Jaguar Journal
Week of May 5th
Just as remote learning cannot replicate face-to-face instruction, our remote expressions of APPRECIATION will not replicate the face-to-face accolades you deserve. We want to extend our utmost GRATITUDE to you for all you do daily in and out of school to make NCE the wonderful place that it is!
THANK YOU!
We have an AWESOME TEAM!
Tokens of our Appreciation for the Week:
Monday - you should receive something in your mailbox from Carla/Eddie (if not Monday..hopefully on Tuesday!)
Tuesday - Virtual Game Show via Zoom at 1:30 with the chance to win prizes! (Optional) Please sign up here if you are interested and we will send you the Zoom code.
Wednesday - PTA Sponsored Yoga Class from 3:30 - 4:30 (Optional) Please sign up here if you are interested and the link for the class will be sent to you.
Thursday - Student Shout Out! We are encouraging students and families to shower you with love via photos/videos/emails!
Friday - another mailed surprise from Carla/Eddie and our awesome PTA! (if not Friday, hopefully by Saturday!)
*When we are back in the building, we will CELEBRATE AGAIN! YOU ARE APPRECIATED!
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO! *
Another Awesome Parent Message:
I just wanted to let you know how great my children's teachers are. I know this has been a great shift for students and us parents. Working full time and homeschooling has been an adjustment to say the least but the teachers have made things very easy to locate and the lines of communication have been wonderful. I know Zoom has been a major tool and my kids have adjusted well and have very much enjoyed seeing their friends if only for a short bit. We are very lucky to have such wonderful teachers and staff at NCES who continue and strive when great challenges are presented!
PLC’s/Zoom Meetings for the Week:
Monday, May 4th:
10:00 - Fourth Grade Zoom
12:00 - Pre K Zoom
Tuesday, May 5th:
9:00 - First Grade Zoom PLC
10:30 - Kindergarten Zoom PLC
1:15 - Virtual Game Zoom (all staff invited/not required)
3:15 - SLT Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, May 6th:
10:00 - Fifth Grade Zoom PLC
12:00 - Second Grade Zoom PLC
Thursday, May 7th:
9:00 - Specials Zoom PLC
10:00 - Third Grade Zoom PLC
Friday, May 8th:
- Virtual Field Day (share your photos #NCEFieldDay #FieldDay4Chatham )
10:00 - EC Zoom PLC
Updates/Reminders:
Hope you enjoy segment five of our staff video that will be coming out in the weekly call on Sunday evening! Thank you for helping us make this happen!
National Field Day Field Day will be taking place at home this year, but students are encouraged to share photos and videos on social media of them participating in the following 10 activities. Please consider joining our students. They would love to see you!
End of Year PDP - all certified staff members will need to complete their EOY PDP in NCEES by May 29th. Please add this to an upcoming PLC agenda so you can discuss/work to complete as a group.
Interview Season is upon us! If you would like to be part of interview teams now/this summer, please sign up here. NCE time can be earned for any interviews that are after school/this summer. Dates/times will be secure once interviews are lined up.
Planning for 20-21: It is almost time for me to begin working with the district office on allotments for next year. Please let me know ASAP if you are planning to retire or resign so that I can plan accordingly for filling vacancies. Even if you are just considering a change it would still help to know. My goal is to give you information about next year as soon as possible and this information is always helpful when planning.
School Improvement Retreat - June 11th from 12:00 - 3:00
Everyone is invited! Please sign up for your spot to join this action packed afternoon!
We will work on our School Improvement Plan, work on the Schedule for 20-21, examine TWCS data, and much more!
PTA Check Reimbursements Deadline!! Please turn in receipts/requests for PTA funds by May 31st. Requests for things purchased from May 31st - June 7th - need to be turned in by June 10th.
At Home Learning Updates:
There will be no uniform email this week. However, it will be important for your grade level to continue communicating updates and information with your families each week when you send home your at home learning plan. Please send families your email and at home learning plans by 8 am each Monday morning.
Packet Information : This round of packets were mailed on Monday, April 27th. These packets will last through May 8th. We will mail the next round of packets the morning of May 11th. Those packets will provide work through May 22nd. Our final round of packets will be mailed on the morning of May 26th and will last through the last day of school. Thank you for our help making at home learning work for all our kiddos!
Grading: The following letters will be shared with parents in the weekly call/newsletter and mailed to those families that are using packets:
Please know that we will talk more about the progress report/promotion letter/template referenced in the letter once the district develops/shares the format/template that will be used with principals/schools.
Creating Instructional Videos: The link will take you to the full article and podcast by Cult of Pedagogy if you want to read information on making engaging and effective screencastify instructional videos. Here are some key takeaways for you to think about as you make instructional videos.
The research on how long instructional videos should be is incredibly clear and tells a simple narrative: Keep it short. The ideal length should be under 6 minutes. Between 6 and 9 minutes, engagement drops slightly. After 9 minutes, engagement drops considerably, and if your video is over 12 minutes, you have a real problem on your hands. It is important to note that the majority of these studies have been conducted on young adults, so for younger students try to keep it 6 minutes or under (Brame, 2015)
One of the beauties of instructional video creation is it forces you to think about delivering content in a lean way. What is essential? What is not? And where can students discover the content for themselves without you walking them through the process
Instructional videos do not need to be pretty; they need to be personal. Your students want to hear from you; otherwise you could just send them existing videos from YouTube. Research has shown that engagement increases when students know their own teacher is behind the screen delivering the instruction (Li et al., 2016).
CCS At-Home Learning Shout-Outs: Our Staff is seriously the bomb. Everyone is learning and growing in digital knowledge and in how to teach in this new online world. The growth and collaboration we see each week is amazing!! The district has created this At Home Learning Shout-Outs document. If you know of a staff member that deserves a shout out for something awesome they’ve done during these 6 weeks of at home learning, please complete the link!
I/A Assistance Request- Do you have projects that I/As can assist with from home? Please let us know what you need help with here.
Digital Tools:
BrainPop’s Quiz Mixer Tool - By assigning a playful quiz after watching any of BrainPOP’s 850+ movies, you can assess how well kids understand the content and differentiate future instruction. With BrainPOP’s Quiz Mixer tool, you can write your own BrainPOP quizzes tailored to meet the unique learning goals of your classes. To create a custom quiz, log in and click Quiz Mixer at the top of the screen, then + New Quiz. Learn more about this by clicking HERE.
Common Lit - This is a 100% free reading site for teachers, you just need to create an account. This is a website that allows you to choose reading lessons/articles, assign them to students, and track progress for students in grades 3 - 12. There are also Spanish reading passages and questions! Here are Common Lit’s Resources to Support Teleschool Plans: COVID-19. They have Mini-Units & Text Sets That Teachers Can Assign, a guided reading mode, read aloud, and translations and annotations. It also integrates with Google Classroom.
North Carolina Virtual Science Fair - Even though the 2020 North Carolina Science Festival public in-person events are cancelled, they still want to provide the opportunity to celebrate science in fun and welcoming settings in students’ homes. These ideas could be incorporated into your lessons, or choice boards, or just shared with families.
Virtual Events: Find free science-related virtual events to attend from the comfort of your home.
Activities: Find engaging science activities and projects to complete indoors and outdoors, searchable by science topic or age/grade level.
Star Play: The Statewide Star Party has switched gears to share fun ways you can engage with the skies from your own homes - or anywhere.
Free Science Videos: We are Teacher compiled a list of 20 Online Resources for Fantastic Free Science Videos.
Seesaw: Thank you Victoria Sylvestre! Here is her video on Interactive Seesaw Activities using Google Slides as Multimedia. She discusses how to include slides, powerpoint, banners, videos and other multimedia into your Seesaw posts.
Integrating Apps and Google Classroom: Here is a list from Kasey Bell for 70+ Awesome Apps that Integrate with Google Classroom. She also gives brief directions on how to use the application with Google Classroom.
Chatham Arts Resources:
Chatham Arts Resource: Check out these super cool virtual artist residencies as the school-from-home weeks stretch on.
THE LINK: This link will take you, your teachers, and your families to our special webpage for Chatham Arts Council's (Virtual) Artists-in-Schools Initiative with five professional artist groups offering video residencies.
Q&A: Our artists are open to filming a Q&A video based on questions from students, and info about how to engage with that is on the webpage. The artists are so excited and would LOVE to have questions from North Chatham kids!
Work from Home Information:
Stay at Home Orders - If you need to do something essential (handing out laptops, creating/passing out packets,helping with food distribution,etc), coming into the building is ok. We will continue working to limit building entry to only school employees carrying out essential duties. Please talk to Carla if there is a need for anyone else to come into school with you. We are not allowing the public into the building at all. Our building will continue to be open for staff needing to do something essential from 7:00 - 3:3O daily.
Building Hours/Staff Reporting Sheet - The building hours are 7:00 to 3:30. If you plan to come into NCE, please know that custodians will be alarming the building at 3:25 daily. Please continue to complete this form each day. This form is linked into the NCE Staff page under the At Home Learning Section.
Here are more At Home Work Opportunities - see the opportunities that were shared from the district.