Wednesday, January 27: Asynchronous Learning; DCPS Townhall on Term 3 Reopening @ 5 PM; Monthly Parent Support Group - First Forum @ 7 PM Thursday, January 27: Asynchronous Learning Friday, January 29: NO SCHOOL - PD/Records Day All Week: Online Murch Book Fair
Future Events
February 1: School Term 3 Begins with In-person Learning Options February 2: HSA Meeting
Important In-Person Learning Resources and Paperwork
Dear families,
For those returning to in-person learning in the building, please see below for important in-person learning resources and information:
Family-School Agreement and Consent Forms: Please draw your attention to the permission/consent forms below, plus the daily screening tracker (which are also available via the DCPS In-Person Learning Guide). These forms should be returned to Murch on or by the first day of in-person instruction. Hard copies can be brought on the first day of school or they can be emailed to us via MurchClassPlacement@gmail.com.
This agreement shares DCPS’s and your commitment to take steps for minimizing exposure to COVID-19 and prioritizes the safety of students and staff at school. Please review in full, sign, and return to your school by or before the 1st day your child attends in-person learning.
To minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19 at school, parents are expected to do a daily student health screening called Ask Ask Look. Please ensure you complete the first two steps of the Ask Ask Look protocol at home. Upon arrival, students will use hand sanitizer, receive a mask (if not already wearing one), and complete the “look” step of the screening (including temperature check). You are expected to sign a screening tracker each day that notes these steps were taken each day your child attends in-person learning at school. Please share the signed tracker each day when you arrive.
Testing will be provided to students that have a completed consent form and display symptoms. If this consent is not provided by the family, a COVID-19 test will not be administered even if showing symptoms and will be asked to see a doctor before returning to your child’s classroom.
We look forward to welcoming your students back for Term 3!
Straight from Mr. C.
Sunday, January 24: Term 3 Cohort Days
Good morning Murch Families:
Below are the teacher cohort assignments for term 3. If you have questions about placement or cohort day assignment, please contact Mary Eckstein and/or Stefanie Berger at mary.eckstein@k12.dc.gov and stefanie.berger@k12.dc.gov. Students in Ms. Davis, Ms. Hsu, Ms. Silver, Dr. Lyon and Mr. Travitz's classes will receive a personalized email sharing which cohort days your child will be attending.
Student/Teacher Cohorts for Term 3 IPLK
Monday/Tuesday Cohorts
Thursday/Friday Cohorts
Pre-K:
Lyon - parents will receive email notification
Silver - parents will receive email notification
Pre-K:
Lyon - parents will receive email notification
Silver - parents will receive email notification
K:
Carney
Cresswell
K:
Allen
Schwadron
1st:
Bergin
Lilley
1st:
Kopin
Gray
2nd:
****Hsu A - parents will receive email notification
****Travitz A - parents will receive email notification
Esche
2nd:
****Hsu B - parents will receive email notification
****Travitz B - parents will receive email notification
Walton
3rd:
Dunnet
Schafer
3rd:
Anderson
Grindrod
4th:
****Davis A - parents will receive email notification
Schack
4th:
****Davis B - parents will receive email notification
Kelly
Brady
5th:
Deegan
5th:
Crabtree
Roling
Saturday, January 23: Final Rosters and a Few Updates
Good morning Murch Families,
Final rosters have been delivered to teachers this morning. Teachers know both who is coming to learn in the classroom space and who will be virtual at home. If you contact your child's teacher to ask questions and are comfortable adding me as a cc on your email, that would be appreciated. If I can intervene and provide responses that teachers may not have answers to, I would love to provide that support to teachers and take that off their plate. That's your choice.
If there is anything I can address, please feel free to reach out. Also, with the targeted and accurately detailed work that Mary Eckstein and Stefanie Berger did to place students, most, if not all of you have had either email communication or phone conversations with them. Hopefully, to date, most of your questions about placement have been answered.
I look forward to seeing pre-k4 families at the update meeting on Monday at 7:00 PM.
Lastly, all teachers, administrators, and support staff have been placed on the prioritized list to receive their first vaccination shot for COVID beginning on Monday, January 25th. That's great news! I will be getting my vaccination shot and look forward to greeting all in-person students coming back for learning at Murch on Monday, February 1st. I will also be reconnecting and welcoming all our virtual students starting on the same day!
Wednesday, January 20: Term 3 Schedules
The term 3 schedules have been created with an in-person/virtual hybrid in mind. Please click your child’s grade level below for each grade-level schedule:
If you have any questions regarding your child's schedule, please submit those by clicking HERE.
As we continue to check for accuracy and precision in each schedule, all grade level schedules will be finalized and re-published on Monday, January 25th to account for any additional tweaking over the next few days.
During the first week of the term, February 1st – 5th, I am expecting teachers to help students get acclimated to their new hybrid world. They be working with students who are in-person, teaching them the procedures and protocols to be used while at school. Students who are virtual will have brief check-ins with teachers to receive work. This will ensure that teachers and in-person students have the time they need to practice and learn these new safety procedures while students at home can engage in meaningful activities. Although there is much to learn, students who are virtual will be away from their teacher and classmates for short periods of time. 1st week schedules will be created by teachers and will be shared with everyone on January 29th.
February 1st may feel like August 31st for many students, parents, and teachers. There will be a lot of firsts as we enter our hybrid world. We will transition back to live instruction (either virtual or in-person) as things settle the first few days. The emphasis must be on helping all students transition into this new model and to ensure supports are in place when they face challenges. Although we will be prepared, we will remain flexible and adapt as needed.
Please click HERE to find an archive of Mr. C's blog on the Murch website.
Monthly Parent Support Groups - First Forum this Wednesday
The Mental Health Team is excited to begin hosting monthly parent support groups for parents. Our first forum is scheduled for this Wednesday, January 27 from 7:00- 8:00 PM and is open to the entire Murch community. This month will be transitions to in-school or maintaining Distance Learning while peers return.
In addition we are happy to host a parent forum specifically for your class if that would be helpful! Please contact Allison Warshof if you want to schedule an evening group for your class or grade level.
Our goals of the group are:
Create a trusting place to express emotions associated with the challenges of parenting
Share and process thoughts and concerns
Provide a safe space to exchange ideas and raise questions
The group will be held on the last Wednesday of every month from 7-8 PM. Each month will have a theme (transitioning to school, anxiety, attention, peer relationships etc).
Thanks very much for spreading the word about Wednesday 1/27 and ongoing monthly groups!
Best,
The Mental Health Team
Join the DCPS Townhall this Wednesday
Click HERE for the DCPS Community Telephone Townhall scheduled for this Wednesday, January 27 at 5 PM to discuss the Term 3 reopening.
On behalf of the Murch staff, they say THANK YOU for the gifts given from Murch families towards the holiday gift fund!
It brightened their day and was much appreciated. Thank you for your generosity and appreciation, Murch Community!!
Murch Mustang Among D.C. Area Students to Ask Jill Biden a Question!
Congratulations to Murch Mustang, Amy Tesfaye, who was one of the D.C. area students selected by the Washington Post‘s KidsPost to ask Jill Biden, our next first lady, a question.
Click HERE to watch the video montage (Amy is the first student to ask a question!)
Call for Auction Volunteers!
Murch HSA will be holding another virtual auction this year. Last year the online auction turned out to be a great success, earning over $85,000 for the school - that has helped pay for teacher appreciation, after school programs and gift cards for families in need, and funding consulting services to close the racial achievement gap. While the auction format and items may be different this year, we hope to repeat our success and earn money for the 2021-22 school year.
Auction planning is underway and we are hoping the parent community can help by sending emails to local vendors for donations. We already have a list of emails and contacts who have donated in the past, we just need a team of volunteers to send off some emails and follow up. We expect this would require less than 30 minutes a week for a few weeks. Can you help send 5-10 emails? Send an email to murchauction@gmail.com if you can help!
We look forward to sharing more details about the auction soon.
Murch Auction Chairs,
Dana Hedgpeth & Julie Lobb
Join the HSA Meeting next Tuesday, February 2
The HSA will host its monthly meeting on Tuesday, February 2 at 7 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend. Please click HERE to join in.
CLS In-Person and Online Programs
Join our in-personfull-time or part-time programs at St. Paul's!
Available Weeks:
January 25-29
February 1-5, 8-12, 15-19, 22-26
March 1-5, 8-12
Full-time / Part-time Options:
Full-time: 8:15 AM-3:15 PM
Part-time Morning: 8:15 AM-12:00 PM
Part-time Afternoon: 12:00-6:00 PM
Part-time Afternoon: 3:30 PM-6:00 PM
You can sign up by the day or by the week.
For children who will have part-time schedules at their school, CLS will offer transportation, pick-up and drop-off services.
To Be Well Fed, and its partner schools, would like to thank the Murch community for its answer to the call for new coats for homeless and at-risk children attending school in the Congress Heights neighborhood. Exceeding all expectations, we collected 185 coats, which demonstrates the huge-hearted generosity of our community. Because of your donations, school administrators were able to offer coats to a broader group of their students, not just those initially identified. Thank you!!
DCPS Tech Support, FAQs and Call Center # [Read more.]
Murch Moments
Second grader, Kieran R., writing in his Fundations workbook during Mr. Travitz's class.
If you have any Murch Moments that you would like to share, please email Murch Communications.
