A Note From Ms. Sickler

Thursday, May 27th from 4:00-6:00pm at the Harvest Playground.  Bring your own chair and learn about Harvest PTA while your kids play on the playground.

Field Day – This FRIDAY

• Click on this Equipment List for all 21 stations organized by difficulty.  Feel free to substitute any equipment that is similar to that you already have in your home!
• The Field Day Score Card can be copied and printed off to keep track of the day’s activities.  Don’t forget to share your Field Day scorecard, pictures, and videos using #salineFD2021 on Friday.

• 9:00 – Morning meeting with classroom teachers
• 9:30-10:00am – View introductory Field Day video and Field Day Activities presentation to get prepped and ready!
• 10:00-12:30pm – Have a blast going through as many of the Field Day activities as you can!

Upcoming Dates:

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

SAVE THE DATE: VIRTUAL FIELD DAY THIS FRIDAY

District Notes

The newest guidance from the health department states that students can take off their masks for recess if there are 100 or less students out on the playground at any time.  If we have over 100 students outside, masks should be worn at that point. Indoors, students should continue to mask as we have all year.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that there is a SEAC event tomorrow?

Ms. Sickler Reads!

A Note From Ms. Sickler

Calling All Books!  We are officially done with book check out in the media center for the year.  While it’s a highlight of our time together in media, getting all of the books collected now will ensure that everything is back and ready to start the year in the fall.  We are asking that all books be returned to the media center by June 1st.  If you are unsure of which books your child may have checked out or still needs to return, please email Mrs. Reeves (reevesm@salineschools.org) directly and she will send you that information.  Thank you in advance for your help in this process.

Third Grade Families: Reminder that students are taking the ELA MSTEP on Monday and MATH MSTEP on Wednesday.

You can assist your child in preparation for testing by doing the following: 

Test Anxiety:

Students may experience anxiety about tests and may experience heightened anxiety before a testing situation. A certain degree of test anxiety is normal. Too much anxiety, however, can negatively affect performance. The following strategies may assist students and parents in reducing test anxiety.

• Discuss the test openly and in a positive way.
• Have realistic expectations of your child’s performance while encouraging their best efforts.
• Emphasize that the test is only one measure of academic performance.

We very much appreciate your support! 

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

SAVE THE DATE: VIRTUAL FIELD DAY FRIDAY, MAY 28th!

District Notes

From Dr. Laatsch’s May 14th Community Message:

As it relates to the latest CDC guidance on not needing to wear masks for those people who are fully vaccinated, it is very unclear on how this will apply to school settings in the future. MDHHS (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) is in the process of reviewing the updated CDC guidance regarding masks. We will keep you updated if our local guidance changes. For now, we continue to operate under the state of Michigan Gatherings and Face Mask Order as advised by the Washtenaw County Health Department. Therefore, we will continue to require masks in our schools. 

Read his entire message HERE.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that third graders are able to visit Heritage on May 25th?  If you have any questions prior to the visit feel free to contact Mrs. Megan DeGrand (degrandm@salineschools.org) or Mrs. Musetta Deneen (deneenm@salineschools.org)

Ms. Sickler Reads!

A Note From Ms. Sickler

Wishing all our moms a Happy Mother’s Day!  We are so appreciative of YOU!

A few items to note:

• Thank you for continuing to support a healthy learning environment for our students. It’s nice to see COVID positive cases trending in a better direction in our community.  Understandably, it is important that we continue to be cautious.  Before and after school drop off/pick up are busy times at Harvest.  Our community is experiencing different levels of comfort during this pandemic.  Though wearing masks is not obligatory outdoors, please consider supporting others by wearing your mask at arrival and dismissal times, when leaving your car, to drop off and pick up your students.
• Parking Loop Reminder – only use the loop at pick-up to pick up your 2nd or 3rd-grade student.  We ask our Y5-1st grade families to park and meet your child.

Thank you for the team effort!

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

SAVE THE DATE: VIRTUAL FIELD DAY FRIDAY, MAY 28th!

District Notes

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that Saline Special Education Advisory Committee has a partnership series? Check out the next one on May 24th!

SEAC event spring2021

Ms. Sickler Reads!

A Note From Ms. Sickler

Make sure you thank a teacher (or five!) this week and let them know how much you love and appreciate them. Harvest has the best teachers in Michigan!  ALL the adults in our building are teachers, teaching in the classroom, the office, in small groups, in the cafeteria, and all other spaces where our students learn and grow.

Our amazing PTA has organized special events each day for our staff including snacks on Monday, lunch on Tuesday, breakfast on Wednesday, and an extra-long lunch on Thursday.  We need your help.  Please sign up HERE if you can help cover a post-lunch recess for your child’s grade level.

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

District Notes

Washtenaw County Health Department just updated their guidance regarding the quarantine time period required for close contacts of COVID positives. The quarantine time has been reduced from 14 to 10 days!

If you test positive for COVID English

If you test positive for COVID Spanish

FAQ parents quarantine isolation English

FAQ parents quarantine isolation Spanish

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that there are great job opportunities in Saline that align right with our school schedule?  Come be a para-educator in our district.

Ms. Sickler Reads!

A Note From Ms. Sickler

Recently we have seen an uptick in distracted driving in the parking lot. We have had some close calls recently. Please continue to give your full attention to driving if you are using the Harvest parking lots when dropping off or picking up. Children are never released to cross into the parking lot without an adult escort. If you are dropping off or picking up curb-side, please do not leave your vehicle.

Upcoming Dates:

• May 17 & 19: 3rd Grade MSTEP
• May 31: No school- Memorial Day
• June 9: Half day (12:10PM dismissal)
• June 10: Half day, last day of school (12:10PM dismissal)

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

District Notes

Please join us for another opportunity to engage in conversation around equity. We will be using the Saline Bridge to Civility Protocol to better help us engage in civil discourse. Please note that due to the number of trained facilitators we have to run breakout rooms, we are limiting participation to the first 120 people. Click HERE to join the conversation!  It is not necessary to have attended session #1 in order to attend this upcoming session on May 4th. NOTE: After you sign-up, a confirmation ZOOM link to allow you to access the engagement session will be sent to the email address that you provided. 

Read entire message HERE.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that students can participate in a STEM camp in person OR at home this summer?  Camp Invention is back!

Ms. Sickler Reads!

A Note From Ms. Sickler

If you would like to provide input for your child’s placement for the 2021-2022 school year, please use the Google Forms listed below:

Entering Young5s/Kindergarten

Entering 1st Grade Input Form

Entering 2nd Grade Input Form

Entering 3rd Grade Input Form

Entering 4th Grade Input Form

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

District Notes

From Dr. Laatsch’s April 16th community message:

Although we are moving forward with more in-person instruction in our buildings in a time with significant COVID-19 activity, we are recognizing that we can operationalize more in-person instruction safely. Yet, it will continue to present quarantining challenges. It’s not ideal to have to quarantine whole or partial sections of classrooms in any of our buildings. We will continue to work through this with the support of our students, staff and community.

Quarantining FAQ

Read the entire message HERE.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that you can still order the Harvest 2020-2021 Yearbook?  Order HERE.

Ms. Sickler Reads!

Ramadan Mubarak to all our Harvest Families celebrating this season.  Enjoy this story from Olympic medalist, Ibtihaj Muhammad on a story of hijab and family.

Learn more about Ramadan HERE.

A Note From Ms. Sickler

Order yearbooks now – April 23rd HERE.  If you are unable to purchase a yearbook and would like one for your student, please contact Mrs. Pickett or me and we can make arrangements for your family to receive one.

Can you find me in my first-grade yearbook class photo from a long, long time ago?

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

District Notes

From Dr. Laatsch’s April 9th community message:

Even though we have experienced no spread of COVID-19 transmission in our classrooms over the past 13 months, we know students are contracting COVID-19 in the community. This is why your partnership is so important to us. When students are away from school, please continue the following practices:  

• Please make a very concerted effort to practice mitigation efforts when your kids are engaging with other households, socializing in the community, participating in athletics, etc.

• As you have consistently been doing all year, please do not send your children to school if they have any symptoms of illness.

Read the entire message HERE.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that you can share input for 21-22 classroom placement for any student entering Young 5s – Fourth grade next year?  If you would like to provide input for your child’s placement for the 2021-2022 school year, please use the Google Forms listed below:

Entering Young5s/Kindergarten

Entering 1st Grade Input Form

Entering 2nd Grade Input Form

Entering 3rd Grade Input Form

Entering 4th Grade Input Form

Ms. Sickler Reads!

Enjoy learning why kindness counts with The Potato Chip Champ

A Note From Ms. Sickler

I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing spring break.  I know that I appreciated the screen-free time and was able to enjoy time outside with my family.  Our entire staff will be excited to see our Harvest students tomorrow morning in-person or on Zoom!

A few friendly reminders about drop-off/pick-up

• If parking in either parking lot, please walk your child to the sidewalk
• If using the loop
  • children must enter/exit from the passenger side only
  • if your child can not independently get out of the car, please park and walk your child to the sidewalk
  • do not park and get out of your vehicle while in the loop

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

District Notes

From Dr. Laatsch’s April 3rd Community Message:

We would like to remind all families of the critical importance of not sending your children to school if they have any symptoms of illness. Our community has done an excellent job of this and we need to continue with these strict efforts in order to avoid larger than necessary quarantining numbers moving forward.

Read the entire message HERE.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that Michigan Alliance for Families has many great virtual learning opportunities in April?  Check them out HERE.

Ms. Sickler Reads!

Check out Ms. Sickler Reads! playlist with all read alouds from the year.

A Note From Ms. Sickler

From Dr. Laatsch’s March 25th Community Update:

I am sharing some information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) regarding traveling safely during COVID-19. If you plan to travel, please consider these recommendations from MDHHS:

• If you are eligible, get fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Wait 2 weeks after getting your second vaccine dose to travel—it takes time for your body to build protection.

• Get tested with a viral test 1-3 days before you travel. Do NOT travel if you test positive.

• Check travel restrictions before you go; especially information about the spread of any of the new variants of COVID-19 in the locations you plan to visit.

• Wear a mask over your nose and mouth when in public settings. Masks are required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations.

• Avoid crowds and stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arm lengths) from anyone who did not travel with you. It’s important to do this everywhere — both indoors and outdoors.

• Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol)

• Bring extra supplies, such as masks and hand sanitizer.

• Avoid contact with anyone who is sick.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

We will continue to track positive COVID-19 cases and close contact situations among our students and staff over Spring Break. If your student tests positive or is considered a close contact to someone who has tested positive during the week we are off, please email Karan Hervey, District Nurse at hervekar@salineschools.org. This way we can track the information and calculate a return to school date for your student. Thank you for your collaboration with us as we monitor COVID-19 related situations in our district. 

Near the conclusion of Spring Break, please take advantage of a free Rapid COVID-19 testing opportunity at the WISD on Saturday, April 3rd from 10 AM – 4 PM. This will be a drive-thru saliva test, but if someone tests positive, a follow-up PCR (nasal swab) test will be available directly on-site so they don’t have to go somewhere else to get a test to confirm.

Please see this PDF flyer with more details. 

The flyer has a link to pre-register, but here is the direct link as well:  http://honumg.info/WashtenawISD 

The actions of our community will help determine our success in moving towards more in-person learning in all our buildings. We look forward to working together to achieve this goal. As we do get ready to go on Spring Break, I do want to thank all of you for your support. Please be safe and we will look forward to seeing you all back on April 5th.

Read his entire message HERE.

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

District Notes

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that there is a new district resource available to our families? Under the “Academics” drop down menu, visitors can access the Social Emotional Learning platform for the district. Here you can find student, staff, and family resources, timely articles, upcoming events, and staff contact information.

Ms. Sickler Reads!

Check out Ms. Sickler Reads! playlist with all read alouds from the year.

A Note From Ms. Sickler

I proudly stand with the Washtenaw Superintendent’s Association in support of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Communities.

As educators, we believe it is our responsibility to shine a light on the anti-Asian violence perpetuated and sustained by policies, practices and beliefs throughout history in our country: The Chinese Exclusion Act, U.S. occupation of the Philippines, Japanese internment camps, and more. Although our history is stained by racist violence, our future does not have to be.

It deeply concerns us that our students may not feel safe, loved or valued in our community simply because of the color of their skin. We want our students to know, and especially our Asian students, that we see you. We value you. You are important to us, and everything you are and will become makes our community richer.

As superintendents of the public schools in Washtenaw County, we will not waver. We stand firm today with the same commitment we made last year: We commit to anti-racist leadership and fostering inclusive educational environments where each person, students and staff, feels a sense of belonging and is treated with dignity and respect.

We want to be clear that racism and hate have no home in our schools or in our communities. Our diversity is what makes us stronger, and we call on our community to stand with us as we foster a future that honors and embraces all of our diverse perspectives and experiences.

Read the entire statement HERE.

Raising Race-Conscious Children: How to Talk to Kids About Race and Racism

Please reach out to your child’s teacher or me if we can support your child/family in any way.

Important Dates

• Monday –  Y5/Kindergarten Virtual Information Night @ 6:30pm
• Tuesday – Y5/Kindergarten Registration Opens
• 3/27-4/4: Spring Break

Ms. Sickler

Here are your “home school” updates:

• PR Weekly Update
• WM Weekly Update

Harvest Specials Rotation

In-Person Students: Here is the schedule and rotation for the days that you are in school.

Check out CHOICE DAY activities HERE.

Virtual Students: You will be following your daily special schedule.

District Notes

From Dr. Laatsch’s March 20th District Update:

I am sharing some information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) regarding traveling safely during COVID-19. If you plan to travel, please consider these recommendations from MDHHS:

• If you are eligible, get fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Wait 2 weeks after getting your second vaccine dose to travel—it takes time for your body to build protection.

• Get tested with a viral test 1-3 days before you travel. Do NOT travel if you test positive.

• Check travel restrictions before you go; especially information about the spread of any of the new variants of COVID-19 in the locations you plan to visit.

• Wear a mask over your nose and mouth when in public settings. Masks are required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations.

• Avoid crowds and stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arm lengths) from anyone who did not travel with you. It’s important to do this everywhere — both indoors and outdoors.

• Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol)

• Bring extra supplies, such as masks and hand sanitizer.

• Avoid contact with anyone who is sick.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

The actions of our community will help determine our success in moving towards more in-person learning in all our buildings. We look forward to working together to achieve this goal.

Read his entire message HERE.

Sweet Tweets of the Week

Did You Know?

Did you know that Girls on the Run starts this week?

Ms. Sickler Reads!