FAMILY FRIDAY FOCUS OCT 30, 2020
RICK MARCOTTE CENTRAL SCHOOL Principal Kathleen Kilbourne
DATES OF IMPORTANCE- MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Nov 3rd- Teacher Inservice (school in session Nov 2,4,5,and 6 that week for a 4 day week)
Nov 5th- Picture Retake Day at RMCS
Nov 23/24 -Parent Conferences (conducted on Zoom or by phone)
Nov 25, 26, 27 Thanksgiving break - NO SCHOOL
Miss Spider's Tea Party, Celebrated in all of our RMCS Kindergartens
Introducing our RMCS Student Support Team 2020- 2021
Dear Families, October, 2020
It has been so wonderful having your children back at school! We are reaching out to introduce our Student Support Team and share more about the various supports that RMCS provides for students and families.
Our Student Support Team includes a diverse mix of individuals who advocate for the overall wellness of our students. In collaboration with teachers, we seek to build and reinforce social emotional skills for all children.
We are very fortunate to be able to provide these preventative and responsive services and value our collaboration with you as parents. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us with additional questions or concerns at any time. Below you will find more details about the specific supports and services members of this team provide.
2020/21 RMCS Student Support Team
Kaitlyn Morrissey - School Counselor, Grades K-2: 652-7267; kmorrissey@sbschools.net. Schedule: Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri
Meaghan Rice - School Counselor, Grades 3-5: 652-7216; mrice@sbschools.net. Schedule: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri
School counselors are available to all students and provide preventive supports through classroom lessons, groups, lunch bunches as well as responsive services and short term individual support. School counselors are available to consult with parents and help find additional mental health resources as needed.
Michelle Cannon - School Nurse, 652-7208 mcannon@sbschools.net
Nurse Cannon provides student health and screening services. She also teaches health education classes on topics such as personal safety, puberty and changing bodies across the lifespan. In addition, Nurse Cannon advises and provides support around public health for the school, staff and students including allergen safety, immunizations and infectious diseases.
Sarah D’Agostino and Caitlin Mundy - School Based Clinician: 652-7283 sdagostino@sbschools.net cmundy@howardcenter.org
Sarah is a social worker employed by the Howard Center who works full time with students in grades K-5. Sarah has a caseload of students who are referred to her by the student support team. In addition to individual work and family support, Sarah often includes classroom peers to join in on regular lunch bunches.
Sarah begins her maternity leave this week and we will welcome Caitlin Mundy to our team until Sarah returns in April.
Ashley Wilson - Behavior Specialist and PBiS Coordinator 652-7207 awilson@sbschoools.net
Ashley is available to all students K-5 both proactively by encouraging positive behaviors and responsively supporting individuals or groups of students who are struggling with behavior. She coordinates our school PBiS team, which encourages RMCS students to follow our expectations of being Respectful, Mindful, and Cooperative.
Carol Blakely - English Language Learners (ELL) Educator 652- 7223 cblakely@sbschools.net
Carol works with students and families K-5 for whom english is not the primary language. She serves as a cultural bridge for students linking their native cultural experience with their experiences here in Vermont. Carol collaborates with classroom teachers to provide educational support to the students on her caseload.
Kristin Blanchette - School Based Therapist. kblanchette@sbschools.net Schedule: at RMCS on Thursdays
Kristin is a therapist from the Howard Center who provides individual therapy for students during the school day within the school building. Students are referred to Kristen by the student support team.
Need Help with Technology? Use this link to access Tech supports!
https://sites.google.com/sbschools.net/sbsdedtechforstudentsfamilies/home
Visits to the library at RMCS to begin, in addition to our sign out system already in place
Your student will be visiting the RMCS library to borrow library books. I am excited to have the students choose books in the library and will be following established Vermont Agency of Education guidelines to ensure their safety.
I have purchased bags for students to use during their library visit. This bag will also be used in their backpack to protect their borrowed library books from accidental spills. If you would like to give your student a more durable waterproof bag to use during their library visits, please do so. I will be exploring options and funding for getting more durable waterproof bags for library visits as we move forward.
Classroom library visits are beginning with 1st and 2nd grade classrooms. Next I’ll invite Kindergarten classrooms. Finally, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms will be invited. At this time, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students can order library books by logging in to “Destiny”, the RMCS library online catalog.
We encourage students to be responsible for keeping their books in a safe place at home and for returning them to the library. We always appreciate any parent's help to prompt their child to keep their books safe and clean and to return them to the library. Student check-outs are for two weeks, but they can request to renew their books if they are still reading them at the end of the two weeks.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email me, Colleen Springer, the RMCS Librarian at cspringer@sbschools.net, 652-7218. You can also email or call our staff librarians, Gwen Schuppe, gschuppe@sbschools.net, 652-7290 (7:30am - 11:00am) and Jen McGahey, jmcgahey@sbschools.net, 652-7290 (11:00am - 2:30pm).
Happy Reading,
Colleen Springer
RMCS Librarian
652-7218
What to do if you need to pick up your child during the school day or change their pick up plans?
Please just call the main office at 652 7200 when you pull up to the curb, and we will walk your student out to you. This is the same procedure if you need to drop off something to your child as well.
FAMILY DIRECTORY SIGN UP...Staying Connected
Do you like having the RMCS family directory to contact parents, play date plans and birthday party invites? Please fill-out the attached google form!
google form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYQ6gbwrtBj7RZ_GUveDpG99W2Aj7DmgST5PauDxr2Gwfapw/viewform
fall is here...and physical education and recess is outside almost every day!
RMCS SPIRIT WEAR ORDER FORMS
Grade 4 Class
Mr.Knepp Reads Aloud for Reading Instruction
Reading Intensely to Grow Ideas in 4th grade
FAMILY CONVERSATION WITH JOELLE VANLENT
For four years, we have been working with Joelle VanLent, a clinical psychologist, on how to foster resilient learners in our district. Joelle has supported our work in social emotional learning, including self-regulation, and trauma informed practices. Each of our elementary schools has staff that have been trained by Joelle in resiliency strategies, and these "trainers" support other staff members in our schools. We know this is a very stressful time for families as well, and Joelle is able to create a tailored video to support our South Burlington elementary families. Instead of a live question and answer, we thought it would be best to get your questions and then record Joelle answering them so you could access the presentation for whenever it works for your schedule. If you would like to share your thoughts and questions, please feel free to complete whatever parts of the attached questionnaire that you would like.
Also, here is a great article on building resilient children during a pandemic from Joelle.
Are you there? Not Yet! You'll get there. You bet!"
Grade 2 read the book "Not Yet" by Lisa Cox & Lori Hockema.
The phrase used was, "What's in your dream bubble?"
Health Information from our school nurses
What would Halloween be without costumes and candy? Please remember to keep candy at home for eating. Keep these social distancing best practices in mind to keep everyone safe.
Stay home if sick
Trick-or-treat with people you live with
Remain 6 feet apart from people not in your household
Wear a face mask covering BOTH your mouth and nose (even under/over your Halloween mask)
Hand sanitize (with sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol) frequently while out, especially during key times like before eating or after coughing/sneezing
Wash your hands as soon as you return home
The CDC outlines low, medium and higher risk activities to review when considering Halloween festivities. See the recommendations here.
RUVNA APP
If you make a mistake on the app:
(For example, pressing an illness symptom when your student is not ill), please call the front office at 652-7200 to report the mistake.
When your student is sick or staying home:
Please continue to fill out the Ruvna App and call the school's attendance line to report your student's absence. If you are emailing your student's teacher about an absence, please also phone in the absence.
We are trying to reach out to parents/guardians when a student stays home due to illness, to assist with next steps; if you are unsure if your student should be attending school, please contact me.
Information for Families: Return to School Following Illness
Thank you to everyone for helping our school stay healthy by adhering to The Return to School Following Illness Guidance from the Vermont Department of Health. I recognize it can be challenging for families and it is a shift for me as well.
Here are the links to the information in multiple languages:
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
English
English
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Arabic
العربية
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Burmese
မြန်မာစာ
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Chinese
中文
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
French
Français
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Karen
ကညီကျိ
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Kirundi
Kirundi
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Nepali
नेपाली
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illnes
Somali
Soomaali
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Spanish
Español
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Swahili
Swahili
For Families: Return to Child Care or Out of School Care Program Following Illness
Vietnamese
Tiếng Việt
DESIGN A PRINCIPAL- YOUR INPUT MATTERS!
Please click the link below to add your input:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzPmGRBR_rCcP9DYMGy788mcNgYdR5avGs7jqg-oLLM_gB8A/viewform
As a way of best serving the community of South Burlington, I am asking all stakeholders (Parents, Students, Staff, Board, and Community Members) to select the top five important qualities they want displayed by the new administrator at Rick Marcotte Central School. This information will be collected now through Oct 30th. In a November "Family Friday Focus" we will share back the top five most selected characteristics. In February, this list will go out again to gain feedback on how well the top prioritize characteristics are being met and implemented. This will help me to make adjustments if necessary for the remaining part of the school year. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share what is important to you and your family!
You will see the SAME QUESTION 5 TIMES. Please choose one trait per question, for a total of 5 attributes. The last question asks your relationship to RMCS, but NOT for your name.
TRAVEL- CHECK THE MAP FIRST TO SEE WHAT COLOR YOUR DESTINATION IS!
MARY STREET CLOSED TO RMCS
Rick Marcotte Central School
Email: kkilbourne@sbschools.net
Website: sbschools.net
Location: 200 Market Street, South Burlington, VT, USA
Phone: 802 652 7200
Twitter: @rmcschool