Good morning parents,
I have many items to cover, I will do my best to be concise!
January 4, 2021 Return and Remote Learning: The district is ending remote learning as of today for anyone who does not have medical need and corresponding doctor's request. However, we will still be dismissing at 2pm upon our January return so that we can provide education and contact to those students that will be in and out of quarantine. We return on January 4, 2021 and we will still be requiring masks, social distancing, and prefer that your children bring a water bottle to fill.
Christmas Program: Stay tuned to your email and Facebook for the link to our Christmas Program designed and conducted by our Music and Band teacher, Mr. Forbes. This should come by tomorrow at latest, pending any technical difficulties of creating a virtual music/band concert!
RADA fundraiser: These products are slated to be here today by noon and we intend to efficiently distribute to your children to bring home this afternoon. Please take a look at your orders and email me with any discrepancies timm@midwestcentral.org.
COVID: Today we end with 1 staff member and 2 students positive, two of which never entered our building ill and did not require contact tracing. This number is still exceptionally low. I also must point out that our quick quarantines have continued to be successful meaning that none of our quarantine situations have led to an additional positive student case. We are hopeful for new guidance coming that will actually decrease the length and restrictions of quarantines to get students and staff back sooner! If you have any COVID situations that arise that effect your children in the school setting upon leaving today or shortly before returning on January 4, please email me at timm@midwestcentral.org
Additionally, here is a link for a document you can use in coordination with the health department if you need a return to school/work letter: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=pviBkHG6PEu6OZPRNwkEGrEzG0iOJS1GgHbvtQUODJBUMk5PUzdBR1QxTTJMVVVaSDNYRU9JNTNFSi4u
Lastly, we have made it. Nobody thought we could make it this long this year, but we did, with the diligent, persistent, courageous efforts from you and our staff. Thank you does not feel like enough to say so in screaming capitals, here it is: THANK YOU!!! If you need anything over break, please reach out to me.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Check out the MCPS holiday concert... COVID style. We wish you could be here, but this is the next best thing! 🙂
As noted in the beginning, the recording of each of these songs was done in less 15 minutes to eliminate the close contact risk. Enjoy!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fIxPEny4CW4mpIGXCa_Jt1n3IbApexPD/view?usp=sharing
Join our team!
The first snow of the year is always so exciting! Ms. Dougherty and Ms. Vaughn’s preschool class loved watching it fall.
January Menus
Good day all,
I want to share with you my decision-making chart for outdoor play. This is from the Iowa Department of Public Health, which has similar weather patterns as Illinois. This chart is referenced by the governing bodies over Illinois Preschools, so we are going to utilize schoolwide here at the primary school to help us determine when it is safe to play outdoors and when we should stay inside. Outdoor, gross motor play is highly beneficial to children of all ages for learning, social, emotional, and physical health and we will opt for it as often as possible. Please provide a coat with hat and/or an additional hat, as well as gloves daily with the anticipation that we will be outdoors for recess and PE. If you are in need of these for your children, please contact us directly and we are happy to help!
https://idph.iowa.gov/Portals/1/Files/FamilyHealth/weatherwatch.pdf
Mr. Forbes hanging his class ornament for the Teacher Tree at MCPS!
We will be having Christmas Dinner Friday the 18th for lunch at the Primary School. Please disregard the previously posted the menu items for that day. Our new menu will consist of the following:
Ham
Au Gratin Potatoes
Maple Glazed Carrots
Hawaiian Roll
Cookie
Kindness Santa’s in 5th grade!
The Primary School will be counting down the days to Christmas break with a fun activity each day!
Good news... the phones are back up! Thank you for your patience.
Dear Raider students and families,
While this school year has not been what anyone would wish for, I hope each of you can find gratitude and something you are thankful for this holiday season. My mom had a Thanksgiving tradition that may be especially important this year. Before we could eat our Thanksgiving meal she asked everyone to go around and say one thing they were thankful for. You may consider trying that this year with your family.
I know I am personally thankful for the support of my family, our teachers and support staff, who have adapted to incredibly difficult circumstances, our bus drivers, who have gone the extra mile for our students, our parents, who have altered their work schedules, our custodial staff, who have kept our buildings clean and sanitized, our cafeteria workers who have prepared meals, and our principals who have provided their leadership. Mostly, I have gratitude for our students who have demonstrated tremendous patience and understanding as they navigate new learning models through this pandemic.
At the end of the day, each of us are trying to do the best we can under incredibly difficult circumstances. It hasn’t always gone smoothly, but I believe we have learned a lot since the first day of school that will make us more prepared and stronger for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year and beyond.
Our Thanksgiving break will begin today and students will return Monday, November 30th to in-person learning. We will continue to be vigilant in monitoring all student and staff health. Our current plan is to only close grade levels or buildings as necessary. As of today, our plan does not include a district-wide shut down. I hope to continue to be able to say that after Thanksgiving break.
It’s been a challenging year, but we will continue to get through this together. Please be safe this holiday season and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Dr. Todd Hellrigel
Ms. Coile's class has been learning about early explorers and ended their unit with a Ship Regatta Event. Students paired up and created a ship that would have to float, sail across the oceans blue with a wind test, and hold weight. We had one ship that held 66 marbles before it sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The students had a wonderful time creating and testing out their ships!
Happy Thanksgiving Raiders
Our main office phone lines are currently down. If you need to contact anyone in the District, please call 309.968.7916.
Raider Nation Proud! Alum, Taggart VanEtten recently made national news for an amazing accomplishment. Check out this article:
"Morton runner doesn't waste much time making quick name for himself in 100-mile race."
https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/2020/11/21/taggart-vanetten-runs-second-fastest-time-american-history-tunnel-hill-100/6353110002/
Do you enjoy evenings, weekends, holidays & summers off with your family? Midwest Central Transportation has just the job for you! We are now accepting applications for School Bus Drivers.
I cannot express how excited I am that we have made it another week. We are now 13 weeks in with students, and half way through the second quarter. You should have received your children's progress reports this week. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your children's teacher to discuss further.
We have had a jam packed week of learning with an extra focus on literacy during our Literacy Week: Read Around Your Home. Please view the fun on our Facebook page, especially the read alouds recorded by our very own Literacy Star, Ms. Crawford. Her read alouds have been viewed around the world, literally!
Today we are celebrating our PBIS theme for the month, "We are Thankful" with a popcorn and movie party within individual classrooms. We have heard so many of your children recognize and express what they are thankful for and it has been a pleasure to experience! We also have an 11:40 AM dismissal.
You might notice your children coming home from school with snack pack bags or lunch bags each week. The state has offered free lunch to all families. If you would rather not take this, just let your children's teacher know and they will communicate that with the kitchen staff.
We have just two days next week that will be full of learning so please make sure your children attend in-person or online if they are remote learning or quarantined. Today, our current positive rate between staff and students is 0.2%, the lowest we have been in a few weeks. It is with your continued efforts and partnership with us that we can keep our staff and students safe to attend in-person instruction. I sent this information earlier this week but am posting here again for review:
1. If you, anyone in your home, or anyone that your child has spent time with in the 48 hours prior begins to have COVID-like symptoms, please keep all children home from school for a 10-day quarantine or until you have received negative COVID results should you choose to test. Though not an all inclusive list, the COVID symptoms that we are seeing are fatigue, fever, wheezing, coughing, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or abdominal pain. If anything seems even subtly unusual about your child, please consider quarantine and/or testing.
2. Most importantly, if you, anyone in your home, or anyone that your child has spent time with in the 48 hours prior is awaiting COVID test results, you must keep all children home from school until you receive results.
I wish you all the best Thanksgiving and hope that you have some time off as a family!
P.S. Though I was a little chilly last Friday morning on the roof, I did enjoy the excitement it gave to every student in this building...and the staff! The afternoon included a clear, blue, sunny sky!
Hello Parents,
If your in-person or remote learning student(s) need additional teacher support, please keep in mind that our teachers are available every weekday from 2:00 - 3:00 PM for all students. Your student(s) are welcome to stay after school and get in-person learning support. This is especially helpful if they’ve been absent from a quarantine. Please take advantage of this time by having you or your student arrange with a teacher or teachers to stay after school. We’re also running courtesy bus routes at 3:00 PM to take these students home.
Dr. Hellrigel
Check out our Thursday Read Around Your Home with Ms. Crawford!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rcb8tgKSm7H9dEp-kzNdWOpaiwj0RchJ/view?usp=sharing