Newsletter

A Message from the Board

The board of directors would like to acknowledge and thank Anser families for their resilience and support as we continue to navigate these trying times.

We know the parents and students of our community have endured and sacrificed a lot in the last two years of this pandemic and this recent wave of cases has been a difficult wrinkle on our path to “normalcy”. We know each and every one of you are doing your best and acting in the best interest of your child(ren). Together, we are getting there!

To support parents and guardians in steps to take if anyone in your family or your child has tested positive or has a known exposure to covid, we have adopted the simplified CDC guidelines and created a checklist specific for Anser families. Upon reviewing this, do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or clarifications.

A few bits of good news to share:

Every home in the U.S. is now eligible to receive 4 free home covid tests via USPS! Complete the information at this link to receive your tests by the end of this month. Having home tests on hand is a great way to rule out covid if or when family members may be experiencing symptoms.

Anser has completed their first 2 rounds of prevalence testing within the school and BOTH batches of tests have came back with ZERO positive cases among the random sample of students. This is great information to have as we remain laser focused on off-ramping mitigation measures within our school in a safe way once this recent surge of covid recedes. The more students we have participating in community prevalence testing, the better our data and, hopefully, the quicker we can make decisions to continue to enhance our daily educational environment for our students. If you have not yet signed your child(ren) up for prevalence testing, please consider doing so by going to this link.

Again, the Anser Board of Directors wants to commend and celebrate each and every family in our school community for their perseverance, understanding and diligence to work together as a community. We KNOW we will get through this and brighter times lie ahead. We are here to talk to, support, answer questions and listen to feedback any time it is needed.

In Crew,

The Anser Board of Directors

As always, we are here to support you. If you have questions regarding our governance practices, our pandemic response efforts, or anything else related to the Anser community you may contact our Board President, Caitlyn Scales. Her contact information is: caitlyn@upthescales.com or 630-207-5607.

Anser Elementary Specials Update

PE /Adventure - Tanya Rush

PE/ Adventure is going strong. We have been outside the whole year playing, exploring whatever we can find, looking at nature, and having fun. We started the year off with bike safety and riding the greenbelt. We have 90% of students riding bikes now. K-5 students have become quite the walkers and have explored the neighborhood and greenbelt. We have seen several blue herons, red-tailed hawks, and a bald eagle. Grades 2-5 will be doing some wheel action after break with our new longboards and other things that roll besides bikes. K-1 will continue walking further and faster while learning how to be street smart and aware of their surroundings. We will also be playing cooperative games that are enjoyable for everyone.

Visual Arts- Anne Moore

Art classes kicked off the school year in the studio getting to know materials, learning the routines and working to create a portfolio with our own unique flair on the cover! Art has since moved onto a cart travelling currently to each classroom with projects focused on drawing. These projects are the baseline for all of our auction work this year. Every year students contribute their beautiful work to one collaborative piece per crew that will be auctioned off in the Spring to help raise funds for our school community. Keep an eye out in February for these projects to be unveiled! The students have worked so hard to produce their best work for this effort and are proud to give back to their school. I am so proud of them!

SEL - Sarah Wilson

Social Emotional Learning classes this fall focused on developing skills for learning and emotion management. For more specific information about what K-6 students have been up to during my time with them, including ways you can support your child’s social emotional learning, click on the grade level links below.

Kindergarten 1st Grade Grades 2/3 Grades 4/5 Grade 6

STEM - Captain Richard Incorvia

Avast. Winter STEM ended with a number of exciting activities and explosions. Having finished some dangerous, sea-based activities in the classrooms, we commandeered the Art Studio. The Kindergarten and first grade faced some tough engineering and design challenges in the studio. Second and third graders built wood cars and safely learned to use hammers and saws. Fourth and fifth graders explored light and waves by making pinhole cameras. The sixth graders exploded various chemical reactions! After break, we will be back to programming and also starting some 3D design projects on TinkerCAD.