Castleton Elementary School

Dear Slate Valley Families, A vaccination clinic will be held at Orwell Village School (Town Hall) on December 14th from 9:00-2:30. Registration will open tomorrow, Wednesday, November 17th at 9:00am and needs to be completed by Sunday, December 12th. This clinic is open to the general public, so it is a first come first serve basis for appointments. Please register on-line at VDH COVID-19 portal (https://vermont.force.com/events/s/selfregistration) if you are interested. If your child attends the Orwell Village School, they will be able to be vaccinated without a parent present as long as they are registered in advance. Walk-ins are welcome, but a parent will need to attend with their child with the appropriate consent form (https://bit.ly/3qK3dYG). For Slate Valley students outside of the Orwell Village School, a parent or guardian will need to accompany the child to the clinic on December 14th. The district will not be providing transportation at this time. Anyone who attends the clinic will be scheduled for their second dose on January 4th as part of the clinic exit process. Information on the Pfizer EUA can be found here: Pfizer EUA age 5-11 (https://www.fda.gov/media/153717/download) This is the Emergency Use Authorization for the pediatric Pfizer vaccine. Please let me know if you have any questions. Brooke Olsen-Farrell Superintendent

Dear Slate Valley Families, Due to the high number of COVID cases we are seeing in our schools and community we are going to temporarily suspend notice to all families regarding positive cases. We do not want to be inundating families and staff with emails regarding COVID cases several times a day. For right now please assume we are seeing COVID cases in several schools in our district daily. We do not anticipate the slowing down of cases until the new year. We are continuing our normal contact tracing process. The COVID Test to Stay Program is working well, BUT, due to the large number of cases we are seeing, it is taking an enormous amount of staff to implement and is pulling them away from their regular duties. It is very important to us that students are in person. That being said, if you have a child participating in this program and they test positive at school, you need to pick them as soon as possible. Otherwise we will need to start requiring parents to be present for testing so they can immediately take a positive student home. We only have 1 isolation room for COVID positive students in each building. Please know that we continue to try our very best given the state parameters that are put on schools. We need continued cooperation from families and the community to continue to operate our schools and have our children in classrooms where they need to be. We can’t do this alone and we appreciate your partnership. Best, Brooke Olsen-Farrell Superintendent

Dear Slate Valley Families, On Friday, November 12th we learned about 3 individuals in our learning community with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) at Fair Haven Union High School and Castleton Elementary School. Please read the letter from Superintendent Olsen-Farrell: https://5il.co/11rv0

First graders created pictures of Veterans following step-by-step directions. Amazing work first graders!

Castleton Elementary is celebrating its 50th year this year!! We have just formed a committee to plan celebrations this year to recognize this significant event!! Do you have a favorite memory from CES? Are you an alumni of CES? Would you like to help us plan these celebrations? The community is so important when it comes to this anniversary! Give Mrs. Prehoda a call if you want to help with our planning.

Veterans Day Virtual Event: https://youtu.be/Pn6Y2Z6LVnI

Reminder - tomorrow! Casey O'Meara, Slate Valley Director of Curriculum, will be hosting an informal meeting on Leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success on November 10, 2021 at 1:00 pm. Abby Wald, Slate Valley Instructional Coach, will be hosting a presentation on Leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success on November 10, 2021 at 6:00 pm. 2021-22 Annual Title I Meeting ( slides & survey ): https://bit.ly/3BhWZAU Please join EITHER virtual meeting for Title I using the following link: https://meet.google.com/xza-xpkp-zvx

Tonight! November 8th You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified Union School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Fair Haven Union High School Cafeteria. This meeting will be in person or you may virtually connect by going to https://meet.google.com/ozg-hwua-mge or join by phone (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 869 909 550 5618# Tonight’s Agenda: https://5il.co/11jaj Previous Meeting Minutes: https://5il.co/1150i Next Board Meeting: November 22, 2021, 6:30 p.m. at Orwell Village School

Check out our November awards assembly! https://youtu.be/Mrf1DyfBC7Y

November 8, 2021 Dear Slate Valley Families, We have seen an uptick in COVID cases over the weekend impacting our students, staff and families in Slate Valley. Our schools have either started Test to Stay or are planning to this week. For those schools that started it this morning it went very well. If you plan to have your child participate in this program if they are a close contact PLEASE REGISTER your child ASAP as it makes it much easier for us if they are already in the system. This is a large undertaking and we are short on staff so your cooperation is greatly appreciated. We want our students to be safe and participate in in-person learning. For more information on TTS please read the following: https://5il.co/11jmn Best, Brooke Olsen-Farrell Superintendent

Dear Slate Valley Families, On Saturday, November 6th we learned about an individual in our learning community with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) at Castleton Elementary School. Please read the letter from Superintendent Olsen-Farrell: https://5il.co/11i5x

On Tuesday, November 9th at 12:00 pm the Boston Children's Hospital is hosting a virtual event to provide information about COVID-19 vaccines for 5-11 year olds. You’ll learn about: • Safety of the vaccines in this age group • How the COVID vaccine can benefit younger kids • And much more! To register for the Zoom event, visit the following link: https://bit.ly/3k4mujl

Good Morning Slate Valley Families, Below please find a letter from Superintendent Brooke Olsen-Farrell regarding an incident where a car was broken into in the Fair Haven Grade School parking lot yesterday. https://5il.co/11gp7

Save the Date! Screening of the Documentary 'LIKE' Understanding and Creating Balance in Social Media: Monday, November 15th at 6:30 p.m. You can register for the viewing at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f3MQOJDsRVCh4_LT-aplmw LIKE breaks down why we find social media so irresistible, examines who is controlling who, and gives you the tools to pivot to a more balanced and contented relationship. It features Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, including the co-creator of the 'LIKE' button, experts in brain science and regular teenagers.

Join us virtually this evening (November 3rd) from 6:00-6:45 p.m. when we discover how Google Classroom works to provide learning to students wherever they may be. We will also be looking at how to best use the PDF file editor, KAMI. There will be time for questions at the end of the session. Link to join: https://bit.ly/3G2TlhL

Vaccine Registration for 5-11 Age Group At his press conference yesterday, Governor Scott announced that at 8 a.m. the morning after the CDC authorizes use of COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5-11 vaccine appointments will be available for that group. The CDC authorized the use yesterday afternoon. Registration is now open for vaccination appointments. Parents can learn more about registering for vaccine appointments at http://www.healthvermont.gov/myVaccine. Any families without internet access or who other would like assistance to make their appointment should contact the Health Department call center at (855) 722-7878, Mon - Fri 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Sat and Sun 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. -To speak with someone in a language other than English, dial the call center, and then press 1. -People who are Deaf or hard of hearing can make a TTY call to this number by dialing 711 or 1-800-253-0195. Vaccine appointments are also available through pharmacies and later through pediatrician offices. We are expecting to host school based clinics but do not have all of the information on those yet.

Reminder - Tonight! Link to Join: http://meet.google.com/kqu-ysaf-buv

Save the Date! Casey O'Meara, Slate Valley Director of Curriculum, will be hosting an informal meeting on Leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success on November 10, 2021 at 1:00 pm. Abby Wald, Slate Valley Instructional Coach, will be hosting a presentation on Leveraging Title I Schoolwide Programs to Address Barriers to Academic Success on November 10, 2021 at 6:00 pm. 2021-22 Annual Title I Meeting ( slides & survey ): https://bit.ly/3BhWZAU Please join EITHER virtual meeting for Title I using the following link: https://meet.google.com/xza-xpkp-zvx

Slate Valley Parent Tech Night Grades K-2 Wednesday November 3 from 6:00 to 6:45 p.m. Designed to help parents navigate online work in the event their student needs to quarantine. Topics Covered: SeeSaw, Gmail, Google Meet, & Bitmoji Classroom *FHGS Parents of 2nd Grade Students will want to join the Grades 3-5 Session to see Google Classroom rather than SeeSaw. This Virtual Meeting will be hosted by District Tech Integration Coach Lisa Cacciatore. Please join by going to: http://meet.google.com/kqu-ysaf-buv

CES's Book Character Parade!