Exciting News to share with each of you!!!!! This past week each of the schools at Voyager Academy nominated teachers for the Outstanding Young Educator of the Year Award and nominated teachers for the Teacher of the Year Award. Once nominations were completed, the middle school staff voted with the end result of one teacher being selected MS Outstanding Young Educator and one teacher being selected as the MS Teacher of the Year.
I am excited to share that Mr. Cole Blackston has been selected as the MS Outstanding Young Educator. We are proud to have Mr. Blackston representing the middle school. Mr. Blackston is extremely kind and caring. He works extremely hard to share with students the importance of exercise, good sportsmanship, team play and cooperation. He also coached our Cross Country Team this year supporting and helping our runners. Congratulations, Mr. Blackston, we are proud of you!
I am also excited to share that Mrs. Susan Easterly has been selected as the MS Teacher of the Year. We are so proud to have Mrs. Easterly representing the middle school. Mrs. Easterly has a passion for teaching and particularly for teaching Social Studies. She brings history to life by having guests, reading stories to the students, showing maps and videos, and having the students create outstanding projects. If you ever have a chance to listen to Mrs. Easterly share a story time, you need to stop what you are doing and listen. Mrs. Easterly quickly grabs your attention with her stories and readings and has you wanting to hear more. Congratulations, Mrs. Easterly, we are proud of you!
What a busy week this has been and if not for all of you we would not have been successful! We began our week with our final preparations for our End of Grade testing. We spent our year, even though it was challenging, learning all the skills and standards needed for each grade level and learned skills and standards to show what we have learned by doing our best on those “wonderful” EOG tests. We talk very little about EOGs during the school year as we have so much to learn that we don’t have time for EOG talk. I know our students are prepared, I just hope our students believe they are prepared.
Our 4th and 6th graders completed their EOG tests on Wednesday (Language Arts) and Thursday (math). Our 5th and 7th graders began their EOG testing today, Friday with Language Arts as their first test. On Monday, May 17, our 5th and 7th graders will complete their EOGs with math, well except for our 5th grade science EOG which is Thursday, May 20.
Our 8th graders will have their Language Arts EOG on Tuesday, May 18. They will have their Math EOG on Wednesday, May 19 and their 8th grade Science EOG on Thursday, May 20.
I am so proud of our students whether in person or remote and the effort they have given during testing. Our students have been extremely focused and ready to work each day. Our Vikings continue to work hard as we all want to FINISH STRONG!
We will collect loaners computers on Wednesday, May 26 and Thursday, May 27. You may drop off the loaner during the school day. Make sure you also bring the charger!
21-22 Calendar
As we prepare to close out the 2020 – 2021 school year we are already actively planning ahead for the start of the 2021 – 2022 school year. The calendar committee met to review the previously approved calendar to identify if any changes were recommended. At this time, we are planning to move forward with our current 2021-2022 calendar which is posted on our website. We are planning for in person instruction for all students Monday through Friday and are not planning to offer a remote option. Please remember that the Voyager calendar has a built in early release day each Monday to allow for staff professional development and collaborative team planning in the afternoon. After school care will be available on the Monday early release days for students who register.
The middle school hours on Mondays are 8:15 - 1:15. The tardy bell rings at 8:15 and dismissal begins at 1:15.
Last Day of School
Can you believe we are talking about the last day of school? It is getting closer. May 26 is the last day and it is a Wednesday. Because it’s a Wednesday, students will not be in the building BUT our teachers will have some time scheduled with our students on the last day. Whatever they plan, it will be virtual SO be on the lookout, you wouldn’t want to miss what the teachers do on the last day. Students will have an asynchronous learning day and will be expected to log in to their class or classes. Attendance has to be reported even on the last day of school!
Several of you have asked about report cards and how your child will receive their report card. We will send your child’s report card to you via email. Report cards will be mailed to you on May 26 or on May 27.
We will have make up EOGs for those students who were not at school on their designated EOG testing day. Make up dates are Tuesday, May 18 and Wednesday, May 19 for students in grades 4-7. Make up days for 8th graders are May 21 and May 24.
Summer Programs
Find engaging summer opportunities for children of all ages and interests to include academic, recreation, art, STEM, and much more. See the compiled list for all summer opportunities (Summer Programs).
SCHOOL NURSE: Voyager now has a school nurse. Nurse Jill is on our campus Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, from 9:00 until 2:00. Please join me in welcoming her to our team.
Carline - Thanks so much for having your Blue Carline Card on your dashboard in the afternoons. It helps key in numbers quickly. If you have not received a Blue Card, we have plenty so just let me know during morning or afternoon carline. If you need your child/children’s carline number, please email gjohnson@voyageracademy.net.
TRASH REDUCERS
What do you know about Trash Reducers? Probably not much! We have a team of 4th graders who want to clean up our school grounds. They are extremely disappointed that trash is on our school grounds and no one picks it up to put in the trash can. Be on the lookout next week as you will learn more about the Trash Reducers and what they plan to do! Thanks to Max and Harrison our school grounds are going to be trash free or that is their goal!
Greenlight - Health Screenings - Speed up Carline
My child has been Remote this year so I do not have Greenlight on my phone and I tried to add it this week but couldn’t get Greenlight to work.
If my child is Remote, is it a requirement to have Greenlight to come to school for EOG testing? Answer: Having Greenlight helps carline move smoothly and quickly BUT if you cannot get Greenlight on your phone, we will ask you the Greenlight questions during carline and we will check your child’s temperature.
What Do I Do If My Student Has Been Exposed To Someone with Covid: If a 4-8 grade student has been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID, please call the school or email Mrs. Johnson and we will talk you through the details of how long you may need to quarantine. Please complete the Greenlight App, because it will automatically give you a date where you will be allowed to return to school.
Before and After School Care:
Voyager Academy BASC knows what it takes to keep children safe, so you can feel sound in registering your child. We pay attention to every detail both big and small in training staff for COVID-19 restrictions and protocols. All students must be pre-registered in order to attend The BASC program. Parents use the Charter Pay online billing system for program registration. If you need help with your username or password, please visit https://charterpay.org/login/recovery. Once you register for the program you will receive our complete Parent Handbook. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me directly at pjohnson@voyageracademy.net.
Lunch Information:
Parents, you can order your child's lunch, pay at the time of order, and we will deliver your students lunch to their classroom. Lunch orders must be placed at least one week in advance. For instance, March 1st lunch order should be placed before February 22nd. You also have the option to purchase lunch for the entire month. Payment options are by debit/credit card or ACH bank draft. Order Lunch online at CharterPay.org.
K & W Cafeteria will provide lunch on Monday & Thursday
Chick-Fil-A will provide lunch onTuesday & Friday.
All meals will be delivered in hot and cold containers to maintain food safety guidelines.
Drinks are not provided with lunch.
Middle school students will eat outside if weather is appropriate and in their classrooms if weather does not permit to go outside.
Students also have the option to bring their own lunch to school. Students that pack their own lunch will not have access to microwaves.
If you have any questions about before and after school registration or lunch ordering please feel free to reach out to Patrice Johnson, Operations Manager at pjohnson@voyageracademy.net. Technical and account issues should be directed to support@charterpay.org.
Summer Camp Opportunities
Voyager will be offering multiple opportunities this summer for enrichment, remediation, and camp experiences on campus. Identified third graders that have not met the Read to Achieve requirements will have the opportunity for Summer Reading Camp to focus on literacy skills. Students in K-8 that are not at grade level in math and literacy will have the opportunity to participate in the Summer Jumpstart program. Additionally, Voyager will be offering a traditional summer camp with exciting programs and enrichment opportunities to keep your children engaged and learning during summer break. Program details will be sent out after spring break.
PLEASE SET UP YOUR GREENLIGHT ACCOUNT!
Greenlight is NOT an APP
Greenlight - Health Screenings - Speed up Carline
. Please set up your Greenlight account today and complete the survey daily for each child even while your children are learning remotely. We will use this data and input to ensure we are ready for reopening safely. The links to set up your account are below.
ACTION NEEDED: Directions/links to set up your Greenlight Account
Setting up your account is simple. Select the link below and enter the email address you use to receive Voyager newsletters.
Middle School- activate account here: https://glit.me/go/voyager-middle
Account set up questions should be directed to help@greenlightready.com
Once you set up your account you can send the link https://app.greenlightready.com/ to your phone. Additional resources are below to assist with setting up your phones for easy access to our Greenlight health screening.
Middle School- activate account here: https://glit.me/go/voyager-middle
Here is a link to a video that walks through registering for Greenlight:
Questions regarding setting up your account should be directed to help@greenlightready.com. Once your account is set up you can also use their chat feature.
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
EOG Schedule - Spring 2021
On EOG days...MS students may be picked up at 1:00pm
Important!!! EOG Information for MS Parents sent on 4/19
Please read closely.
The EOG dates have been emailed to parents so I am sure they are already on your calendars but you might not have all the information regarding testing dates. Because EOG testing must be completed in person, we will have our In-Person students testing and we are also asking that our remote students plan to be on campus on the scheduled dates of their grade level testing. Testing will begin each day at 8:30am and will end at 12:30pm. Remote students should be picked you at 1:00 and do so by going to the back of the school for carline. If you need your child’s carline number, please email me at gjohnson@voyageracademy.net and I will email you the carline number. Our In-Person students may be picked up at 1:00 pm on the day of their designated testing dates. Again, we will follow our usual carline procedure. If your In Person student remains at school please send lunch for your child/children or order lunch through CharterPay.
Below is a schedule showing which day each grade level will be testing and what grade levels need to be on campus. Having only 2 grade levels on campus each day provides space for us to spread out and allows us to follow social distancing during testing. Only Students who are testing will be on campus each day. If it is not your child’s testing date, your student will be at home and will have an asynchronous learning day AT HOME.
Below you will see the testing dates, who will be tested on each day, who will be home with asynchronous learning, and the time of pick up after testing.
May 10 and May 11- Third Graders will be tested. Students in grades 4 - 8 will come to school if your child is In-Person or continue to be Remote if that is their regular schedule. This will be a regular day for all middle school students.
May 12- All Fourth Graders and all Sixth Graders will be administered their Language Arts EOG. Testing begins at 8:30 am. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Students may be picked up at 1:00pm. We will follow our usual carline procedure.
May 13 - All Fourth Graders and all Sixth Graders will be administered their Math EOG. Testing begins at 8:30am. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Students may be picked up at 1:00pm. We will follow our usual carline procedure.
What about 5th, 7th, and 8th Graders on May 12 and 13th?. They will all (In-Person and Remote) have an asynchronous learning day at home!
May 14 - All Fifth Graders and all Seventh Graders will be administered their Language Arts EOG. Testing begins at 8:30am. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Students may be picked up at 1:00pm. We will follow our usual carline procedure.
May 17 - All Fifth and all Seventh Graders will be administered their Math EOG. Testing begins at 8:30am. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Students may be picked up at 1:00pm. We will follow our usual carline procedure. What about 4th, 6th, and 8th graders on May 14 and May 17? They will all (In-Person and Remote) have an asynchronous learning day at home!
May 18 - All Eighth Graders will be administered Language Arts and any students who need to complete make-up EOGs due to being absent on their scheduled testing day will be administered their missed test. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Testing begins at 8:30am. Students may be picked up at 1:00. We will follow our usual carline procedure.
May 19 - All Eighth Graders will be administered Math and any students who need to complete make-up EOGs due to being absent on their scheduled testing day will be administered their missed test. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Testing begins at 8:30am. Students may be picked up at 1:00pm. We will follow our usual carline procedure.
What about 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Graders on May 18 and May 19? They will all (In-Person and Remote) have an asynchronous day learning at home!
May 20- All Fifth and Eighth Graders will be administered their Science EOG. Testing begins at 8:30am. Our In-Person students and our Remote students will come to school and we will follow social distancing. Students may be picked up at 1:00pm. We will follow our usual carline procedure.
What about 4th, 6th, and 7th Graders on May 20th? They will all (In Person and Remote) have an asynchronous learning day at home!
May 21, May 24 and May 25- 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who are In-Person students will return to school and all Remote students will remain at home. Teaching will continue.
May 26- 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students will have an asynchronous learning day. Each grade level will have a task for our students and will have them zoom in so they may have “have a great summer” wished for each student. This is the last day of school and 11:45 be the end of the school year.
I recognize this schedule is very different from previous years but in order to follow the NCDPI testing guidelines, complete all of our required EOGs, and have our In-Person and Remote students on campus and provide social distancing, we needed to create a different kind of schedule. By having only 2 grade levels on campus each day, we will have enough space for social distancing which also means we will need all of our middle school staff to administer EOGs each day.
Please let me know if you have questions! We want all students to complete their EOGs so we can review the data to see where we are academically at the end of this school year.
Gwen
Thanks for all the support you have provided the Middle School. We are
thankful to have you on this most unusual journey that we are on!
If you need anything, please email or call !
Just remember ---YOU are “simply the BEST!”
Gwen Johnson
gjohnson@voyageracademy.net
Principal, Voyager Middle School
919-433-3301 ext. 101