The Oxford Update
Oxford Elementary School
From Superintendent Colpitts
Community Reminder
March 19, 2021
Dear Parents and Oxford Hills Communities,
I want to thank you for the continued support of your schools. We continue to work hard to provide the best possible education in the midst of this unprecedented Pandemic. I am writing to provide an update on our current situation and to remind you of the role you play.
We hope our teachers and staff will be able to access vaccines by the end of April. Their vaccination will help the District to offer more stable in-person learning opportunities going forward. We will still have to abide by state CDC guidelines but our staff will not be required to quarantine if fully vaccinated.
Currently available vaccinations have not been approved for students under the age of 16. This means that our students will continue to carry and transmit COVID 19 to each other and to unvaccinated adults. Students who are symptomatic or test positive directly impact our ability to offer in-person instruction. Students exposed to a positive case or considered to be a close contact of a positive case will continue to be quarantined. Quarantines are disruptive to the educational process but necessary to prevent an outbreak.
Parents have an important role. You are expected to pre-screen your children daily before sending your children to school. Students who have any symptoms or know of a recent exposure need to stay home for the sake of all students. Just one student coming to school with any COVID symptoms can and will potentially disrupt learning for tens to hundreds of others.
I implore parents to take the screening seriously. Keep your child home if he/she exhibits any one of the symptoms. Call your school nurse or physician with any questions.
Emergency Meals Program
Monday evenings from 4:30-6pm, complimentary meals, free of charge to all, ages 0-18, are being offered as part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) emergency meal program - a response to the pandemic. It is not part of the federal School Lunch Program, but a special program that offers meals to all children during this time of challenge. Meals provided change weekly but always have fruit, vegetable, protein, grain, and milk to meet the nutritional needs of your student.
Please sign up using the link below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOAkOkx05W7uJZZ9ZPznvPeNt0G_D0apxrKUwle-8WrEU4lg/viewform
Thank you,
Jodi Truman
Food Service Director
HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD WITH MATH AT HOME
Each week, for the next several weeks, we will share one tip about how to help your child with math at home, even if you hate math. This year one of our school goals is to improve our students' math achievement and we think you can help at home as well. Here is the first tip to help your child with math at home.
Talk about math
Talking about math doesn’t have to mean making a nuanced statistical analysis or debating what equation best models a phenomenon. Talking about math can be as simple as counting clouds or guessing heights. This is especially crucial for young children who need to feel comfortable just thinking about math and seeing that it is a part of the world. Depending on the age of your child, find ways to incorporate math into any topic you’re talking about as the opportunity arises:
- How many is that? How many would I have if I had another one?
- What would half of that look like?
- How could I split this equally?
- How do you predict this trend will change over time?
- What’s the chance of that happening?
- How can you make that more abstract? (The whole purpose of mathematics is to take ideas and make them abstract!)
- How many cards will you draw?
If you don’t feel comfortable talking about math, look for other ways for math to be a part of your child's discourse and experiences. Consider watching movies and television together that feature math (for example, CBS’s former TV show Numb3rs for older students) or even simply hanging math-related posters near where your child typically studies.
Important Dates: March 22nd - March 26th
Saturday, March 20th - First Day of Spring
Tuesday, March 23rd - BINGO Reward day - Schoolwide PJ DayWednesday, March 24th - Early Release Day, dismissal 1 hour early
Oxford Elementary School
Denise Bourgoine, Assistant Principal
Arica Monahan, School Nurse
Jill Knight, Secretary
Christine Merrill, Secretary
Email: principal.oxford@msad17.org
Website: www.msad17.org
Location: 79 Pleasant Street, Oxford, ME, USA
Phone: (207) 539-4456
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Oxford-Elementary-School-Maine-1556253884658478