Hello Great Falls Families, 

 

Thank you for doing such a great job completing the daily health screener for your child. We want nothing more than to stay on campus and keep everyone safe and healthy. Please know that the guidelines we are following are not unique to Gorham. We are following the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Education (DOE). 

COVID symptoms are new symptoms to your child that include: headache, uncontrolled cough, sore throat, runny nose, congestion, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, the new loss of taste or smell, rash, and a fever of 100 or more. If your child has any of the COVID symptoms, please indicate the symptoms on the daily health screener and keep your child home. If they come to school and develop symptoms, you will be asked to pick your child up. In both circumstances, it will be necessary for you to contact your Healthcare Provider. Your Healthcare Provider (HCP) will need to complete the “Return to School” form for your child to return to school.  

This form will allow your Healthcare Provider to indicate which of the following scenarios occurred:

• Your child was found to have another source of symptoms, Covid-19 testing was NOT done, and your child may return to school 24 hours after the fever has resolved and other symptoms are improving.

• Your child was NOT found to have another source of symptoms, COVID-19 testing NOT done, and your child may return to school after a minimum of 10 days after the start of symptoms and 24 hours after the fever has resolved and other symptoms are improving.

• Your child has a negative test for COVID-19 and may return to school 24 hours after the fever has resolved and other symptoms improve.

• Your child has a positive COVID-19 test and may return to school a minimum of 10 days after the start of symptoms and 24 hours after the fever has resolved and other symptoms are improving. The Maine CDC will be notified. 

• Your child is asymptomatic but has a positive COVID-19 test and may return to school a minimum of 10 days from the test date.  If symptoms develop, the student must then stay home for 24 hours after the fever resolves and other symptoms are improving.  The Maine CDC will be notified. 

• Your child has a known exposure to someone positive with COVID-19 and must quarantine for 14 days from the date of the last exposure. 

Once again, these are the CDC and DOE guidelines for all to follow. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our school nurse, Melissa Tringali at melissa.tringali@gorhamschools.org or 222-1062. We understand that these procedures are different than in the past and appreciate your understanding during these difficult times. 

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership. Please be sure to check out the Great Falls News frequently for important information. Please reach out if you have any questions. We are here to help!

Take care and be well.

Becky Fortier and Deanna Etienne, Great Falls Administrators

 

 

 

What does learning at home on Fridays look like for your child?

  

• Calendar:  2020-2021 Elementary School Colored Calendar Hybrid 

Please note that there are some Fridays when students are on campus to make up for holidays: 

Oct. 16th (A), Nov. 6th (B), Nov. 13th (A), Dec. 4th (B), Jan. 8th (B), Jan. 22 (A), June 4th (A). 

 

Fridays are counted as a virtual school day for your child. Although no new learning will occur, our staff is available and working a full day. 

 

• Weekly Virtual Class Meetings: 

Teachers will be hosting a weekly whole-class virtual community building activity with both A and B groups simultaneously. These video conferencing events will take place on Fridays when no students are scheduled to be on campus.  

 

The exact time of the “class meeting” may vary from teacher to teacher, but will last approximately 20-30 minutes.  The length of the sessions will vary depending on the age of the students and the design of the activity.  

 

Students will be using the laptops (Chromebooks) that they received last spring to participate in these class meetings.  Because we have a large number of students who do not yet have one of these school-issued Chromebooks, the first round of class meetings will be delayed until we are able to ensure that all students have equal access (Sept. 25th or Oct. 2nd).  

 

Our kindergarteners and “new to Gorham” students have not yet received their Chromebooks.

 

• Academic Expectations: 

Classroom teachers will not be reaching out to families on Fridays with any “new” learning activities.

 

If your child seems to finish their work earlier than anticipated, the following activities are highly recommended no matter the age level: reading (or being read to), journal writing, games that support math skills, and outdoor activities that promote a healthy lifestyle. 

 

Your child may have work that needs to be completed from earlier in the week. 

 

There may be a time when your child’s teacher may reach out to you to work with your child (remotely) in a one-on-one setting or small group for a variety of purposes (remediation, enrichment, etc.). 

 

• Creative Arts: 

On Fridays, all families can expect to receive a menu of optional activities from our Creative Arts teachers (art, music, PE, library/media, technology, and social skills).  If students are looking to engage in some fun and enriching activities, this will be a great resource.

 

“A” Schedule
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday / Friday
On-Campus Learning	Independent reading, projects or assignments to work on at home	On-Campus Learning	Independent reading, projects or assignments to work on at home	Virtual Class Meeting Complete unfinished work from the week Read Complete optional activities Possible virtual meeting for special education services Possible virtual meeting for RTI services Creative Arts activities

 

“B” Schedule
Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday / Monday
On-Campus Learning	Independent reading, projects or assignments to work on at home	On-Campus Learning	Virtual Class Meeting Complete unfinished work from the week Read Complete optional activities Possible virtual meeting for special education services Possible virtual meeting for RTI services Creative Arts activities	Independent reading, projects or assignments to work on at home

 

 

September 16, 2020



Hello Great Falls Families,


Once again, we are finishing up another fabulous week of on-campus learning. We are so proud of our students and staff for working so hard at learning new procedures while building classroom communities of respect and rapport. It is evident that as difficult as the transition was to plan for, all of our energies are paying off. The students and staff are so happy to be back!


Thank you again for being patient with all of our new procedures and the adjustments we have been making to our arrival and dismissal process to be as safe and efficient as possible. Because of our most recent positive change to the parent pick-up procedure, we are able to dismiss all students in a timely manner. Starting on Monday, September 21st, we will be shifting our end of dismissal time back by 10 minutes. Students will be brought out to your vehicles at 3:00 instead of 2:50. This will allow us to regain 10 valuable minutes of classroom instruction. Please take note of this change and refrain from lining up in the pick-up loops too early. The parking lots will not be staffed until 2:50.


Our morning drop-off is also going very smoothly. Thank you for your cooperation with the arrival procedure as well. Starting on Monday, September 21st, we will be officially starting school at 8:50 a.m. If you arrive on campus after 8:50 a.m., the drop-off loop will no longer be supervised and you will need to park your vehicle and escort your child to the main entrance. School hours are 8:50 a.m. - 3:10 p.m.


In addition to our improved procedures, we want to thank you for completing the daily health screener before your child arrives on campus. This screener helps us to keep students and staff safe while at school. Our nurse assistant checks all of the screeners on a daily basis and reaches out to families when the screeners are incomplete. It is imperative that we have this data point on your child before they arrive.


Very soon, your child will be coming home with a device case and Kindergarteners will be given a Chromebook. Once the device case is brought home, students will be expected to transport their devices back and forth from school and home. It will be important to charge the devices at home each evening so they are ready for use at school.


This Friday is our first “flexible” Friday. Because all students do not have devices, your child’s teacher may not offer a virtual classroom meeting this week, but no worries, the virtual meetings will soon be a part of the week’s agenda. The purpose of the Friday virtual classroom meetings is to build community between the “A” and “B” groups with hopes that we will return to “green” at some point this school year. Relationships are important and this opportunity will help your child get to know their full class of peers.


Next week’s schedule will also include our bi-annual NWEA reading and math testing for students in grades 1-5. NWEA is our district’s universal screening tool. It is necessary for us to gather this data point to inform Response to Intervention, Gifted and Talented, and classroom instruction. It is aligned to Maine Standards and allows us to collect longitudinal data and best monitor your child’s progress.


School picture day is also on the horizon. The “A” schedule will take their school photos Monday, September 28th while the “B” schedule will smile big for school photos next week on Tuesday, September 22nd. Information on purchasing photos packages will be sent home soon.


Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership. Please be sure to check out the Great Falls News frequently for important information. Please reach out if you have any questions.



Take care,

Becky Fortier and Deanna Etienne

Great Falls Administrators

First Week of School Update

September 11, 2020

Hello Everyone!


We did it! Week one in the books and what a week it was! We are so excited to have students back in our building and to see their faces each day this week has been so refreshing for ALL of us.


Thank you again for being patient with all of our new procedures during the school day. Most of the procedures we are asking you and your children to follow have proved to work well thus far! (WAHOO!!) The majority of students have been in the building by 8:50 each day this week, and have been dismissed from campus by 3:25 each day. This is amazing work and only happens because we have worked so nicely together to make this all possible.


We will be making an adjustment to the parent pick up process to make it even more efficient. Starting on Monday, there will be 2 access points when picking up your children. If you have a pickup number in the 10s, 100s, or 200s, you will enter in the same parking lot as this week. The procedure will remain the same. If you are not a regular pick up, and you have called ahead that morning to arrange a JUST FOR TODAY pickup - you should enter this parking lot as well.


If you have a pickup number in the 300s, 400s, or 500s, you will enter the right side parking lot which is where drop-off occurs in the morning. You will pull in all the way forward to the cone in a single file line where a teacher will check you in. Please have your tag visibly ready. Your child will come to the passenger side of your vehicle and following such you may exit cautiously when you are ready. When waiting to enter the loading zone, please do not move forward until all 10 loading spots are clear and the duty teacher motions you forward. Thank you for working with us as we improve our end of day procedures.





In addition to smooth procedures, classroom routines are successfully being established. By the time Mrs. Fortier and Mrs. E make their morning rounds each day, students are settled into their classrooms, participating happily in their class morning meeting and community building activities. Teachers have been working hard to build community in the class cohorts and to make students feel safe, included, and calm in this new normal. We can already see by watching the students at lunch and recess how happy they are to be back together with their peers, socializing, and playing with each other! Smiles abound!


Teachers have been using our outdoor spaces all around our campus. It’s so exciting to see students outside with their peers, listening to a read-aloud, or working on a group activity! This is a great opportunity for students and teachers alike.


Here is a look at next week’s schedule:




We are so excited to continue this school year with you all and celebrate our successes and learn together as we navigate all of this collectively! As always, please reach out if you have any questions. We are here to help!



Take care,

Great Falls Administrators

Becky Fortier and Deanna Etienne