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Important Dates
at a Glance
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9/18 First Pick Up Friday
8am-3pm
Details to follow from your child's classroom teachers.
9/24 Virtual Open House
6:30-7:pm
Zoom Links to Follow
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CORPORATE SPONSORS
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We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing contributions from the following corporate partners:
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Welcome Back!
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 Week 1 of the new school year is in the books, and we can't thank everyone enough for your support, tenacity, humor and love as we welcomed back our staff and students! Teaching & Learning in the Age of COVID is complex, surprising, rewarding... and hard. It challenges each of us - student, teacher, parent/guardian - to consistently problem solve, often using new tools in new ways. It demands that we keep patience and perseverance at the fore. And most of all, it requires near-endless supplies of empathy and lightness as we support one another, and ourselves, as we move together through this phase of our journey. Joy, feeling one's own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul. ~ Dr. Maria Montessori Our Staff Opening Days were especially full this year. Our goal was to create time and space for professional learning, preparation, planning in academics as well as social/emotional and physical health. We hosted a 3-hour training about the trauma for children and adults related to the current pandemic led by Ashleigh Mondoux of Counseling Services of Keene; a 1-hour session with Dr. Laura Chan, a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and Acupuncturist about the Immune System Foundations; a 3-hour Professional Development session with our Montessori Coach, Elizabeth Slade of Public Montessori in Action, about instruction in our Hybrid & Remote Models; our Annual CPR/First Aid Training led by Len Angelli, and on our final day, Yoga Instructor & Owner of White Swan, Rosy Latona, led a 1-hour class for staff. All of this was designed to prepare our staff for the start of this unusual year.  We have sought to make this year more manageable for families in a number of ways, including a robust technology support system. This includes the loan of school-owned Chromebooks as well as the Google and See Saw set up for our students so that the online experience will be light on frustration, and "heavy" on helping the children work as independently as possible while learning outside of the classroom. A huge thank you goes out to Jen Zedler, our IT Consultant, who has come up with scores of short cuts and fixes to help smooth out the online experience for all of us. New to the tech team is Jody Wilhelm (usually our Librarian) who will now serve as our Family Tech Support person. Together they have moved mountains and we hope that you are feeling more at ease knowing they have your back! Please see contact details in below.  There have been many moments large and small which have been so very full of kindness and grace since we re-opened. We have experienced your support and love by way of encouraging emails and phone calls, deliveries of flowers and even farm fresh eggs to teachers! The whole staff enjoyed some delicious food for the soul in the form of a catered lunch from MFCS Board Secretary Donna Talbot and her husband Gil, as well as a feast of a breakfast delivered by MFCS mom, Kim Spencer. And today, MFCS mom, Rachel Marziano surprised us with two small, ADORABLE, child-sized couches. Thank you!We know that this year will be hard, and it will have unexpected speed bumps and worries, but we also know it will be full of smiles and learning and we look forward to leaning in to all of that together as a community.
Here's to the new year...Cheers!
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Attendance is the Bedrock of Learning
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 Regular and consistent attendance is the bedrock of solid learning. Therefore, no matter the learning model, it will be expected that all students will be present and ready for learning each school day, just as in pre-COVID times. If your child is going to be absent or tardy or must end the day early, parents/guardians are required to alert the front office by phone or email.
With our first week now under our belt, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the attendance expectations on days when students are learning from home (Remote Learning). Each day, our Remote Learners are expected to attend: 1. 8:45am Morning Meeting followed by their Planning Session 2: All Scheduled Live Lessons (specific schedule shared by teachers) 3: At least ONE Daily Check in (specific schedule shared by teachers Additionally, ALL work must be turned in by 3:15pm To be marked PRESENT for the day: a Remote Student must attend items 1-3 above and turn in all work by 3:15pm. A student will be marked unexcused TARDY for the day, if he/she misses 1 of the items above, and still turns in all work by 3:15pm. A student will be marked unexcused ABSENT if he/she misses 2 or more of the items in the list above, even if they turn in work by 3:15pm. Please note, repeated unexcused absences and tardies will trigger our Attendance Protocol as noted in our Family Handbook.
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Home Assessment Agreement Form
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All Mill Falls Families are asked to complete the
Home Assessment Agreement Form.
This form has been shared as an assignment in both Google Classroom and See Saw. You can also access it via the link below.
Please note that Parents and students need to fill out together.
The completed form is due back to us by Monday by 3pm.
Thank you!
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Friday Pickup Day Begins 9/18
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 Friday Pickup Days
for Remote Learning
Beginning NEXT Friday, September 18th, we will kick off our Friday Pickup Program. Each Friday, we will set out materials, organized by classroom and individual student, for families to retrieve here at school.
We will begin by having materials available for pickup outside our exterior door from 8am-3pm. Please note, not every class will have materials to pick up each Friday; Teachers will be in touch with their classroom families so you should know by Wednesday afternoon whether you will need to come in to pick up materials on that Friday.
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COVID Flow Chart
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This first week we had NO ONE come to school with new symptoms or feeling unwell. That is great news! To assist in everyone's understanding of the protocol we've designed, we ask that you review the COVID Handbook Insert (esp. pages 6-8) as well as the chart below. Thank you so very much for your ongoing partnership in keeping our school community well!
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Hybrid Student Morning Arrival & Wellness Check Updates
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 NEW CAR TAGS for Hybrid Students: We have created new car tags which are being sent home today and Monday. They have the students' first AND last names to help us with our arrival and departure process.
MORNING WELLNESS CHECK: After a few days of school, we will be making a small change to our Morning Wellness check process. Please review the steps below: - Today and Monday, families will be given our Wellness Forms.
- Families are ONLY asked to complete the QUESTIONS on the form each morning BEFORE arriving at school about travel, new symptoms, contact with confirmed or suspected case of COVID.
- Mill Falls Staff will greet each car, review the form and take each student's temperature before the student exits the vehicle.
This should help speed up the arrival process.
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Save the Date! Virtual Open House, 9/24, 6:30-7:30pm
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 Virtual Open House Thursday, Sept 24th 6:30-7:30
Please plan to join us for an important VIRTUAL evening gathering to meet your child's teachers and learn about classroom structure in our public Montessori setting, including basic curriculum, work flow, snack guidelines, and how we build community at our school. Even if you've attended this event in the past, please make time to join us. Zoom details for this virtual event to follow. Thank you!
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Family Tech Support
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As noted in earlier communication, Ms. Jody is serving as our Family Tech Support person this year.
She is available by email and Zoom on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (note, she is not available on Wednesdays).
She can be reached on Zoom (for live chats via the waiting room one at a time) from:
10am-12pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Meeting ID: 797 9462 3236 PW: 6nEvDQ
If Jody cannot answer your question, she will reach out to our team to get an answer for you.
Any academic questions should be sent to your child's classroom teacher(s).
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Laura's Corner
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Today we share some past information shared last spring by Ms. Laura W. about supporting students who are learning from home.
The Importance of the Prepared Environment:
Fostering Student Independence During Remote Learning
A Deeper Dive into the Importance of Independence
The Power of Accomplishment
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Montessori Moments From Near and Far...
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 We would once again like to ask our Mill Falls Families to share images and stories from their Remote Learning experience - daily work as well as Big Work Wednesday Projects, which we can share in our newsletter.
Please send your photographs, brief stories (remember sharing humorous moments will help keep us all healthy!), and quotes to Ms. Meryl at: stories.pictures@millfalls.org.
Please be sure to send the photos at small to medium resolution, and send along a description / story about what is going on in the photos. Thank you!
Below are a few photographs from this week here at school:
Below, morning meetings:
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Mr. Craig, our new Music Teacher & Below, Ms. Melissa on Art Friday.
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And one pic from home...
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