The Navigator Newsletter
Sycamore Junior High's Parent Communication
September 25, 2020
School Goals
Ensure safety of self and students
Provide engaging, standards-based digitized curriculum both F2F and Virtually
Remain prepared to adapt
F2F Parents: Remember to Scroll down to see F2F content
This Section Applies to Virtual Classroom Learners
COMING UP
Mark your calendar
September 29 and October 1: MAP testing for Virtual Classroom Students BELL SCHEDULE
October 6: School Picture Retake/Makeup Day 8:05am-Noon (details below)
November 20: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8am-3pm; No School for Students
November 23: Parent-Teacher Evening Conferences 4:30-7:30
PLEASE READ: Instructions for Virtual MAP Testing
Sycamore Junior High - Virtual Classroom MAP Testing - FALL 2020
September 29: Reading
October 1: Math
Virtual Classroom Students - Please follow the instructions below to access your virtual MAP Testing. Please open THIS document on the morning of the assessment in order to receive directions as well as the session password provided only on the day of the assessment.
Step 1: Prior to testing, your device must have the updated version of Google Chrome. For instructions on how to do this - please watch this video. Please complete this BEFORE September 29th (day 1 of testing). Instructions for this have also been provided in SMORE. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO COMPLETE PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 29TH!!!
Step 2: At 8:00 AM on both days of testing, please log in to your computer as you do every day.
Step 3: Please go to this LINK - to begin testing. Please close all other tabs (except maybe email for technology issues) in order for the NWEA testing to run efficiently.
Step 4: Please type in one of the following session NAMES
September 29: virtualfallreading2020
October 1: virtualfallmath2020
Step 5: On the day of the testing this will be your session password: ______________ (provided on the day of the test at 8:00 AM). Testing will begin as soon as possible.
Step 6: Proceed with testing until completed. Once completed, log out of NWEA site.
Technology issues during testing - please email jhmedia@sycamoreschools.org - this email will only be operational during testing.
In your email please include the following:
Name (first and last)
Student ID
Specific nature of the problem you are experiencing
Phone number in which you can be reached
Please monitor your email for a response
School Pictures
If your student had pictures taken on September 2nd... YOUR PHOTOS ARE READY!
Click on the button below to get started. The event Code is FE40620
VIEW AND ORDER PHOTOS HERE
http://click.e.jostens.com/
FALL PICTURE/RETAKE DAY - Tuesday, October 6, 2020
If you missed your picture day or want your picture retaken, you are welcome to come in anytime between 8:05 AM - 12:00 PM
Students ONLY should arrive ready to have their picture taken and should enter the gymnasium through Door #13 -just past the black gate. Upon entry, students will have their temperature taken. Once students have taken their picture they will exit door number 14 which is at the back corner of the building. Parents, please wait in your vehicle for your students as we cannot allow any parent into the building.
YEARBOOK INCLUSION
If your child is unable to participate in any of the scheduled picture days and wants to be included in the JH Yearbook, please email a photo to Melissa Speelman at SpeelmanM@sycamoreschools.org.
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Parent/Teacher Conferences conferences will be held virtually, for both Virtual Classroom and Face-to Face students. The Junior High will host conferences on Friday, November 20 during the day and on Monday evening, November 23. Parents will receive details regarding the conferences as they get closer.
PTO NEWS
MEMBERSHIP
The PTO has chosen to provide membership at NO cost this year. Your FREE PTO membership gives your family access to the Sycamore Junior High Student Directory, which is published through an app called Directory Spot. In order to have access to Directory Spot this year you MUST fill out the membership form.
- On a desktop: Go to https://www.sycamoreschools.org/Page/3021 and click on Membership on the left column.
- On a mobile device: Go to https://www.sycamoreschools.org/Page/3021, scroll down to click on the + sign on the right of the word 'PTO.' Click on the heading that says 'Membership.’
HASSLE-FREE FUNDRAISING
This year, the PTO is faced with the challenge of fundraising during a global pandemic. Because our annual fundraising events are currently on hold, this could greatly impact our ability to give back to our students and staff throughout the year. The PTO Board has chosen to offer a "Hassle-Free" fundraising event in hopes that we will be able to maintain our level of financial support to the Junior High. Hassle-Free donations can be made on the website listed above. We appreciate your support!
Questions?? Email Kim Hueil at jhptowaysmeans@sycamoreschools.org.
Earn money for Sycamore Junior High PTO
with Box Tops for Education
This year, more than ever, we need EVERYONE to participate in our hassle-free fundraising efforts. Whether it’s Kroger Community Rewards, Amazon Smile, Pipkin’s or Box Tops, we need your support! Each week, we’ll highlight how you can support the Sycamore Junior High PTO with only 5 minutes of your time.
This week, let’s talk Box Tops for Education.
Box Tops for Education is digital and easier than ever!
1. Download the Box Tops App from your App Store.
2. Designate Sycamore Junior High School as your school
3. Scan your grocery receipts – any product that qualifies will automatically be
counted
4. Watch the savings add up!
There are still a few products that have Box Tops that need to be clipped. If you have any of these, please send them to the school and place them in the box outside of the office. Or, if you’re virtual, please email Rhonda at starghill.rm@gmail.com to arrange a pickup.
JH PTO Hassle Free Contest
Yearbook Club!
Yearbook Club is going to look a little different this year, but the good news is that we will still be publishing a 2021 SJHS Yearbook! We would love to have all of our students help whether they are physically at school or learning from home. Meetings will be virtual and so will photo submission. Students will need to join Google Classroom and fill out the form posted there to participate. The Yearbook Club Google Classroom code is: bxgmafr All of this information will go out to students in our first installment of video announcements next week, but feel free to share this now. Please encourage your student to join Yearbook Club and help us document this unique year!
Parents, if you have any photos from athletic events or any other school-related event the Yearbook Club would love to include them in the 2021 yearbook. Please send photo submissions to Melissa Speelman at speelmanm@sycmoreschools.org .
2020 Yearbook and 2021 Yearbook Information
If you still need to pick up a 2020 yearbook from last Spring please contact Melissa Speelman at speelmanm@sycmoreschools.org .
Ordering information for the upcoming 2021 yearbook will be coming soon!
Virtual Meals
Thank you to everyone who ordered and picked up meals for the virtual curbside pickup service this past week. We served 368 students for a total of 3680 meals! Also, thank you for patiently waiting in the line at the high school, as we know the line was very long.
To avoid such long lines and traffic concerns we have decided to make each Sycamore School a pick up location EFFECTIVE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH. Please see location and times below:
Blue Ash- 10:00-11:00 am at the front entrance of the school
Maple Dale- 1:30-2:30 pm at the front entrance of the school
Montgomery- 10:00-11:00 am at the front entrance of the school
Symmes- 10:00-11:00 am at the front entrance of the school
EH Greene Intermediate- 9:30-10:30 am at cafeteria doors
Junior High- 10:00-11:00 am in the back parking lot
High School- 11:00-12:00 am at the athletic entrance doors (has not changed)
We ask that you pick up at your student’s assigned school location. IF you have multiple students that attend different buildings, meals for all of your children will be available for pick up at the OLDEST child’s school. You do not need to visit multiple schools.
If you have not already signed up and would like to do so, please sign up here. You can also find all the virtual meal information you should need by clicking here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Announcements Beginning Soon!!
JH News Crew announcements will begin no later than October 2!
Students may view the weekly announcement video each Friday beginning next week by clicking on the Youtube video link posted in their social studies weekly learning guide.
Class T-Shirts - Deadline SEPTEMBER 30
Sycamore Junior High PBIS Committee is proud to offer Class T-shirts again this year.
To order your child a t-shirt, please visit https://www.companycasuals.com/sycamoreclasstees/start.jsp
Click on "tshirts" on the left to start the ordering process and choose the correct color for your student's grade. Green is class of 2025 (8th grade) and gold is class of 2026 (7th grade)
We are still in the ordering process. After the ordering window closes on September 30, and the shirts are produced, arrangements will be made to distribute t-shirts to our virtual classroom students.
This Section Pertains to Face to Face Classroom Students
COMING UP
- October 6: School Picture Retake/Makeup Day 8:05am-9:30am
- November 20: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8am-3pm; No School for Students
- November 23: Parent-Teacher Evening Conferences 4:30-7:30
Reunification
In the event of an emergency where an evacuation of the school building is necessary, students will be transported to safety at Sycamore Community Schools’ reunification site:
Blue Ash Recreation Center 4433 Cooper Rd. Blue Ash, OH 45242
Detailed information can be found on the district website under Reunification Plans.
For more information on safety & security at Sycamore Schools, visit the district Safety & Security web page.
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Layover
Here at Sycamore Junior High, we have found that students’ engagement in classwork and homework is critical to optimizing their mastery of required academic standards. We hope parents will help us by reinforcing the importance of completing classwork and homework.
The Junior High has support programs to assist students who encounter challenges completing their work. This year, due to the pandemic, we are not able to offer our after- school BENCH program, but will continue the Layover program. If students are unable to complete classwork and homework as expected, they will be placed in the lunchtime support bell called Layover until that work is completed and turned in. We provide supervisors who can assist students in their work to ensure that the student’s challenge is not failure to understand the concepts. HAVE NO FEAR regarding the “oops” situations we all face. To address the occasional “oops”, every child each quarter and for each teacher will have one parachute pass to redeem for those occasional “oh no!” circumstances. If an out-of-the-ordinary circumstance happens within your family (e.g. illness, death in the family), please reach out to your child’s teachers and an exception can be made.
Students who are required to attend will be notified ahead of time and subsequently reminded of their Layover. If a child does not, after these reminders, come to the Layover Room, we have no other choice but to use the microphone in the cafeteria to request their attendance.
These support programs have been in place for years and have been an integral part of the improvement in student achievement at Sycamore Junior High. We hope that our programs assist you and your family during the evening homework time as you are able to remind them about Layover and the school’s expectations around homework completion.
We appreciate your support as we partner with you to maximize every student’s potential!
Earbuds for Remote Learning
Dear Parents,
We appreciate your patience as we work to provide a sound educational experience for every student at Sycamore Junior High.
We have been continually planning for multiple learning scenarios, including the case when a student or class needs to go to remote status. In your supply list, we requested that each child have earbuds. We want to apologize for not specifying that those earbuds will need to have a microphone. The microphone will be crucial to students and teachers so that the student can be heard in a video conferencing situation such as Blackboard Collaborate or Google Meets. We regret that we must ask that parents, if possible, purchase or otherwise secure a set of earbuds with a microphone for their child(ren). If this is a hardship for your family, please let your child’s first bell teacher know, and we will make plans to assist you in obtaining the necessary equipment.
Next week we will be conducting “remote drills” to ensure that every face-to-face student is able to navigate the remote learning platforms including the video conferencing tools Blackboard Collaborate and Google Meets and that they have working earbuds with microphones.
Thank you for your continued support. As always, please contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Traci L. Rea, Ph. D
Principal
PTO NEWS
MEMBERSHIP
The PTO has chosen to provide membership at NO cost this year. Your FREE PTO membership gives your family access to the Sycamore Junior High Student Directory, which is published through an app called Directory Spot. In order to have access to Directory Spot this year you MUST fill out the membership form.
- On a desktop: Go to https://www.sycamoreschools.org/Page/3021 and click on Membership on the left column.
- On a mobile device: Go to https://www.sycamoreschools.org/Page/3021, scroll down to click on the + sign on the right of the word 'PTO.' Click on the heading that says 'Membership.’
This year, the PTO is faced with the challenge of fundraising during a global pandemic. Because our annual fundraising events are currently on hold, this could greatly impact our ability to give back to our students and staff throughout the year. The PTO Board has chosen to offer a "Hassle-Free" fundraising event in hopes that we will be able to maintain our level of financial support to the Junior High. Hassle-Free donations can be made on the website listed above. We appreciate your support!
Questions?? Email Kim Hueil at jhptowaysmeans@sycamoreschools.org.
Earn money for Sycamore Junior High PTO
with Box Tops for Education
This year, more than ever, we need EVERYONE to participate in our hassle-free fundraising efforts. Whether it’s Kroger Community Rewards, Amazon Smile, Pipkin’s or Box Tops, we need your support! Each week, we’ll highlight how you can support the Sycamore Junior High PTO with only 5 minutes of your time.
This week, let’s talk Box Tops for Education.
Box Tops for Education is digital and easier than ever!
1. Download the Box Tops App from your App Store.
2. Designate Sycamore Junior High School as your school
3. Scan your grocery receipts – any product that qualifies will automatically be
counted
4. Watch the savings add up!
There are still a few products that have Box Tops that need to be clipped. If you have any of these, please send them to the school and place them in the box outside of the office. Or, if you’re virtual, please email Rhonda at starghill.rm@gmail.com to arrange a pickup.
JH PTO Hassle Free Contest
Yearbook Club
Yearbook Club is going to look a little different this year, but the good news is that we will still be publishing a 2021 SJHS Yearbook! We would love to have all of our students help whether they are physically at school or learning from home. Meetings will be virtual and so will photo submission. Students will need to join Google Classroom and fill out the form posted there to participate. The Yearbook Club Google Classroom code is: bxgmafr All of this information will go out to students in our first installment of video announcements next week, but feel free to share this now. Please encourage your student to join Yearbook Club and help us document this unique year!
Parents, if you have any photos from athletic events or any other school-related event the Yearbook Club would love to include them in the 2021 yearbook. Please send photo submissions to Melissa Speelman at speelmanm@sycmoreschools.org .
2020 Yearbook and 2021 Yearbook Information
If you still need to pick up a 2020 yearbook from last Spring please contact Melissa Speelman at speelmanm@sycmoreschools.org .
Ordering information for the upcoming 2021 yearbook will be coming soon!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
2020/2021 IMMUNIZATION REQUIREMENTS
Please turn in your required immunization paperwork to nurse Amy Bonham ASAP at jhimmunization@sycamoreschools.org.
In Ohio, the following vaccines are required by law:
7th-grade students must show proof that they have received (1) dose of Tdap, and (1) dose of MCV4 . This requirement must be met NO LATER THAN THE 14th day of attendance at school for the 2020-21 school year.
If you have questions, please email AMy at bonhama@sycamoreschools.org or call 686-1763.
Announcements Returning
JH News Crew announcements will be back no later than October 2!
Students may view the weekly announcement video each Friday by clicking on the Youtube video link posted in their social studies weekly learning guide.
Class T-Shirts - Deadline September 30
Sycamore Junior High PBIS Committee is proud to offer Class T-shirts again this year.
To order your child a t-shirt, please visit https://www.companycasuals.com/sycamoreclasstees/start.jsp
Click on "tshirts" on the left to start the ordering process and choose the correct color for your student's grade. Green is class of 2025 (8th grade) and gold is class of 2026 (7th grade).
We are still in the ordering process. After the ordering window closes on September 30, and the shirts are produced, arrangements will be made to distribute the t-shirts at school.
Sycamore Junior High School
Email: jhadmin@sycamoreschools.org
Website: www.sycamoreschools.org/sycamorejh
Location: 5757 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Phone: 5136861760
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SycamoreJuniorHighPTO/
Twitter: @sycamorejrhigh