Open PTG Meeting - Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 6:30pm via Zoom
Please join us for our winter Open PTG Meeting via Zoom, next Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 6:30pm. We will be discussing current initiatives, as well as future events and plans for the Alcott School students, staff and community. Thank you to our parents, guardians and families for your amazing support during this atypical school year. We look forward to seeing you there!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82348215302?pwd=Z0xXT3cwcjY2NVN1ZWRqbUlZZURJQT09
Meeting ID: 823 4821 5302
Passcode: 092273
From Alcott Fifth Graders - Many Thanks for Your Food Drive Donations: Grade 5 students and teachers would like to thank all the Alcott families who contributed so generously to the Open Table Food Drive over the past two weeks. With your help, we were able to collect more food than ever before, at a time when it is especially needed. Open Table volunteers will be picking up the food this week and filling their shelves with your donations. Many, many thanks for helping us make this a great success!
From the Art Room: It's time to start saving cardboard stuff for Art! Please start saving some cardboard stuff for us to use for Art projects. Clean cardboard tubes, small boxes, egg cartons, etc., are great for building cardboard sculptures.
Middle School Building Project Community Forum to be held 2/24: The Middle School Building Committee invites you to our next Community Forum, to be held Wednesday, February 24 at 7:00pm via Zoom. We hope you will join us to hear more about proposed program plans and input we’ve collected so far, to give us further feedback, and to have your questions answered. Forum details and Zoom link are provided in the flyer.
Alcott Staff Winter Staff Appreciation Luncheon: Like all school traditions, the Alcott Staff Winter Staff Appreciation Luncheon looks a little different this year. That said, we are more grateful than ever for the efforts of every teacher, specialist, support staff member, bus driver, and crossing guard! We are planning to supply boxed pre-made lunches from Concord Market the week of March 8th. We usually ask our chefs and bakers to contribute pot luck dishes, but this year a one-time financial contribution would be appreciated. To make a financial contribution, please submit your contribution electronically to https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=L2F2RX68HY64L by 2/26. You may also send in a check payable to the Alcott PTG with “Staff Appreciation” in the memo line that your student drops off in the Alcott office. Many thanks! If you have further questions, please email jessicakaplowitz@gmail.com or angelalipson@verizon.net.
The Thursday Owl - February 4, 2021
ALCOTT NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Fifth Grade FOOD Drive To Benefit Open Table Ends Tomorrow (2/5): Please bring in donations of non-perishable food items - like soup, beans, vegetables, chili, and tuna. You can send donations in with your student or drop them off in the bin outside the front door of the school. All donations will be sorted and packed by fifth graders and delivered to Open Table before February vacation. Many thanks for your support of this great organization!
Alcott Garden Club Informational Meeting: Do you know something about gardening? Do you know something about fundraising? Do you know nothing about either, but just love fresh veggies? The Alcott Student Garden is about to enter its busy planting and teaching period, so this is a great time of year to spread the word about the Garden Committee! On Wednesday, Feb. 10th from 9:30-9:50am, the Garden Committee will host an introduction to the garden for any interested families. We will share the mission, the opportunities to help out, the perks of joining the committee, and the needs for next year. If this weren’t Covid-times, we’d be hosting a coffee, so please bring your morning coffee to your desk and join our zoom to find out more about what’s going on in the garden. No volunteer sign-ups will happen in the meeting. It is purely an informational meeting!
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74994906172?pwd=Snd1c3ZrRXJoWTVmcUNNNjB4dG84UT09
Meeting ID: 749 9490 6172
Passcode: 507727
Show your appreciation to Alcott teachers and staff with a $5 purchase for a single long-stemmed rose and support the Alcott PTG too! Place your order before February 10th using the link below, and tell us who you want to show your appreciation to this Valentine’s Day. On February 12th, the PTG will brighten their day with the delivery from you. Let’s shower our teachers, specialists, tutors, front office staff, the nurse, crossing guards, bus drivers and administrators with roses as a thank you for all they have done this school year! Place your order here: http://alcottptg.org/alcott-wear-shop/valentines
Alcott Staff Winter Staff Appreciation Luncheon: Like all school traditions, the Alcott Staff Winter Staff Appreciation Luncheon looks a little different this year. That said, we are more grateful than ever for the efforts of every teacher, specialist, support staff member, bus driver, and crossing guard! We are planning to supply boxed pre-made lunches from Concord Market the week of March 8th. We usually ask our chefs and bakers to contribute pot luck dishes, but this year a one-time financial contribution would be appreciated. To Make a Financial Contribution, please submit your contribution electronically to https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=L2F2RX68HY64L by 2/26. You may also send in a check payable to the Alcott PTG with “Staff Appreciation” in the memo line that your student drops off in the Alcott office. Many thanks! If you have further questions, please email jessicakaplowitz@gmail.com or angelalipson@verizon.net.
February Newsletter
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Dear Alcott Families,
Every time we start a new month, we reach a milestone. If you had asked me last summer whether I thought we would still be learning in person in February, I would have expressed some serious doubts. For sure, the Alcott community has recently encountered some COVID challenges. However, public health officials feel comfortable that, with the classroom closures we have implemented, the situation has been contained. Of course, Dr. Hunter and I are monitoring everything very closely and will continue to be in close communication should anything change. In the meantime, I have several other updates to share in this newsletter!
Kindergarten Registration: Kindergarten registration is now open! If you or anyone you know has a student entering kindergarten next year, they can find more information about registration here: https://www.concordps.org/new-student-registration-information/
Pooled Asymptomatic Testing: As a reminder, we will begin pooled asymptomatic testing for students on February 22nd. To give permission for your student to participate in the COVID-19 Pooled Testing Program at Alcott, including consent to transmit student information via the pooled testing technology platform and consent to share the test result information with the Department of Public Health, CIC Health (a third party organization contracted to compile consent for testing and to share test results), and the Broad Institute (lab that processes the tests), please complete this form by Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Please complete the form for each child in your family. A PDF of the consent form in its entirety is found here. You may also want to check out FAQ or Visual of Nasal Swab.
Black History Month Film Festival: Please consider checking out the Boston Globe’s Black History Month Film Festival.
At this pivotal moment in our nation's history, The Boston Globe honors films and filmmakers documenting the Black experience and the continued plight of systemic racism in the United States. Please follow the link below to join us throughout the month of February we stream and discuss newly-released films alongside time-honored classics.
Midyear Suggestions for Supporting Remote Learning: Never in a million years could we have imagined how much we would learn about remote learning in a relatively short period of time. At this midway point in the year, we wanted to reshare some ideas for supporting remote learning at home. If you feel like you have a really good handle on the remote learning component of the day, keep on doing what you have been doing! If you feel like the afternoon is still a bit of a struggle, we’ve compiled some best practices we have learned over the last six months that you might consider. You can find them here!