At The Creek.....
September 25, 2020
Hello Rabbit Creek Families!!!
Thank you very much to all of our families-in person, virtual and attending home schools-who have completed our recent surveys regarding the return to school. Staff spent time this week beginning to look at how we could place our classroom furniture in a manner that allows for as much spacing as possible. In order to do so, we want to have information about our class sizes to prepare in advance. Some of our rooms will be moving furniture out to welcome students in. If you haven't completed the survey yet, please do so using the link below.
Our district will be using the slogan "ASD is Symptom Free" as we return to school, with this being the key factor in maintaining safety. As you can imagine, this will require the support and assistance of our families. If your child has one of the identified symptoms of COVID-19, we will need you to keep your child home from school. We realize that this will mean keeping students home for symptoms that previously would have not meant doing so. While a cough might have been something that families treated at home with over the counter medication and then sent their students to school, during this time it will be necessary to keep them home for the safety of themselves and others. Thank you in advance for your help in keeping our school symptom free!
I would like to take a moment to do a huge SHOUT OUT to our incredible staff at Rabbit Creek. Each and every one of them is putting in an incredible number of hours to support students and families during our learning at a distance right now. I hear about their hours put into getting lessons 'just right' for students, the answering of emails and Remind well into their evening and of their excitement about learning new techniques to engage students. I heard an analogy the other day-the ice skater who glides across the ice makes it look as though it's easy, while the one who falls makes it look as though they didn't do enough practice. We don't think about the hours put in by the skater because of the ease shown in their performance. Our staff is moving across 'the ice' beautifully because of their hours put in and dedication to our families. We are one lucky school!
I'm looking forward to seeing our families very soon.
Ms Peterson
In School family survey: https://forms.gle/G9bEQ4o5S8qkLAWo9
Virtual family survey: https://forms.gle/jwBfGSJgNHen7tXdA
Home school families: Please email Ms. Peterson if you're planning to return to school.
Returning to school with a mask
Now is a key time to begin 'practicing' wearing a mask at home and I urge you to start with short time frames with our youngest learners to build up to larger ones in preparation for the classroom. With some students it might mean starting with wearing the straps on the ears or the mask on the face for as short as ten minutes at a time. Starting slow to find small successes is more important than frustrations over an inability to wear one for a lengthy time. :)
FAQ for the Return to School
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hhOXizHUAYOYm6VGiGOUIwNBshN5JibAYOWA2VI5K2s/edit?usp=sharing
Distribution Day!!!
Cross Country Running has been a HUGE hit!
Our Virtual running Club has just 1 week left! It's 6 practices that can be completed in any order. Students who participate in 5 out of 6 practices will receive a certificate and prize.
On page two of the Virtual Running Club packet please indicate what practices you completed. There are two way you can turn in your filled out form.
- Take a picture and email it to me
- Place in our new cardboard "drop box" located near the front entry of the school
Please continue to send an action picture to Mr. Pemble or post a picture on the schools facebook page!
For more information..
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mmUa0hQuG20ndsAsbw1WB8CovPbC-Tpv5FfW2WxH-zA/edit
Celebrating the work of our 4th grade students!!!
Rabbit Creek 4th Graders extended two units of our learning on "empathy" and "family traditions" to create art for the Alaska Fisher House. Fisher House is located on JBER and provides a "home away from home" to family members of the military who are undergoing medical treatment. Leslie Robertson, a local artist who loves to work with our students, zoomed with students about how to use the artwork and excerpts from their stories, about a favorite family tradition, to create "altered books." She created two beautiful books which are now on display and available to all families at Fisher House. Leslie and Ms. Jenny Hall met with our students to thank them for their empathy (caring plus action) and gave them a virtual tour and explanation of Fisher House and its mission. Our fourth graders enjoyed the tour, asked excellent questions and now have a deeper understanding of empathy and its role in our community.
Dear Rabbit Creek Families,
It’s hard to believe we are already wrapping up September! This year has been quite a bit different from our usual fall season, but there have been plenty of fun activities still happening virtually and within our own homes to keep us connected and motivated to learn. Special thanks to Mr. Pemble and Mr. Dixon for partnering with Huffman Elementary to provide a fantastic Virtual Running Club! If you haven’t checked out the activities, I would encourage you to do so. Running Club wraps up October 2nd, so get outside and enjoy the fun! For more information about this activity and others from our PE teachers, please visit the PE website https://sites.google.com/asdk12.net/rabbittcreekpe/home.
Jill Boyd, Membership VP, is busy processing memberships coming in for the 2020-21 school year as well as confirming families contact information for our online School Directory. Thank you to all of those that have joined our PTA Membership this year! Without any planned fundraising, your membership goes a long way. It’s not too late to join! Visit our website for more information and to purchase a membership: www.rabbitcreekpta.org. Juleen Rogness, Treasurer, has put together a fantastic slideshow outlining the changes that were made this year to the PTA budget. You can link to the slideshow from our webpage and our private Facebook group. We still need a few more votes to meet the quorum required to pass our 2020-21 budget. All members from last year and new members this year are eligible to vote. We appreciate your votes, thank you!
We are constantly looking for ways to stay connected through these unprecedented times and with no in person events taking place at this time, Melissa and Tim Frey, Community VPs, have done a wonderful job making the most of our current situation. This last month, they collected photos of Rabbit Creek students studying at home and created a fun and uplifting video collage to share on our PTA Facebook page for your enjoyment. This was so fun to watch! Thank you Melissa and Tim for taking the time to create such a special video.
Our 2019-2020 Memory books finally arrived and our Memory Book Chair, Jennifer Wagner, has been working hard to get them out to families efficiently. She held three different pickup times this past week and there will be another one from 5-7pm on September 24. Thank you Jennifer! If you have any questions, please contact her via email at memorybook@rabbitcreekpta.org. Furthermore, if you’re in touch with families that have since left Rabbit Creek, we would appreciate your help in spreading the word. Thank you in advance!
Check out our website for links to memberships, PTA meetings and other important dates and useful information including a current calendar: www.rabbitcreekpta.org--thank you to our amazing web admin, Erika Jones, for all your work on this! You can also stay up to date on PTA issues and activities by finding us on Facebook, closed group name is Rabbit Creek School PTA. Our next meeting is Tuesday, October 13th at 7 p.m. via zoom--we’d love to see you online!
With appreciation,
Tina Baldridge
President
Rabbit Creek Elementary PTA
907-885-5518
Rabbit Creek Elementary
Email: peterson_kristina@asdk12.org
Website: www.asdk12.org/rabbitcreek
Location: 13650 Lake Otis Parkway, Anchorage, AK, USA
Phone: 907-742-5700