Parent Update-April 26, 2021

Hello Little River Community!

Periodic updates are shared each week during the school year regarding school via phone, email, and text. See updates below!

Mark your calendars!

• April 26-27-Spring Picture Day

• April 28-Little River K-8 Virtual Career Day

• May 6-Little River K-8 Virtual Leadership Day

• Register ENG SPA

• May 21-June 4-End-of-Grade Tests

News you can use!

• In the 2021-2022 school year, Durham Public Schools families will be launching Ignite! Online Academy as a virtual school for grades K-12. Ignite! will be the virtual learning option for the 2021-2022 school year. Ignite! is an excellent option for families who are enthusiastic about online learning and have already made their decision to enroll in online learning for the 2021-2022 school year! See information below for the next Ignite Virtual Q&A sessions: 

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• Durham County Library Walk-in Hours Begin May 4 Beginning Tuesday, May 4, Durham County Regional (East, North, South, and Southwest) and Branch (Bragtown and Stanford L. Warren) Libraries will be available at a limited capacity for one-hour walk-in visits to browse and check out materials or to use the computers. Face masks and temperature checks are required to enter. See open hours and more information.

• Food for Durham Launches United Way’s Durham One Fund has launched Food for Durham to help Durham’s local food and hunger relief nonprofits. Donate or volunteer, or for food and housing assistance, dial 211.

• Durham County Vaccine Scheduling Phone Line Durham County Department of Public Health is offering vaccine appointments to anyone age 16 or older. To schedule an appointment, call (919) 560-HELP (4357). For location, parking, and FAQ, visit Durham County Public Health’s vaccination page. Vaccines are free, even without health insurance! Need a ride to your COVID-19 vaccination? Call 1-844-771-RIDE (7433) or visit RIDE UNITED NC’s website.

• NC Extra Credit Grant - $335 Coronavirus Relief for Families Most North Carolina families with children received an automatic $335 coronavirus relief payment last fall to help with virtual schooling and child care costs. Eligible families who did not receive the $335 check have another chance to apply through May 31, 2021.

• For parents of virtual learners in grades 3-8, if you haven’t already done so, please remember to complete the survey you received last week about the EOG. The survey closes Monday, April 26, 5pm.

Missed this week’s Sunday phone message? Click here!

Missed a birthday announcement? Watch GMBN!

• Friday, April 30, 2021

Best,

CHogans

Parent Update-April 19, 2021

Hello Little River Community!

Periodic updates are shared each week during the school year regarding school via phone, email, and text. See updates below!

Mark your calendars!

• April 26-27-Spring Picture Day

• April 28-Little River K-8 Virtual Career Day

• May 6-Little River K-8 Virtual Leadership Day

• May 21-June 4-End-of-Grade Tests

News you can use!

• Spring Picture Day is coming! Order your child’s pictures here.

• As we approach the end of the school year, we would like to share information on the expectations for students to participate in end-of-year testing. This year, as required by federal and state laws, 3rd-8th grade students are expected to take the End-of-Grade tests in reading and math. Since these are state assessments, students will take these tests in person, in school, with health and safety protocols in place.Students participating in both the in-person and virtual instructional programs will participate in End-of-Grade tests. In-person students will test during the school day. Virtual students will test on Wednesday according to a soon to be announced schedule. Parents of students participating in our virtual program will receive an email on Tuesday, April 20, requesting information to help us with planning for testing. Please complete the survey by Monday, April 26.

• DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ PROGRAM FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS IDENTIFIED AS A STATE LEADER IN THE PURSUIT OF EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE As part of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s  strategic initiative designed to help advanced students from all racial, ethnic, economic, demographic, or other backgrounds reach their full potential, DPS’ Academically and Intellectually Gifted Services (AIG) program was highlighted in a guidebook shared with the State Board of Education and schools across the state. The guidebook was also publicized by the National Association for Gifted Children in a featured article by NC’s Director of Advanced Learning. The Call to Action Guidebook prepared by NCDPI’s Division of Advanced Learning & Gifted Education outlines six critical actions for realizing equity and excellence in gifted education. DPS served as a Promising Practice example for the first critical action, “Reframe Your Lens.” This action challenges educators to analyze their beliefs, experiences, influences, environments, responsibilities, and views of self and others. It also challenges them to view students as “at-potential” rather than “at-risk.”

• The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University would like to get feedback from parent communities across the state regarding your experiences with the At-Home Learning Initiative’s Classroom Connection which is a series of 192 video lessons and resources created and filmed by North Carolina teachers to support your child’s learning at home. You may recall that this resource was shared with families last spring. Lessons are aired weekly on the PBS NC channel and are publicly available on NC DPI’s YouTube Channel and GoOpenNC website. This short 5-10 minute survey will help them identify how the programming is being used and how useful it is to families across our state. All caregivers that complete this survey will be entered into a drawing to win one of 25 digital Amazon gift cards  ($50). Link to survey If you have any questions regarding this survey or program, please contact:Erin Huggins, Research Associate, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University eshuggins@ncsu.edu

• NC State University is offering reading skills camps this summer. See flyers for details: ENG SPA

• Thank you to PTO for the purchase of the new picnic tables for our campus!

Missed this week’s Sunday phone message? Click here!

Missed a birthday announcement? Watch GMBN!

• Friday, April 16, 2021

Best,

CHogans

Parent Update-April 12, 2021

 Hello Little River Community!

Periodic updates are shared each week during the school year regarding school via phone, email, and text. See updates below!

Mark your calendars!

• April 13-On-site COVID testing, 10am-1pm. Please see the linked flyers (English, Spanish) for more information.

• April 28-Little River K-8 Virtual Career Day

• May 6-Little River K-8 Virtual Leadership Day

News you can use!

• Breakfast/Lunch Menu

• Good luck to our Elementary Battle of the Books Team! They compete this Wednesday, April 14!

Missed this week’s Sunday phone message? Click here!

Missed a birthday announcement? Watch GMBN!

• Friday, April 9, 2021

Best,

CHogans

Parent Update-April 5, 2021

 Hello Little River Community!

Periodic updates are shared each week during the school year regarding school via phone, email, and text. See updates below!

Mark your calendars!

• April 8-Middle school in-person instruction begins

News you can use!

• Breakfast/Lunch Menu

• Bus Attestation Form

• PCR COVID TESTING

• Little River families have the opportunity to register your child for free COVID testing! The free PCR Testing conducted by Ottendorf Labs will be available districtwide beginning this week. Please see the linked flyers (English, Spanish) for more information. Details are forthcoming regarding the schedule for all schools. Testing will occur in staggered, scheduled rotations across all DPS sites.

• SYMPTOM SCREENING While the new NC StrongSchools Public Health Toolkit no longer requires daily symptom screening of students and staff, DPS is going to continue to have students and staff use the Qualtrics Symptom Screener.  This will continue to assist in identifying asymptomatic people as well as provide a tool for contact tracing so we can slow the spread within our schools and facilities. DPS will continue to take temperatures of every student entering the building.

• ALL Residents Eligible to Sign Up For The Covid-19 Vaccine All individuals in Groups 1-5 may sign up on the Durham County Department of Public Health (DCoDPH) Vaccine Appointment Scheduling List to be notified when an appointment is available. Group 4 individuals eligible to be vaccinated beginning March 31 will receive scheduling notification beginning March 29. Individuals in Group 5 will receive scheduling notifications beginning April 5. For more information, click here: https://www.dconc.gov/  Sign Up To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Email Updates!  dcopublichealth.org/covid19emails.

• Learn More About Programs For Gifted Students Join Durham Public Schools Family Academy and Durham County Cooperative Extension on April 15 from 530-7PM for a workshop focused on Durham Public Schools and community-based programs for gifted and talented children. Learn how DPS students are identified for and served by the Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program and how you can support and advocate for your gifted and talented child. Register for this virtual event at: https://go.ncsu.edu/equity_workshop. Contact Christa Gibson at cgibson@dconc.gov for further information.

Missed this week’s Sunday phone message? Click here!

Missed a birthday announcement? Watch GMBN!

• Friday, March 25, 2021

Best,

CHogans