Hello students! I hope you and your families are doing well. My family and I are doing well and are feeling blessed to be part of a city, a country and a world where people are working together to be safe and healthy.

I want to take this time to give you some information and updates.

1. We are off of school for the 3 weeks before Spring Break and then we are off of school during the week of Spring Break.
2. Why was this done? This was done to be super safe and to work as a team. So far, no one in our city has tested positive for the virus. So, why would we close schools? Children are the LEAST affected by the virus and are the LEAST sick from the virus. Still, we want to make sure to protect ourselves as best as possible from the quick spread of the virus to other people like the very old people in our community, especially since it is such a new virus. By doing this, we are helping our whole country take better control to protect people who might get the virus. We are working as a team!
3. Life will change for a little bit and that is OK. Instead of coming to school everyday, you now have several hours of extra time at home. One of the best places for you to be is in your backyard playing and exploring. It’s a great time to start a garden or to help your family members with their garden, invent new games, build lots of forts, play tag and hide and seek, and sooooo many other fun games that you now have the time for.
4. Help your families learn about the virus by sharing any information on the Stout Middle School blog with them. There is a LOT OF FAKE NEWS out there especially on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. The Stout blog will be one place with real-deal info.
5. Help your families to understand that you and they should not be going to places where there are large gatherings like indoor play-places, parties and weddings, large prayers and lectures.
6. As a country, we are very blessed to be able to do things online. We can make sure all the important things we use like water and electricity are still working fine with the touch of a button so don’t worry!!!! Just do your job in all of this by staying safe and following the directions of the Center for Disease Control.

Many of us teachers will be providing activities you can do online to continue to review the topics we have learned so we may pick up where we left off. My next post will be information about that.

If you have any questions, I am happy to answer. Please share below.