Hello Middle School Parents,
Oh my how time flies! It’s almost Thanksgiving! If you and your family travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, please be careful during your travels as well as during the time you might be with others. Stay safe, keep your distance, and wear your mask to protect you and your family.
Sanitizer: When we return in January, we will need lots of sanitizer throughout the day. A huge thank you to Mrs. Suzanne Daly as she is helping us with increasing our amount of sanitizer. I am sure she would welcome some help. Mrs. Daly located a distillery that has sanitizer to sell at a bulk rate. We certainly appreciate all that Suzanne is doing to help keep our students safe and germ free. For those of you who are willing to support the school and Suzanne’s efforts, please contact Suzanne at joeandsuz105@gmail.com.
Toy Drive: On a different note, I am so proud of our National Junior Honor Society team members. Their first service project is to collect toys that will be donated to the Durham Rescue Mission. They are in need of 15,000 toys. We might not be able to provide 15,000 toys but I know Voyager will provide lots to support children. Our NJHS members will create fliers and will also share their service project with the elementary school and high school. Toys may be placed in the plastic tubs at the FRONT OFFICE not at the back!!!!!! Be on the lookout for more info from our National Junior Honor Society members!
Gift Cards: Several of you have asked about The Giving Tree that the middle school usually has to support Voyager families. This year is quite different for all of us so rather than have tags on our Giving Tree for students to pick a tag to help others, we have decided that we will collect gift cards. No amount is too small. We are thinking that WalMart, grocery stores, and gas stations would be extremely helpful gift cards to share with families in need. Other gift cards are also welcomed! If you would like to participate in our Gift Card Drive, please drop them off at the front office. I am at school Monday - Friday from 8:00 - 4:00.
Return to School: As we prepare for the students who will “come to school” we also continue to prepare for our students who will continue the process of remote learning. We have been working on cohort assignments, schedules and operational plans for our January return. Our students who are in-person and our students who will continue remote learning the remainder of the year will receive a copy of their schedule and information will be shared regarding class links so they can log into class. Our teachers, Mr. Mitchell, and I are arranging classrooms so each class will have 10-13 students. Students will be 6ft. from each other. You should have received Cohort information. Your child is either Cohort A (Monday, Tuesday), Cohort B (Thursday, Friday) or Remote Learning Cohort (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday). Wednesdays stay as they are now. If you did not receive Cohort information, please email me at gjohnson@voyageracademy.net .
Check Ins:I am sure you have heard from your child’s teacher regarding the first round of Check -Ins in grades 5-8. The student check ins will be administered through our SchoolNet system. I know it is very tempting to help our students when they are taking an assessment or tests but it really doesn’t help the child or the teacher. The check ins are not used as part of a student’s grade but they are used to help the student and the teacher know where the strengths and areas of need are. PLEASE DO NOT help your child during our Check Ins Assessments.
Stay healthy and safe – Practice the 3 W’s: As we work together to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, please remind your children about the importance of the 3 W’s (Wear, Wait, & Wash). Wear a mask, practice social distancing by waiting and maintaining a 6-foot space between others, and wash hands frequently to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Stay Up-to-the-Minute on Your Child’s Progress: Become a “Parent Observer” on His/Her PowerSchool Account
It’s very important for you as parents to know what is going on regarding their child’s grades and class assignments. An easy way to check both grades and completion of assignments is to check your child’s PowerSchool account. If it were me, I would check PowerSchool to see if assignments are being turned in and to see student grades. Some of our students are submitting work but there is no work, just a submission. Some of our students are deciding to do limited work because grades don’t count. They are wrong as grades ARE being counted.
Masks, Masks, Masks - oh, no, more mask info!!!!!!
If your children are coming to school and will be in the building, it is a requirement that your children, our students, wear a mask during the day. I know you are thinking - what about lunch? Well, during lunch students will be able to take off their mask when they are eating their lunch. Lunch will be a little different this year as all three campuses will have silent lunch for the first 10-14 minutes of their lunch period. Yes, that means eating and not talking. This should help eliminate germs being spread throughout lunch. Once they have finished eating their lunch, they put their mask back on and enjoy conversation with their friends for the remainder of their lunch period. We know this is a change but it is one way to support the safety of our students and staff. It will not be okay for students to decide they do not want to wear their masks.
REMIND Text: Thanks to those of you who signed up!
4th Grade-In the“To” section of the text type 81010 and in the message type @6agbha.
5th Grade-In the“To” section of the text type 81010 and in the message type @eh9f6kb.
6th Grade -In the“To” section of the text type 81010 and in the message type @beeh8h.
7th Grade - In the“To” section of the text type 81010 and in the message type @cak43k.
8th Grade -In the”To” section of the text type 81010 and in the message type @8cg9ch
DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR:
As always, please email me at gjohnson@voyageracademy.net or call if you have questions, comments or concerns about anything.
Thanks,
Gwen
Gwen Johnson, MS Principal