SHARK MAIL
Saturday, October 31st 2020
Saturday Message:
Happy Saturday, Sharks!
Well, Virginia threw us some typical Virginia weather this week. Hot...cold...sun...rain; we got everything but snow. Thankfully, the long(ish) weekend seems to be clearing up for whatever form Halloween may take this year for you all. As we head into next week, a few notes:
- Monday, November 2nd is an asynchronous only day. No class Zooms, but students will have assignments on Schoology, so make sure they open their computers and check their four class pages. There will be no access to the building for materials drop off or pick up as well.
- Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day, so no classes or asynchronous work will be assigned. There will be no access to the building for materials drop off or pick up as well.
- Friday, November 6th: End of quarter one.
As we enter the final stretch for quarter one, please remind your students to take advantage of Office Hours on Fridays. November 6th will be the last day of quarter one, and in any normal year, this means a bit of a mad dash as students try to turn in incomplete work. To avoid this, we do ask that people take advantage of those office hours to get work done to avoid the logjam of last-minute work completion. On November 9th, we will begin quarter two classes and Phase Three in Albemarle County. We will send more information soon about what Phase Three means for Sutherland.
That's all for now. Have a great Halloween weekend and we will see you all again on Wednesday!
Grade Level Newsletters
News from SMS:
TOY LIFT HELP NEEDED: The Toy Lift is a program here in Albemarle that helps families ensure that every child gets a present during the winter holidays. Due to our current climate with the COVID closure, Toy Lift is in need of help with donations for children's toys. Rather than doing drop boxes as they have in years' past, they have created an Amazon wish list. If you are able to help this holiday season, please think of taking a look at this list and seeing if there is a toy you might be able to purchase for a child on this list. Here is a link to the Amazon site with further instructions.
6th grade Drama is recording their Virtual Play, Once Upon a Zoom, next week to end the quarter. Students have been working hard on perfecting their parts and analyzing characters. Looking forward to seeing their event!
Every year the UVA Fralin Art Museum hosts the Writer’s Eye Contest where students write a story or poem based on an inspiring work of art of their choice. This year we will be taking a virtual tour of the museum where students will learn about the art pieces selected for the competition and complete their entries before the submission deadline on November 18th at 12 noon. Winning entries will be published in the yearly Writer’s Eye anthology.
The Fralin's Writer’s Eye virtual field trip will take place on Monday, November 9th (Matriccino and Tyson's 7th-grade students) and on November 10 (Harris' students) during their regular class times. Students should look for an email from their 7th English/Language Art's teacher, including the zoom link on November 4th. If your child loves creative writing, please encourage them to enter the contest. Teachers will have students write about the art piece of their choice for a class assignment, but entering the contest will be up to the student.Cloud Computing Form: In addition to the resources already provided by ACPS, our teachers have selected more tools to further enhance learning throughout the school year. Some of these tools require parent/guardian permission for students to create accounts.
Each of the tools listed below has been thoroughly reviewed by the Department of Technology to ensure student safety, age appropriateness, and data privacy. For a detailed look at the criteria they use to review the technology resources and to learn more about the Children’s Online Protection Act (COPPA), please visit this informational guide bit.ly/ACPStechReview. Click here to complete the form.
Schoology Help
Here are two videos that should help families better understand how Schoology works.
1. This first video is a tour of what features Schoology offers. It is a great introduction to Schoology features and should help you navigate the different classes.
2. Ms. Percival has made an additional quick video for how both students and families can access work reports on Schoology. This is an excellent way to learn more about checking to see your student's grades, what work has not been turned in, and what work has been turned, but has not yet been graded. This is a great way to learn more about keeping up with student work.
From Ms. McCullough:
I am Diana McCullough, the Talent Development Resource Teacher here at Sutherland, and wanted to let you know about four opportunities that will be starting soon. I will be advertising these to your children via morning announcements, but as they are extracurricular activities, I wanted you to know about them ahead of time. All activities will be virtual.
The first for sixth and eighth graders only is the Writer’s Eye Contest, which will take place on Friday, October 23rd, from 2:15 to 3:15 PM. (Note that seventh grade ELA teachers plan on having all their students attend at another time.) Every year the UVA Fralin Art Museum hosts the Writer’s Eye Contest where students write a story or poem based on an inspiring work of art of their choice. This year we will be taking a virtual tour of the museum where students will learn about the art pieces selected for the competition and complete their entries before the submission deadline in November. Winning entries will be published in the yearly Writer’s Eye anthology. As we have a limited number of available spots at this time, I am only taking requests directly from students. If your child loves creative writing, please encourage them to email me at dmccullough@k12albemarle.org.
Next is the Piedmont Regional Science Fair (PRSF) which Sutherland attends annually. Middle school students from central Virginia compete in any number of categories from psychology to botany to engineering. Projects can involve either the scientific or engineering process. If your child has a passion for science, they may be interested in participating. This activity will require that they complete their project outside of school hours. We will also be meeting after school on Tuesdays from 4:45 to 5:45. Initially, these meetings will be used for me to guide students through the process, and then for one on one or group conferences similar to teacher office hours on Fridays. Any interested student can participate in this process. The fair is usually in March but I don’t have the exact date yet.
National History Day is for those students that love history and learning about the past. NHD is somewhat like a science fair, but for social studies. Students choose a topic fitting the year’s theme, which for 2021 is Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. They can choose topics from any time and place as long as it is historical, fits the theme, and has available sources. This activity will also require time outside of the classroom and involves research followed by the creation of a project in the form of a paper, website, documentary, exhibit, or performance. Meetings for this group will be after school on Thursdays from 4:45 to 5:45 and will be similar to the science fair meetings in that at some point they will be used as office hours to discuss projects. Any interested student can participate in this process. NHD usually takes place in the spring but I haven’t seen a specific date yet.
The final opportunity another one for those students that enjoy creative writing, Writers’ Groups. In this activity, we will be doing brief writing exercises, discussing writing tips, and sharing and receiving feedback on current writing projects. If your child is always working on their latest story idea, there should be no extra work. Otherwise, they will be required to bring current writing samples to our meetings. This group will meet on most Fridays from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. On ICA Fridays, we will not have a Writers’ Group meeting. Any interested student can participate in this group.
I will be advertising these activities to all students over the next few weeks, so they can email me if they are interested in participating. If you have any questions as a parent, please email me at dmccullough@k12albemarle.org. Thank you.
Social Media
Email: cguy@k12albemarle.org
Website: https://sms.k12albemarle.org/
Location: 2801 Powell Creek Drive, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Phone: (434) 975-0599
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sutherlandpto
Twitter: @SMSSharks