LAF Update
April 3rd
Yearbook Sales
Our 2019/2020 full color 108 page yearbook features individual pictures of all students and staff as well as group pictures of musical groups and Lafayette clubs and special groups. There are also many candid photos all for $20.00. The yearbook is available only through online sales. The absolute deadline for sales is April 30. See below for the link and access code for the online sales of the LAF Yearbook:
https://inter-state.com/yearbook
Parents should click on the link above and then enter the code: 45099R when prompted.
Attention 4th Grade Parents & Guardians
The time has come to start preparing for the 2020/2021 school year by ordering your supply kits for next year! The sale is active now and runs until July 1st. The sale supports our PTO, and saves you a trip to the store in August to find all the items the teachers would love your student to have!
The link to purchase the kits is www.1stdayschoolsupplies.com, then go to “start here”, type in the 07928 and hit GO. This will take you to a list of schools in Chatham, select LAFAYETTE AVENUE SCHOOL, and hit the Supply Kits button, and you are exactly where you need to be! The kits will be delivered to your child’s classroom by the first day of school next year…what could be easier than that! Thank you for your support and stay well.
Please contact Dawn Caputo-Davison if you have any questions (dawneliz30@gmail.com).
Important Curriculum Updates
English Language Arts Update
I hope this note finds you well. I am the K - 12 Supervisor of English Language Arts, and I am writing to explain how our K - 5 ELA lessons will look a little different when we return from spring break. Each day, your child’s classroom teacher will post a Google Slide onto his/her Google Classroom. On this Google Slide, there will be links to ELA videos and resources that students will watch and use. Additionally, there will be small tasks to complete or journal entries to write.
While we think all elements of the ELA lessons will benefit your child, we understand that completing each one is not always possible and that is absolutely fine. Below I briefly explain each element of the lesson and rank its priority:
Most Important Elements:
Fundations (Kindergarten only): These lessons are pre-recorded and will help students continue to grow as readers.
Mini-Lesson: These pre-recorded lessons will be linked onto the Google Slide mentioned above. These lessons range from less than two minutes to ten minutes long, depending on the task for the day. The mini lesson videos may not be of your own child’s teacher. However, all the videos were made by an SDOC educator. We have a team of wonderful educators filming mini lessons that will be used in every teacher’s classroom.
Share: This part of the lesson asks students to practice the learning from the mini lesson and tells them how to share it. Sometimes, they will share their learning with a family member. Other times, they will share it with their classroom teachers.
Important, But Not Critical Elements:
Read Alouds: We recognize it can be hard to find new books. These videos will allow students to be read to at least once a day. Occasionally, read alouds might be required as the book helps to support the mini lesson.
Daily Writing/Reading: If your child’s mini lesson focuses on reading that day, the classroom teacher will post a fun writing prompt to keep your student writing. Having a notebook will be a great way to keep these entries in one place. If the mini lesson focuses on writing, your child’s teacher will set a reading goal, suggesting a number of minutes they can read any book they enjoy.
We hope this revised approach to ELA remote learning keeps students reading and writing while also making it easier for you to support them at home.
Wishing you all the best,
Heather Rocco, K - 12 Supervisor of English Language Arts
Math Update
The last few weeks of remote learning have taught us many things as parents and as educators. As a math team, we recognized that there were ways where we could enhance these experiences for all students by recreating classroom practices such as math centers and math games.
After Spring Break, your child's teachers will continue to utilize Pearson SuccessNet to teach, practice and assess skills. They will also introduce a new Friday activity to enhance our math remote learning opportunities.
Monday and Wednesday will be an introduction to a lesson through a Pearson video and opportunities for practice. On Tuesday and Thursday, students will reinforce the skill introduced the day before and complete a formative assessment to provide data to the teacher about how each child is progressing with the material. On Fridays, students will be given a non-Pearson task called a Choice Board. These assignments will have a range of different levels and form.
Similar to math class, they may include content from that week's lesson, a review of a prior learned skill, or a mathematical practice. We are hopeful this structure will create a meaningful and rich experience in mathematics while accounting for choice, differentiation, and flexibility.
Be well,
Stacy Winters, K-12 Mathematics Supervisor
Science Update
D&T Lessons: Monday
Hello, Chatham Families,
I am so proud of the work your children have put in so far! Their creativity, determination, and perseverance has been wonderful! Moving forward, handing in work will always be acceptable in three different ways. First, submitting any assignments in google classroom; second, attaching documents, videos, or pictures using my attached directions in Google Classroom; and third, using a parent email to send assignments, pictures or videos directly to me. Lastly, actually building projects is not mandatory. I am very aware that sometimes materials are not available. I like to keep this as an option though since it sometimes is the most fun part for your children! In this case, only the Google Classroom assignment would need to be submitted. If there are any questions, please feel free to reach out directly. All the best, and thank you so much for your help as we move forward! Adding a File Attachment on Google Classroom Assignment
Best,
Mr. Kermick
Library Media Center (LMC) Lessons - Tuesdays
April is Poetry Month! The students will be having poetry lessons in the Google Classroom and will submit a Google Form to submit their assignments. On Lafayette Live (morning announcements) each day, we will be sharing videos of students and teachers reading/performing poems. Email to jcifrodella@chatham-nj.org to submit one. A tradition at Lafayette is to create an all-school poetry book published by our LAF authors. Instructions will be given to the students about how to submit ORIGINAL poems using Google Classroom. Thanks to our CEF grant, our new bookbinding machine will allow us to self-publish for the first time! Also included in the LMC Classroom are read-alouds from the librarians, which are optional for the students to enjoy at their leisure each week. Whoosh! By Chris Barton
Art Lesson: Wednesday
It has been wonderful to be able to send you a few videos and to share some fun projects with you. From your responses and from those who sent pictures of their projects; it looks as though you are having FUN with them. SUPER! In April, I will be sending you three very interesting and very different art challenges:
Make it Even Better
All Things Can Change
Just Imagine!
Can you even guess what these projects will be about? I think you'll enjoy them. Remember, if you want credit for doing the project; YOU MUST FILL OUT THE FORM that accompanies the lesson. When possible I would love to see a picture of the project. Here is a suggestion of how to send a picture: Adding a File Attachment on Google Classroom Assignment
Physical Education/Health Lessons: Wednesday
We hope everyone is healthy and we appreciate everyone working with their children through this very difficult time. All of the students' PE/Health information is assigned in the students' D&T google classroom folder. You will see assignments in there for your child’s class.
The week of April 13-17 will be our first health assignment of remote learning where students will learn about bicycle safety. The weeks after that we will be going back to Phys.Ed. activities. For our health activity, we would like the students to submit the google form we are providing for their April 17th PE/Health assignment. If you are having trouble doing this, you can email me or Mrs. Raffo. Moving forward, we will probably be using more forms or documents to have the students submit proof of their work.
Thank you for your continued patience,
Mr. Shellenhamer and Mrs. Raffo
World Language Classes: Thursday
Hola, Hola! We want to start off by thanking you for your amazing work thus far. Our students have been doing a wonderful job completing assignments which reviewed topics from this school year. After Spring break, we will begin a unit on Family. For our fourth graders, it will be an extension to the Penguin Unit. For our fifth graders, it will be a chance to activate their prior knowledge about the Family Unit from Fourth grade. We ask that students access our google classroom on the assigned day for Spanish (Thursday). Every assignment will have an explanation in English to ensure comprehension. Assignments are to be turned in when completed. You will find the blue turn in tab on the upper right hand corner of the document. We will have a weekly google meet for students. Grade 4 will meet Thursdays at 11:00am. Grade 5 will meet Thursdays at 11:30am. The meet will be optional for thirty minutes. This will be a chance for students to ask questions about the week's assignments. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us. Have a wonderful day and be well!
General Music Lessons: Friday
Band Lessons: Friday
Orchestra Lessons: Friday
After break orchestra will continue as we have so far. I will continue to send out a weekly sign-up for private lessons with me! If the students take a lesson with me, they DO NOT have to submit a weekly practice video. If they choose to send a video instead, please make sure that the submissions go through our class flipgrid
(4th grade-https://flipgrid.com/keller5148) (5th grade-https://flipgrid.com/keller8092). I will also send instructions on how to set up Smartmusic accounts to practice our weekly assignments (4th grade code-VRTDD-NNC4N) (5th grade code-2MA3L-N2AU7). Please let me know if you have any questions or I can help in any way!"
Spring Break Resources - Ideas
Autism Awareness Lesson Click Here
One A Day SEL - Click Here
General Curriculum Websites to Explore:
IXL - Click here
Khan Academy - Click here
Epic Books - Click here
Catch Up:
Use the time to complete your LMC, D&T, Art, H&PE, Spanish and Music lessons.