Harrington Happenings
April 25, 2021
Happy Sunday Harrington Families
I hope you have an enjoyable spring break with your family. Whether you traveled or stayed at home, a week off from school offers quality family time that is so valuable to your child’s development. Time for fun and play is integral to raising kids who are well rounded, happy, and self-motivated. Adults deserve this too! We are almost to the end of our school journey for this year, the year has unexpectedly gone quicker than I had anticipated with May just being around the corner. Now to business:
Return to school COVID Guidelines:
If you did travel or had visitors over vacation, I want to re-iterate what Dr. Lang stated in his message to families on April 16th. Now that we are back to full time learning with normal size classrooms, it is important to note that there are only two (2) exceptions to allow for an individual student that has elected to return full-time, in-person to “remote into” their class. Individual students that need to isolate or quarantine, therefore learn remotely, would be due to:
1) being diagnosed with COVID-19, or
2) being identified as a close contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19.
In either instance, the school may require certification/confirmation from a medical provider (i.e. doctor’s office, walk-in clinic, etc.) or a local Board of Health that has identified the individual student as a close contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19.
Aside from these two exceptions, students that are ill, traveling, or for other reasons not able to physically attend school should follow pre-COVID absence guidelines and contact their school to let them know they will be absent for the day. This guideline is important to understand and support as we move forward with the rest of the school year.
MCAS
For our third and fourth grade families, the state has announced that we will continue with our MCAS testing this spring. Instead of two sessions of math and two sessions of ELA, students will take just one session of math and one of ELA. For our remote third and fourth graders, we are awaiting more guidance on remote testing. Third and fourth grade families, please make note of these dates to avoid absences.
Monday May 24th – Grade 3 ELA
Tuesday May 25th – Grade 3 Math
Wednesday May 26th – Grade 4 ELA
Thursday May 27th – Grade 4 Math
Friday May 28th - MCAS Make ups
At this time the district is still establishing what the requirements will be in regards to our remote students. Once I have more information on what this will look like I will promptly inform our remote families of 3rd and 4th graders.
ARRIVAL/DISMISSAL
If you are a walker picking up your student(s), please DO NOT walk through the Parking lot at any time. If you park Richardson Rd, please walk using the cross walks to the gazebo side of the school and use that sidewalk only, failure to do so presents a safety hazard and slows the process down. Again, DO NOT walk across the parking lot to get to the gazebo sidewalk.
As always, we appreciate all that everyone does for the Harrington community and for the continued support during this challenging year. We are almost done
Please reach out to me or Karen with any questions or concerns as always.
Once again, remember to…"Push through your day, Smile, Be Happy, Stay Positive!"
Be safe! Stay well!
Rob & Karen
Harrington PTO
Thank you to all the readathon participants! Harrington students have gone ABOVE and BEYOND with their fundraising on this event! The participation has been so outstanding that more prizes needed to be ordered!!! Your HPTO is working hard to assemble over 175 prize packages, purchase top earning grade level gifts, create trophies for top earning classes and order books for every student. It is anticipated that prizes will be ready after April break. We are truly amazed with the success of this event! Please assure your student that we are working as fast as possible to get these prizes out. Thank you in advance for your patience.
The time has come, it's time for Square1Art. For those of you who are new to Harrington, this is an annual fundraiser where you can turn your child's artwork into shirts, notebooks, tiles, trivets, mouse pads, etc. For those who have previously participated in Square1Art, thank you so much, and we hope you'll participate again.
This year's fundraiser will be completely digital. You are welcome to download Square1Art's paper, but do not need to. You child can draw/create on any blank paper. Pluease use white paper - this will result in the best outcome. Additionally, the space your child creates on should ideally be square. If your child has already made something he/she is proud of, you do not need to start a new project.
Once your child's art is created, you will photograph and upload the work. Orders will be placed online (no sending in paper forms) and mailed directly to your home. Orders will be mailed about 2 ½ weeks after your order is placed. All art must be uploaded by May 14, 2021.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email (ekarban@gmail.com).
Hannaford is offering their yearly fundraising opportunity to our community though May 29! Shop items in the following link to earn money for Harrington. Your cashier will give you “school dollars” you can put into Harrington’s pouch on the school fundraising board at the front of the store.
We want YOU to join our PTO! We are currently seeking new members and board members to continue the wonderful events and fundraisers for the school community. All board positions are available at this time for the 2021-2022 school year and need to be filled. If you have any interest in joining or learning more about how you can help, please reach out to us at HarringtonPTO@gmail.com. Board elections will be held at our next meeting on May 5.
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Our PTO meetings are held virtually the first Wednesday of every month. We post the link to our GoToMeeting on our Facebook page on the day of the meeting. Please keep an eye out for it and join if you can! All are welcome as we discuss fundraising for activities for the students, as well as hear from Principal A and our School Committee Chairperson, Maria Santos, for their monthly updates. These meetings are very informative, so make some time to schedule a sit down with us! We would love you meet you!
Square 1 Art
Dear Families,
The time has come, it's time for Square1Art. For those of you who are knew to Harrington, this is an annual fundraiser where you can turn your child's artwork into shirts, notebooks, tiles, trivets, mouse pads, etc. For those who have previously participated in Square1Art, thank you so much, and we hope you'll participate again.
This year's fundraiser will be completely digital. You are welcome to download Square1Art's paper, but do not need to. You child can draw/create on any blank paper. Pluease use white paper - this will result in the best outcome. Additionally, the space your child creates on should ideally be square. If your child has already made something he/she is proud of, you do not need to start a new project.
Once your child's art is created, you will photograph and upload the work. Orders will be placed online (no sending in paper forms) and mailed directly to your home. Orders will be mailed about 2 ½ weeks after your order is placed.
All art must be uploaded by May 14, 2021.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email (ekarban@gmail.com).
Erica Arrington
Our Virtual Art Project will keep your child creative at home with 3 Easy Steps:
1. Create Art
• Lesson Plan: Use one from your teacher or use one of ours.
• Art Dimensions: At least 8 in X 8 in. Use Our Art Paper
• Get the Best Results: View our Art Do's & Dont's
2. Photograph & Upload your Art to Square1Art.com
• Go Outside Natural light is best and avoid shadows.
• Be Directly Overhead Get the best photo possible.
• Edit & Crop Make your art perfect
Art Upload is due 5/14/2021
3. Shop for Keepsakes
• Remember, every order profits your school.
Family Portal
Your One-Stop Shop for everything you need for your project including instructional videos, printable lessons and helpful links.
4th Grade Parent Committee
Hello from the 4th Grade Committee! Now that we have returned to in-person schooling, we’re looking forward to making your child’s last months of 4th Grade fun and memorable. The 4th Grade Committee has been putting together a yearbook for the 4th graders full of wonderful Harrington memories! Your child will also receive a 4th Grade T-Shirt and a socially-distant T-Shirt Pick Up Parade! We are also in the process of having a Little Free Library installed on the school grounds as our 4th Grade Class Gift.
In order to make all these exciting things happen, we are asking parents for class dues that will help cover the 4th grade expenses. Dues will be $40 per 4th grade student. If your child is in-person, they will be bringing home a form to be filled out and returned to school before April Vacation. Dues can be collected in cash. We are looking forward to adding other end of the year activities for the 4th graders if and when it is safe to do so. When paying your student dues, cash or check payment is HIGHLY encouraged! A portion of each electronic payment is lost due to Venmo fees.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to:
Beth Santoro at santoro.tatten@gmail.com
C. D. Harrington Elementary School
Email: asselinr@chelmsford.12.ma.us
Website: https://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/Domain/12
Phone: 978-251-5166
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harringtonelementarychelmsford/