Orion Gazette
September 21-24
School Calendar
Sept 23 8:15am-8:50am Coffee with Principal Katherine
Sept 24 3:30pm Orion ELAC English Learner Committee
i-Ready Online Assessments for students and teachers
During the assessment period from September 21-October 9, synchronous schedules will be modified by the teacher during testing.
I encourage parents to watch this video to learn more about the assessment. Teachers are preparing students for the assessment during synchronous learning on how to use the tech tools and what they can expect.
Information for parents: English Video
Spanish. and handouts in both languages:
Mid-Autumn Festival Activities
The Chinese moon festival is a celebration of a love story and a harvest celebration. Watch this short video to find out more!
In celebration of Moon Festival Orion Mandarin Immersion and Math instructional coach Ms. Winnie Wong will sharing a bilingual reading of the Moon Festival during asynchronous instruction this Wednesday.
Starship PTO Corner
Starship Corner:
Thank you Librarian Cristina for launching Library Distribution and Bibilocarro! We are so excited to have our library up and running and we are so grateful for all of Cristina's tremendous work in preparing 400 books. We will be working with parent volunteers and class coordinators to make sure the everyone can access this tremendous program. If you are interested in helping out with library, please sign up on Konstella either for the library committee or as a bibliobarro volunteer.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The MI program is planning a school wide mid autumn cultural event in celebration of the traditional Chinese moon festival on 10/2 or 10/3. Details TBA.
The Chinese moon festival is a celebration of a love story and a harvest celebration. Watch this short video to find out more!
Legend of the Moon Festival:https://youtu.be/EMMU1YJadzE
We hope to have volunteers across programs help produce thematic events as a school wide Chinese cultural celebration. Please email Kathrine Black at kat.anne.black@gmail.com to volunteer.
Starship Meeting:
Our next next Starship meeting will be Thursday October 1, 7:30. Meeting topics will include fundraising, Author Illustrator, Art, Class Coordinator Activities and Teacher Support. If you have any other committee updates or items you would like to discuss please email us by 9/25.
Please remember, every parent, teacher and staff member is a part of Starship and everyone's voice is essential. Thank you and have a great week!
Questions or ideas: email starship@orionschool.org.
Coffee with Principal Katherine and Assistant Principal Ms. Nichole
I have learned a bit more about the settings for RCSD using Zoom. While most parents have been able to participate in Zoom with the new RCSD account, a few parents in meetings last week did have challenges logging in from their business or personal account. If this happens to you, please use your child's log in information.
Join Zoom Meeting https://rcsdk8-net.zoom.us/j/85406235809?pwd=SUpLQnkzVStINlc4K0Y2WDV6MU1NUT09
Meeting ID: 854 0623 5809 Passcode: orion1 One tap mobile +16699006833,,85406235809#,,,,,,0#,,884774# US (San Jose)
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2020, 08:15 AM
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Wednesday Schedule and Information About Learning and Instruction
Here is the language RCSD and Orion Alternative follow per the State guidelines:
California has developed the following distance learning standards for instruction starting this fall of 2020-21 after school districts worked as individual organizations this past spring.
Daily live interaction required
- Teachers will connect with their students each school day through online instruction and/or phone check-ups.
- Take student attendance (via Google or Zoom and/or online asynchronous lessons)
- Schools must take students' attendance and participation under distance learning, or risk losing state funding. Students who don't participate/attend will factor into schools' chronic absenteeism figures.
Minimum instructional minutes
- Students must receive a minimum amount of daily instruction that can be met by a combination of teacher instruction and "time value" of work assigned. (live “work” or work at home)
- 3 hours per day for kindergartners.
- 3 hours, 50 minutes for grades 1-3.
- 4 hours for grades 4-12
While teachers are planning and recording lessons on Wednesdays, students attend live instruction via PE, assemblies, library and starting in October, Social Emotional Lessons with Soul Shoppe. Teachers assign asynchronous lessons and students can use the time to catch up on assignments from the week.
Wednesday is not a day off from Distance Learning. The school takes attendance via either synchronous or asynchronous participation. With that being said, we are attempting to provide paper and pencil assignments, projects and reading books. The evidence the school has that a student is engaged in learning is through their district assigned account. We encourage students to participate to the best of their ability in the different learning opportunities on Wednesday but understand the importance of getting away from their devices and exploring the word around them and engaging with families and friends.
Asynchronous work on Wednesday include an opportunity to review lessons aligned to the integrated units of study, practice math skills and concepts and is essential for students that have gaps in skills from last Spring.
Wednesday Schedule for this Week
Topic: Storytime with Librarian Cristina
2-3 9:00-9:20
k-1 9:20-9:40
4-5 10:00-10:20
Join Zoom Meeting same link for all grades
https://rcsdk8-net.zoom.us/j/2956716213?pwd=UEJiTHNDRzBDbTJvVEtjaGdoOVgxQT09
Meeting ID: 295 671 6213
Passcode: StoryTime
PE Plus Live Lessons Revised Times
Grades 3-5: Time: 11:00-11:20am
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86001264648?pwd=MTFDU0dOSXhIdWhaQTBjdnE1VWJzdz09.Password: peclass
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84435859387?pwd=WkdqNi9DWHFEOXlTSXpHV0cyUnp3UT09
Password: peclass
ELAC-English Learner Committee
A school-level committee comprised of parents, staff, and community members designated to advise school officials on English learner programs and services.
The agenda is attached to this newsletter with the bilingual training presentation.
Join Zoom Meeting https://rcsdk8-net.zoom.us/j/89154008304?pwd=dThSREVtYXhDUnNwWTJoWi9QSHdZUT09 Meeting ID: 891 5400 8304 Passcode: OrionELAC One tap mobile +16699006833,,89154008304#,,,,,,0#,,592887575# US (San Jose)
Thursday, Sep 24, 2020, 03:30 PM
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Soul Shoppe - Our Partners in Social Emotional Learning at Orion Alternative
The Starship PTO is sponsoring our second year of partnership with https://soulshoppe.org/
Teachers will be sharing the student log in information with your students the week of September 28. Students will see old friends and workshop facilitators Joseph, Dara and James and meet new friends this year.
Soul Shoppe provides Orion community with a common language and set of experiences that help all of us teach and learn to manage a regulate our emotions so that we can communicate and connect with each other. Check out a few samples on their new online platform:
Mr.Anthony's Sea Friends Dance https://youtu.be/msAsQi2AfSM
Mr.James Stop & Breathe https://youtu.be/6hHdniraGGk
Mrs. Dara You're Amazing Song https://youtu.be/DGtY3sAN8v0
Orion School Library Distribution
LIBRARY BOOKS (and “Bibiocarro”)
Students can reserve library books through Alexandria (log into Alexandria through Clever,
and watch the video "How to search and place holds," ID and Password are the same for all RCSD apps). Librarian Cristina will pull them from the shelves, bag them, and make them ready for pick up. Included is a video with directions on how to search for titles and place holds. Students will be able to check out books every three weeks.
Watch "How to use library app" here.
Here is a brief overview of the rules:
- The maximum number of books a student can check out during any one cycle is 4.
- The maximum number of books a student can place a hold on is 5.
- I will bag books using PPE, and I will consolidate books orders to have one bag only for each family
- Any student who does not return books will have the number of books they can check out during the next cycle reduced to 1 (we are not charging late fees)
- Students must request books by noon on the Monday before the scheduled distribution dates. These upcoming dates are 9/14/2020, 10/5/2020, 10/26/2020, 11/16/2020, 12/7/2020. After 12 pm on these dates, any requested books will go to the next distribution cycle.
Book holds rules:
Kindergarten-second grade: Librarian Cristina will select fabulous books for each student; it will be two nonfiction books and two picture books. Parents are welcome to use the researcher to hold books for their children (especially for all the kids already reading chapter books).
Third-Fifth: students will use the Library app to put books on hold. If the books are not available (checked out), Librarian Cristina will select another book in the same genre.
Notices: I will send out an email informing everyone that their books are ready for pick up.
Distribution dates through December:
Pickup time: 12:00 am-4:00 pm
9/16/2020, 10/7/2020, 10/28/2020, 11/18/2020, 12/9/2020. Books can be picked up Wednesday afternoon, from 12:00 noon-4:00 pm on these dates.
How to pick up books:
Families can pull up on Avenue del Ora (where you picked up devices and classroom material) to have books brought to the car. Please have a piece of paper with your student's first and last name and grade level clearly visible. If you need to walk or bike, that's fine, but please make sure to socially distance. Everyone, please wear a mask.
You can text me or email to announce your arrival:
Librarian Cristina library phone: 650-7704071
Librarian Cristina library email: cryffel@rcsdk8.net
We want to organize a volunteer pickup service called "Bibliocarro," stay tuned, and please volunteer to help distribute books to our families.
Book return: books will be returned after three weeks and on the same day of the next pickup
Signup to become a Bibliocarro volunteer.
School Site Council Opportunity
There are several vacant parent and staff position on School Site Council this school year. If you would like to learn more or run for a position on SSC, please attend the next meeting scheduled on: Oct 22 at 4:00pm. Zoom link provided in the October newsletter.
Zoom vs. Google Meet
There are still some settings and privacy issues to work out along with staff professional development and practice. We are creating parent training videos and guides to share with families in the next newsletter. We understand that this may cause some frustration and lost connections in the beginning as we learn this new tool.