Old County Road Elementary School

We wanted to let OCRS families know that the Smithfield Food Service program will be offering fruit parfaits and smoothies as part of the breakfast and lunch program at OCRS. Parfaits will be offered on Tuesdays and smoothies will be offered on Thursdays. In partnership with the Food Service program, we wanted to share the recipes of these easy to make parfaits and smoothies with OCRS families. This will allow families to see the ingredients of all of the new items in case your child has a food allergy, as well as give families a chance to make them at home if your child tells you that they are enjoying the parfaits and smoothies at school. Our school nurse, Mrs. Forte, has also reviewed the ingredients of each of the recipes. You can find the recipes at https://5il.co/q8pt. We hope that our students enjoy the healthy and fun new items! Mr. Barrette

It's the 100th Day of School and the OCRS teachers and students are celebrating in a variety of ways! Two OCRS siblings created a 100th Day Rainbow at home to share with their teachers and the 4th grade is really getting into the spirit with Ms. Aceto and Ms. Votta mysteriously aging overnight! #OCRSRocks

Just a reminder that we're inviting all students to wear any combination of red, pink, and/or white this Friday 2/12 to celebrate Valentine's Day as a school and show our collective OCRS school spirit. Families do not need to go out and purchase anything special for your child to wear! Anything that students already own that is red, pink, and/or white will be perfect. #OCRSrocks

All four elementary schools sent our students home this afternoon with their Chromebooks JUST IN CASE there is no in-person school tomorrow due to weather conditions. As of right now, no decision has been made by the district as to whether or not in-person school will need to be cancelled due to the forecasted snow. If in-person school is cancelled, that decision will be announced by the school district using the regular communications channels (e.g. automated phone calls and email messages to families, posts on social media, and posts on the local news). Students may have also come home with paper packets (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students came home with RICAS practice packets). Those packets can stay at home and will be used if there ever is a day when students are home due to weather conditions without their Chromebooks or there is a loss of internet access. Students do not need to work on those packets independently and the packets are not homework. Thank you for your continued flexibility as we navigate this very different school year. We will do our best to continue to communicate with all families as things change.

Just a quick reminder that we have a PTA meeting tonight at 7:00 p.m. As with other meetings, this meeting will be held virtually and we welcome and encourage all families to join us! The information to join the Google Meet is: Join from an internet connected device: https://meet.google.com/ksu-oart-xcy Call in from any phone: 980-285-2358‬ PIN: ‪374 993 894‬# Hope to see you tonight! Mr. Barrette

Getting prepared to return to school on Monday, 1/11 https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/377424

A school-based testing orientation session will be held online for OCRS families tonight at 6:30 p.m. OCRS families will be able to join the orientation session by clicking on the following link, https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/672508917, or by calling 1-866-899-4679 and entering access code 672 508 917. The plan is to record this online orientation session and share it after Thursday for any families that were unable to attend. Smithfield will be participating in the school-based COVID BinaxNOW testing program after students return to in-person learning in January. The BinaxNOW test is a rapid test that will be administered at our schools on a regular basis. Parental consent will be sought prior to testing and participation in the school-based testing program is voluntary and not required for school attendance. Looking forward to seeing OCRS families tonight at 6:30 p.m.! Mr. Barrette

Check out the first Weekly Update for 2021! https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/373404

Just a reminder that there will be no in-person learning on Monday, 12/14. Teachers will be participating in staff meetings and parent-teacher conferences through the evening. Virtual learning students will work with their virtual learning tutor as usual following the same schedule they normally have on any Monday. In-person learning students will not report to school, but should have received ELA and Math assignments to work on from their classroom teachers.

FREE school lunch and breakfast information, https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/363869

Please check your email for a very important message about a change in the arrival and dismissal procedures. These changes will begin tomorrow, September 16th, so it's important that each family that is dropping students off or picking students up read the email message to understand the changes. The information has also been posted on the school website in the “News” section, https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/308358

BUS ROUTES ARE POSTED! Transportation is available for students who are NOT in a walk zone and did NOT opt out of transportation this year. See this site for information on times and stops: https://www.smithfield-ps.org/o/smithfield-public-schools/page/transportation--244

Save the date! OCRS online Family Forum scheduled for Wednesday, 8/19 @7:00. Link and details to follow on Monday.

This morning Dr. Paolucci shared the sixth Smithfield "Return to School Planning Report" with all Smithfield families. Linked below is some important information for OCRS families. https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/275387

This morning Dr. Paolucci shared the fifth Smithfield "Return to School Planning Report" with all Smithfield families. Linked below is some additional information that I thought OCRS families may find helpful. https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/272879

Please see information about an important Return to School survey on our News page at https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/271630?org=old-county-road-elementary

Thank you Miss Burrows for assembling this AMAZING Virtual Art Show! While we know that students and families are disappointed that we have not been able to host the in-school Art Show this year, this is a terrific alternative way to celebrate the talent of OCRS students. #OCRSRocks https://youtu.be/kn9OnebWa8I

OCRS Families, please see the post in the "News" section about the process for dropping off Chromebooks and picking up Summer Materials. https://oldcounty.smithfield-ps.org/article/256254

If you are currently taking advantage of the district's free breakfast and lunch distribution program, weekend meals are going to be distributed on Thursday. There will NOT be any meal distribution this Friday due to the statewide school vacation day. In short, please pick up your weekend meals on Thursday because there will be no meal distribution on Friday. I hope this helps, Mr. Barrette

Bradley Hospital has been sharing a wide variety of helpful COVID-19 resources for families and we would like to pass along some of those resources to OCRS families. Here is link to a terrific flyer focused on strategies for calming kids' worries and fears during this difficult time, https://5il.co/g2an. You can also find many more resources online at https://www.lifespan.org/centers-services/infectious-diseases/novel-coronavirus-information/covid-19-parent-resources