August 31, 2020
Dear NSS Families,
Welcome to the 2020-21 school year, a year that is sure to be like no other! We have been working diligently to get prepared to welcome teachers and students back to our building. I’m sorry it took so long to get communications out to parents, however, I wanted to make sure it was accurate and clear to avoid any confusion. Staffing changes were made throughout the district last week and I am pleased to share the following changes with you at this time. Classroom teachers remained the same in grade level classrooms except for the following:
Grade 1: Grade 3:
Ms. Emily Spoto Ms. Christine Gussen
Mrs. Caitlin Sierra Ms. Faith Aronson
Mrs. Kayla Onderko Mr. Harry Bartlett
Physical Education: Mr. Marc Hilinski
Adaptive P.E.: Mr. Chris Lovelett
Special Education: Spanish:
Mrs. Elizabeth Scheller Mrs. Sue Welch
Ms. Lauren Dimeglio
Ms. J.D. Phillips will be Mr. Gillen’s student teacher in grade 5.
Mrs. Kelly Montague is our new Intern
Ms. Spoto was our intern and building substitute for the past two years. Mrs. Sierra was our building substitute last year as well. Ms. Gussen is moving from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Ms. Aronson is joining Grade 3. She taught at Jennings School previously when I was the principal there. Both Mrs. Banner and Mrs. Dushok have joined the FPS Remote Academy. Mr. Hilinski has been a P.E. teacher in FPS for many years and he is replacing Ms. Rasmussen as she has transferred to the High School. Mr. Lovelett has provided APE for several years at FPS. Mrs. Scheller is an experienced special education teacher and she is replacing Mrs. Tracie Alley who transferred to the High School. Ms. Dimeglio is working half time at NSS and we share her with Jennings School where she was working last year. Mrs. Welch is returning to NSS as our Spanish Teacher.
In the FPS hybrid model – reading, writing, and math direct instruction will occur in your child’s cohort (AM or PM). Students will participate in “specials” in the other portion of their day following the A-F schedule. In other words, if your child comes to the building in the mornings – he or she will participate in reading, writing, math in the morning and join google classroom at home in the afternoon for either art, music, pe, library media, or Spanish (grade 3-5). In addition, lessons/activities will be posted on google classroom in the areas of Social Studies, Science, and independent reinforcement. These will be balanced throughout the A-F schedule. A more specific schedule will be provided to you by your child’s teacher starting September 7th. Art supplies will be sent home with your child for completion of art activities. STEAM activities will not occur at this time in the hybrid model.
If you have selected your child to be in full-time remote learning, you will be receiving communication from the principal and staff of the new “Remote Academy” shortly!
.
Upcoming Events
|
Wednesday, September 2nd |
Trial Run Visit to NSS Cohort A |
12:45-1:45
|
|
Thursday, September 3rd |
Trial Run Visit to NSS Cohort B |
12:45-1:45
|
|
Tuesday, September 8th |
First Day of School! |
|
|
Wednesday, September 16th |
NSS Virtual Open House |
September 16th - 6pm to 8pm Specific Schedule to follow |
|
Monday, September 28th |
Yom Kippur |
No School |
Overall Hybrid Schedule at NSS
|
Day/ Cohort |
Monday - Friday All hybrid students attend every day. |
|
|
AM Cohort |
In-Person Learning 9:00 -11:30 |
Remote Learning “Specials” 1:00 - 3:30 |
|
PM Cohort |
Remote Learning (“Specials) 9:00 -11:30 |
In-Person Learning 1:00 - 3:30 |
**Arrival begins in the AM at 8:45 and 12:45 in PM (students are not marked tardy until 9:10 or 1:10 to account for a longer process of getting kids to their classrooms (i.e. hand sanitizer and mask check)**
Sample Schedule of a Student’s Entire Day
AM COHORT DAILY SCHEDULE SAMPLE **individual student’ schedules may vary
|
Time |
Activity |
|
8:45-9:00 |
Arrival |
|
9:00-9:20 |
Morning Meeting/Social Emotional Learning Activities |
|
9:20-10:20 |
Language Arts **Should encompass Writing and Reading or Mathematics |
|
10:20-10:30 |
Mask Break and Snack |
|
10:30-11:15 |
Language Arts **Should encompass Writing and Reading or Mathematics |
|
11:15-12:30 |
Transportation/Lunch and Recess (at home!) Teacher Preparation, Lunch, and Cleaning Protocols |
|
12:30-1:00 |
Independently assigned work or Synchronous work with Support Staff (Special Education, Language Arts Support, Math Support, other… |
|
1:00-3:30 |
Assigned Special (P.E., Art, Music, Library Learning Center) - Synchronous Instruction - Live schedule instruction in Google meet Assigned work in one area for Science, Social Studies, Health, Word Work, Number Corner (This work could be assigned in a student's Google Classroom or handed out at school. Teachers will be providing feedback on the asynchronous assigned work in the Google Classroom or in-person the next day at “live” school) |
PM COHORT DAILY SCHEDULE SAMPLE**individual student schedules may vary
|
Time |
Activity |
|
9:00-9:30 |
Independently assigned work or Synchronous work with Support Staff (Special Education, Language Arts Support, Math Support, other… |
|
9:30-11:15 |
Assigned Special (P.E., Art, Music, Library Learning Center) - Synchronous Instruction - Live schedule instruction in Google meet Assigned work in one area for Science, Social Studies, Health, Word Work, Number Corner (This work could be assigned in a student's Google Classroom or distributed at school. Teachers will be providing feedback on the asynchronous assigned work in the Google Classroom or in-person the next day at “live” school) |
|
11:15-12:00 |
Lunch and Recess (at home!)/Transportation |
|
12:45 |
Arrival |
|
1:00-1:20 |
Afternoon Meeting/Social Emotional Learning Activities/Review yesterday’s asynchronous work |
|
1:20-2:20 |
Language Arts **Should encompass Writing and Reading or Mathematics |
|
2:20-2:30 |
Mask Break and Snack |
|
2:30-3:15 |
Language Arts **Should encompass Writing and Reading or Mathematics |
|
3:15-3:30 |
Transportation home. Teacher Preparation and Cleaning Protocols |
Lunch/Snack
- There is no formal lunch service in the cafeteria. Students who purchase lunch will have their lunch delivered to their classroom in pre-packaged in To-Go bags.
- AM cohort kids will take a bagged lunch home with them. PM cohorts will eat lunch upon arrival in the cafeteria. Classroom teachers will communicate a system for students in cohort B for ordering a PM lunch.
- Students will have a mask and a quick peanut-free snack break in their classrooms or outside if weather permits.
Arrival - by Grade Level
Bus Students K-5 enter through the APR door.
Drop off students from cars:
Kindergarten – enter blacktop side door
Grade 1 & 2 – enter through the main office front doors
Grades 3 – Mr. Bartlett’s Class – enter through the blacktop side doors
Grades 3 – Ms. Aronson & Ms. Gussen – enter through their own
outside classroom doors (blacktop)
Grades 4 & 5 – enter through their own teacher’s classroom doors on the blacktop
- Parents remain in cars – staff will supervise drop off areas and guide students to the appropriate entry.
- Students can only enter the building through their assigned doors. Teachers will greet students with hand sanitizer at the door and check that each child is wearing a mask.
- Please make sure your child can quickly exit the car on the passenger side with mask on.
Dismissal - by Grade Level
Bus Dismissal – students will board busses
Car Pick Up:
Pick up will be in the car loop area. We are currently in the process of identifying the best procedure to dismiss all the students going to cars in a timely fashion. More to follow shortly.
Bus Riding Procedures
- Siblings sit together
- Students are loaded on busses from rear to front and disembark from back to front.
- FPS is hiring bus monitors to support social distancing and mask-wearing on the bus.
- Students riding the bus will be seated according to their bus stop and will get back on the bus in this order every afternoon.
Visitors to the Building
- We will not be able to accept visitors inside the building for any reason at this time - volunteering, mystery reader, etc. Students will be brought to the door if a parent requires an earlier than dismissal pick up.
OOPS CART
- Please do your best to send your child to school on time and with their materials. If you need to drop off an item to the “oops” cart – please have the item or items in a ziplock bag marked with your child’s name. Alert the office per the doorbell and we will have your child escorted to the cart to pick items up.
PPT/504/TEAM MEETINGS
- PPT’s and 504 meetings will be virtual and you will receive invitations reflecting how to join virtually when they are scheduled. PLEASE be patient as we have a large number of meetings to make up from the spring closing.
Supply Lists
- The student supply lists can be found on the NSS website under
https://ns.fairfieldschools.org/
Please know that we are looking forward to seeing our children in school. We are currently working on some video communication to give parents an opportunity to see us since our typical welcome back tea and other events cannot take place.
We will share more information as it becomes available to us. Please enjoy the next few days knowing that our staff will be prepared to keep your children happy, safe, and engaged in learning and growing together. We thank you for being our partners in this ever challenging journey.
Sincerely,
Debbie Jackson
Principal