St. Peter's Postings
March 21, 2020 Information and Resources
Dear Parents,
As this first week of our school closure comes to an end, we find ourselves with many mixed emotions. There is a lot of uncertainty and things are changing at a very rapid pace. It can feel very overwhelming for everyone. This letter is to update you on the information we have right now and our plan at this time. We also will offer some new resources that can be helpful for your child at home and for your family. As we receive new information we will re-evaluate and make adjustments to these plans and as always, keep you as informed as we can.
Governor Wolf has stated that he will "not hold schools accountable to 180 days" and will "waive the 10 days", but it is still unclear what that fully means. This closure has the potential to last longer than 10 days. Our goal at St. Peter School is to keep students healthy while remaining actively engaged and learning. We know that an extended break without the structure of a school day can seem daunting and it is important that we do not treat this as an extended spring break. Your children are going to need to stay academically active in order to maintain the skills they have achieved. More importantly, we know that children thrive on routine and predictability in order to feel safe. It is widely recommended that parents set a schedule that involves regular times for bathing, eating, school-work/learning activities, and socializing. This easy to read article from Upworthy, How to Prepare for Extended School Closings – and Not Lose Your Mind, has more information about this.
For now, what we know for certain is that our school is closed for another week.
All students in grades K-6 have received their Flexible Instruction Packets and we thank families for picking these packets up so quickly and thank teachers for their work putting them together so quickly over the weekend. Students are to complete these packets during the week of March 23-27 and we will announce how and when they will be returned to school.
Along with the Instructional Packets student received with skill practice work in Reading and Math, we offer the following suggestions:
RELIGION
- Pray one decade of the rosary every day with your family. (see below)
- With the suspension of public Masses and liturgical celebrations, you can view a daily Mass using the following link:
- During our time away from the Mass, here are two great Mass resources for families with young children: Catholic Icing and My Catholic Kids with helpful ways to make the liturgy part of your everyday life in just little ways
READ, or be read to, for 30 minutes
- As of today, students now have access to take AR tests at home! Use the link below and sign in with their regular information: (Be sue to bookmark this address to use as needed)
EXERCISE for 30 minutes (or more!) every day
- Go outside and play whenever possible
- Dance, Jog in place for 1 minute, Hold a plank for 30 seconds, Perform 25 jumping jacks, Crab walk around the room
- Cosmic Kids Yoga
- GoNoodle
OTHER (student choice)
- Help with chores
- Learn to cook or bake (with help from a grown up)
Practice your instrument, listen to your favorite music
- Explore one of the recommended websites (with permission and guidance of parent)
- Get creative – complete a craft, draw or paint a picture, build with Legos
- Don’t be limited by this list. Take advantage of this time to learn something you’ve always wanted to learn!
JOURNAL
- Tell your teacher in writing about something you learned or did today.
- Use your best handwriting. Keep in your FID Folder to return to teachers when we return to school
- Students in grades 3 - 5 may choose to email daily journal entries to their teachers.
Use proper capitalization, punctuation and spelling (Kindergarten and first grade students can use ‘kid spelling’, with parent correcting for ease of understanding by teacher.)
o Kindergarten: 2-4 sentences, or more
o 1st and 2nd Grades: 3-5 sentences, or more
o 3rd through 5th Grades: At minimum, one full paragraph
- You can start each journal entry with, “Dear Mrs. ____”
SCIENCE
- Students in Grades 4-6 received their Science Fair information. Before beginning projects, students are to email their teachers for approval of their topics.
- Watch a video about the animals at the Cincinnati Zoo and then draw a picture and write one thing that you saw or learned about the animal. Here is the link: Cincinnati Zoo
OTHER
- Scholastic.com has some excellent age specific content for children.
- We have received a SCHOOL CODE for ABCMouse online learning that unlocks countless interactive learning activities for students through 8th grade (See the letter attached below "St. Peter School ABC Mouse Access" for directions and our school code (If you use the free version offered on the website homepage, there aren't as many activities to choose from)
We also have the following updates for you:
- Father Patti has cancelled confessions that were to be on Saturday afternoons as directed by the Bishop
- Parents and students are reminded to use the teacher Gmail addresses that were sent home with the FID Policy letter when communicating during this school closure.
- The school is being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected as it is closed to teachers and staff as of Friday.
As the days go by, Mrs. Harris and the teachers are spending many extra. hours researching new instructional tools, reviewing curriculum and coming up with new and exciting ways to keep engaging students from home. Some of these may include online interactive opportunities. See the following article about a survey for electronic readiness.
We are grateful for your thoughtful and honest questions throughout this process. We are in uncharted territory, but we are all in this together. Our school thrives when we are together. Though this time of school closure means the we are physically apart, we will continue to remain engaged through coursework, ongoing communication, and virtual connections to the best of our ability. Right now, it is our responsibility to protect the health of our families and neighbors by practicing social distancing. It is our desire to maintain academic excellence utilizing available resources while ensuring the health and safety of our most precious resource, our students. We recognize that every family dynamic at this time is very different and want to provide you a means to help your child to maintain the skills they have attained while providing the safe structure of routine.
While home, consider ways you and your family can serve others: check in on elderly or sick neighbors, call or write to those who are in nursing homes or live alone, purchase only what you need for your family. Respect the lives of all God’s children and do your part in minimizing the spread of this virus. This unfortunate event will be part of your child's story for the rest of his or her life. Let us be sure that they tell their children and grandchildren someday how they remember this time - how they prayed at home, helped others and treated each other with kindness and love. Maybe use this unexpected gift of time to catch your breath and rejuvenate. In this Lenten season, slow down and enjoy quiet time with your family and with God.
Please accept our heartfelt prayers for the health and safety of you and your families during this unprecedented time.
Finally, and most importantly, please tell your children that we love them, we miss them and we are praying for each and every one of them by name until we see them again.
In Christ's Love and Peace,
Mrs. Harris and the St. Peter School Faculty & Staff
Distance Learning Survey
St. Peter School Distance Learning Survey
We also have linked some information below from Comcast that is offering free internet to families that qualify.
St. Peter's Church and School...Our Chance to Give Back
With the Bishop's announcement this week that all public Masses are suspended until further notice, we are asking all school families and our parish family to spread the word that now is not the time to also "suspend" your weekly collection contributions to the church. Each student in our school receives at least 1/2, and in most cases much more than half, of their tuition subsidized by St. Peter's Parish. So please tell your friends and family to please drop their weekly contributions off at the rectory (M-F 10am -2pm till further notice) or mail in their offering (433 West Church Street, Somerset) or sign up for online giving using this link:
St. Peter's Online Giving or visiting the parish website at www.stpetersparish.com. Thank you for your continued faithful financial support!