Hearst Weekly Update
April 5, 2020
Principal's Message
Hello, Owls!
It was wonderful to see so many of you at school this past week and I appreciated hearing all your stories about the ways your families are coping with balancing at home learning, having a full home, and staying connected to friends and family while social distancing. I shared with many of you and want to reiterate here that the physical and mental health of you and your family are most important right now. If the work packets aren't working for your child and become a point of contention, use the packets for inspiration, knowing that at home learning can take many forms. Cleaning out the junk drawer is a lesson is sorting, classifying, and counting (math and science skills), and getting your newly organized items back into the drawer neatly involves spatial reasoning, a math skill. Reading the back of the cereal box is still reading and writing lists of people your child wants to call, email, or chat with is one way to practice writing skills.
Please know that for many reasons, we don't expect your child to be engaged in academics at home in the same ways they would while at school. This clearly isn't a typical school year and neither are our expectations for kids. When we go back to school together, we'll adjust how we've done things in the past while continuing to meet your child where he or she is academically and socio-emotionally. My uncle gave me a piece of advice before my freshman year of college, telling me to not let my school work interfere too much with my education and I offer something similar here. There are many lessons for your child that will come from this time period. As great as the work packets are, your child will likely not remember them, but will remember learning from you about resilience, innovation, caring, inclusivity, service, safety, and love among many others. I hope these lessons are and will be your priority.
Please reach out with any questions or concerns and to let us know how we can support you.
In partnership,
Jen
PS - During packet pick up, a family asked about my new work from home buddy, Sasha. I think she may have been a model before because I found pictures of her online. We’ve only been together a few weeks but I’ve learned a lot about her thus far: she likes to nap a lot, loves to eat, prefers walks to working out inside, loves wiggling and belly rubs, and really likes playing with toys she can chew. She also has lots of ideas about learning at home and doesn't hesitate to share them when we're having virtual staff meetings. :)
About Us
Email: attendance@hearstes.org
Website: www.hearstes.org
Location: 3950 37th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (202) 282-0106
Facebook: facebook.com/hearstes
Twitter: @hearstes
News and Announcements from Hearst
Quick Updates
- If you would like work packets mailed to your home, please let your child's teacher know by the end of the day on Monday and we'll mail them to you.
- The school building is closed and no one is answering the phone at Hearst. If you want or need to get in touch with staff, please email or connect through Bloomz or Teams. Email addresses for all staff can be found here:http://www.hearstes.org/faculty_staff_directory.
- Now that our students are accessing Teams, starting on Tuesday, April 7, all individual, classroom, and grade level information will only be posted on Teams. Moving forward, Bloomz will become a place for school-wide information and announcements, as well as sign-ups for meetings and events. All special subject teachers have channels within the homeroom Teams pages. Please be sure to visit those channels for activities, information, and messages from our special subject teachers.
Hearst's Distance Learning Plan
Week Three (4/6-4/10)
We will continue to use Teams for videoconferencing or phone meetings with individual kids and small groups. Academically, the focus remains on supporting students with the content in the Weeks 2 and 3 work packets. We will continue with asynchronous learning opportunities and virtual office hours and are not introducing any new content during this time.
Weeks Four and Five (4/13-4/24)
Beginning April 13, we will return to the curriculum, picking up where we left off, and will address new learning for students. More information about what this will look like will be shared in the next week.
Virtual Spirit Week
Show us your school spirit by uploading Virtual Spirit Week pictures to the Bloomz shared album Virtual Spirit Week (April 6-10).
- Monday, April 6 - Superhero Monday
- Tuesday, 4/7 - Virtual Spirit Week: Hearst Day
- Wednesday, 4/8 - Wacky Hair Wednesday
- Thursday, 4/9 - Sports Jersey Thursday
- Friday, 4/10 - Pajama Fun Friday