News
Margaritas in January
Our support local initiative continues with Margaritas for the month of January. Visit or order takeout from the Margaritas location in Orono and leave the slip in the box...
Box Tops Collected
Want an easy way to support OTES just by shopping? Box Tops is a great way to do that! Download the free app, choose Old Town Elementary School, and then each time you...
Winter Kids
Week #2 of the Winter Kids challenge is all about nutrition. We'll be learning what our bodies and brains need to be fueled up. You can see on the chart below what is...
Events
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Maggie Mitchell
OTES Family Update January 15, 2021 📆 Upcoming Important Dates Monday, January 18th: No school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Tuesday, January 19th: 4th grade students return to full time in-person instruction Wednesday, January 20th: 5th grade Monday/Tuesday cohort attend school in-person Friday, January 22nd: Interim reports sent home 📱Important! Contact Information Updates Please notify the office at 827-1544 or deb.letourneau@rsu34.org if your contact information (phone number, email, physical address) has changed. It is very important that we can reach you regarding your student! If you notify your student’s teacher via email, please cc Deb Letourneau. We recently installed a new phone system as well, so our staff extensions have changed. Please visit www.rsu34.org if you need a new extension. Our email addresses remain the same. 😷 COVID-19 Reminders Please remember to use this Symptom Screener daily https://www.maine.gov/.../inl.../Pre-Screening%20Tool_11.pdf Please send in extra masks with your student each day. Especially outside in the winter, masks get wet and soiled. The extra masks we have at school are in short supply and are for emergencies only. To report a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 in the RSU #34 community, call 827-7171 and choose menu option zero. You can also report a confirmed or suspected case using this webform: https://forms.gle/WUVWpiRfRhFHCCFx9 If you have questions or concerns about your student’s situation, please call us at school (827-1544) and we will connect you to the appropriate staff member. 💲 Support Local Thanks to all our families who have dined in-person or ordered takeout at Governor’s and Yamas. We were thrilled to support these businesses as well as purchase and give away gift cards for future use. The business of the month for January is Margaritas! If you dine in or get takeout at Margaritas this month, be sure to put your ticket in the yellow box at the restaurant or turn it in at school. We will be drawing gift certificate winners at the end of the month!
Maggie Mitchell
Dear Parents of our 4th Grade Students, As we returned from the holiday break, we assessed our decision to return our 4th grade students to full in person instruction. We had set January 11th as a potential date for this return. Since returning to school from the holiday break, we have experienced an uptick in the community spread of COVID 19, and this has involved some of our 4th grade families, non of these exposure have occurred at OTES. This has made our decision to return more complicated. Although we believe we have a good plan for the safe and healthy return of our students, we think by extending our return date to January 19th, we will gain the necessary time to assess the current community spread and assure the safety of all students and staff. We want to assure the families that at this time, we have no students at OTES with a positive COVID diagnosis, but we want to proceed with caution as we decide to return our 4th graders to full in person learning. Of course, we will continue to evaluate our current health guidelines and community cases to make final decisions and we will communicate those decisions to families if anything changes prior to January 19th.
Maggie Mitchell
A reminder to send multiple face masks with your student each day. Wearing a mask all day, especially outside in cold weather, after eating, and many other conditions, can cause kids' masks to get wet, dirty or uncomfortable. Having a couple options for the day keeps your student comfortable and happy. Thank you! view image
Maggie Mitchell
OTES Family Update December 18, 2020 ❄️Holiday Break Holiday Break begins Wednesday, December 23rd. School resumes Monday, January 4th. 🍪Holiday or Anytime Treats Many families like to send in treats with their students to celebrate the holidays, birthdays etc.. This year, there are two important reminders. 1) Please make sure the treats are store bought. We cannot currently share homemade items. 2) Please check with your student’s teacher about allergies or other considerations for their class. 🚗Out of State Travel If your student is travelling out of state during the holidays or at any time, you must notify OTES. Please be prepared to share your student’s return to Maine date so that we can discuss the quarantine timeline or test results requirement and return to school date with you. Given enough notice, students can be provided with some work to complete during their quarantine. Remote or hybrid students should still participate in remote learning during quarantine. 🏠Quarantine Requirements for RSU #34 Students For someone who had close contact with COVID positive person: 1) Stay home for 10 days after your last contact with someone with COVID 19 and monitor closely for symptoms. 2) If any symptoms develop, call your PCP to get tested. 3) If you remain asymptomatic, a COVID test must be done between day 5-7 from the last exposure in order to return to school after a 10 day quarantine (RSU #34 district procedure). 4) If you remain asymptomatic and choose not to get tested, you must quarantine for 14 days (RSU #34 district procedure). 5) If no symptoms develop, even though you are out of quarantine restrictions at 10 days, you need to monitor for symptoms for a total of 14 days. 6) A negative test result does not get you out of quarantine early. 7) For out of state travelers: Stay home for 10 days upon entering Maine or until you receive negative COVID test results. Continue to monitor for symptoms for 14 days. 8) For someone awaiting test results when symptomatic: If negative, then you can leave quarantine 24 hours after symptoms resolve. If positive, then you will need to go into isolation. 9) Given enough notice, students can be provided with some work to complete during their quarantine. Remote or hybrid students should still participate in remote learning during quarantine. This is of course if your student is feeling well enough to complete work. 📆 Important Reminder for 4th and 5th Graders On Monday and Tuesday December 21st and 22nd, Cohort B Thursday/Friday students will be in-person. Cohort A Monday/Tuesday students will be remote. All other students follow their regular schedule. 📦Food Assistance Available and Thank You for Participating in the One Hand, One Heart, One Community Food Drive Thank you to all of our students and families who contributed to our December food drive! As a reminder, boxes are available for drive through pick up at OTES today, Friday, December 18th from 3-5pm. If you can’t make it, please call us at 827-1544 to reserve a box. Food assistance is available throughout the year by contacting our school-community coordinator, Jenn Goodwin at jennifer.goodwin@rsu34.org or calling 827-2508.
Maggie Mitchell
OTES Family Update November 20, 2020 🦃Thanksgiving Break There will be no school Wednesday, November 25th through Friday, November 27th. We hope all our families enjoy a safe, healthy and relaxing Thanksgiving! 🚗Out of State Travel If you plan to travel out of state, please be in contact with our school office at 827-1544. Any staff or students who travel to any state other than New Hampshire or Vermont (no restrictions for these two states only as of 11/16/20; subject to change), will be required to either: - Quarantine for 14 days upon return to Maine, or - Quarantine until receiving a negative test result. The test must be taken either: - In the state you are visiting and no more than 72 hours prior to your return to Maine, or - Once you return to Maine. Any staff or students who have travelled to restricted states will not be permitted inside the school building until either the negative test result or 14 days has occurred. This is not dependent on the length of time spent within the restricted states, meaning that a day visit still requires any person to quarantine for 14 days or until a negative test result is confirmed. All members of the household who travel must test or quarantine if over 12 months old. Any person who is quarantining should stay home, and not have in-person contact with others unless there is an emergency. 🗓December Break and Schedule Change for 4th and 5th Hybrid Students In order to balance the number of in-person days, we have made the following change: Monday, December 21st and Tuesday, December 22nd will be IN-PERSON days for our THURSDAY/FRIDAY cohort of 4th and 5th graders. Monday, December 21st and Tuesday, December 22nd will be REMOTE LEARNING days for our MONDAY/TUESDAY cohort of 4th and 5th graders. All other students, kindergarten through 3rd grade, will follow their regular in-person schedule on these days. Holiday break begins Wednesday, December 23rd and students return to their regular schedules on Monday, January 4th. 📚Holiday Book Fair to Benefit the OTES Library It’s almost Holiday Book Fair time! The holidays are the perfect time to buy books—books make wonderful presents!! From November 20th-December 4th, the OTES Library will be hosting an Usborne Holiday Book Fair to stock up on great books! The library will earn 50% of dollars spent to purchase books for the library with Usborne. Here is the link to the Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/152123586602111 Here is the link to the shopping site: https://z9460.myubam.com/1916489 More information will go home with your child! Great books=happy readers! ✉️Trimester 1 Report Cards Trimester 1 ends Tuesday, November 24th and report cards will be sent home on Friday, December 4th.