Coyote News
March 25, 2021
Dear Carver Coyote Parents & Guardians,
Happy Spring! I am happy to say that we have had a successful transition and now are in week 2 with our K-2 students. One of the reasons that things are going well is because of our families. You are helping us by making sure your child is ready for the bus, wearing a clean and proper fitting mask and keeping your child home if they are not feeling well.
For families dropping off at school, thank you for arriving between 8:05 and 8:25. Please continue to take things slow on the campus and always watch out for our little ones, with little feet as they are unloading from vehicles. Remember that we are only unloading at the yellow marked unloading area directly in front of the school. The care and safety of our children is extremely important to us all.
Preschool Parents are still walking their children in at their arrival time.
Our Car Rider Dismissal is currently going well, however I do anticipate that next week could become a bit more challenging from the standpoint of wait time for parents since we will have many more children to dismiss. Here are the group dismissal times for your reference:
PM Parent Pick-Up will take place in 2 separate groups.
Please arrive at the school in your designated time frame. The color of your Pick-Up Pass* will coincide with your group number.
Group 1(Green): 2:15-2:35 Grades 3, 4 and 5
Group 2 (Yellow): 2:40-3:00 Grades K, 1 and 2
Families with children in both group 1 and 2 are automatically assigned to Group 2: 2:40-3:00
Please call the office or send me an email if you have any questions. I can be reached at maestasr@carver.org.
Getting Ready for Our 3-5 students!
Many of our Grades 3-5 students have elected to return as well and their full return date is March 29. We are extremely excited to have all our students on campus together. Email notifications regarding any classroom teacher changes were sent out on March 22, 2021.
As we transition, we will need your support and cooperation with any changes to your child's classroom teacher as well as arrival and the NEW Car Rider Pick-Up procedures. Please view the slides below to ensure that you understand what the Arrival and Dismissal procedures entail.
We can't thank you enough for your patience and support throughout this entire school year.
Term II Report Cards
Important Update: Wednesdays beginning on April 7th.
Dear Families,
Wednesday, March 31 will be the last remote Wednesday for children. CES students who are enrolled for IN PERSON learning will now be coming to school 5 full days each week. Students in full remote will still be able to continue with remote Wednesday, and more information about the specific schedule for this group will be forthcoming. Mr. Knief recently sent home an updated school calendar which reflects these changes.
Additionally, our School Committee has approved June 2 and June 18 as Early Release Days for CES. The Early Release days will return to the regularly scheduled times of 8:00-11:45.
Please direct any questions about this change to Mrs. Maestas, Ms. Dawson or Mrs. Foley. Here are the email address and office phone numbers:
maestasr@carver.org 508-866-6211
dawsont@carver.org 508-866-6212
foleyps@carver.org. 508-866-6221.
Dance Fit
Whether your child is returning to Full In-Person Learning or to Full Remote Learning- we are excited and can't wait to see them in person or virtually. Go CARVER COYOTES! Let's ROCK this Transition!
Do you have any questions for us? Reach out to us. We are here to help and want to make sure your questions are answered. Call the main office at 508-866-6210 or 6220.
Calendar of Events
Friday, 3/26/21 No School for Grades 3-5 (including Full Remote Students)
Monday, 3/29/21 Students in Grades 3-5 return to in-person learning
Thursday, 4/1/21 Dance Fit Grades K-2
Friday, 4/2/21 Good Friday, No School
Tuesday, 4/6/21 Dance Fit Grades 3-5 and Virtual Dance Fit for ALL REMOTE students
Dance Fit dates for Preschool classes is TBD
Updated MCAS Test Window:
IEP Improvement Project
Dear Parents/Gaurdians,
We wanted to update you on our IEP Improvement Project.
Carver has been selected as an Early Adopter School for the DESE IEP Improvement Project Early Adopter Initiative which is a three-year commitment. We have formed our Carver Team of elementary, middle high school, and district wide staff, completed a SWOT Analysis (Identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), and are well underway with our meetings, planning, and brainstorming about the data collection process. Our next steps are to begin to gather both quantitative and qualitative data in order to analyze trends between now and April 30, 2021 to determine patterns so that we can start to identify target goal areas to work on addressing next year. Our second meeting with all of the other Early Adopter Schools will be on April 30, 2021. At this meeting we will begin to dig deeper into analyzing our data we have gathered over the past month.
The data collection quantitative group, facilitated by Melissa Leary, is gathering data from various staff members, creating a family survey to be distributed after IEP meetings, reviewing IEPs to look for targeted trends/patterns within particular sections, reviewing current practices and past statistics regarding testing/referrals/special education eligibility, and surveying staff about their receptiveness to alternative grading.
The data collection qualitative group, facilitated by Tanya Dawson, Nicole McNeil, and Angie Townsend, will be gathering data by distributing surveys; conducting empathy interviews with students, families, and staff members; shadowing students; and observing classrooms.
Surveys- The goal is to solicit feedback from the following stakeholders: interventionists, general education teachers, special education staff, students, and families.
Empathy Interviews- The goal of an empathy interview is to uncover the user’s thoughts, emotions, and motivations as they experience different aspects of schooling. Empathizing with a student’s choices and behaviors helps to identify their needs, so the team can develop a theory of improvement to meet those needs.
Shadowing Students- The goal of shadowing a student is to immerse ourselves in a student’s experience to gain a deeper understanding of the area the team can aim to improve.
Given the transition to in-person at the elementary school, the timing of distribution of surveys, conducting interviews, shadowing students, and observing classrooms at the elementary school may occur later than the middle high school.
Please reach out to any of the staff leads of the data collection groups with any questions you may have about our data collection process. Thank you for your support of this rewarding and exciting process!
PTO is sponsoring the Scholastic Book Fair at CES
The Book Fair will be held outside near the main entrance of CES.
Saturday, 4/3/21 9 am - 12 noon
Wednesday, 4/7/21 Time is TBD
Saturday, 4/10/21 9 am - 12 noon
Wednesday, 4/14/21 Time is TBD
Procedure Chromebook Repair
To have your student’s chromebook repaired, please follow the process below:
- For Elementary students, please fill out the form here.
- For Middle High students, please fill out the form here.
3. Once repair is complete, your student must return the loaner and pickup their original chromebook.
Material Pick Up for Remote Students
Kindergarten Registration
Please use this link to set up an Aspen Account: https://ma-carver.myfollett.com/aspen/logon.do (This will allow you to complete the Online Registration and allow you access to your student’s information once the registration process has been completed). If you already have an Aspen account, please log in and complete the online registration process for your student that will be entering kindergarten.
Preschool School Screening for the 21/22 School Year
Are Your Mornings Rushed? Tired of packing school lunches? This year, all students are entitled to a free breakfast and lunch every day! Yes- that's right ALL our students.
Grab a Meal to Bring Home with You!
Are you traveling out of state? Remember to follow the MA Guidelines upon your return. Contact our School Administrators or Nurses with questions.
Mask Care
Please remember that students should wear a clean mask each day. If a student's mask becomes soiled or wet during the school day, they will be provided with a replacement mask and their soiled mask will be sent home with them to be laundered.
How Should We Take Care of Masks and Cloth Face Coverings?
- Wash any worn masks at least once a day, or more often if they look dirty. If the manufacturer gave any special directions, follow them. Use the warmest settings on the washer and dryer that's safe for the material.
- It's OK to put your mask in the washing machine and dryer with your other laundry.
- Don't share masks unless they're washed and dried first.
- Don't store your mask with other people's masks. You can store each mask in its own clean paper bag or hang each one separately on a hook. (for the full article, please go to: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/mask-care.html)
Spotlighting our Kind Students at CES!
The theme at CES this school year is "Above All Be Kind." Students are being challenged to be the "I" in Kind. Teachers will nominate students who have gone above and beyond to demonstrate kindness to others. From recent nominations, the following 5 students have been selected to showcase in this newsletter. In the coming weeks, we will continue to showcase 2 students from grades K-2 and 2 from 3-5 from both our in-school and full remote learning models.