Murphy Team Update
For the Week of April 20-24
Mission:
- Lapeer Community Schools is a dynamic community organization embracing our students with a quality learning environment, developing independent and confident learners for the future.
- Murphy Elementary School is united in learning for all children and focused on excellence, as we step into the future.
Vision:
To maximize the achievement of all Murphy students as they prepare for the future.
- At Murphy we're not just building things - we're building better people - in partnership with our families.
- We know that we are all strong individually but we are even stronger when we work together.
Murphy Minute (the Weekly Parent Update):
Week at a Glance:
- ELA and Math
- All Staff Optional "Happy Hour" at 3:15 (invite will go out at that time)
- Bring Your Child to Word Day :)
- ELA and Math
- All Staff Optional "Happy Hour" Meeting at 3:15 (invite will go out at that time)
Wednesday, April 22:
- Hey everyone...it's Administrative Professionals Day! In other words...it's the day to thank and recognize Jerri for everything she does for us and our kids!!! Thank You Jerri Lynn :)
- Science or SS
- Elective grades K-2 and *Weekly Read at Home Plan homework
- All Staff Optional "Happy Hour" Meeting at 3:15 (invite will go out at that time)
Thursday, April 23:
- Weekly Packet 5 in bins for parents by 3:00
- Elective grades K-2 and *Weekly Read at Home Plan homework
10:00-10:30 K-2 PLC** (Please note PLC changes)
11:00-11:30 3-5 PLC** (Please note PLC changes)
- District Grade Level PLCs
- All Staff Optional "Happy Hour" Meeting at 3:15 (invite will go out at that time)
Friday, April 24:
- Elective grades 3-5 and *Weekly Read at Home Plan homework
- All Staff Optional "Happy Hour" Meeting at 3:15 (invite will go out at that time)
*Optional Zoom "Happy Hours" are to check in, share some good news, get some feedback, provide some feedback in place of our real-life conversations in the hallway :)
Nuts and Bolts:
Supplemental Educational Activities: Each teacher will create and produce supplemental educational activities for students to participate in for their core content elementary classes and their special classes. These activities will be available via Google classroom.
- Posted to Google Classroom by 10:00 AM each day
Weekly Schedule:
- Monday - ELA and Math
- Tuesday - ELA and Math
- Wednesday - Science or Social Studies
- Thursday - Elective grades K-2 and *Weekly Read at Home Plan homework
- Friday - Elective grades 3-5 and *Weekly Read at Home Plan homework
building access sign ups
Distance Learning Logistics
PlanBook - You may create a new class or classes to record your distance learning plans or create a new "Year." Either option is fine.
PowerSchool - Enter participation grades by Friday at 4 pm each week. Instructions: under Homeroom, create an assignment week and name it "Week of ___ Participation." For Class work, under Points, select 1 point. If a student participates, they get 1 point. If they do not, they get zero. (There are no penalties for non-participation.) All participation counts: online and packets. Do not mark attendance in PowerSchool.
End of the Year Grading - At year-end, Rochelle Fritz will be pushing forward grades from the end of the 2nd trimester. You will be able to go in and raise any grades up for students who have participated in virtual and have made progress. Otherwise, grades are to remain the same. There will not be an option for kids to regress on the report card.
504 Accommodation Logs: Accommodation Logs will no longer be collected at the end of the month. Instead, logs will be collected at year-end. Please review the following directions in completing logs, as they have been adjusted for the closure.
- Week of March 16th - Mandated School Closure
- Week of March 30th - All Students on Spring Break
- Weeks of April 6th through End of Year - Covid-19 Mandated School Closure (write this in top left hand corner). Accommodations that are reasonable and appropriate to be provided for the student should be highlighted on April-June accommodation logs.
Any questions can be directed to me or Melissa Anderson.
Some "Talking Points" for common Questions/Concerns from parents:
For parents concerned with Zoom safety: Zoom is now requiring all accounts affiliated with a school to set passwords to allow participants to access meetings. Teachers also use the waiting room feature, so they are admitting only those that should be in attendance at the Zoom meeting. Ultimately, your child is not required to participate in the Zoom meetings if you are uncomfortable. Please just let your child's teacher know that you will be opting out of that portion of the online learning. Google Classroom lessons will still be posted and available for your child, as will the print packets and the Read at Home Plan.
If families express reluctance to engage: The state is requiring all schools to provide students with distance learning in a variety of modes, both online and print. We believe all students should engage in whatever way is possible for each family. If the online platform/schedule is not feasible, please spend at least 30-60 minutes (depending on grade level) reading at home and working on the print packets each day.
When the question of grades comes up: We are tracking participation and giving participation grades only. Students will not have to repeat their current grade if they don’t participate, but students are more likely to retain what they’ve learned this year if they spend the next few months engaged in academic activities. Engaging in the activities that teachers are providing will allow students to start school next year with a higher level of readiness than they would have if they did not participate.
Tech Support with Michele Pfeiffer Daily from 10:00-11:00am
Got Questions?
Click on the link below to join my Open Office Hour for Tech Support - 7 days a week
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/794549004?pwd=d2I1bUkxNnNoTmt6N041UkZ0L2h6dz09
Meeting ID: 794 549 004
From the Desk of Heather Coffey...
TECH SUPPORT:
Call or text (810) 240-0573 (I am available at a minimum, Monday-Friday from 8 am-3:30 pm. Just like when I was in the building, I will work above and beyond that time as I am available, to support my colleagues!)
Email: hcoffey@lapeerschools.org (Please also feel free to email me whenever you need help...no matter how early or late or what day it is! 😉 I will answer the emails whenever I get a chance...even after hours when I can.)
Grade level PLCs I am also available to participate in your grade level PLCs if you have tech questions. Just let me know if you'd like me to join, and I will add it to my calendar!
Parents You can share my email address with parents if they have technology issues that you think I might be able to help them solve. This includes resetting student passwords.
You can also share my Remind code @coffeyt for parents if it's easier for them to message me that way.
From the Desk of Nick Ward:
If using Zoom, there are some crucial setting that every teacher needs to configure, but they may be tricky to find if using the app.
If using the app (as opposed to the web version), click on the settings (gear) icon in the upper-right corner.
At the bottom of the General Settings page, click on "View More Settings," which will open up a new settings page in your web browser.
Scroll down and adjust the following settings:
- Mute participants upon entry (should be enabled)
- Private chat (you may want this disabled)
- File transfer (should be disabled)
- Screen sharing (either disable entirely, or set to "Host Only")
- Whiteboard (you may want this disabled)
- Remote control (should be disabled)
- Waiting room (should be enabled)
Adjust other settings as you see fit. All settings are saved automatically.
Books for our Families!
E5/K and 1st grade:
- Community organizations banded together during this unprecedented time to provide literacy resources to students at LCS. Jaime Ratliff reached out to Lapeer Leader Fund, Kiwanis, Optimists, and Rotary organizations with a proposal and they reaffirmed their already longstanding commitment to the students of Lapeer Community Schools by providing funds to purchase books for our E5, K and 1st grade students. More than 700 early learners will be able to use these resources to increase fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and their love of reading. Because of this generous donation, 12 books at the correct reading level will be purchased and delivered right to the home of students, thus eliminating exposure during the remainder of the Michigan stay at home order.
Some details to know -
- Beth worked to get DRA levels from Illuminate, and the books will hopefully be ordered early next week. They will be sent directly to student homes with a letter from the district.
- Pioneer Valley Books is a vendor we have used in Lapeer for elementary reading programs.
- Approximately 725 E5, K and 1st grade students will get 12 books each.
- Each book bundle will be sent directly to the student's home.
- Teachers will have digital access to these books and can use them in their online instruction with students.
- Each book bundle has a parent guide that can help give additional support to at-home literacy.
- Reading every day is a good indicator of future success with reading fluency and comprehension.
- Kiwanis: $3,000 / Optimists: $3,000 / Rotary: $500 / Leader Fund: $5,462.50
- Beth is gathering individual student DRA data for the spreadsheet to be sent to Pioneer Valley Books
- Because we don't have DRA data for our E5 students, we plan to order level 1/A unless E5 teachers have a different idea (Please let Jaime and I know by tomorrow morning if you have a different idea). We have also considered ordering one level higher because we know research supports higher achievement when students read at their frustration level. However, at this time we have decided to simplify our efforts for parents. We plan to submit levels to Pioneer Valley as soon as tomorrow and will send a communication to parents.
2nd grade:
- We are using Early Literacy Grant funds to purchase books for every 2nd grade student. Usborne is the company we are using for 2nd grade and 8 books will also be shipped right to the home of students. Further information will come soon as we work to place the order.
- The order has been place with Usborne for 8 books per 2nd grade student using Section 35a funding. The books have already left the warehouse and are being mailed to our Usborne representative, Katie Gardner. She has the addresses for each 2nd grader, and a letter to put with the books. She will be mailing them out to students ASAP, so students can begin using them for take home reading.
3rd - 5th grade:
- Mayfield staff is working to pull leveled books from their Literacy Center. We will divide the books for each elementary building to have on hand for parents who request books. We will communicate to families similar to our Chromebook distribution. Parents will be asked to email the building secretary to schedule a pick up, staff will work to gather the books and place them under the entrance awning with the student's name. Our first priority will be 3rd - 5th grade as they do not have books being shipped to their homes. Parents will be asked to return the books to the school they attend in the fall. Depending on the level of interest will determine our next steps for accessing books from other Literacy Centers.
K-7 grade:
- We used grant funds to purchase a dry erase board, marker and eraser for every K-7 grade student. We hope to have them ready at the buildings and placed in bins for parents to pick up next Thursday (same day parents pick up packets). Teachers are encouraged to use them for face to face Zoom/Google Meet-Hangout sessions in order to interact with students and apply check for understanding strategies.
Technology resources
Here's the link to the Staff Tech resources
http://www.lapeerschools.org/cms/one.aspx?pageId=6857187 (From here, you see all of the district Tech resources available. Select the link titled "Virtual Learning Tech How-Tos for Teachers")
Or to get directly to the organized list of Tech How-Tos: http://tinyurl.com/lcsteachertech
This list will be updated as we collect current questions from teachers working on virtual learning.