Hi Middle School Families,
Wow, another great week we’ve had! Just a reminder that if a student must bring a phone to school the phone needs to be off and in the bookbag. We encourage phones to be left at home.
COVID UPDATE from the school nurse: Each week our school nurse will provide us with a brief Covid related update. The message for this week is listed here: Our CDC COVID-19 Community Level is: HIGH “Masks are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED indoors”, even if you are vaccinated. The health and safety of our students, teachers, staff, and volunteers are our top priorities. Voyager Academy is following the CDC COVID -19 Community Level guidance. We sincerely appreciate your consideration.
Curriculum Nights: We began Curriculum Nights on Wednesday, Aug. 17 with 7th grade going first. I must say the teachers did a great job sharing information with parents who attended. Thanks to those of you who attended!
Want to know more about your child’s classroom???? Add these dates to your calendar and plan to attend Curriculum Night—-
4th Grade Curriculum Night, Aug. 24, 6:00, Virtual, teachers will send a zoom link.
5th Grade Curriculum Night, Aug. 23, 6:15, Virtual, teachers will send a zoom link.
6th Grade Curriculum Night, Aug. 22, 5:30, Virtual, teachers will send a zoom link.
8th Grade Curriculum Night, Aug. 23, 5:30, Virtual, teachers will send a zoom link.
FALL PICTURES were taken on Wednesday and we had lots of smiles. Strawbridge does an awesome job and it was great that we had 2 photographers. We will have a make-up date for students who were not at school. Our Make Up Session is Oct. 20.
Playground Update - We are so excited that our middle school playgrounds are adding some additional pieces of equipment. We are adding 4 basketball goals with new basketballs, 8 swing seats in addition to the ones we have, 4-Square will be painted on the sidewalk and Hop-Scotch will also be added to the sidewalk. We are now waiting for mulch. Our new equipment is terrific and it is because of you and the donations you made to our Step It Up fundraiser and it’s coming back. Our Step It Up campaign for this year begins August 30 and we hope to get more equipment along with some additional technology.
Announcements from PTO
Fall Festival is Friday, Sept. 16, 5:30- 8:00 pm and the rain date is the following day, same time. A Sign Up Genius will be available soon to obtain parent volunteers. We need help to pull off this event - we had over 2,000 attendees at each festival last year.
Carline— Wow, what a great job you all are doing to ensure that the carline is safe and the process is well done and moves quickly. We do need to remember that in the morning our teachers also need to get to their parking spaces. Beginning Monday if you see a bright yellow card in the driver’s side windshield, know that it’s a middle school teacher. Please let them enter the drive so they can get to their classrooms.
Morning: Morning carline begins at 7:45 and ends at 8:15. If you are coming earlier than 7:45 a bottle neck often happens and we can’t move .
Your child/student needs to be in the class by 8:15. If not, the student will be marked tardy. At 8:15 your student/child will need to enter through the front door and will need to get a tardy pass to take to the homeroom teacher. Please note that classroom instruction begins at 8:15 which means entering the classroom late disrupts the class and the teacher.
Afternoon: Make sure your BLUE CARD is on the driver’s side windshield every afternoon and that your number is on the card. . When we have to look up numbers, it slows down the process. Please make sure your numbers on the blue card are large and written with a marker so they can be read from a distance. It is extremely helpful if you wait until 3:10 to come onto campus. We do not dismiss students until 3:10.
Bring Your Own Device: For the 2022-2023 school year we asked that 6th, 7th, and 8th graders Bring Their Own Device to School.
BYOD stands for “Bring Your Own Device”. It is a strategy for providing personal computing in business and education where the end user (employee, student), as opposed to the organization, provides, owns, and maintains his/her own device. It is typical in universities and colleges, and is gaining in popularity in K-12 education and businesses.
Daily Expectations.: Access to a computer is essential to learning at Voyager Academy. The student’s personal device is considered an essential school supply, just as pencils and paper traditionally have been. Students are required to be prepared at the start of each school day with their fully-charged and functional devices. This is considered a part of being prepared to learn. As with all technology at Voyager Academy, students are required to follow the Acceptable Use Policy and the Ethical Use Policy when using their personal devices.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO SHORTEN CAR LINE: It has been suggested that if possible families from the same neighborhood consider carpooling to school. Consider partnering with another family (or two), to meet up at the Lowe’s parking lot (or another nearby parking lot), to group students in one car. Not only can you take turns dropping off at the school building, but this will also shorten the carline.
If you have questions, feel free to contact me. I will respond as soon as possible.
Gwen gjohnson@voyageracademy.net 919-4333-301 ext 101
Middle School Principal