Weekly Newsletter Emailed Each Sunday During the School Year.
Apr. 19, 2020 Hugs in the Mail SSFS Preschool teachers Chanelle and Lisa sent their students a hug in the mail since they are not able to meet in person! LS teachers have also been doing live story times with their students, and finding other ways to connect virtually. See the Lower School section for more highlights from their virtual classrooms - including a fun sidewalk chalk challenge from PE teacher Amanda Hill.
Dive Into This Week's News Read The Latest News Across Our Divisions On The SSFS Website.
News At Your Fingertips Your Mobile-Friendly Email Digest of our Weekly Must-Know Information And More. All-School "Must-Know" Info for Apr. 19, 2020
The calendar information below is for all-school, multi-divisional, and/or Parent Association events and activities in the coming weeks. Please see the Lower School, Middle School, or Upper School sections for division-specific "must-know" info, or visit the Calendar web page to see the full calendar.
We may not be physically together on campus, but we are still a strong community together. To that point, we'll be holding our next PA meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, April 21st at 8:00 pm. PLEASE NOTE THE NEW Zoom URL below. Join Zoom Meeting - https://zoom.us/j/94016264661?pwd=UENtTTlmU2VMdUhVMWEreVJ2MGo4dz09
In preparation for the meeting, please submit questions or concerns you'd like to discuss to PA.Clerk@SSFS.org. As a reminder, discussions around student specific needs, specific teachers or classes should be discussed directly with teachers. Zoom information can be found above, on the PA email sent to all families on April 17, and on the password-protected Parent Portal page. Please plan to join us Wednesday 4/22 at 9am-10am if you can, and then every Wednesday following through 5/27 from 9am-10am to continue planning for this important fundraiser. See more about our new auction plans here, and login to the Parent Portal page for Zoom conference info. Read the latest message from Tom Gibian, Head of School, sent to families via email on April 18: "As Head of School, I wanted to give everyone a little peek under the tent of what we have been up to since we began working from home. Folks in real estate say that the three most important attributes for a property to sell is location, location, location. My take on that is that the three most important attributes for the school to run like a top is communication, communication, communication. We have a lot of constituents, and there is a lot of communication called for. " See more here... Looking for a fun activity that gets the whole family moving? Amanda Hill, from the SSFS Athletics Department, has an option. Each week, Amanda will be providing the community with a Wildebeest Workout challenge for the whole family to participate in! Watch the video and use the hashtag #SSFSBeestWorkout to share your best picture or video Open the full article to see the video! On Wednesday, April 15, Finalsite, the School's website and Learning Management System, was down from about 12:30 - 6:00pm. We regret this outage and want to acknowledge the frustration that this causes, especially in the midst of online learning. We received this apology from Finalsite's president, Jon Moser. The SSFS IT Department strives to respond as quickly as possible to all technology problems. As soon as Wednesday's outage happened, we determined that the issue lay outside of our network. The outage was caused by a security service that Finalsite uses named Cloudflare, and it affected many of their customers. That company has posted details of what happened on their website. We appreciate your patience during this outage. We have also created a new status.ssfs.org web page on a separate service, so that the IT Department can provide information and updates on problems affecting the ssfs.org site, or other IT systems. ICYMI: The SSFS PA reps worked with Associate Dir. of Communications Julie Mendez to redesign the SSFS Parent Portal page, in order to provide easy access to tools and resources needed during Virtual Learning. Highlights include icons/links to Finalsite LMS, Virtual School FAQs, and the SSFS newsletter up top, along with the LS, MS, and US day schedules, and parent Zoom meeting info. Scroll down for a "Virtual School Resources and Support" section for helpful information like a virtual "bulletin board" for parents to share anything from articles and activities to recipes and online learning tips. Log in and check it out! ICYMI: Associate Dir. of Communications Julie Mendez has created a landing page to help the SSFS community stay connected as we navigate our off-campus Virtual Learning experience. See the landing page here, and check out the "Virtual School in Action" web page, which features stories of how our community continues to thrive, find their passions, connect, and live up to our School’s motto, “Let Your Lives Speak.” Be sure to check out the 'Beest message board, showing notes from community members! See a list of links to our virtual learning environment, FAQS, and resources here.
Lower School "Must-Know" Info for Apr. 19, 2020
Below is information about upcoming LS and all-school activities and events in the coming weeks. For questions or more information about an event, please contact Pam Gilmer, LS Administrative Assistant, at ext. 112 or pam.gilmer@ssfs.org, or visit the Calendar web page to see full calendar.
As part of the Kindergarten's weather unit, kindergarteners are studying the wind. The children were given the task to find 5 objects and see if the wind (or artificial wind) would blow it. Click here for for a picture of one friend who did the experiment with the help of a leaf blower, and found that all her objects blew with the wind except "Daddy's stinky boot!" Meanwhile, Mary Anne Peacock has been working with her PK4 friends on presenting the engineering process through a Recycled Materials Challenge; some great videos have been shared from her students via Seesaw! Lower School P.E. teacher Amanda Hill designed a fun way for kids to get outside and stay active with her Sidewalk Chalk Course! The course features a variety of different hops, jumps, skips, and runs. Take the challenge and see if you can do it, too!
Middle School "Must-Know" Info for Apr. 19, 2020
Below is information about upcoming MS and all-school activities and events in the coming weeks. For questions or more information about an event, please contact Erin Ryan, MS Administrative Assistant, at ext. 160 or erin.ryan@ssfs.org, or visit the Calendar web page to see full calendar.
Beginning this week, Middle School faculty and staff are offering a selection of virtual electives for our students.
A sign-up form was provided this past week to all students, and we are very pleased with the number of students who are choosing to take advantage of these additional opportunities to connect with their peers. If your child missed submitting their sign-up, please have them email Erin Ryan so they may be added to the roster of the elective(s) they would like to participate in. Students are invited to contribute to a Middle School Playlist being compiled by David and Keith. They can share an original piece, or suggest a song or artist or style that they enjoy listening to. Students can also provide some back story about their piece. Full details and a link to the sign-up form for students can be found here. Looking for an idea for a family movie night? Screenagers is now available. Delaney Ruston, the documentary filmmaker, is offering individual streaming options for both of her films, Screenagers: Growing up in the Digital Age, and Screenagers: Next Chapter. These films analyze how the digital age is impacting children and families. A few years ago, the SSFS Counseling Department and the Parents Association sponsored a community screening of the first Screenagers film. It was very well-received. Students and parents both found it to be thought-provoking. Usually, these films are only available through large community screenings. For a limited time during the pandemic, they are available for families to rent for ($10 for one or $18 for two.) For more information, please visit https://www.screenagersmovie.com/watch
Upper School "Must-Know" Info for Apr. 19, 2020
Below is information about upcoming US and all-school activities and events in the coming weeks. For questions or more information about an event, please contact Kerry Foley, US Administrative Assistant, at ext. 109 or kerry.foley@ssfs.org, or visit the Calendar web page to see full calendar.
And coming up soon/to put on your radar:
Join Upper School Head Jonathan Oglesbee for an Upper School Virtual Coffee and Conversation on Wed, April 22, at 9:00 am. Join Zoom Meeting: Dial-in photo info available also available on the Parent Portal page. As we navigate this unknown frontier of virtual learning, we know that we are essentially building a plane as we fly it. As such, feedback will be crucial to the continuing process of "building." Our online survey will help us gather data to inform the remainder of our time engaging in virtual learning in the Upper School. Please fill this survey out once for EACH student you have enrolled in the Upper School. Please note that the survey will close on Friday, April 24. Thank you! The US LRC has expanded their team to help support all of the Upper School students with the challenges of virtual classroom learning. Shannon, Ebe, Jenai, Kerry, and Sunshine are available daily to help all students with organization, study strategies, and content area support. Go to this link to schedule a consultation session with a team member. LRC Tip of the Week – Create Virtual Study Buddies The College Board has provided detailed information regarding the dates, times, and the revised expected content for the May 2020 AP exams. This week we sent out a detailed letter to AP students and parents highlighting the key information. When community after community went into quarantine, businesses moved to a virtual platform, including art museums. The Getty Museum challenged art lovers to recreate masterpieces, a.k.a. tableau vivant (living picture), in their homes. The challenge went viral with images being posted throughout social media. The SSFS Arts & Ideas students accepted the challenge. In addition to this being a fun-filled activity, it is also weighty in educational value. Visual literacy strategies are the foundation for this activity. Students begin their understanding of the artworks by "reading” a painting. They develop their critical thinking skills by looking carefully at works of art to discover clues about the people who made them and the world in which they lived. This activity reinforces the idea that looking at art is an active, not passive, experience. The next challenge is to determine the storyline of the image - what were the people in the painting doing before that moment and what might they have done after. Here are a few of the artworks recreated. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/FWMOb3WdQLE
"Olney Together" is a grass roots effort founded by an SSFS parent to help families in the area facing challenges due to the COVID crisis. Olney together: 1. supports existing organizations with people power and 2. Fills in the gaps when other organizations are overwhelmed. Families in need who can usually get food/diapers/formula through other channels (or could pay for it themselves before being laid off) now need support. For more info, to volunteer, or to express need, please visit the website. Contact Joslyne directly with questions. Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting invites all SSFS families for Meetings for Worship at SSMM, and other community events and activities throughout the year. Please see the Apr. 19 Silent Announcements for information and details about SSMM goings-on in the coming weeks. Questions? Please contact the SSMM office at ssmm.rsf@gmail.com. Thank you! The NIH is looking for adult volunteers for a study to assess the spread of COVID-19. Interested participants (18 years and older) can find out more here. Bella Vita Farm in Brookeville is continuing to take orders for pickup at their greenhouse (4901 Brookeville Rd, Brookeville, MD 20833) on Saturdays between 10 am - 2 pm, or by appointment on Sundays. (Please check the Bella Vita Facebook page for Monday-Friday hours; the phone number for the greenhouse is 240-844-1444 option 3.) Click HERE to learn more and to order fresh pastured eggs, fresh lettuce, micro greens, kale, and herbs. Orders must be placed by 9:00 am Saturday for pick-up on Saturday afternoon. This is an optional, opt-in virtual bulletin board for all members of the SSFS community to share resources and announcements about topics not part of the traditional school day or school related events (think: finding babysitters, repair service recommendations, hiking groups, etc.) Please fill in this quick online form to opt in.
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