This Week At P.S. 88Q
September 12, 2020
What Last Week Looked LIke, What To Expect This Week
Here we are, about to begin our 2020-2021 school year! On Tuesday, our P.S. 88Q staff returned to the building for the first time since March 19th. It was a day we all could not wait for, but it was emotional. As they took down the school work that hung on their walls, stories and memories flooded their minds. This quickly disappeared as they prepared for their new students, in a new year, and in a new way. They not only prepared their physical classroom, but their virtual one as well. Over the course of four days, all staff members participated in rigorous training; health and safety, instructional, systems and protocols, and most importantly, self care and taking care of themselves so they can take care of our students. So much has changed, from what to do before you enter the building, to what must go on in the building. For example:
- ALL STAFF AND VISITORS must complete a mandatory survey before entering the building. Your answers to these four questions determine if you are cleared to enter the building. Your response email MUST be shown to our School Safety Agent for admittance. Failure to pass the survey bans you from the building.
- Staff do not enter the main office, but rather scan a QR code in the lobby to record attendance.
- Staff limit their movement around the school and must sign in to any room they enter to allow for Contact Tracing in the building.
- All meetings, although in the building together, were still done via Zoom, as we cannot assemble in large crowds or exceed room capacity.
Other things that changed are how classes are organized. As we still await guidance this upcoming week, we have organized our classes with what we know and who we have. In our weekly meetings, we spoke about how the blended learning model would work. All students are learning at the same time, so this requires multiple teachers working collaboratively to teach the class. For example, one teacher is in-person teaching, let's say Group A, while minimally one other teacher is teaching Group B, Group C and Group D remotely. Staffing and pairing partners has been the task this week, allowing time for these teachers to plan. Doubling up teachers for each class has been challenging, as we did not have additional staff to join our team, but instead use all existing teachers. Organizing our students into classes was one of our major tasks, and on Friday, our teachers received the most recent TENTATIVE class list. You may ask why is this tentative. There are so many moving parts to this.
- Each day families opt into the remote only option (Group D), therefore in person class numbers change
- Unfortunately, over the last six months, families have moved and are being discharged.
- Also, families are joining us, and we are actively enrolling students everyday.
These actions change groups sometimes, as we want the cohorts (A, B, C) to be equitable. In some cases, a cohort for a specific class went from 9 students to 3 students, therefore groups needed to be equalized. This week allowed us to make those adjustments.
What To Expect:
- Monday and Tuesday, your classroom teachers will be reaching out to you. You will be added to the Google Classroom. To access this you MUST BE ACTIVATED ON THE NYCSTUDENT ACCOUNT NOT PS88Q GOOGLE. Invites will be sent to your child's nycstudent gmail. This is the same place you received the email of your child's cohort, class number and entrance door on Monday August 24th.
- Mr. Dumont is hosting interactive Zoom meetings on Monday, September 14th and Tuesday September 15th at 10:00am for support. Link will be in my Google Classroom and Ms. Ramos' classroom.
- I am having a parent meeting at 6:00pm via Zoom. Link is in my Google Classroom. To join, my Classroom Code is 2wzhvwh. Ms. Ramos code is eekgz3y
- Wednesday, September 16th is the first day of Instruction for all students. At 8:30 am, all students wil join their Google Classroom for Classroom Orientation. Students will participate in approximately one hour of activities.
- For our Pre-K and Kindergarten families who have not been able to activate their NYC student account because their ID number is not active yet, you will join through a different platform at that time. Your child's attendance will be taken, and therefore, the ID number will be activated immediately, therefore allowing you to create your account immediately. I know that this has been a very frustrating part, but you have missed no communication through the account thus far. Your account will be activated on Wednesday when your child attends remote learning for the first time.
- Remote learning continues Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. All teachers will share the schedule of the day for remote learning. Please refer to the Parent Handbook (attached in this email) for expectations and schedules of remote learning. Students will be engaged for about one hour each of those days.
- In Person learning is scheduled to begin on Monday, September 21st. This is considered Week 1, and Group A begins in person and Groups B, C, and D remote learning.
What Are The Expectations For Remote Learning
Students learning on remote days will follow the same schedule as the students in person. Each day will begin with a Morning Meeting. Then throughout the school day, teachers will have live meets for synchronous instruction in all subjects. Instruction will consist of whole group, small group and one on one as well. Below is the expected live instructional times (throughout the day) per grade.
A typical remote day in K-2 will include the following
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Morning meeting and SEL (school, grade, or class; attendance may be taken at this time depending on the school’s procedures), 10-15 minutes.
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Foundational skills, reading and writing (Three live synchronous instructional blocks that include
instruction in foundational skills, reading and writing featuring large group instruction, mini-lessons, small group targeted instruction and individualized constructive feedback, with a short break that includes a movement activity; asynchronous learning)
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Instructional Lunch
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Math (One synchronous instructional block, with short break that includes a movement activity;
asynchronous learning)
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Other required subjects (One live synchronous instructional block with a short break that includes a movement activity; asynchronous learning
A typical remote day in 3-5 will include the following:
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Morning meeting and SEL (school, grade, or class; attendance may be taken at this time depending on the school’s procedures), 10-15 minutes
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Reading and writing (Two live synchronous instructional blocks, featuring large group instruction, mini- lessons, small group targeted instruction and individualized constructive feedback; asynchronous learning)
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Instructional Lunch
-
Math (Two live synchronous instructional blocks, featuring large group instruction; mini-lessons, small
group targeted instruction; individualized constructive feedback; asynchronous learning)
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Other required subjects (One live synchronous instructional block with a short break that includes a
movement activity; asynchronous learning)
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Office hours: students and/or family members may check in with teachers; identifying areas of challenge and exploration
Device Update
P.S. 88Q
Email: mramos71@schools.nyc.gov
Website: https://ps88q.com/
Location: 60-85 Catalpa Avenue, Ridgewood, NY, USA
Phone: 718-821-8121
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/P.S.88QPTA
Twitter: @QPs88