Dear Spring Valley Families,

It's hard to believe that we are already into the month of November. We had lots of exciting things going on at Spring Valley during the past month, including our first SOAR Flight where 160 of our students saved up 25 SOAR Slips and were able to paint pumpkins last Friday. Our next SOAR Flight will be in mid December and we will be decorating Gingerbread Cookies. Please talk to your child at home about how they are able to earn SOAR Slips at school.

As part of the KPS multi-year COVID Acceleration Plan, teachers have developed Student Improvement Plans (SIPs) for all kindergarten through fifth grade students. The plans were shared at conferences with parents and guardians to communicate how students are progressing in the areas of reading and math. These plans also identify the primary area of focus in reading and math. Adults can support the specific areas of improvement by reading, writing, and practicing math with their students. The Student Improvement Plans also indicate whether students in kindergarten through third grade are below grade level in reading. Please let your child's teacher know if you have any questions about your child's plan.

Please remember the there is NO SCHOOL for students PK-12th grade tomorrow, November 2nd.

As the weather is turning colder, please be sure that your children have the appropriate outdoor gear. We will be going outside for recess even after the temperatures drop!

We look forward to continuing to work with you and your children.

Take Care,

Heather L. Misner

Principal, Spring Valley Center for Exploration

MASKS

We are having more students that are needing multiple reminders or refusing to wear their masks. PLEASE reinforce the need to wear their mask at school all day. In order to keep each other safe and keep learning in person, we must continue to wear masks correctly while in school.

ILLNESS GUIDELINES

We know that every illness is not a COVID-19 case. However, we need to follow the following guidelines to ensure it is not COVID-19 in order to keep all students, staff and families healthy.

If your child is sick, please keep them home particularly with any COVID-19 type symptoms. With any of these symptoms that may appear 2-14 days after exposure, students need to do one of the following:

1. Get a negative PCR, not rapid, COVID test,
2. Get an alternate diagnosis from a medical professional - you may think it's just a cold or allergies, a medical professional needs to tell us that in a report to turn into the office.
3. Or, you can have your child quarantine for 10 days from the onset of symptoms. Work is available on your student's Google Classroom.

Here is a list of symptoms that may be COVID-19 symptoms:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

If your child has a fever, he or she may return to school 24 hours after the fever returns to normal without the aid of medications like Tylenol or ibuprofen.

The following locations are available for free COVID testing:

• K Med
• Walgreens
• Optimed
• Kalamazoo/Battle Creek Airport

It is available every other week by appointment. Same day emergency food is always available.

Please contact Amy Triemstra, the Communities in Schools site coordinator if you are interested. 269-337-0750

Tuesday, November 2 - No School for PEEP-12th Grade

Sunday, November 7 (2am) - Set your clocks back one hour-- FALL BACK

Wednesday, November 10- 6:00-7:00 PM- PTO Meeting

Monday, November 15- Picture Retake Day

Friday, November 19 - 1/2 day for High School only; PEEP-8 have full day of school

Monday, November 22 - 1/2 day for High School only; PEEP-8 have full day of school

Tuesday, November 23-Friday, November 26 - School closed PEEP-12th Grade

Monday, November 29 - School Resumes

At Spring Valley Center for Exploration We SOAR

Safe

Organized

Attentive

Respectful