NEWS FROM ELEMENTARY: We hope that you and your family have had a wonderful week of learning. The following announcements will be helpful for you and your family for the week of February 28-March 4.
UPDATED MASK POLICY: Beginning Monday February 28th, students and staff will have the option of not wearing masks while outside (recess, outside lunch, waiting during car line). A more detailed explanation of the Covid changes and updates have been provided by Mrs. Schollmeyer in her weekly update.
NEW PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT: VAES is so excited to announce that our K-3 playgrounds are getting a facelift! The Voyager Foundation, along with our fall fundraising efforts, has allowed us to purchase new playground equipment for our playgrounds. The project will not be completed until May or June but new equipment has been ordered. The students are going to love it. We are also excited to announce that an outdoor awning has been ordered to cover the car line pick-up/drop off area, so students and staff no longer have to stand in the rain. Yeah!!!
FUNDRAISING MONEY: A few families have recently asked about how we spent our fall fundraising money. I am so glad you asked. Listed below are new resources we have because of your generosity:
New Electric Keyboard for our music classroom
New Positive Wall Hangings in each of the stairways
2 New Outdoor benches for the K-3 playground
2 New Outdoor picnic tables
Installation of a Sensory Walk
Creation of a Ready to Reset/Calming Room
Bringing Live Theater to our students (Atlantic Coast Theater Group is coming March 8)
New Playground Equipment to be installed May or June of 2022
MULTIPLICATION CHALLENGE: February 23, 2022 Mr. Manning and Mrs. Weiland had a MULTIPLICATION CHALLENGE with our 3rd grade students. Our administrators went head to head against the students to determine who was the KING of multiplication. Round one is complete, but round two is coming. Stay tuned for more updates. Practice Makes Perfect!
ATLANTIC COAST THEATER COMPANY: VAES is excited to announce the Atlantic Coast Theater Company will be visiting the elementary school on March 8 to perform a live play for students in grades K-3. The company will be performing The Fairy Tales of Grimm. This 50 minute play will take place in the middle school gym.
THIRD QUARTER ENDS: The third quarter grading period will end on March 11 and report cards are scheduled to go home on March 18. Teachers will be available for spring conferences on March 15.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: VAES will be hosting a Science and Engineering Extravaganza Week March 21-25. Details will be provided to each family. We hope to fill the week with fun and energizing experiments and challenges as we highlight the importance of science and engineering.
PROJECT CELEBRATIONS: Voyager is thrilled to be a PBL school and our students are diligently working on their upcoming projects. Our 2nd and 3rd grade students will be hosting their next Project Celebration on March 11th. Our 1st grade students will be sharing their knowledge during their project celebration on March 18th.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER: VAES will be hosting Teacher Workdays and Spring Conferences on March 14-15. There will be no school for students and no before or after care available on these two days.
REMOTE LEARNING DAYS: Voyager Academy will be hosting its last remote learning days of the year on March 28-29. Teachers will be sending home assignments for students to work on during these two days. In order to be counted PRESENT for each day, students will need to complete and submit or return the packet work to their teacher.
VOYAGER SPRING FLING: The fun is coming on Friday, April 22. Rain date is set for Saturday, April 23!
IT IS TIME TO ORDER YOUR YEARBOOK: Voyager Academy Elementary School is excited to announce our YEARBOOK ordering is up and ready at Strawbridge Studios! See attached flyer.
VOYAGER ACADEMY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
2021-22 YEARBOOK
$22 - UNTIL 3/04/22
$27 - FROM 3/05/22-4/29/22
FINAL DEADLINE TO ORDER IS APRIL 29, 2022
ONLINE CODE - YB110322
https://strawbridge.fotomerchanthv.com/search/YB110322
YEARBOOK COVER CONTEST: Hey there all VAES ARTISTS! We need your help in designing the cover for the 2021-22 school YEARBOOK! Any VAES STUDENT may participate. Simply create your own original color artwork that you feel reflects the Elementary school spirit and life during this year. Click on the link below for full details.
Contest Rules:
• Submissions should be completed BY ONE STUDENT ONLY on a SINGLE PLAIN WHITESHEET OF 8.5” x 11” PAPER.
• All submissions must be in color using either COLORED PENCILS OR MARKERS. Please DO NOT use crayons!
• Artwork may optionally include the school’s name and year “Voyager Academy Elementary School 2021-22”. If you do not include the school name and year, it will be added to your artwork digitally. If you do choose to include it yourself, please make sure it is neat and legible.
• Using pencil only, please print the artist name, grade and homeroom teacher on theBACK of the artwork. Ensure your artwork meets these guidelines above and then send your entry via your folderor bring to the front office to Ms. Karen between 8am-2pm no later than Monday, February 28th.
Questions? Email Karen Hofmann at khofmann@voyageracademy.net Several finalists will be selected from all entries and some will be featured inside the yearbook if not on the cover. The one OVERALL contest winner will receive a FREE YEARBOOK along with their artwork on the cover! We will do our best to return all artwork to the students, however we cannot guarantee this. Please make a copy or scan a copy for yourself before submitting.
CARLINE REMINDERS: Thank you to the parents who work so hard to help make our carline successful. Things are certainly much smoother than they were but we still have room for improvement. I wanted to encourage everyone to consider coming to school 5 minutes earlier to ensure we can begin school on time. The past week, the majority of cars have arrived at Voyager at 7:40 and then we cannot begin school until close to 8:00 because the cars back up in the line. We need to begin our day at 7:45 am. Car line begins at 7:15 and it would truly help if we could have more parents arrive on campus before 7:40. We are working to remind our students they can make a difference, and we can model that for our students with our car line procedures. Will you help us make a difference at Voyager?
A second reminder to all Voyager Families–please be kind and respectful while in the car line. Please do not cut into the line when everyone else has been waiting their turn. It is just the wrong thing to do.
SCHOOL SAFETY: Covid is in our community and we are striving to keep everyone as safe as possible. We are following all Voyager safety guidelines and are diligently striving to keep everyone learning. What can you do to help?
Please do not send your child to school if they are showing any signs of sickness.
If your child has been exposed to someone with Covid, please contact us and we will provide you with the next steps.
Send your child to school in a mask each day. It would be wonderful if they could have an extra mask in their bookbag in case their mask breaks during the day.
FIELD TRIP PAYMENTS AT VOYAGER: Field Trip Payments will now be made through the Titan Family portal at Family.Titank12.com. It is the same system we are using to deposit funds for lunch. If you have not set up an account yet, I've included the instructions (Spanish & English) to this email. I also created a short video tutorial of the process. Each family will need to set up an account in order to pay for field trip and classroom fees.
Watch the video here:
You will need to create an account on the portal first to begin making payments. Once in the Titan family dashboard
Link your student(s) to your family account. All Voyager students are in the Titan system.
Add a payment method here under profile or in your cart before checking out.
Use the menu on the left to select "Store." This is the future home of all fees payments at Voyager Academy.
Select the item you aRe purchasing (field trip, etc)
Select your student(s) name from the drop down list.
Select the plan selection.
Select your students' grade level.
Select the month of service.
Press the add to cart button.
A pop up button will appear with the option to continue shopping or view the cart. If you have a sibling to register or need an additional plan, click continue shopping. Otherwise, continue to the cart for payment.
Review your cart before completing your purchase. To delete an item. Click the 3 dots to the right of the item.
The system should email you a receipt. You can also view your transaction history from the dashboard menu under "History."
Please do not set up recurring payments within the portal for field trip fees.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS CONCERNING COVID: Voyager’s amazing school nurse has created a document for all of our families entitled FAQ Concerning Covid. We understand how challenging and stressful this situation has been and we appreciate your support and partnership. I highly encourage you to click on the link below and read the health information so you can stay informed and will better understand the guidelines Voyager is following as we seek to keep all students and staff safe.
QUARANTINE GUIDELINES: Listed below are the guidelines we have been given as they are related to quarantine:
When your children need to stay home to learn, always contact me and your child's teacher.
The teacher will provide remote assignments for your student. As long as the student is doing some work at home and you complete the attendance link provided below they will be counted present. The link to complete your child’s attendance is HERE
Because your student has been directly exposed to someone, outside of school, who has tested positive for COVID, your student needs to quarantine for 10 days. They may return to school after the 10 days of quarantine have been completed AND have no symptoms from the time of exposure.
The 10 day quarantine protocol is not school days, it also includes the weekend. For example, if your child was exposed on Aug. 9, they can return to school on Aug. 20 (10 days).
Please keep me, your child’s teacher, and our school nurse, Mrs. Skoff updated on your child’s symptoms and/or test results.
See below for details for siblings where ONE tests positive, another tests NEGATIVE. Or for students and a parent tests positive, but student tests NEGATIVE.
Your positive student will need to complete a 10 day quarantine and may return to school after those 10 days so long as they are fever free for 24 hours and their symptoms are improving. With regard to siblings - as of now, IF you are able to isolate the positive child from the family, eat in separate spaces, wear masks in the home, use separate bathrooms, etc the negative child may return at the end of the positive child’s 10 day quarantine IF you were able to ensure the above protective measures were taken in the home.
The negative child(ren) would need to have NO symptoms and obtain a COVID test NO SOONER THAN 5 days following their last exposure to the positive sibling. So, if you used Monday as Day 1, they could test after Friday. If that test is negative AND you have been able to keep the positive student isolated the entire time, then the negative siblings could go back to school after the positive child's 10 day quarantine is over. We would request that you provide us documentation of their negative PCR tests before the children return. IF any of your other children develop symptoms at any point, they should get tested. If they then test positive they would then just complete a 10-day quarantine from the onset of symptoms.
These are the recommendations that the Durham Health Department has provided us as of today. They will continue to assess and monitor the situation and may update their guidelines. We will make changes to our protocols here at Voyager if that happens.