At Home Learning Continues

T-SJ Families, 
Governor JB Pritzker announced Friday, April 17th, that Remote Learning Days will continue through the end of the school year. Even though I suspected it was coming, my heart sank to think that we will not be able to be together in our classrooms this spring.  I know that this is the right decision as it will save lives.  We are prepared to do whatever is necessary to help flatten the curve and stop the spread of COVID-19.

We will continue with our Remote Learning Plan through the end of the school year, May 19th. Teachers, students and parents are working hard to ensure that learning continues, however we do not expect that Remote Learning replicates the learning experiences that would have happened in the classroom. 
I am extremely impressed with the efforts of our teachers to continue to provide creative and engaging lessons for their students. Classes are doing science experiments, meeting on Zoom, listening to their teachers read books, creating art projects, and so much more. We will continue to grow together academically, socially and spiritually. Our teaching and learning looks different during this pandemic and so will our grading. The fourth quarter grades will appear as Pass or Incomplete on 1st-8th grade report cards.  We know that families may be experiencing additional stress during this time and do not want anyone to be worried about A's, B's or GPA.  We want students to feel loved and have the opportunity to learn.  They should continue to work through their lessons and participate in any on-line classroom activities as they are able. 

Will students return to in-person instruction fully caught up? We are not expecting them to. All our efforts are geared toward meeting our students where they are and giving them the tools and supports they need for success. These efforts will not end even when the pandemic ends. 
I pray your families are growing together in God's Word and are able to worship together as well. We will continue to have virtual chapel services each Wednesday at 2:20 PM on our school Facebook page. If you cannot join us at 2:20, you are able to watch it at any time that is convenient to you. We will be sending home the chapel booklets in the learning packets this week, so you can follow along! 

We will continue to have packet pickup and drop off each Monday from 8AM- 6PM. Grab and Go Breakfasts and Lunches will be available on Mondays from 8:30-9:15 and from 11:45-12:30 as well as Tuesday through Friday from 11:45-12:30.  Due to a lack of response at breakfast time we will pass out both breakfasts and lunches at lunch time Tuesday through Friday. 
We are making plans to gather student supplies and belongings from their classrooms and will have those items available in the coming weeks. This is a big task and will likely be spread out, thank you for being patient with us.  
We are presently planning creative ways to end our school year, honor our 8th grade graduates and so on.  We do not know exactly what events like graduation and confirmation will look like, but we will keep you updated as we are able to prepare and plan for these events. We continue to pray for each of you and will keep you updated on school related news. 

Joyfully serving Jesus, 
Mrs. Amy Kurtz