This is the first day of the Great Kindness Challenge Week at St. George School organized by our Crew Council and their advisor, Stephanie Simmons. In the midst of these cold winter days, we can do our best to spread some warmth by acts of kindness great and small.
K/1 and 1st grade classes have been experimenting with shadows in STEAM class to learn more about the sun.
Dear Families,
Maine CDC’s Standard Operating Procedure was updated on December 28th and again on January 11, 2022. While school districts are required to follow the SOP protocols, districts can choose to implement more rigorous mitigation measures. The St. George Return to School Committee met and agreed upon the following protocols in regards to isolation of positive cases, quarantine of close contacts, and contact tracing.
*Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 continue to isolate for five days, and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), they can return to school on day 6 to receive a rapid antigen test (BiNax). If the test is positive they must continue to isolate through day 10. Students may return to school without retesting after day 10.
*Effective January 13, 2022, all students, staff, and visitors are required to wear well-fitting masks in indoor spaces and across all school-based and school-sponsored activities. Universal masking allows for removal of masks while eating/drinking in designated spaces, but not for indoor mask breaks.
*Effective January 13, 2022, close contacts will no longer be required to quarantine provided schools consistently observe and enforce a universal masking policy for all students, staff, and visitors. However, it is recommended that if your student is a close contact to COVID-19 within the household that they quarantine for 3-5 days or until a negative PCR/Rapid test is provided within the 3-5 day timeframe.
*St. George School will continue to contact trace and inform parents if their child is a close contact via email. We will also publish a weekly update on Fridays to inform parents and community members of updated positive cases.
As always, please reach out to Autumn Belajonas, School Nurse and/or Dr. Jessica Berry, Assistant Superintendent/Special Education Director if you have any questions or concerns. We believe the protocols we are putting in place will assist in continuing to meet our goals of keeping our school community healthy and keeping students in school. Please help us by keeping your child home if they are sick, notifying us if you or someone in your student’s home has tested positive for COVID-19 and rapid testing if your child has symptoms.
We appreciate your continued support for our school community.
Thank you,
Dr. Jessica Berry
Assistant Superintendent & Special Education Director
In STEAM classes, the 2nd grade and 2/3 classes learned about the importance of pollinators this fall and contributed data to “The Great Sunflower Project,” which is an international citizen science project. Then each student focused in on a specific pollinator and created beautiful drawings using feedback from their peers in the drafting process. We made those drawings into ornaments with our laser cutter.
This is a reminder:
RAPID TESTING AVAILABLE TO ALL STUDENTS
Sunday 12 - 4 @ St. George School
Call upon arrival
SIGN UP AT https://bit.ly/STG-RapidTest
4th graders have been learning about electricity in STEAM classes. We used the laser cutter and our knowledge of circuits to make decorative nightlights for holiday gifts.
The pandemic has caused substantial stress for all of us. People have stepped up again and again to support one another and help keep our school community safe, strong, and together. We want to take this moment before the holidays to recognize someone who has been central to all of our efforts - School Nurse Autumn Belajonas. Autumn spends each day juggling COVID19 protocols, updating families and staff, and - above all - caring for our students. She often works evenings and weekends contact tracing, calling families, and doing whatever it takes to keep our school community safe and healthy. Even with the added work and stress that comes with caring for an entire school community during a pandemic, she greets everyone with empathy, kindness and sincerity. It’s amazing how Nurse Autumn can turn tummy aches, scrapes, and worries into smiles and happy students. Please join me in sending a GIANT thank you to St. George superhero & school nurse, Autumn Belajonas.
5th graders spent many classes perfecting their animation skills using Stop Motion Studio this fall. Here are the top 3 according to the class:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0BamZgqO0ulJ5jmMH2859SI8zN0xANRU
First place: The Ford Angela by Abbie and Reni
Second place: Watch Your Step by Baya and Robyn
Third place: Flower Field by Norah
Honorable mention: Relax by Mason
December 21, 2021
Dear Families,
Based on the number of positive COVID cases we have had over the past two weeks and the number of students who are close contacts and need to quarantine we have decided to change tomorrow’s early release to a remote school day for St. George School.
Teachers will be sending work home in backpacks today. If you have any questions please reach out to your child’s teacher.
If you would like meals delivered to your student tomorrow please sign up at https://foodorder.stgeorgemsu.org. You must sign up by 6am tomorrow morning to receive a meal delivery.
Thank you,
St. George MSU
Pink Dragons
Student-led conferences will be taking place on Thursday and Friday this week following early dismissal. We are continuing to follow COVID safety protocols, so mask-wearing remains mandatory. We also ask that people make their best attempt to arrive at the time of their scheduled conference and then exit the building in a timely fashion. This will ensure minimal traffic in the hallways and reduced need for potential CDC-mandated contact tracing. In addition, please keep the conference within the designated time-frame - 20 MINUTES - which gives staff sufficient time to clean between families. We look forward to seeing you!
In STEAM class, 7th graders learned about physics while testing how the size of rocket fins affected the altitude the rocket went. They designed their fins on Tinkercad and printed them on the 3D printer. Then we got to launch them on the soccer field. Ask a 7th grader what we found out!
Hi Saint George Community!
If anyone has old leather items you’d like to get rid of, the Makerspace would gladly take them. We’d like to use the laser cutter to create new things out of the old.
Student-Led Conferences on December 9th & 10th!
Sign up online at the website below or call the office to schedule. Online conference is available if needed- add "ZOOM" to special request.
https://ptcfast.com/schools/St_George_MSU