By now you've heard that the students will continue with the Distance Learning for the remainder of the school year. I have to tell you I was really sad to hear that news. The three groups of students I work with have been some of my favorite since I began teaching. It's extremely hard to know that I will not have the opportunity to have them sitting in my classroom again.
I was fortunate enough this past week while taking a walk to see two of my students out with a family member. It was probably the best thing that's happened for me in several weeks. After seeing the student (at a distance) and watching them interact with their parents. I realized how this virus has given families a gift that they may not have realized. You all have been given the gift of time. Time to spend with your child and interact in a different way. Time to share stories perhaps of your childhood and memories of your time in school. It's also given you time to almost actually be inside your child's classroom each day. Next week is a special week. I'll share something I received from my principal at the end of this blog entry. You're going to want to be in Math class next Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Squirrel Math is coming! What is it? Just wait and see! REMINDER: Tell your child to check for messages in their schoology account.
We enter our fourth week of Distance Learning and it feels like routines have been established. I am hoping that the routines are good habits in your house with your child. With the weather getting warmer my suggestion is to continue to set the alarm for your child and get them up and fed by 8:00 a.m. Get started with the lessons and taking a short break between classes. By getting up at a normal time they would have the afternoon to be outside and get some sunshine. Fresh air and sunshine is extremely important after the winter we had along with the Shelter in Place. I worked in my classroom last week and just having the change of scenery did me wonders. Out of habit I put down the 24 chairs when I arrived and often would gaze out at the empty chairs with great memories of a wonderful 2/3 of a year we spent together. When the Shelter In Place first began I was hopeful that I'd be seeing my students again in a couple of weeks. We don't know what the future holds, but I'm still hopeful that I'll be standing in front of my champions again soon. Each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. the ZOOM classroom meeting will take place. The link (which is secure and safe) is located in your child's schoology account in the ZOOM folder. Students will click on the link and will be in the "waiting room" until I click and give permission to enter. This way no one else can enter the room unless I give permission. Children can choose if they want their camera to be active or they can just leave it disabled if they are having a bad hair day or don't want their face seen. Also tell your child to have the ipad set and not be turned up towards the overhead light. Lean it up against something so there isn't a lot of movement. No school on Monday. Rest the eyes and stay off the devices.
Week #3 starts this week of Distance Learning. The only difference your child will see this week from me is that I have started to separate the assignments by days vs showing the whole week. This might make it easier for them to navigate their way through Schoology. I may have gotten a little long winded in some of my lessons this week. It's really strange to be recording lessons without seeing the smiles on the faces of the students. I'm starting to see more students getting up earlier and doing their work in the morning. That is fantastic. In my opinion if a student got going by 8:00 a.m. they could be done by noon and have the rest of the day for outside activities. Also please remember, if the workload is too much then please feel free to adapt the assignments to what your child can handle. Because there is no school on Monday our Zoom check in time will be on Tuesday of each week at 10:00 a.m. The first week we had 8 students attend and last week we had 12. This is optional and I'll share the Zoom guidelines again here. This week is hat day so wear your favorite hat. Each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. the ZOOM classroom meeting will take place. The link (which is secure and safe) is located in your child's schoology account in the ZOOM folder. Students will click on the link and will be in the "waiting room" until I click and give permission to enter. This way no one else can enter the room unless I give permission. Children can choose if they want their camera to be active or they can just leave it disabled if they are having a bad hair day or don't want their face seen. Also tell your child to have the ipad set and not be turned up towards the overhead light. Lean it up against something so there isn't a lot of movement. Here we go with Week #2 of Distance Learning. Assignments from the previous week will be moved to PAST ASSIGNMENTS. I will leave them there for a few days and then disable them so students can focus on the lessons for the week. This week's assignments for Math are located in April 6-April 10.
Again...do what you are able to do with the lessons. It may feel like there is a lot to do each day and there isn't enough time to do it. Then do what you feel is most important. My TEAM of teachers (Martin, and Young) just want to give your child plenty of opportunities so they aren't just laying around the house being bored. None of us know how long this type of learning will last so we just need to adapt to the change which I feel the students have embraced. Each Monday at 10:00 a.m. the ZOOM classroom meeting will take place. The link (which is secure and safe) is located in your child's schoology account in the ZOOM folder. Students will click on the link and will be in the "waiting room" until I click and give permission to enter. This way no one else can enter the room unless I give permission. Children can choose if they want their camera to be active or they can just leave it disabled if they are having a bad hair day or don't want their face seen. Also tell your child to have the ipad set and not be turned up towards the overhead light. Lean it up against something so there isn't a lot of movement. Please remember to reread the blog posts if you have questions. If you have a technology question just click on the link for help. Those people are experts in resetting your Ipad and trouble shooting. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdF3wQ7DFaL_T5dGa5UQmhkzjuLbMormTVxcf1mMugDVQ-1fQ/viewform If your child is on an IEP please have them check the Personalized Learning folder first each day. After that the student can look at the other assignments in the Math, Language Arts and SSW folder. Please, don't let all the material overwhelm you. I know I've said this at least once, DO WHAT YOU CAN. We are providing a lot of material and that is because many students are bored during the day. Please don't feel like your child has to do every bit of it. I hope that helps with any stress you are feeling.
SCHOOLOGY It works, it's broken, it works, it works now it doesn't. Schoology is working on it. PLEASE tell your child not to email us telling us it doesn't work. We know it. When it doesn't work they can still use the SPEED DRILL APP, Freckle and ixl.com assignments. They can also read a book. On Friday at 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. for my homeroom class. I will open a ZOOM room and the students will find a link through schoology. By putting the link through that it will be safe along with me setting up some safeguards before it's opened. If you and your child are available, you can join me and the classmates for an hour of discussion. If you do not want your face or your child's face to be shown there is a feature to disable your camera so only the name is shown. Look in the DISTANCE LEARNING FOLDER and find ZOOM MEETING. Inside the folder will be the directions and the link to the meeting. Many of the classes are doing this weekly and I want your child to have the same opportunity to connect again with me and their classmates. I'll keep all the microphones muted to begin as it helps for everyone to hear. When someone wants to speak the student can click on the "reaction" icon and click the hands clapping. I will call on them and then unmute their microphone. This also eliminates background noise. EXPECTATIONS FOR ZOOM MEETING: I expect everyone to be dressed appropriately (no pajamas , and girls please have the curlers out of your hair by then.) If someone is not on the PATH I will have them leave our group. I don't think that will happen because this group of students are one of the finest classes I have ever taught. And finally I received this from the office . |
“I live in a very small house, but my windows look out on a very large world.” Archives
April 2023
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