Mrs. Vereyken's Weekly Update 1/11 - 1/15

We are now in our second week of Quarter 3. This semester will be very busy so please make sure your student is planning ahead and working every single day on assignments and instruction. Please reach out to your child’s teacher if there are issues or concerns with your courses. Address the issues or concerns early on and do not wait until the end of the Quarter, as often that’s too late to make changes or improvements. If you have Canvas or Technical issues, be sure to email our Canvas Assistance Team or Technical Assistance Teams listed at the end of this week’s email. Thank you for continuing to support your student in their educational journey!

Reader’s Choice for BEST CHARTER SCHOOL IN ALAMANCE COUNTY for the 5^th YEAR in a ROW!!

In case you missed it, this week we were awarded our plaque for the “Times’ News: Reader’s Choice for Best Charter School in Alamance County” for the 5^th year in a row! This is a HUGE accomplishment and we are so proud that YOU have chosen and continue to choose Clover Garden School for your child’s education. We are proud of our CGS students, families, faculty and staff, and our Clover Garden School Board of Directors for continuing to invest time, energy and endless dedication into our school. All of us working together is what continues to make CGS the best school possible for your child’s education! We will be installing our new banner soon and our plaque will be hanging up near our front office for viewing. Check out our school’s Facebook page for photos. #CGSisbetterthanBEST

National School of Choice Week:

National School of Choice Week begins on January 24, 2021. This is a week where we take a moment to appreciate the opportunity that WE at Clover Garden School are a “School of Choice” and our parents are provided with the opportunity to “choose” where their children attend school. Education is not a “one size fits all” approach! We are given the opportunity to “choose” which school works best for our children and that’s a WONDERFUL option to have. Click here for more information on what school choice means! Click here for more details in regards to School Choice Week 2021.

Thank you for choosing Clover Garden School as your child’s “School of Choice”. Our Student Council will be doing some activities later this month and into February to honor our school and continue shining a positive light on this opportunity for education made available for our students and CGS families!

School Board Appreciation Month:

January is School Board Appreciation Month. This year has been one of the toughest years ever to serve as a school board member. Making the tough calls that may not be the popular decision is tough in any year, but given the past year of operating a school during an unprecedented pandemic has been incredibly difficult! Please take a moment this month to send us a letter, picture, or note of appreciation for our Clover Garden School Board of Directors. They work endlessly and tirelessly to help our school continue to grow and flourish. Their jobs are 100%voluntary and involve much more time and effort than just “showing up” for a meeting once a month. They sacrifice their personal time to ensure CGS faculty, staff, students, and families have what they need to be successful. THANK YOU to our CGS Board Members!! You’re appreciated and loved! Thanks for all that you do for CGS!

Covid-19 Screening:

Attached is a PDF of the screening questions that we will ask your student(s) when they come on campus. Please review those questions prior to sending your student to campus for any testing or for in-person learning. If your child has any symptoms, please contact your child’s teacher immediately and DO NOT let your child come to campus. A member of our administrative team will be in touch with you in regards to “next steps” in regards to quarantine requirements, etc. Please be honest when answering those questions as your honesty helps keep our community safe and protected from community spread of Covid-19.

Testing Schedule:

Attached is the most current Testing Schedule for our students. Please review the attached schedule for the times/dates that your student needs to be on campus for their assessments. This year’s ACT is scheduled to take place on February 23^rd on CGS’ campus for all Juniors. Score reports from our most recent state testing (Math 1 Check in, 8^th Grade Science Check in, PSAT, and PreACT) will all be included in the report card envelope available for pick up for your student on Friday, January 15^th.

If you have any questions, please contact our testing coordinator, Ms. Robyn at robyncox@cgsnc.org.

Athletics Information:

Our Grizzly Basketball Season is underway! We had our first home games last week on campus and were excited to have our student athletes back in the building! There were a lot of procedural changes this year due to our Covid-19 restrictions, but a special shout out goes out to our athletes and our Grizzly families for helping us ensure the safety of all of our students and staff by adhering to the health and safety guidelines/restrictions. Our “audience/spectators” are limited this year, but don’t fear! There are other ways that you can still enjoy our games LIVE by viewing them online for a small monthly subscription fee. Please see the attached email that was sent out last week in regards to our new online video platform! The quality is fantastic and it’s like you’re at the game!

Mandatory Try-Out Form for Middle School Boys Soccer Due Monday, January 11

This is a reminder that the MS Boys Soccer mandatory form is due on Monday, January 11. As of right now we have 12 boys that signed up. We are needing to have at least 2-3 more boys sign up to have a team. Please try to reach out to your friends and classmates to see if you can get a few more boys to sign up.

If you are interested, please fill out the attached form and send it to the CGS Athletic Director, Kelly Moyer via email at kellymoyer@cgsnc.org by the deadline listed above.

Canvas Global Announcements:

As another way to make sure you’re aware of what’s going on, periodically, we will send “Global Announcements” through Canvas to make sure you do not miss any deadlines or information. In order to make sure you are signed up to receive the notifications, please follow the steps listed below:

The Global Announcement is located on the Dashboard of your Parent account and student account.

Login to your Parent/Observer Account
Select Account on the Left hand Global Navigation Toolbar
Notifications
1. Set Announcement to Immediately
Scroll Alerts
1. Set Global Announcement to Immediately

If you need assistance setting this up, please contact our Canvas Assistance team at canvasassistance@cgsnc.org.

Report Cards:

2^nd Quarter Report Cards are scheduled to go out this Friday, January 15^th from the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. Please make sure you take a moment to swing by the school and pick up your child’s report card. Only a student or student’s parent/guardian are allowed to pick up their report cards unless you call the front office and give us verbal permission to do otherwise. This report card is filled with valuable information including your child’s “Letter of Intent” form. The letter of intent form solidifies your child’s enrollment spot for next school year. Please make sure that you fill out this form and make sure it’s returned to CGS by no later than January 29, 2021. This form needs to go to Mrs. Nina, our school’s registrar. If you drop it off at the front office, email/scan it to her, or mail it in, we will make sure she receives it. If you have any questions regarding the letter of intent, please contact Mrs. Nina at ninamiller@cgsnc.org with questions or concerns.

PowerSchool access is currently “down” for any trying to access it. It will be “up and running” again on January 15^th @ 5:00 P.M. It is temporarily deactivated while we finalize Quarter 2 grades and transition over to Quarter 3. Thank you for your patience! Your student’s progress can currently be monitored through your Canvas Observer account in the meantime while PS isn’t activated.

K-11^th School Pictures:

Save the Date! We are currently scheduling students to come on campus to take their yearbook photo for this school year. Please save Friday, February 5^th, 2021 as your child’s “yearbook photo” day. This will be a very quick process as students will enter the building at Building 3’s entrance (gym entrance), come into the gym, take their photo, and exit through Building 3. We will have additional details for you closer to the time of pictures in regards to Covid-19 restrictions/expectations while your student is in the building. Thank you for your flexibility in helping us have some type of “normalcy” for our students and give them the opportunity to be featured in this year’s yearbook! If you have any questions about pictures, please reach out to Ms. Peel at abigailpeel@cgsnc.org or Mrs. Cox at jennifercox@cgsnc.org.

At this time, all of K-5 students SHOULD be on campus for on-site learning per the approved BOD re-entry plan for K-5^thgrade students. Students not enrolled in our MS/HS focus groups will need to arrange transportation to stop by campus during their grade’s designated time for pictures. Thank you!

3^rd-5^th Grade Parents/Students:

Parents of students in the 3^rd-5^th grade, at this time we are currently still “on track” to return for on-campus learning for your students beginning on February 1^st. Please be on the lookout for a survey coming soon from your child’s teacher in regards to your choice for “on-site learning” or continuing “remote learning” options for your student. We will be in touch throughout the month of January in regards to “next steps” and plans for your children to return on campus safely. Thank you for your patience!

K-2 Students are set to begin re-entry in a staggered start schedule beginning on Tuesday, January 19^th. Parents of K-2 students, please check your email for additional details from CGS and your child’s teacher in regards to expectations and details regarding their re-entry into CGS for on-site learning.

Annual Survey for CGS Families:

As we reflect on the past 6 months of our school year, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you! Each year around December/January, we send out an annual survey to our families and to our faculty/staff. We would greatly appreciate you taking a quick moment to give us some feedback on our survey. We understand that this school year has been TOTALLY different, and some questions may not apply as we have not been back on campus in person, but please answer the questions that are applicable. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete. We use this information to help reflect on things that are working well and make improvements in the areas of need for the overall betterment of our school. Thank you for taking the time to complete this!Survey is due by Friday, January 15, 2021.

Parents/Stakeholders Annual Survey

Material Distribution:

-On Monday, January 11, 2021, we will have another distribution of materials for students. If your student has any of the courses listed below, please make sure that you come by campus and pick up their materials. Please stay in your vehicle and we will bring the material out to you. Please enter from the Burch Bridge Road entrance and travel around the building to the front circle. We request that you wear your face mask while interacting with our faculty/staff and that you remain 6 feet apart to social distance. If you’ve been in contact with anyone that has tested positive for Covid-19 or if you have symptoms of Covid-19 yourself, please do not come on campus. Thank you for helping us keep our faculty/staff safe!

Students with last names A-M will need to pick up materials from 9:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M.

Students with last names N-Z will need to pick up materials from 1:00 P.M. until 4:00 P.M.

Materials needing to be picked up from students on: Monday, January 11, 2021
Emily Reagan	Physical Science
Michael Johnson	Atlantic World History	Copy of textbook Chapter One
Torie Paylor	6th Grade ELA	Copy of Lesson 17 & 18 Wordly Wise (A Garcia & S Summers)

Christine Johnson	ELA 4th	Lesson Packet-due to school closing-packet pick up will be Tuesday, January 12