had requested a continuation of Remote Learning.  We will continue to update this as time goes on.

As always, please refer to our Daisy Staff Google Calendar for meetings/events of this Week #15 of School as well as the weeks ahead.  Here is the link:

• DAISY STAFF GOOGLE CALENDAR

• We will have Grade-Level Meetings this week, as scheduled in the Staff Calendar.
• Tuesday, Dec. 8: Board of Education Virtual Meeting at 7 pm.  The link will be posted on the BOE Departmental webpage before the meeting.
• Wednesday, Dec. 9: PTO Virtual Meeting.  Link is published in our Daisy Staff Calendar.
• Wednesday, Dec. 9: Report Cards should be complete in PowerSchool.  (As always, please let me know about particular report cards that you'd like me to review.)
• Friday, Dec. 11: Report Cards will go home with students and/or mailed to remote students.  Office staff is happy to assist with printing Report Cards.
• If anyone would like to make a donation for Grocery Gift Cards for our families, please see the donation basket in the office.
• Spirit Days for the next couple of weeks will be announced after receiving feedback from students/staff.

Thanks so much to ALL for ALL you are doing for our students, EVERY day!!!  I appreciate that everyone is working so intensely to provide the best for our students and certainly understand that this is a labor of love.

Wishing all a wonderful week back with our students,

Ruth

"Acts of Kindness Day"

Virtual Tree Lighting on the Westbrook Green over the weekend.