Mustang Family Newsletter
November 2021
MCS Family Apparel
Click the link below!
**UPDATED** Pre-Screening Tool
District Scent Policy
Reminder: Our entire district is scent free. Our school in particular absolutely can not have any scents within the building at all. Please have students refrain from using essential oils, perfume, etc.
We have individuals who are allergic to scents. If you have respiratory issues, scents can irritate these issues and trigger difficulty in breathing. We need to be sure that all staff and students are safe within our building.
RSU #16 Covid Dashboard
Book Fair
Tri-Town Family 5K Mechanic Falls – Minot – Poland RUN WITH WHITTIER
Counselor's Corner
I hope you all have enjoyed the beautiful weather we have had this Autumn. It is wonderful to be back to a 5 day structure once again! While we are not back to complete normalcy, we have made great strides. I am so happy to return to classroom instruction for Social Emotional learning, and I have the added pleasure of Ms. Brown, our social worker, assisting me in sharing the Second Step curriculum. We see your children every other Wednesday with the exception of third and fourth graders. While we miss seeing these kiddos for our lessons, they are in fantastic hands with Mrs. Erde. She is familiar with the Second Step curriculum, and was kind enough to take over the teaching when we ran into scheduling difficulties. Thank you Mrs. Erde!
We began our Social Emotional lessons by getting to know each other again. We did some fun connection activities and processed our feelings about being back full time in bigger groups. We are now ready to dive into our first unit on October 27. For all grades, Unit one is Growth Mindset and Goal Setting. For the younger grades we will be focusing on how to get our bodies and brains ready to focus and avoid distractions. The upper grades will be making a plan for practicing a new skill and reflecting on their journey as they work to reach their goal. All grades are recognizing that practicing helps us to get better. We are learning that challenges and mistakes come with learning something new, and the difference between a helpful thought and an unhelpful thought. Helpful thoughts like, keep trying, I can do this, and mistakes are okay, make learning something new easier. Remind your children that when we are challenged, we grow as learners and positive thoughts keep us calm and focused on the task at hand. Have a wonderful rest of your Fall season.
What’s all the buzz about pooled testing?
You might have heard that RSU 16 and Minot Consolidated School are participating in a program called “Pooled Testing” to help reduce the spread of COVID within our schools by identifying cases quickly and to KEEP our students in school! We have now completed our third round of pool testing and it has been really seamless and is a minimal disruption to the students’ during their academic time!
Why should your child participate in pooled testing? It’s a great way to ensure they can REMAIN in school and not have to quarantine if they are a close contact at school! If we can rewind for one second to last year, you may recall that if your child was a close contact of an individual who tested positive at school, your child was required to remain out of school for ten days. Fast forward to this year and if your child participates in our weekly pool testing, you will still be notified if they are a close contact, however, your child is able to remain in school and does not have to be quarantined from school.*
We currently have approximately 40% of our MCS staff and students participating in our weekly pooled testing and we’d love to have more. We recognize that the more individuals we have participating, means our school remains an ever safer place for our staff and students. Plus, the more staff and students we have enrolled means we get to keep our staff and students in our schools teaching and learning.
Ready to sign your child(ren) up? Here’s the information to get you started!
To get started, please fill out the consent form with your permission to perform a COVID-19 pooled test for your student at Elm St. School. This process should take no more than 5 minute to complete using a computer or a smartphone.
- Click this link: https://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com/minor-consent/
- Then, enter this access code: ZIZ3G0. Each school has its own unique access code.
- Finally, enter your information, and you’re done!
Note: If you need to provide consent for more than one child, please complete the process once for each child.
Not sure if you want to sign up, but you want to learn more about it or perhaps you want to see it in action? Click Here
Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns to our MCS nurse, Mary Wallace at mwallace@rsu16.org.
October Mustang Pride
Planned Absences
Meal Application Form
The COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL application is available to print, complete and return to your school or you can complete the online form at www.SchoolLunchApp.com. If you have difficulty accessing either of these methods, the form can also be sent home with a student...just contact your school's office to make the request. If you have any questions please contact Ellen Dore, RSU 16 Food Service Director, edore@rsu16.org, 207-998-5400 ext 107.
Academic Plan for absences
Due to circumstances out of our control, we will unfortunately have students that are absent from school for extended periods of time due to needing to quarantine or illnesses. We have a plan in place for your child(ren) if this happens.
Short Term Quarantine: Students will be given a 10 day packets of work at their specific grade level. In addition, we will ask students to complete 20 minutes of i-Ready in each of the subjects daily. We will also be asking students to read 30 minutes daily. Some teachers may choose to send additional work out through Seesaw as well.
Long Term Quarantine: For students who will be out for an extended period of time, we may have students participate in the computer program that is used for the students in the ReeL program. This would only be until they are able to return to school. Mrs. McKew will work with parents to determine if this is the best option for your child.
Staff Pumpkin Challenge
WINNER!!
Staff Pumpkin Challenge
OPEN Community Club Position
Fundraiser
Important Dates
November 11th:
Veteran's Day-No School
November 15th-19th:
Book Fair
November 24th-26th
Thanksgiving Break-No School
If you would like a paper copy of the Student Handbook, please contact the school.
Paperless Newsletters
There are many benefits to providing families with newsletters electronically. An electronic newsletter conserves paper, is more cost efficient, and delivers the newsletter directly to parents. Minot Consolidated School will be providing newsletters electronically for the remainder of the year. If you would prefer to receive a paper newsletter moving forward, please contact us at (207) 346-6471 or at kbrown@rsu16.org in order to notify us. Newsletters can also be found on the MCS website
About Us
Future Newsletter Items
If you have any items you would like to have included in a future Family Newsletter, please forward them to me and I will be sure to add them!
School Hours
Arrival- 8:30 am
Dismissal- 3:00pm
Email: kbrown@rsu16.org
Website: https://www.rsu16.org/mcs/index
Location: 23 Shaw Hill Road, Minot, ME, USA
Phone: 207-346-6471