CCS Newsletter
October 23, 2020
ADMINISTRATION UPDATE
Dear CCS Families,
Over the last few weeks, our teachers have been meeting with families to celebrate the start of the 2020-2021 year. More importantly, they gather the reflections of families, and collaborate on the celebrations for their children and setting goals for the coming months. This is a year that did not come with a direction manual and we appreciate your collective support for what the future holds.
As we approached conferences (and continue approaching those not completed yet), we have delved into our early fall assessments to begin to get baseline data regarding students’ current skills and conceptual knowledge in the areas of literacy, word study and mathematics.
In grades K-4, these early assessments include:
Literacy:
- iReady Reading Diagnostic assessment - this is an adaptive (responds to student progress within the testing windows) and online assessment that will be administered three times per year and provide immediate feedback and data for teachers to utilize in designing instruction.
- Follow-up classroom assessments targeting letter/sound identification and recognition, phonemic awareness and spelling proficiency, and unit-based writing pre- and post-assessments.
Math:
- Bridges Mathematics unit screeners, mid-unit checkpoints and post-unit assessments are used for each unit. We also utilize classroom-based assessments to support differentiating instruction.
- We are utilizing Dreambox software at grades K-2 and IXL software at 3-4. Both of these programs offer diagnostic assessment features.
In grades 5-8, these early assessments include:
Literacy and Math:
- STAR 360 Math and Reading
- IXL diagnostics in Math and ELA
In all grades, educators then adjust other assessment tools to determine a student’s level of mastery and instructional readiness. Teachers are using these assessments and their classroom observations to dig into curriculum with students and differentiate what they need. Our classrooms are buzzing with the sounds of students sharing their writing pieces, solving math problems, reading together, exploring geography and much, much more!
We are transitioning into our second rotation of Essential Arts classes - a different approach was necessary to help limit cross-cohort movement of adults and students. Our first round of Essential Arts saw many engaging learning opportunities for students at all grades.
Highlights include:
- K-4 music classes exploring the music of the Beatles, Chubby Checker and ACDC as they worked with early music concepts of beat, rhythm, reading music and playing wooden xylophones and boom-whackers.
- 5-8 music classes are learning with ukuleles, keyboards and their own instruments remotely. Mr. Smith has expanded his normal instrument lessons to include instruments a student may be able to access at home.
- PE includes a wide range of movement, physical and social skill-building exercises. Our amazing campus has provided great opportunities for students to be active.
- Grades K-2 have participated in YOUSkills with our school counselor Betsy Lloyd, kicking off social-emotional learning, working with concepts of emotion identification and regulation, kindness and mindfulness.
- Grades 3-4 benefitted from weekly Zachtivities classes with Mr. Zach (Pichette), who leads groups in team-building and problem-solving adventure activities and indoor challenges. Mr. Zach will work with K-2 next, and continue to work with grades 3-4 in alternating blocks as they add more PE classes. Photos below!
- Digital Citizenship classes with Mrs. Sumner in grades 3-4 have focused on school technology expectations, online safety, password protection, developing a positive online identity and digital footprint, keeping social media and online gaming friendly and safe, creator’s rights and responsibilities (including learning about plagiarism), critical thinking skills for analyzing things seen online, and cyberbullying. This will be revisited throughout the year, in the context of ongoing learning. In grades 7-8, Mr. D is using curriculum from Common Sense Media which includes, finding a balance with the technology students use and being safe online. Check out some of the connected resources for families- Family Activity Engaging Families Resources for families
- In Art, students have been learning about and created many wonderful things! This includes student-created “worry dolls”, working with colors and shapes to make unique art pieces, flashlight art, personal symbols, and I Am Here projects with Adobe Spark.
- In Library, in grades K-4, Mrs. Huestis nurtures a love of books and many other things! Her lessons include” book tastings”, literacy skills, and integrating library and digital citizenship skills within classroom studies. Mrs. Huestis has also done a tremendous job with setting up a program for students to order books from the library - a COVID adjustment. Students get very excited about book deliveries!
- In World Language, students are developing their vocabulary and practicing their conversational skills. Instruction has been fun and engaging with students playing games, practicing what they are learning through writing and speaking and beginning additional practice on a web-based curriculum called DuoLingo.
Congratulations to our fall athletes and the coaches who have taken their love of a sport and created an experience unprecedented. Our players have approached the season of soccer, cross country and field hockey with an open mind to camaraderie, and physical and social wellness. The soccer matches flex between coed teams, to co-mingled matches with teams including players from both schools. In cross country, they have taken time to appreciate all the time they have together and to make the most of it. Our players are reaping the benefit of a consolidated district by joining the Shelburne Community’s Schools’ Field Hockey team. This would be a huge challenge without the parents helping with the transportation and Athletic Directors’ coordination of schedules. The focus of this season is on the lifelong lessons of fun, mentorship, flexibility, and individualized goals setting.
We wish all of you a relaxing fall weekend!
Kind Regards,
Stephanie, Jen and Cassandra
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, October 21st
Remote Day for All
Wednesday, October 28th
Remote Day for All
Tuesday, November 3rd
NO SCHOOL - Election Day
Thursday, November 12th
Re-Take Picture Day, 9:00am - 10:00am
Monday, November 23rd through Friday, November 27th
NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
SEEKING SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS
CCS is looking for a few energetic and reliable people to join our guest teacher list for the 2020-2021 school year. If you love working with children, this is a great opportunity to become involved in your community school. If you are interested in more information, please contact Naomi at email nstrada@cvsdvt.org.
STUDENTS AND MASK WEARING
STUDENT DIRECTORY
CCS wants to extend our gratitude and thanks to Charlotte resident and former CCS parent, Susan Vigsnes, who always does such a lovely job with the graphic designing and to the PTO for covering the printing cost.
Thank you,
Naomi
A NOTE FROM NURSE LAUREN - CCS VISION SCREENING
Dear CCS Families,
On Tuesday, October 27th and Thursday, October 29th, our local Lions Club will be at CCS to screen the vision of students in Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th grades.
The Lion's Club members will be using a technology that allows them to simply take a ‘picture’ of your student’s eyes using the Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener (SPOT) from a distance of 3 feet. This device measures the student’s pupils and alignment from the image. The device then compares the student’s eyes against the same age norms and will tell us if the student’s vision is within comparative norms, or if the student has one of six common vision impairments. If an impairment is detected it will indicate which impairment and make a recommendation to seek a full eye exam from a professional. Eye doctors have thanked the Lions many times for their success in early detection of issues.
The SPOT Screener reliably screens for six amblyopic risk factors. Myopia (nearsightedness); Hyperopia (farsightedness); Astigmatism (blurred vision); Anisometropia (unequal refractive power); Strabismus (eye misalignment) as well as Anisocoria (unequal pupil size). This is possible because it does not require the student to read letter or numbers, but just sit still and look at the 'camera' for about 20 seconds.
If a student’s vision is within normal range, the results will be written in their health file and no further action will be required. If a student does not pass the SPOT exam, a printout will be sent home with the results. See the attached information on how to read and understand your SPOT results. No data is retained by the Lions and students will be identified by their student identification number. Please send a note in with your student if you wish them to opt out of this opportunity.
If your student wears glasses or contacts, please be sure to send them to school with your student on the day of the screening as they will need to wear them during their SPOT vision test.
Please know that we will be following all COVID-19 precautions. This means that students will be called out to the hallway individually, the screener will take a picture of your student’s eyes, and then they will immediately return to their classroom, so the next student may follow the same procedure. If you have any questions or need any further information, please feel free to contact me!
Kind regards,
Lauren Calkins, RN BSN
CCS School Nurse
425-6644
UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHILD'S VISION SCREENING RESULTS
Understanding your child's vision screening results performed
by the Middlebury Lions Club
Photoscreening: Vermont Lions KidSight program uses a photoscreening digital device called a SPOT to objectively check for vision problems. The photoscreener is like a large camera. It takes a picture of your child's eyes. With that and the measurements obtained from the images, SPOT can detect a number of potential eye conditions.
How to read the SPOT referral form: Your child's SPOT results form will state, “Complete Eye Exam Recommended" at the top right of the page, it is a referral and we recommend that your child visit an eye care professional.
- On the SPOT referral, you will see a section on the right side of the page called "Potential Condition." This includes information about the potential eye condition(s) detected by the SPOT device.
It will state the medical terminology followed by a short description in brackets in non-technical language. An example would be "Myopia [nearsighted]." At the bottom of the referral sheet, you will see a chart that shows the conditions that the SPOT can detect. For each condition, it shows whether your child's results were within the normal range or out-of-range. Shown in the graph is a relative indication of how severe the condition may be (whether it is slightly out of range or way out of range, for instance).
Financial Assistance: If you need financial assistance with a vision exam and/or eyeglasses, contact the Middlebury Lions Charities at 1-888-885-4667 x 298. You will be prompted to leave a message on the voicemail and someone will call you back.
Definition of conditions that can be identified by the SPOT:
- Anisocoria: a condition characterized by an unequal size of the eye's pupils.
- Anisometropia: a condition in which the two eyes have unequal refractive power; one example of this condition would be if one eye had near-perfect vision and the other eye was near or farsighted.
- Astigmatism: an optical defect in which vision is blurred due to the inability of the optics of the eye to focus a point object into a sharp focused image on the retina. This may be due to an irregular or toric curvature of the cornea or lens.
- Gaze Asymmetry and Gaze Deviation: measurements the SPOT uses to detect strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes. Strabismus is one of the major causes of Amblyopia (commonly referred to as "lazy eye").
- Hyperopia: commonly known as being "farsighted"; a vision issue caused by an imperfection in the eye (often when the eyeball is too short or the lens cannot become round enough), causing difficulty focusing on near objects, and in extreme cases causing as sufferer to be unable to focus on objects at any distance.
- Myopia: commonly known as being "nearsighted"; a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it, causing the image that one sees when looking at a distant object to be out of focus, but in focus when looking at a close object.
SCHOOL COUNSELOR OFFICE HOURS
Dear CCS Families,
I will be having office hours on Wednesday mornings (beginning Wed, Oct 28) for parents and families who might want or need to connect about their child(ren), raise questions/concerns, inquire about resource needs or just general support.
Here is the link to sign up: Betsy Lloyd Office Hours Link
Betsy Lloyd, M.Ed.
CCS School Counselor
CVSD BUDGET THOUGHTEXCHANGE - OPEN FOR COMMUNITY INPUT
The CVSD School Board encourages you to get involved and share what’s on your mind as we begin the budget process for the 2021-2022 school year. This budget will be presented to voters before and on Town Meeting Day, March 2, 2021.
While this has been quite the unusual year, the board and administration are planning around a return to normalcy for the 2021-2022 school year. Are there parts of our current experience that we should continue? Thanks to federal and state funding, we are optimistic we will be starting next year on sound financial footing. Should this change, what areas of the budget do you believe are important to protect? We invite you to join us in the discussion.
We are excited to launch this Thoughtexchange to include you in our budget planning process. As we begin to plan for next year’s budget, we want to hear what is important to you and what we should prioritize within our district. Some areas to consider are curriculum, instruction, facilities, and school safety. If you have any other thoughts or topics that are important to you, please share those as well.
This exchange will be open through October 23, 2020. Please share your thoughts and then rate the thoughts of others. http://bit.ly/CVSDBudgetInputOct2020
Thank you for sharing your perspectives with us!
Sincerely,
The CVSD School Board
CVSD COMMUNITY BUDGET FORUM
Share What is On Your Mind
Tuesday, October 27, 2020, 6:00pm
Online via Zoom
Discuss what you value most in our schools
Gain an understanding of our budget process
Engage with school principals
We will start all together in one Zoom meeting for the overview and then divide up by school into separate Zoom meetings. The links to the separate school meetings will be posted on the district website and all school websites that day.
Topic: CVSD Community Budget Forum
Time: October 27, 2020, 06:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://cvsdvt-org.zoom.us/j/92218271427
Meeting ID: 922 1827 1427
Passcode: CVSDbudget (required to join)
REMINDERS FROM THE FRONT OFFICE
A few quick reminders as we move deeper into the school year!
Students go outside every day, sometimes multiple times per day! As weather changes, please be sure your child has appropriate outdoor clothing and shoes (and sometimes a change of shoes if very rainy).
CVSD Busing - Due to COVID guidance, capacity on buses are limited and are by reservation. Due to this limited seating and for contact tracing purposes, buses can only pick up and drop off at a student's home or approved/affiliated daycares.
K-4 students returning to 4 in-person days throughout this month means small increases in our traffic flow. Please be mindful of this, knowing that wait times may vary and traffic patterns may be congested. Keeping safety in mind is of utmost importance, particularly as we are loading and unloading students!
Early Pick up: If you need to pick up your child early for an appointment, please plan on picking them up no later than 2:15pm. With our new dismissal process our busses are in front of school by 2:30 and we do not want you to get caught up in that traffic.
Dismissal Pick Up: We have 4 separate locations for parent pick up. Please use these locations as you are writing pick up notes.
- K - Dismissed by the cafeteria/kitchen door.
- 1 - 4 - Exit through the front entrance.
- 5 - 6 - Exit through the cafeteria door.
- 7 - 8 - Exit through the Flagpole door.
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE: MIDDLE LEVEL FRIDAY BULLETIN LINKS
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
Details: Saturday, October 24th, from 3:00-4:30 pm via Zoom, and all parents, caregivers, and educators are invited.
Event Description: ParentIN, a program of the Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community has invited Positive Directions: The Center for Prevention and Counseling to facilitate a virtual Hidden in Plain Sight presentation for adults and parents to raise awareness of signs that may point to risky adolescent behaviors. This event is intended to assist parents and caregivers on what to look for in their teen's bedroom and what to say if an item linked to substance use is found. This event has been altered to fit a virtual format.
Prevention Specialists will introduce a series of objects to attendees, explain various substance use trends, and identify signs and symptoms of risky behaviors to look out for. It can be hard to know what to do or say about substance use. At the workshop, we'll share a few suggestions for starting difficult conversations with your teens about these issues.
We hope to see you there!
To register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hidden-in-plain-sight-virtual-presentation-tickets-122771933157