Good Afternoon from OSMS Families,
We hope you all had a restful break. We are excited to be back in our virtual classrooms again today. We wanted to provide you with a few quick updates.
Teacher Professional Development: The morning of Monday, April 20th, teachers will be participating in professional development to learn about additional digital tools to enhance distance learning for students. Although teachers will not be available to students until 11:30 a.m. that day, work will be posted and ready for 9:00 a.m.
Specials Classes: We have been checking in on students to see if they are doing well or having any difficulty with online learning. As you know, Specials classes changed recently as we entered the third trimester. This happened right around the time we left school. Please remind your children to check to see if they have been to all of their assigned specials classes and make sure to keep up with the work they have been assigned. Like a typical school day, students should have two specials each day. Students should check in with each special at least once each six-day rotation. If your child needs help with this, they can contact their teacher, Mrs. Castro, or Mrs. Taylor.
Teacher Feedback: Teachers will often provide students with feedback on their work and allow them to make improvements. This is an essential part of the learning process. Please remind students to review their work for teacher comments and feedback.
Grade 8 Yearbooks: Yearbooks are available for grade 8 students to order online. The link was emailed to you.
Clubs: Many teacher-run clubs will soon be starting back up in a virtual way to help keep students connected. Your child can reach out to the teacher advisors if they have questions.
Grading: Grading has been a discussion across the state. The district is in discussions about the best way to communicate information about student learning and will have more details for you soon.
The U.S. Census is completed every ten years. The time to fill out your census form is now. As of April 14th, only 50% of Old Saybrook residents have been counted to date. You will soon receive mail from the U.S. Census in your mail. Please respond or simply go to
Census.gov. It’s easy to be counted. The Census is important to the community because decisions about access to federal programs and the resources associated with them are connected to your answers on the census. The link for more information is found at
https://my2020census.gov/. Use this site to avoid potential scammers who are sending emails to some citizens and asking them for personally identifiable information or money. Completing the census is important to the community, is completely confidential and is available in many languages.
Please continue to reach out if you have questions or concerns. Teachers, counselors, our nurse, office staff, and administrators are all here for you and your children.
Stay Well,
-Krista and Matt