Announcements 4-2-2020

THURSDAY, APRIL 2nd

UPDATES FROM STUDENTS AND TEACHERS Here are images and stories sent in by families and staff over recent days. WE MISS YOU! VIDEO FROM TEACHERS TO STUDENTS Check out this special video of teachers expressing what they miss about being at school with you.  LINK TO VIDEO. Kindly assembled by Ms. Martinson 1st PLACE IN ESSAY CONTEST Eighth-grader, Destiny Thompson, won FIRST place in the 2020 Hildene Lincoln Essay Competition! She won a cash prize and the honor of being selected out of 150 applicants! The prompt: Identify one issue facing Vermont that you think your state government (the Scott administration and/or the legislature) should address. Describe the challenge and its negative impacts. Then explain why governmental action is appropriate, suggest one or more actions that state government should take, and explain why you think such action would improve the situation. Essays were judged on overall effectiveness, organization, and development, use of language, mechanics, grammar and factual accuracy. Destiny composed a thoughtful and well-written piece about substandard housing in Vermont. Congratulations to Destiny on her hard work! ONLINE BIRD CLASS These are pictures of two students looking for birds. They have been doing an online bird class with the Bird Diva (Bridget Butler) called Nature’s not cancelled. It’s free through a grant from RiseVT and there are two more sessions. The students highly recommend signing up. COOKING CLASS AND SOCIALIZING WITH FRIENDS A DOSE OF NATURE A Voyagers student is shown skipping rocks off Route 36 in Swanton. He is was appreciating the nice temperatures and looking forward to fishing season. PANCAKE ART The pancake creation process is shown below CRAYON ART These pictures were sent to art teacher, Ms. Haberman. The artwork is made with crayons by one of the younger students. So awesome! said Ms. Haberman MORE COOL ART WAS SENT TO ART TEACHER MS. MARTINSON TEDDY BEAR AND STUFFED ANIMAL CHALLENGE Although I am located in Swanton, many families are driving to other communities to do bear hunts to keep busy. Can anyone find Olaf and Teddy on Spring St. in Swanton? Mrs. Brace CONTENT WANTED St. Albans City School families and staff members, if you have anything positive to share on the announcements that show what students and adults are doing to promote learning and a sense of community in this time of uncertainty, then please send it on to Mr. Craib at mcraib@maplerun.org. Please add a short descriptive note to go with your content. It would also be helpful if you wrote that you are providing consent to share your images, video clips, artwork, etc... Thank you.

EVENT This Friday (4-3-2020, 11:00 to 11:30 AM)  the Vermont Attorney General will be holding a town hall on Facebook Live, all for kids. The attorney general’s hope is that this will provide a fun learning experience for kids (as well as a little relief for parents).  The Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/585238355675116/  Folks can send questions in advance to ago.info@vermont.gov or just ask them in the comments during the Facebook Live.  LINK TO PRINTABLE VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT

HARVEST OF THE MONTH Throughout the school year, we try to focus on one different category of healthy local food each month. This month whole grains are what we want to highlight. APRIL - WHOLE GRAINS Health experts advise everyone that grains are a healthy necessity in every diet, and that it’s important to eat at least half our grains as “whole grains.” But what exactly IS a whole grain? And why does it matter? All grains start life as whole grains. In their natural state growing in the fields, whole grains are the entire seed of a plant. This seed (which industry calls a “kernel”) is made up of three key edible parts – the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. Whole grains contain all three parts of the kernel. Refining normally removes the bran and the germ, leaving only the endosperm. Without the bran and germ, about 25% of a grain’s protein is lost, and are greatly reduced in at least seventeen key nutrients. Reference: A grain is the edible seed inside a cereal crop. These grains are comprised of four parts: the husk, the bran, the endosperm and the germ. The husk is inedible and has to be removed before it can be consumed. The bran is a thick inner covering that is made up of several layers. The germ is the part of the grain that produces the sprout for a new plant to grow, and the endosperm is the soft inner part of the grain that provides nourishment for the seed after it is germinated. A whole grain is one with all these components except the husk, if the grain no longer has the bran or germ there will be a loss of nutrients.

UPDATED MEALS INFORMATION Meal delivery and pickup will now occur on Mondays and Thursdays. Times listed below. The pickup sites are at St. Albans City School and BFA LINK TO DOWNLOADABLE VERSION OF THE FLYER

INTERNET ACCESS FOR VERMONT FAMILIES From our district technology staff... Below are a couple of different resources that are from companies providing free internet access for households without internet. LINK TO COMCAST, CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS, and CHARTER-SPECTRUM information. Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone: Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.