DC45 families,

We are getting into a groove with our routines and procedures. Our car line is running like a well-oiled machine (THANK YOU CARLINE PARENTS!), our students are following our common area expectations and rules and procedures, we've got new flags out front (WOOHOO), teachers are preparing and teaching engaging lessons, and students are learning! One of my greatest joys of being a principal is to have the opportunity to visit classrooms and see students so engaged in their lesson they don't even know I'm there. We are getting to know our kids both personally and academically and are excited about building those relationships and facilitating growth in our students.

Get some rest this weekend! We've got a great week ahead!

Dr. Shaver

Come join our Canvas Teacher Leaders at the Deer Creek PAAC on Sept. 16th to learn more about our digital learning platform, Canvas LMS, which is used in all classrooms district-wide. We will have a brief presentation at 6:00pm followed by 1-on-1 help sessions for parents who need assistance logging in, navigating, and setting up their observer account.

If the Canvas Student app is not allowing you to access Canvas, you can open Safari on your device and go to https://deercreekschools.instructure.com to access all of your courses. You should be prompted to login with the student's email and password.

*If you get "403. That's an error" it means that you are logged into Google with another account. You'll need to log out of that account and log in with your student's email.

Please make sure you contact our attendance line anytime your student will not be present at school. While it is great to contact the teacher directly it is also important to let the office know so we can correctly code your attendance.

4th/5th Attendance: 405-531-9395 or email 45attendance@dcsok.org

The Free & Reduced Meal Application is now available in a convenient and confidential online version via your parent portal. Qualifying students that are eligible for free or low-cost school meals helps to increase access to healthy meals, which supports their health and academic performance.

Directions to accessing the Free & Reduced Lunch Form in your Parent Portal:

• While logged onto your parent/guardian portal, click on the "More" link and select the "Meal Benefits" tab.
• If you prefer to use the paper/pen method, you can access the printable version HERE!
• Applications must be submitted every year to continue in the program.

You can find translated versions of the Free and Reduced Lunch Form by clicking HERE!

Participation in our Free & Reduced program not only helps your family, it also provides valuable funding to the district to be used to add staff and resources for the classroom.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is a month during which we celebrate the culture, history, and diverse contributions to our society of individuals whose ancestors came from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Spain. Beginning on September 15 and ending October 15, National Hispanic Heritage Month provides an excellent opportunity to focus on Latino literature. On this site you can find read-aloud books that help young people explore identity, names, culture, immigration, discrimination and important people in Latino history. These books each include two discussion guides, one for educators and one for families, and can be a jumping-off point to discuss the Latino experience year-round.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during this transition back to our new normal. Last year, as a district, teachers were asked to use Canvas (our online learning platform) to mirror and provide an exact replica of all the learning experiences that took place in the classroom. That was not a reasonable expectation and was found to be overwhelming for students, teachers, and families. This year, Canvas is being used as a resource in the classroom, not a replacement for the teacher or classroom learning experiences.

We are fortunate that DC45 is standards referenced reporting and students have the ability to show mastery of a standard without needing to complete all the practice experiences that take place in the classroom. We understand practice and repetition are necessary and can serve a need when used correctly. We use data to drive instruction and not just busy work used to keep students busy.

With this being said, when your child returns from quarantine or being home sick, teachers have the ability to give a quick check for mastery on the standard that was taught and practiced while your child was absent. If your child shows mastery of the standard, it would be unnecessary and superfluous for your child to be asked to complete practice tasks not needed. If your child does not have the standard mastered and it is necessary for formal instruction, practice and/or reteaching of the standard, teachers will support that learning by providing opportunities to learn and practice that standard.

Students are given as many days as they are absent to complete time sensitive materials, but fortunately because our district is a standards referenced reporting district, students have as much time as needed to show mastery of standards. In the meantime, we always encourage reading and practicing math fluency while your child is at home.

It will not be a practice/procedure at DC45 to park and walk your child up to the school. When we have parent walk ups we have to stop our entire system because we will have to check ID's etc. We will ask that you get back in your car and go through the car loop and follow our designated drop off and pick up procedures. Thank you for helping us with this. This is part of our expectations and procedures and helps us to keep kids safe. Please do NOT drop off your child in our parking lot. We need ALL students to be picked up and dropped off in the car line to ensure that those on duty can keep them safe. It is also detrimental to our traffic flow if this procedure is not followed. Again, thank you for understanding!

It will greatly help us and also get you out of our car line quicker as well as help with the flow of traffic, if everyone uses the car loop for pick up and drop off!

It will also greatly help us to have your car tag displayed where we can read it easily! If you do not have your car tag with you, we will ask to see your ID to ensure that we are sending kiddos home with the right people. This is a safety thing... thank you for understanding!

We would love for you to send your child to school with a water bottle, as well! We are currently not using out water fountains to drink out of but, students are able to refill water bottles from them.

If your child is feeling sick, even mild symptoms, please keep them home! Our teachers are understanding and will work with you on getting assignments to them when they return. We want to ensure that we are keeping everyone safe, so even if the symptoms are mild, please take extra precautions and keep them home!

We are looking forward to seeing you at Parent Orientation on August 31st. I'll be sending out more specific information next week. Please know this is optional and you are always welcome to reach out to your child's teacher.

MONDAY, TUESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY

Doors open - 7:00am

School starts - 7:30am

Last chance for afternoon check out - 1:45pm

School ends - 2:20pm

LATE START WEDNESDAY

Doors open - 8:00am

School Starts - 8:30am

Last chance for afternoon check out - 1:45pm

School ends - 2:20pm

If you are interested in getting involved with our DC45 PTO, please reach out via our PTO email address!

deercreek45pto@gmail.com

If you are interested in purchasing a planner through DC45 PTO, please contact Kelcie Skaggs at kelcieskaggs@dcsok.org. They are $6, exact cash or check!

Planners are highly encouraged for students to use!

If you have an afternoon appointment and will need to check out your child, please do so by 1:45pm! Students will be transitioning at the end of the day and we want to ensure that we are able to be timely in getting them to the office.

Thank you for understanding!

For the 2021-2022 school year, school visitors will be allowed in the building for school related reasons such as Meet the Teacher Day, Schedule Pick Up, Check In/Out of Students and Assemblies if capacity allows. Outside lunches may be dropped off for students, but families will not be allowed to stay and eat lunch on campuses.

Masks are encouraged but not required.

We have been planning assemblies for our students this year and are excited about having the space and opportunity to do this. Assemblies will not consist of all 1200 students in an enclosed space at one time.

Visitors will be on an invite only basis, in that when we celebrate our Campers of the Month or student/class showcases, we will invite those families to attend! We are excited to be able to do this for the 21-22 school year but want to continue to be mindful and safe.

Deer Creek School District now has an Online Payment option called "InTouch" for you to conveniently pay online for many items such as parking permits, books, t-shirts, class fees, field trips, tickets, etc...

Currently, there are limited items available, but as our site has additional items for sale, they

will be added to the site! What you need prior to using the InTouch Receipting Online Payment System: Infinite Campus Parent Portal & Email address associated with your Infinite Campus Parent Portal.

You can contact District Enrollment at campusportal@dcsok.org for this information.

Parents must have an Infinite Campus Parent Portal prior to being able to use the InTouch Receipting Online Payment System. The Infinite Campus Parent Portal must be set up 24 hours prior to using InTouch Receipting to allow information to be uploaded to InTouch.

To Access InTouch Online Payment Portal:

Go to: https://ok-deercreek.intouchreceipting.com/ or

Visit our Deer Creek Website Parent Page

http://www.deercreekschools.org/parents/in_touch_online_payments

This year at DC45 we will be a 1:1 school. Each child will be checked out an iPad and a charger the first week of school. Students are expected to take their devices home and and bring them back charged each day.

It's important that students utilize their district issued device as they will have access to apps and resources that may only be available on a district device. We can easily push out things in mass to our devices if needed. I would also encourage you to take a picture of your child and set it as their background so we can easily identify who an iPad belongs to if we have one misplaced!

The Deer Creek School District is a one-to-one (1:1) school district with enough devices for all students. Many of the support programs (skill interventions, learning resources, digital textbooks, etc.) that we have purchased to support student learning will only operate properly on district-owned devices. Also, we have the ability to monitor, filter, and control district owned devices to ensure student safety. Although web filtration systems are never perfect, they are constantly monitored on district-owned devices so that adjustments can be made throughout the school year. Therefore, moving forward it is imperative for all Deer Creek students to use Deer Creek devices instead of their own. In grades 4—12 we do not have the space or charging capabilities to support housing large numbers of devices on campus overnight.

Similar to checking out a textbook, we will check out a device for each student to use for the school year. If a student has his or her own device, it should be left at home for household use. In grades

4 -12 (and as needed in grades 2 and 3), devices are to be charged at night and transported to and from school daily just like a textbook.

For $35 you may purchase an optional protection plan if you are concerned about accidents or damage to the district-issued device. This is much cheaper than what we must charge for damage to a textbook, for example. Many of our textbooks cost over $100, yet the device protection plan is only $35. This is totally optional, but keep in mind the actual device costs anywhere from $200 (iPads) to $400 (chromebooks), and without a protection plan, users will be fully responsible for repairs that need to occur with each device.

These policies and procedures are in sync with other 1:1 districts across the state, and we are excited that Deer Creek is finally able to bring our students fully into the digital age to prepare them for a successful future in a digital workforce.

Canvas is our learning management system and we are a 1:1 district, so even if Covid wasn't happening, Canvas would still be our learning management system. Canvas will look SIGNIFICANTLY different this year. Canvas will be used to support instruction, NOT to replace instruction. Nothing replaces the teacher in the classroom! We are in school for 5 days with a fully traditional school setting. Therefore, Canvas will not be a substitute for a classroom teacher nor an adequate support for long term, fully remote students. Unless students are sick or in quarantine due to a recent direct exposure, they should fully be in school.

State test scores will be available through the Parent Portal!

You can also access them through the Oklahoma State Department website by clicking here:

https://sde.ok.gov/oklahoma-school-testing-program-ostp-families

You'll need your child's STATE testing number which can be accessed via your parent portal!

We are still waiting on final scores to be posted from the state!

If you have any questions in regard to any of the forms below or that are specific to your child please reach out to our school nurse.

Christy Johnson, RN

DC45 Nurse

christyjohnson@dcsok.org

DC45 PTO - deercreek45pto@gmail.com

Christy Johnson, DC45 Nurse - christyjohnson@dcsok.org

Erin Frizzell - 4th Grade Assistant Principal - erinfrizzell@dcsok.org

Jason Mackey - 5th Grade Assistant Principal - jasonmackey@dcsok.org

Kelsey Clary - 4th Grade Counselor - kelseyclary@dcsok.org

Crystal Wiseman - 5th Grade Counselor - crystalwiseman@dcsok.org

DC45 Attendance/Residency Verification - 45attendance@dcsok.org

Dr. Jenn Shaver - Principal- jennifershaver@dcsok.org