SKYRIDGE NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2020
MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL WILLIAMS
Hello Skyhawk Families,
Any time I sit down to write the opening for a newsletter, I always look back at the newsletters from previous years for inspiration. This year was no exception, but as I looked at last year’s newsletter, I realized just how different this year is. I usually start each month talking about the activities that just wrapped up and those that are coming. I start this way because engagement in activities at school is a great way to enhance learning and help your student succeed. While in person activities are not possible this month, I would encourage you to make sure that your student is engaged in the online learning activities that will begin right after spring break. This is new for all of us, but what we do know is that getting involved in their class sessions and working on the assignments that are pushed out will help them when we do return to school.
Our teachers have been working hard over the last two weeks designing what these activities will look like and we have a good plan moving forward. Thank you for your patience and flexibility during these last two weeks and I hope that you will continue to extend this patience to our teachers after spring break, as well. We will run into technology issues that we did not anticipate and plans that looked great in design will not work exactly how we thought they would. We will adjust on our end and things will get better. Please encourage your student to hang in there with us and not give up if they run into some frustrations. We have talked about grit, perseverance and growth mindset a lot during that last few years. Here is a perfect opportunity to practice what we have learned!
I sent the schedule for virtual classes out earlier this week. It is also linked here. As a district, we will be focusing on feedback to enhance learning during this time and will not be focusing on grades for the first three weeks. Some assignments that students turn in will be put into Skyward, but those scores will be participation scores and will not affect the overall grade. This is because we need to make sure we have all of our students moving forward with us and that students are not penalized for not being able to participate. When we return to school on April 27, we will move forward with traditional grading in our classes. With that said, please encourage your students to turn in their assigned work, as we will be reaching out to students who are not participating to see if we can help support them.
I also ask that you encourage your students to be safe, respectful and responsible online students. We will still hold our students to the same expectations as to how they treat each other online as we would in school. Teachers and administrators will be intervening with students who might not make the best choices in this area. As always, if your student is experiencing negative behavior from other students, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us so that we can help support them. Working as a team, we can help to make this a positive experience for everyone.
Next week is Spring Break, so our staff will be unplugging from the virtual world. The first round of assignments are ready to go and will be pushed out to students by 9 am Monday, April 6. Please remember the importance of social distancing in your Spring Break plans. The sooner we can stop the spread of this virus, the sooner we will be able to see our Skyhawks back at school. Take care and stay healthy!
Go Skyhawks!
Clint Williams
Principal
Tech issues?
1. Phone support: 360-833-5432
2. Email support: chromebook-help@camas.wednet.edu
3. Website support: bit.ly/camas.remotelearning
Remote Learning
Online E-books Available
1. Apply for a card here: https://www.cityofcamas.us/libcard/libcard
2. Send us an email at library@cityofcamas.us after you apply so we can give you a library card number