Bobcat Broadcast
August 28, 2020
A Message from Mrs. Caudill
Dear Bobcat Families,
I am excited to welcome you to the start of another school year! I am so appreciative of the outpouring of support, kindness, grace and patience. We could not have gotten this far without you! The Amerman staff is so excited to see our students on September 8. Our focus has always been to educate and to inspire a lifelong joy for learning. We know our students no matter how they are learning, virtually or in-person will Aspire, Achieve and Amaze! Additionally this year, more than any other year, we know we need to focus on our students social and emotional health first and build classroom connections and communities. We know that without those positive connections we will never be able to achieve academic excellence.
We know you have many questions about the start of the school year. This newsletter will answer some of those questions, and classroom teachers will be sending additional communication home to families with pertinent information to begin the school year.
I imagine many of you (and your children) may be feeling a sense of anxiety and fear over the unknowns this school-year. That is okay. There is nothing wrong with feeling nervous. We have never started a school year like this before. Hopefully, we will never have to again. It is important to recognize the feeling and talk about it. Please be assured we are here to help you and your child. We are here to love them and make them feel safe. Together we can do anything. Don't worry, we got this!
Stay well,
Devon Caudill
Mark Your Calendars
September 8 - First Day of School
September 9 - K-2 virtual open houses (see schedule below)
September 10 - 3 - 5 virtual open houses (see schedule below)
September 16 - Virtual PTA Meeting 6:30 pm
September 16 - Curriculum Night Presentation - Available Online
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Supplies and Supply Pick-up
We are in the process of organizing a pick-up of student materials. Materials may include your child's Edukit (if you ordered one), math work books, math manipulatives, reading response journals, handwriting workbooks, science journals and more.
We want to do one pick-up for supplies. However, due to shipping delays, not all of our materials are in yet. Please look for information about supply pick-up the first or second week of school.
Teachers will communicate what basic supplies (Paper, pencils, etc.) students should have available for their use during their first couple weeks of lessons.
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Teacher Assignments
I know students (and parents) are anxiously awaiting the posting of who they have for a teacher this school-year in the parent portal. The work of placing students in classes usually happens in the spring and then is double checked and finalized in August. This year we had to start from scratch on August 13 after parents made their selections.
This year, teacher assignments will be viewable in the parent portal Wednesday, September 2 at 4:00pm. Thank you all for your patience!
If you selected in-person instruction for your child, students will be assigned a classroom teacher in Mi-Star. While classroom teachers may have more than 15-20 students on their class list, when students return in-person they will be placed into cohorts of 15-20 students. Teachers will communicate what classroom each student will report to when we return to in-person school.
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Daily Schedules and the First Day of School
One of the big questions from parents is "What will the virtual day look like?" This will be largely dependent on how the virtual teacher plans to structure his/her day, but plan on the virtual day looking like the regular school day in terms of length of time. (Your child will not be in front of a screen all day, but he/she will likely have independent work to do when he/she is not receiving synchronous instruction.)
The first day of school is Tuesday, September 8th. Teachers will be sending out schedules to each of their families with instructions on how to log in to their live Zoom meetings.
Teachers will spend the the first week of school learning how to use Classlink, Schoology, develop classroom communities, and ease our students into school for the 2020-21 school year.
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Welcome to the Amerman Staff!
This summer, our speech pathologist, Sue Calderone retired after many years service to Northville Schools. Ms. Alexis Ammon will be joining us as our new speech and language pathologist. Ms. Ammon is excited for the start of the new school.
Additionally, over the summer, our school social worker, Keely Bartel, transitioned to the middle school. As a result, we are excited to welcome Ms. Amelia Abdelnabi to the Amerman staff. Ms. Abdelnabi is looking forward to getting to know our students and parents.
Ms. Alexis Ammon
Ms. Amelia Abdelnabi
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Virtual Open Houses
Wednesday, September 9
- Kindergarten - 6:00 pm
- First Grade - 6:30 pm
- Second Grade - 7:00 pm
Thursday, September 10
- Third Grade - 6:00 pm
- Fourth Grade and Combination Classes - 6:30 pm
- Fifth Grade - 7:00 pm
Classroom teachers will also create a "Curriculum Night" presentation that you and your family can watch on your own time. These will be ready to view by the evening of Thursday, September 16th.
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School-Wide Theme - Changing Tides
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Schoology Information
Northville Public Schools is now using Schoology, an integrated learning management solution that provides course management, mobile learning, and support for system-wide communication. Schoology enables our students, parents and teachers to engage with learning materials and their school community from the classroom and beyond. We look forward to using Schoology in our classrooms starting in the fall of 2020 to enhance connectivity and communication across our district.
You and your child will be given login credentials prior to the start of the school year once schedules and class assignments are finalized to access the district’s Schoology system. Please make sure that your email address is accurate and updated in your student’s MiStar account.
Students - Check out Schoology
Please take a few minutes with your child to review this student video that provides a basic overview of Schoology, instructions for accessing and using Schoology, a video tutorial specific to NPS on getting started with Schoology and other important information to get students acquainted with the platform.
Parents - Check out Schoology
A video introduction to how NPS will use Schoology is available online. Parents can test out the platform by logging into Schoology using the following sign in credentials:
username: npsparent
Password: student1
Select Northville High School in the “School Code” dropdown
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Annual Online Information Confirmation
Every year, all families are required to fill out the digital Annual Registration for each student. Families may complete these forms through ParentConnection. Through this process you will be asked to update your student’s emergency contact information, home address and health information, review our technology use policy and student handbooks, learn more about PTSA/PTA, access the web store and much more.
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PROTOCOLS FOR IN-PERSON RETURN
For those of you who chose in-person instruction after our virtual start, we are in the process of putting together a video that will highlight all you need to know about a safe return to Amerman. We plan to have the video ready to go by mid-September. Be on the lookout!
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YEARBOOKS
Due to the COVID-related delays at the post office, our yearbooks have not arrived yet. Depending on when they get here, we will either hand deliver them or schedule a pick-up time. (Last year's fifth graders' yearbooks will be sent home with a sibling or to the middle school.) Please stay tuned for more information!
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Spotlight on our Amerman Bobcats
Our Bobcats are sooooo excited to come back to school! We really are smiling - I promise :)
Amerman Elementary
Email: caudillde@northvilleschools.org
Website: amerman.northvilleschools.org
Phone: 248-465-2100
Twitter: @amermannv