Penn PAUSE
..pause for a moment
9-4-2020
CELEBRATIONS & CARING
- The teamwork I am seeing/hearing is AMAZING.
- We have zoomed and zoomed and zoomed and survived. :)
- Thank you for all the grace for my stumbling through.
- T-shirt THANKS to Jodi & Angie for designing, to Jodi for handling the ordering and to our PTO for funding the purchase. Someday we'll take a pic together with shirts and masks. :)
- HUGE WALKIE TALKIE SHOUT-OUTS to: Tiffany, Amy, Marge, Erin, Heidi, Mary, Sara, Mallory, Kaitlyn, Ladiester, Chrissy, Alexis, Jennifer, Andrea, Marty and Drew. The materials distribution was a lot of work, but these folks ran (literally) like a well-oiled machine.
- Congratulations to Alexis ... she's ENGAGED and wearing a diamond that she didn't have last spring.
- I am so thankful to be part of this pride where "All are Welcome"
TECH SUPPORT
We are obviously more dependent on technology than ever before -- which also means we are going to have more tech questions and needs. Thankfully, we have an awesome tech department. Please save the info below for easy reference.
One thing we learned this week is that students need to sign in once with their user name and password before the camera is enabled in their device. This is important because they need the camera to use their clever badge.
Technology Visual Guide: this provides brief overviews with pictures of the following
processes and programs:
District Chromebook: Sign In
Clever
ClassLink
Clever & ClassLink Comparison
Seesaw
Lexia
Dreambox
Zoom
ICCSD Technology Resources - this is a one stop resource for every sort of information related to chromebooks, seesaw, zoom and clever.
If you still need technology help at the district HELP Desk by emailing helpdesk@iowacityschools.org or calling 688- 4357. You'll probably have to leave a message. They will get back to you.
INFO for Teachers
I printed off one copy of each Accelerated Learning Template. I am leaving that 1 copy of each grade level for ELA and Math on the counter in the workroom. If you'd like a paper copy, please run that 1 copy through the printer. There are MANY pages to each document, so I decided not to just run copies for everyone and possibly waste a lot of paper. Feel free to make a copy though. I get it. I seem to need to hold something for my reading comprehension skills to work. I'm just not making 20+ copies. :)
Attendance: Classroom teachers will need to take attendance daily during Morning Meeting and enter it into powerschool just like always. Amy sent an email today about some people assigned to help problem solve if someone is having trouble logging in. They will not take the official attendance. They also will not participate in your morning meeting. I heard a couple good suggestions for taking attendance: do it while they are still in the waiting room or teach kids to type their name in the chat as soon as they enter. That might help you sort out the moving faces.
We will also track attendance in other synchronous classes. This ATTENDANCE folder has a spreadsheet for each homeroom teacher to mark attendance for small group attendance. Please mark this daily. We will monitor this and follow up if students have frequent absences. This information will not go into power school.
TO DO:
Teachers:
1. Be ready for Tuesday morning!
Paras:
1. Don't forget to use timeclock.
EVERYONE:
1. Take care of you, so that we can all start strong, healthy and peaceful.
2. Hang on to the excitement and joy of a new school year .... no matter what.
To Be or NOT To Be (in the building, that is)
The building access sheet has a few more details required now. Rather than just an x, please put the time you arrived and left and if you brought children with you, you need to indicate how many children: time/#of kids
So, if you came in at 7:30, brought 2 kids with you and left at 1pm, it would look like: 7:30 -1:00/2
Here is the link to document Building Access.
INFO for Everyone
IF you need to be absent, and I hope you don't anytime soon, please talk to me so we can determine if a substitute is necessary.
Please be sensitive in your talk about issues related to equity. I'm not trying to dictate your opinions, but we all have so much to learn. And many people are deeply troubled by the events that have happened this summer (and throughout history). We must be careful to not add stress. All are welcome here.
Looking Ahead
August 29: Special School Board meeting to determine model for starting school
Sept 2: Materials distribution (4-7)
Sept 3: Meet & Greet zooms (times are staggered between 3pm and 8pm and are still be finalized)
Sept. 7: Labor Day
Sept. 8: First day of school!!!!
Remember, early out/PD will now be on Wednesdays.
Links you'll need
District - all COVID info: https://www.iowacityschools.org/domain/4599
Return to Learn Guide: https://www.iowacityschools.org/Page/18785
Penn 20-21 Helpful Links - this page will eventually hold all the links you might need regularly, but it is a work in progress.
Staff (everyone) shared drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0ANEwwP6x45AFUk9PVA
Teacher Shared drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0AF31EBkLUslNUk9PVA