About
COVID-19 Information
Middle School COVID-19 Plan
The Middle School faculty and staff are looking forward to welcoming students back on campus in late August. We have spent these past few months connecting with our colleagues at Ellis and around the country to share our remote learning experience from the spring, to plan for a return to on-campus learning, and to refine our remote learning plan in the event that we need to transition to it for a few days or a more significant length of time.
In many ways, our priorities for the beginning of school remain the same: placing students and our mission at the center of our decision-making, transitioning students and families to the next grade level, and building our classroom communities. This year, our most important consideration as we begin school is the health and safety of our Middle School community—students, families, faculty and staff. In order for students to feel safe and to have a robust experience, we must support and grow our Middle School community, from the transition of the rising fifth grade students into Middle School to our eighth grade students who will become our student leaders.
We know that establishing classroom learning communities for students helps them to feel valued and respected, to gain insight from listening to others’ opinions and perspectives, and to develop skills in working with their peers to solve problems. As we navigate the beginning of the school year, our building, classrooms, and some curricula will look different. We have redesigned our classrooms and common spaces to comply with Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Pennsylvania Department of Health guidelines on smaller groupings, face coverings, social distancing, and hygiene practices.
We will prepare our students for our remote learning contingency plans with lessons on attending class via Zoom and utilizing our available technology and resources––Unified Classroom, Google Docs, and Chromebooks. As we prepare to return and in the first weeks of school, we will focus on our social and emotional learning as it is necessary to ensure that all students feel connected and have a toolkit of resources as they deal with the transition to feeling comfortable in school after several months away and the new dynamics of social interactions.
Schedule
We have created a two-week schedule with classes scheduled Monday through Friday, rather than on numbered days. Class times and time spent in classes will remain the same or increase. This will allow a more seamless transition to remote learning if needed and prevent a complete schedule change. It also ensures that students will have access to their complete schedule of classes whether in school or learning remotely. Our Tiger Day activities will be integrated into two days of this schedule. Students will still wear House Shirts and have House Games—although they will look a bit different.
Materials
Family Events
Student Cohorts
We have reenvisioned our spaces in order to limit mixing between groups during the school day—at lunch, in classes, advisories, homerooms, and common areas. At no time will students be in groups larger than 25 when indoors. In order to meet these guidelines, students will be grouped together by grade level as much as possible. Students in a different grade level math or world language class will still access that class in-person with face coverings and six-foot social distancing. Our fifth and sixth grade students will travel together as a cohort for Performing Arts, and our seventh and eighth grade students will attend Performing Arts classes and electives together. For Band and Choir, students will play and sing outside with twelve-foot social distancing and face coverings, and in the Auditorium and Alumnae Hall if weather conditions are not conducive to being outside. Our teachers will further mitigate performing in each period by integrating lessons that do not involve singing/playing.Homerooms and Advisory Study Hall
Homerooms will be divided in two sections for grades 5, 7, and 8; and one section for grade 6 given its smaller size. For morning homerooms (8:00–8:10 a.m.), students will be supervised by two grade-level advisors and will have staggered times to visit lockers after morning arrival. Our new schedule will still include an Advisory Group Study Hall at the end of the day during which students will meet with their small advisory group in a designated location.
Snack/Lunch
Students will eat snack and lunch in grade-level homerooms, supervised by faculty and with social distancing. One grade will be assigned to eat lunch in the courtyard at least once during the week if they choose, and students will be able to have recess outdoors as well. Students will not be required to wear face coverings when eating nor when outside at recess with six-foot social distancing.
Common Spaces
Our common spaces, such as the Middle School Lounge, have been rearranged to accommodate social distancing. Some hallways will convert to one direction. In order to prevent any congestion and respect social distancing, we will have staggered dismissal times for homerooms and classes to visit lockers. Students will be allowed to carry their backpacks with them from class to class to avoid trips to lockers.
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Restrooms: We will reduce occupancy in our Middle School restroom and convert the doors to one entrance and one exit. Students will be allowed to wait outside the restroom on floor signage with teacher permission.
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Water Fountains: Water fountains will be covered except for bottle filling. Each student is asked to bring their own labeled water bottle to school with them each day.
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Outdoor Spaces: In order to maximize our time outside, we have created an outdoor spaces calendar which allows each division to schedule access for classes, lunch, and recess.
Materials
In addition to our school supply list provided at the beginning of the summer, we are asking families to provide some additional supplies to remove the need for shared materials: glue sticks, colored pencils and markers (one pack of eight), scissors, tape, and a ruler.
Classrooms
We have redesigned our classroom layouts to accommodate six-foot social distancing between students. In order to accomplish this, we have reduced the occupancy of our classrooms and created new room schedules and classroom seating configurations. Sanitizer stations will be located in the front of all classrooms, and students will be asked to sanitize upon entering and leaving the classrooms. Furniture will be sanitized by teachers between classes.
Co-curricular Programming
In order to comply with the current limit on inside gatherings, we will hold House Games and Middle School meetings virtually. We will continue our club programming while maintaining cohorts and small groups.
Our field trips are an important part of our Middle School experience, and we are looking closely at each trip. Field trips that take place outside are being closely evaluated, while we are not making plans for trips that take place indoors at this time.
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After a review of safety protocols, we have made the decision that the eighth grade day trip to Camp Guyasuta in Sharpsburg will take place on September 23.
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We are waiting for the Frick Environmental Center and Lutherlyn Camp’s safety protocols prior to making a decision about these trips for grades 5 and 6. We are also investigating day options for the fifth grade trip to Lutherlyn.
Family Events
We deeply value our partnership with families, and we have worked to develop a plan for advisor conferences, Curriculum Night, and our fall conferences that provides families with important information and feedback. Our advisor conferences will take place via Zoom, and advisors will send out individual links to families. We will keep conferences scheduled for August 31 and follow the schedule that families signed up for through Sign Up Genius.
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Our Community Picnic will go virtual this year, and I am thrilled that our Middle School Ellis Parent Association representatives and room parents are joining me in planning a fun and festive kickoff to the beginning of the school year. Stay tuned for more details about this event on September 1!
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Curriculum Night will offer a Zoom meeting at each grade level with the grade-level advisors that will provide an overview of the year and information specific to that grade. Our faculty members will share video recordings of their class organization and structure, and we will share this information with families through email. This information will also be posted on Unified Classroom pages.
At this point, we plan to conduct fall conferences in October in the same manner as the August advisor conferences and include feedback on individual students from each teacher. We are in discussion with the Educational Record Bureau (ERB) about their plans for fall standardized testing, and we will provide this information to families along with any anticipated schedule changes.
Remote Learning Access
Middle School students who are unable to be on campus due to COVID-19 related health concerns will have remote access to all of their courses. Students will follow the same schedule for both in-person and remote classes, and Zoom links, assignments, and materials will be provided via Unified Classroom in advance of all class meetings. Students accessing their courses remotely are responsible for joining class at the designated start time and are expected to be engaged and present throughout the class period, just as they would in the classroom.
We recognize that the physical setup of our building and the structure of our classrooms will look different this fall. We are committed to providing the same robust learning experiences, and our faculty have worked hard this summer to re-envision their curricula with these guidelines in mind. Our experience in remote learning taught us that our students are resilient and they grow in independence. I have faith that they will rise to the occasion again as we walk through this challenge together. We know that all of us will spend this fall in various degrees of adjustment, and as community members, we must work together to ensure the health and safety of all.
