Stingray Sentinel - Home Edition
News for the Families of Duval Charter School at Southside
April 20th, 2020
Principal Update on Covid-19 Closure
Although saddened that we won't have the typical end of year celebrations and last day goodbyes, we know it is best to keep everyone safe and healthy. The facilities will remain closed, and as restrictions are lessened, we will make plans to reunite students with any personal items in classrooms, medications, and the picking up of spring pictures & yearbooks. We do not yet have a time frame selected for this as we monitor the CDC recommendations and local stay at home orders.
We will look for unique ways to celebrate our students' accomplishments and have some virtual events to help bring closure to the school year. At this time we are still hoping to have a Summer Bash event in mid to late July, where we are hoping to bring the Stingray Family together to celebrate a job well done on 2019-20 learning!
As we continue remote learning from home, a few parents have reached out concerned about absences marked in Powerschool. Please know that teachers can go back and edit up to ten days in the electronic systems. As students submit work they can update, but it is not always their immediate priority. They are focused on delivering quality instruction, hosting live lessons and providing meaningful feedback to students. Sometimes it takes them a few days to go back and clean up attendance. A better indicator of how students are doing with keeping up with online work, may be to check in with their grades weekly in Powershool.
We try to remain ever mindful that this is an emergency situation and families have different responsibilities, life situations and perhaps additional stressors of reduced income or working away from the home while your children are trying to learn at home. We will work to continue to extend grace while also keeping learning going for the remaining six weeks.
There will be days that things just don't get done, or life makes learning at home difficult. Please give yourself grace as well and begin again the next day. Don't worry Stingrays, we are in this together and will remain #StringrayStrong.
We could use your support in word of mouth recommendations as we will also not be able to hold tours and information sessions for families searching for a school family. Any new student who applies, lists you as a reference and accepts their seat/registration from 4/20 to June 1st will earn your family and their each a $25 uniform gift card. We appreciate your assistance in helping new families to find DCSS. Most of our open seats (as we added new classes) are at Kindergarten and First Grade. The other grade levels have 6 or less seats open.
Thank you again for the support you have shown to not only your own child, but to our teachers and staff during this difficult situation. Thank you for trusting us and partnering with us to help educate your child. If there is anything we can do to help, please let us know.
~Principal Sauer
This Week
*Family Fun Week*
Monday 4/20:
A Day for MS Electives
Resource: K & 1 Technology, 2nd Spanish, 3rd PE/Health, 4th Art, 5th Music
Movement Challenge - exercise together as a family - snap a picture to share
Tuesday 4/21:
B Day for MS Electives
Resource: K& 1 Music, 2nd Technology, 3rd Spanish 4th PE/Health 5th Art
PM check out form by 4
K-2 Trivia Night 7pm zoom and kahoot
Wednesday 4/22:
A Day for MS Electives
Resource: K & 1 Art, 2nd Music, 3rd Technology, 4th Spanish, 5th PE/Health
4pm Facebook Live - Cooking with Cece
Thursday, 4/23
B Day for Middle School
Resource: K& 1 PE/Health 2nd Art, 3rd Music, 4th Technology, 5th Spanish
Grades 3-5 Trivia Night 7pm
Friday 4/24:
A Day for Middle School
K & 1 Spanish, 2nd PE/Health, 3rd Art, 4th Music, 5th Technology
Family Game Night - snap a picture to share
Coming Soon:
4/28 Kahoot Trivia Night Middle School 7:00-8:00pm
Cancelled
- All events and testing through June 3rd per FLDOE
Trivia Night Link - K-2 Tuesday 7PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://charterusa.zoom.us/j/98225941613
Meeting ID: 982 2594 1613
You will either need two tabs open or use one on a phone (Zoom & Kahoot)
Please do not post the link on social media as that causes security concerns. This event is for current DCSS families.
Trivia Night Link - Grades 3-5 Thursday 7pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://charterusa.zoom.us/j/98903902256
Meeting ID: 989 0390 2256
You will either need two tabs open or use one on a phone (Zoom & Kahoot)
Please do not post the link on social media as that causes security concerns. This event is for current DCSS families.
Beef Empenada Ingredient List
Parent/Guardian Survey! We need to hear from YOU!
It is time for our annual spring survey! Normally we would be handing you QR codes in the car line, etc. but we hope you are getting this virtually via your newsletter and will take a few minutes to share your valuable feedback!
New Stingray Shout out!
Entries will be used to lift up staff members, pass along a kind word, brag about our teachers, etc.
Calendar
- There are no more early release days.
- Monday, May 25th will remain a holiday - no school
- The last day of school is May 29th.
Phase 2: Recommit Part II Begins on May 4th
Phase 1: in January, we completed phase 1 of the recommit process. 97% of our students are returning for 2020-21 school year
Phase 2: New this year in CSUSA, for the second step in the process, parents/guardians will complete an online Re-Enrollment Packet for returning students. This allows us to collect updated student demographic data, receive parent/guardian consent, and emergency contact information closer to the start of the school year. By completing this step, we will have fewer updates needed for emergency contact information in August/September.
More information to come as we get closer!
3rd Quarter Report Cards - How to View
Step 1: Log on to https://csusa-fl.powerschool.com/public/home.html
Step 2: Log into your account. If you have never created an account, please email bmerryman@southsidecharter.org to email the form to create an account.
Step 3: Once you have logged into your account, on the left-hand side click on the Grade History. In Grades History, you can review the final grades of the first and second quarters and semester.
Fashion Club
Spring Pictures & Yearbooks
Yearbooks: Order Form Attached or use the online code shown below
Reminders for Remote Learning
- Log in Daily to Edmodo - Students need to login to Edmodo through the Clever portal to find out about daily expectations and assignments. Your child’s teacher(s) will be posting assignments for the day by 8a.m. and your child will be expected to complete daily assignments. Some of these assignments will be physical assignments that they do with paper/pencil, and some will be virtual with online assignments.
- Attendance: When your child submits a daily assignment, or attends a live zoom class, to show they are "at school" and working, the teacher amends the attendance to show "present" - For middle school, just like at the physical school, attendance is taken each period. If a child is only doing their math assignments as that might be their favorite subject, then they will only be shown as "present" for math class.
*Teachers will amend attendance up to one week to accommodate families sharing devices, working in the evenings or weekends to complete assignments because they are with a caregiver without internet during the day.
- Grading: Check Powerschool grades weekly be ensure that your child is submitting their work to their teacher. There will be practice grades, and mastery assessments grades. It is important to allow your child to complete assigned work independently. This will allow us to truly assess your student’s level of mastery of each standard.
- Instruction: Teachers have been conducting whole class lessons and pre-recorded lessons in which students can self pace. Some students may have small group zoom sessions for remediation as well as differentiating the assignments to meet your child academically where they are and ensure they continue to grow.
- Communication: Let’s continue to ensure that we are all on the same page as advocates for your child’s academic success by keeping communication strong and positive. Please reach out if your child needs any extra support. Your child’s teacher(s) will have daily office hours for student questions/assistance and parent conferencing on Zoom. Office hours should be posted in Edmodo. If you are unable to reach a teacher, or have not received a response within the expected 24 hour turnaround, please call the help desk and we will get the teacher to reach back out to you.
Help Desk
Arts & Sciences
Fun Science Vocab Review for 4th & 5th graders
Enrichment
Join a Read Aloud
With in-person school and story time both closed for now, many of us are tired of our kids watching YouTube or TikTok. Do you need a break, but still want to keep your kids entertained in a way that makes you feel like a good parent? Try NEI’s daily, online book readings. Kids can follow along with some of our staff’s favorite books on FlipGrip and you can get that much needed 15-minute break. Each reading is followed by a brief Q&A and collaboration is encouraged.
NYTimes Learn To Cook - FREE for now
Pledge
Staying Healthy!
Wellness... take care of yourself Stingray Family!
Mindfulness App: The Inner Explorer team has developed a daily mindfulness app for families, which is an extension of the program used in more than 30,000 classrooms. Families can download the app at NO COST — thanks to the generosity of their partners, including LG Electronics and the Allstate Foundation.
Booster - Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/choosebooster/
Our wonderful Boosterthon team not only has made all the character ed video series open for families through your boosterhon account - password ONLINE, but they have daily storytime at 9am, fitness breaks at noon and an exercise program at 3pm!
Kid Friendly Workouts: https://www.getclassfit.com/videos
They host live workouts at 1:30 each day, but those are through Facebook which you would need to use a phone or personal device for, but the above link has some of the video workouts posted for anytime use!
Yoga Videos
Hardship Resources
We have moved the long list of resources over to a separate link: https://www.smore.com/71a3z
BIKES!!! for essential workers
Specialized (a bike company) where they are giving away bicycles to essential workers based on a first-come, first-served basis if needed for transpiration. Here's the link to apply or refer someone:
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/essential-transportation
They're using the same classification for essential as the government, but provided this for examples of who is eligible:
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Nurses and healthcare professionals
- Grocery store and food service employees
- Packers, packagers, and delivery personnel
- Reporters and photographers
- First responders and emergency personnel
-Mental health and social welfare professionals
Educational Apps/Software utilized at DCSS
We have moved our comprehensive list of programs, apps and softwared used at D.C.S.S. to a seperate page - https://www.smore.com/dxqct
Click to learn more about powerschool, clever, edmodo, school mint, Lexia, and more!
Need Volunteer Hours?
Log your volunteer hours on a computer in your Powerschool account (option does not appear on the App)
1 hr: Leave a positive review on Facebook, Yelp, or Great Schools - let shopping families know what you LOVE about Duval Charter at Southside. This helps our marketing team!
Complete your Online Volunteer Training while at Home!
Teacher Appreciation Week
Teacher Appreciation Week starts the week of May 4th.
We have launched the #StringrayStrong Shout out tool, where you can send a special thank you message or give them a shoutout for something amazing that they are doing!
Ways to Support DCSS Online !!
Coke Rewards
Boxtops
SchoolStore.com
Previous Newsletter
Duval Charter School at Southside
Website: https://www.southsidecharter.org/
Location: 8680 A C Skinner Parkway, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Phone: 904-4235348
Facebook: facebook.com/DuvalSouthside
Twitter: @DCSSouthside