Dear Eagles,
I want to thank all of our community for their kindness and support as we have navigated this unusual school year. Your patience with changing practices and encouragement have meant so much to us. We hope you have a wonderful winter break and enjoy the time with family and friends. Happy Holidays!
Kindergarten Supplemental Hours of Instruction
We are excited to announce that we will be offering kindergarten supplemental hours of instruction next year at Silver Mesa. This program is optional for families wishing to have their kindergarten student be at school for extra hours of instruction. The link below will help explain the program more fully. The website is not updated yet for this year, but still has good information about the program. Entry into the program is on a first come-first serve sign up that will begin on Jan. 20th. This website has the application button that you will use on that date to apply. If we have enough interest, we will open up two classes for this program.
New Emergency-Closure Guidelines
In line with efforts this year to keep students safe and learning, the Canyons Board of Education has chosen to take advantage of an option allowed by the Utah State Board of Education to treat “snow days” as remote-learning days. The new guidelines are in effect for the 2020-2021school year to be reviewed by the Board and Administration for possible continued adoption.
“This won’t change how we gauge the severity of weather and road conditions,” says Canyons School Performance Director Alice Peck. “It just means that if conditions warrant closing schools, we’ll be able to preserve the day of instruction by pivoting to remote learning. Teachers will be working from home and students will be engaged in independent or online learning.”
On remote-learning days, elementary students will work independently with a parent or guardian to complete the assignments and learning expectations communicated each week by their teacher using instructional packets or by logging in to CSD’s Canvas learning portal.
Poor Air Quality
With inversions here in the valley, we will sometimes have very poor air quality in the winter months. We keep students with asthma inside on those days. If we have a health plan for your student, we are aware they will need extra vigilance. If there isn’t a health plan in place, please let your child’s teacher know of any health concerns you have for your child so we can take action.
Internet Access
Our district has made it possible for students to access the district websites from our parking lots. If your internet goes down when school is not in session and your student needs access, you are welcome to access it from our front parking lot from your vehicles.
At Home Learning
Please feel free to send me any examples of kindness from our students learning at home. I’ll post it here and share those acts of kindness with our community!
Kindness Is Cool
Here are some more examples of kindness happening at our school these past couple of weeks. We have the best students!
Thomas McCoy (2nd grade)—offering to help a new student know how to use the hall pass badge to get into the school.
Ariel Morrison (4th grade)—giving up her swing to a friend
Crosby Huntington (5th grade)—helping a student put up a chair
Annie Maxwell (1st grade) – Helping others to understand math content in Spanish
At Home Learning Tech Support
https://www.canyonsdistrict.org/parent-connections-tech-support/
Or call: (801) 826-5200
PTA News
Happy Holidays from Silver Mesa PTA!
A couple of reminders:
Masterpiece Art & Music will resume in January, starting with the art lesson that was scheduled for December. Music will be in February.
Science Fair
If you have signed up to be a part of the Science Fair (due January 11th), please make sure you have your student’s teacher sign this form before the end of the week to give you clearance to do your project.
Next PTA Meeting
We apologize for the end of our zoomed PTA meeting last week. We got “zoom bombed” at the end of our call and had to abruptly cut it off. Our next PTA meeting is our first day back at school in January! January 4th, 12:30pm. A new zoom link will be posted on our website before the meeting. A couple of things on the agenda will be STEAM/Literacy activities redesigned for COVID.
Upcoming Dates
Thursday, Dec. 17th—Spirit Day: Pajama Day
Dec. 21st-Jan. 1st—Winter Recess
Jan. 4th—first day back in school
Jan. 4th—PTA meeting; Virtual Zoom meeting; 12:30 pm
Jan. 6th—School Community Council Meeting; 7:15 am; Virtual Zoom Meeting
Jan. 11th—Science Fair
Jan. 18th—Martin Luther King Day; no school
Jan. 20th—Date opens to apply for kindergarten supplemental hours of instruction for school year 2021-22; Apply at this link: https://ksih.canyonsdistrict.org/ksih/#/start
Jan. 28th—Spirit Day: Crazy, Wacky, Silly Hair Day!
Here’s to another GREAT week!
Julie Fielding, Principal
Silver Mesa Elementary
