GW Weekly Arrow
💜 Aiming for Success! 💜 8/1/2020 💜
Davis's Deliberations
Hello Staff! I have missed you like a baseball stadium misses its fans!! But I know soon we will be hitting home runs with our own students and their success! Our MISSION is every student, every day, WHATEVER IT TAKES where safety will be a priority for all but together it is POSSIBLE!
First I would like to welcome our new staff! Travis Miller joins our 4th grade team and Danielle Boyd will be our new Art teacher as well as joining the district TAG team at the middle school. Please take a moment to welcome them to GW!!
This year will be one like no other with all of the mitigation and change. Although the necessary preparations have been made, until everyone returns to the building, we truly will not know what more needs altered. One thing I am sure of in this time of uncertainty is our committed staff will absolutely take on the challenge and do what is best for all students.
The first thing that will change is our schedule. NO students are in the buildings on Mondays to allow teachers to learn, plan, and prepare. As we embark with more technology in the classroom, the admin team unanimously wanted to give our staff the support to collaborate and time to adjust plans. Everyone must carry out online instruction immediately should school closure occur again. Angie Miller and Kevin Bogert are GW's technology specialists and will be learning Schoology and other technology systems along with myself. Together, we will train the rest of the staff on how to use these programs in our classrooms. Everyone will alter daily instruction to be mainly on computers with Google Classroom, Schoology, IXL, etc. I will tackle more of what this may look like when teachers return on Monday, August 17.
Students will be in school Tuesday-Friday unless they have selected online learning. Depending upon numbers, we may have one teacher do all online learning for both 4th and 5th grade. A lot of that depends on registration and I am hoping to have rosters set more firmly by the Friday after registration.
The student's school day begins at 8:05 and dismisses at 4:05.
Teacher's schedules will be Monday 7:30-2:00 and Tuesday-Friday 7:50-4:20.
Associate's schedules will be Tuesday-Friday 7:45-4:15
Buses will be dropping students off anywhere from 7:55 to 8:10.
Students are not allowed at school until 7:50 and can begin entering the building immediately. They will go directly to their classrooms where staff are present.
Per the revised agreement with KEA, teachers will not have before or after school duty. Therefore associates will be in classrooms with students from 7:50-8:05. More specifics will be given to associates when they return on August 19.
Grab and Go breakfast will be available in the cafeteria for students from 7:50-8:10. They will consume breakfast in the classroom and each class will have purple trash cans with lids for discarding food items. Once the school day begins, establishing routines and expectations with our students will be MORE important this year than ever before. Therefore, the first 20 minutes of each day will be used for training students how to sign on to their computers, check their emails, and communicate the objectives for the day. To support SEL, as they become more efficient with technology, this may become a great time to hold class meetings and build community to begin each day. I will give daily announcements at 8:10 each day that will include reminders to wear masks, sanitize to minimize, and other important information.
The specials, lunch, and recess schedule was designed to give breaks throughout the day while maintaining social distancing as much a possible. It is imperative that exposure to others is limited and we keep same groups of students/staff together. Therefore there will not be departmentalizing at all this year and teachers will instruct every subject. I realize it may have been a couple years or more that some teachers have taught every subject, so this is when those Mondays and our PLC time will be great to collaborate lessons. We will continue our work with essential standards, common formative assessments, and interventions/enrichment.
Now, take a deep breath...and repeat...MISSION POSSIBLE!!
Have no doubt, this year will be challenging and stretch our comfort zones immensely. I firmly believe we have the best staff to make it happen! The following are a few reminders for all of us. Take one day at a time and know I am here to support you always. I am available to talk anytime!!
In and out slowly
Kindness and Compassion
Failure
LIBRARY PROTOCOL
- No student visits to the library. The library will be closed before and after school.
- For book check out, students will use the online card catalog to request books. Then Leslie will deliver the books to the classroom as a kind of "mobile" library. All students will still have a digital option to read books as well, such as MackinVia. Anna will train students how to do this their first week back.
- A cart will be available in the hallway for returned books that need checked in. Leslie will collect this cart at 10 a.m. daily.
- In the actual library, large containers will be used for each day of the week so books can be "quarantined" for 72 hours before cleaned and placed in circulation once more.
- Leslie is here to help and will do whatever needed to support our student's reading!
STAFF SHIRTS - Click on picture to complete the order form!!
Standards for Reporting Grades
Teacher's Return...................August 17 (8:00-4:00 first week only)
- Breakfast 8:00
- Staff meeting in gym 8:30
All District SpEd....................August 18
- Middle School Library 8-4
- Write to Learn refresher 2-4 with Susie O.
Associates/Clerks Return....August 19
- Meeting in Gym 8:30
- Schoology/Google App training 2:30-4 in Gym
- Student Services Meeting @ KMS Library 1-3
All District Meeting...............August 20
- 8-12 via Zoom
- PRESS refresher with Amy T via Zoom 1-3
GW Work Day........................August 21
Professional Monday...........August 24 (7:30-2:00)
STUDENTS RETURN............August 25