Bethel Springs Elementary School
April 6, 2020
A Musical Message from Our GV Music Teachers!
From Our Home and School Association: ONLINE LEARNING SPIRIT DAY!
Attention 5th Grade Parents and Students! We Need Your Help! Due Dates Extended!
CALLING ALL 5TH GRADE STUDENTS AND PARENTS: You may or may not have received this LETTER before school closed, but it is chock full of information about all things 5th Grade for the Yearbook and the Video including the following details with some changes based on the current situation:
Yearbook Cover Contest: All 5th graders are invited to enter the Yearbook Cover Contest to create the cover for the 2019-2020 BSES Yearbook. Two winners will be selected (front and back covers), and each will receive a free yearbook!! Check out all the deets in the Submission Form. (Please note that the deadline on the form is Friday, March 27th, but we are extending to Friday, April 10th!)
**HOW TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY: Since obviously sending the entries to school isn't going to work any time soon, you can choose between these two options:
Electronically: If you have access to a scanner, scan your child's submission as a jpg or pdf, and send it via email to bsesyearbook@gmail.com.
Hard Copy: No scanner, no problem! If you would like to submit a hard copy of your child's entry, please email bsesyearbook@gmail.com, and we will work out the logistics.
**NOTE: If your child already sent an entry to school, please email bsesyearbook@gmail.com with your information.
5th Grade Questionnaire: Looking for something for your 5th grader to do? Make sure your 5th grader has filled out their QUESTIONNAIRE for the yearbook! (Please note that the deadline on the form is Friday, April 3rd, but we are extending to Friday, April 10th!)
Baby/Group Picture Submissions: And then if YOU need something to do too, check out the BABY/GROUP PICTURE SUBMISSION FORM in order to complete these submissions to the yearbook. If you are unable to submit your photos electronically, please email bsesyearbook@gmail.com, and we'll work out the logistics.
This information and more can be found on the 5th Grade Events and Submissions Page of the BSES HSA Website.
Latest Communication from Dr. Bertrando (3/30/20)
Dear School Community,
I hope that you’re hanging in there. I realize that between your work responsibilities and now your educational responsibilities, you’re a bit stressed. I also know that having information during these confusing times can help. Although I enjoy the video messages, there was just too much information to share today, and I was afraid a video may have become a really boring “mini-series” for you. I, consequently, thought an email was the best way to communicate.
As always, so that you can select the information that you need most, the message is structured as follows: (1) Two Week Instructional Calendar; (2) Parent Survey; (3) Kindergarten Pick-up; (4) Schoology and Seesaw; (5) Checking Email; (6) FAQs for Parents and Students; (7) Student Activities; and (8) Mini-Thon and GV-CTC Donations.
Two Week Instructional Calendar
As we progress through our first week of online learning, we are looking ahead while trying not to get “too far ahead”. There are several reasons why we believe two week “chunks” of time are best. Information continues to change quickly, and the more we have to change plans the more confused our school community becomes. Even though everyone has been patient and flexible, we want to provide as much clarity as possible. Also, we are only four days into our “new normal” and we want to be able to flex with the needs of our students, parents, and teachers. We believe two week windows of time are long enough to give us a good body of data while being short enough to make adjustments. To this end, the instructional calendar for the next two weeks is as follows (shown below):
The first thing that you’ll notice is that we will not have spring break this year. We wanted to continue with our learning and provide as much structure as possible for our students. Additionally, since we made the decision to provide optional, educational opportunities for the first two weeks of the shutdown, we felt that it was important to limit interruptions. We, however, still wanted to provide a “day off” on Friday, April 10th for everyone to regroup, catch-up, and take a breath. The 10th will represent almost two full weeks of our “new normal” and it seemed like a good time for a break.
We are also including an inservice day on Friday, April 17th. Since our teachers are still adjusting to this new instructional delivery method, we wanted to provide them with continued professional learning in areas of self-identified need while also giving them time to plan, review, and grade student work for the following week.
Parent Survey
An important element of success of our virtual learning model is our parents. We, therefore, need your feedback. This feedback will help us to gauge students’ workload, troubleshoot issues that parents are facing, and improve our delivery methods. Please take the short parent survey by clicking here.
Kindergarten Pick-Up
The Concord Elementary School team will email a PDF of the Kindergarten Home Learning to all parents on Friday, April 3rd. For those of you who are able to print at home, please print the work which will include the next three weeks of instruction including Special Area classes. If you indicated on the survey that you are unable to print the PDF, please meet Dr. Penning and Mrs. Leach at Concord Elementary school this Friday, April 3rd between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. We kindly ask parents to remain in their cars and drive up to the circle in front of Concord. A GV staff member will check your name off of a list and provide you a packet. It is important to note that we only have copies for parents who indicated that they needed one.
Schoology and Seesaw
In the area of staying flexible and patient, we are all experiencing issues with Schoology and Seesaw. Please understand that these providers are experiencing the repercussions of the pandemic as well. In fact, we received an update yesterday from Schoology explaining their plan to accommodate the 400% increase in usage of their 20+ million users. They recognize that there have been service interruptions; consequently, they are (a) increasing monitoring, specifically looking for areas of the site that are causing performance degradation; (b) during peak usage periods throughout the day, turning off certain resource intensive processes that have minimal impact on their users; (c) implementing specific throttles that allow them to quickly mitigate potential performance issues in certain features; and (d) tuning their infrastructure to account for the much larger volumes. Schoology asserts that these accommodations are occurring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also continue to monitor the performance of Seesaw. After some initial glitches, the platform appears to be functioning much better. However, our technology department will continue to monitor both systems and will work closely with customer service staff to facilitate as seamless an experience as possible for our students.
Checking Email
Now more than ever, it’s vital that we are checking our emails. We ask that parents maintain accurate contact information in Alma at all times as all parent communication is sent using this data. Click Alma Links to find each school’s unique URL. If you have any problems accessing your Alma account please contact Garnet Valley Tech Support:
- Bethel Springs Elementary, Liz Murphy liz@garnetvalley.org
- Concord Elementary, Kyle Croll kyle@garnetvalley.org
- Garnet Valley Elementary, Sally McGraw sally@garnetvalley.org
- Garnet Valley Middle School, Patty Lafferty patty@garnetvalley.org
- Garnet Valley High School, John Huber jhuber@garnetvalley.org
FAQs for Parents and Student
We continue to update information for parents and students. Perhaps the best resource to utilize when you have questions is our FAQ document. You can access it by clicking here.
Student Activities
The social and emotional well being of our students is extremely important to us and remains a priority. However, with a stay-at-home order in place for the foreseeable future, we do not have many options for some of the large-scale, social gatherings that are part of activities such as graduation, proms, concerts, field days, sports contests, etc. I realize that parents and students want definitive information regarding the district's plan to provide these opportunities, but at this time it is not possible for a multitude of reasons. In the meantime, our administrative team continues to brainstorm ways to provide student activities and events when we return to school.
Several of the questions I've received about activities were focused on graduation. The high school administrative team is meeting with the University of Delaware this week to discuss commencement. Simultaneously, Mr. Brandt and his team continue to explore various scenarios and options.
Mini-thon and GV-CTC
Please read this message from Madelyn Lederer, who is one of our amazing GVHS seniors and who leads Mini-Thon: One of the unfortunate consequences of school closures is the cancellation of many extracurricular activities and events our students have worked hard to plan. One of these events is Mini-THON, a student-led dance marathon at the High School that raises money for pediatric cancer research and treatment. In the past 12 years, Mini-THON students have raised over half a million dollars for Four Diamonds, and despite the cancellation of their in-person event, they remain committed to supporting the cause. Please click on their names and take 2 minutes to watch these videos from two of our Seniors, Madelynn Lederer and Derek Brown, who will explain more about the impact of Mini-THON and the importance of continuing to support Four Diamonds. Click here to donate, and thank you so much for your generosity.
GV-CTC has over $16,000. You can still donate! If you would like to participate, we ask that you use the GVCTC Venmo account: @GVCTC. If you are asked, the 4 digit code is 3706. Jennifer Tront, GV-CTC Treasurer, owns the account, so you will see her name appear. If you know anyone in our community who needs assistance, please have them complete this updated link (Food Services Assistance) and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Take good care!
Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent
Current Schedule for On-line Learning
The Next Attendance Form Will Be Emailed to Parents on Monday, 4/13.
Thank you for completing the attendance form for the week of 3/30 to 4/3! Attendance will be reported on a weekly basis. A student in grades K-5 will be considered present when a completed parental verification of attendance is received. The form will be emailed on a weekly basis to parents. The next form will be emailed to you on Monday, April 13th to confirm attendance for the week of April 6th to April 9th (Friday, April 10th is not a school day as per Dr. Bertrando's message).This verification form includes a space for you to indicate a reason for missed days of “school.”
Again, the next form will be emailed from Mr. Piasecki on Monday, 4/13. Please complete and submit promptly. Thank you for your assistance!
Online Learning
Thank you for all of your assistance and patience in launching online learning last week. We did a lot of problem solving and learned a great deal. We are continuing to monitor closely and will make adjustments as we go. Your feedback through the survey sent out by the school district (referenced and linked in Dr. Bertrando's communication above) will further guide our efforts. Our teachers have long been skilled at using technology in the classroom, but, for most, this is the first leap into teaching in an online format. Teachers are working hard, putting in many hours of work, to do the best possible job for the students.
Our teachers will be available during regular school hours to communicate with parents through e-mail (use Gmail). Teachers will try to answer parent e-mails within 24 hours. We ask for your patience and understanding. Teachers' priority is the communication with their students about their learning, but we also want to help our parents through this process.
During the school day each of our grade level team of teachers will need time to collaborate and plan with one another. Each grade level has chosen a time to engage in this collaboration:
Grade 1 11:30-12:30
Grade 2 11:00-12:00
Grade 3 10:00-11:00
Grade 4 12:30-1:30
Grade 5 12;30-1:30
So, especially for your child's understanding, teachers may not be responding to questions or concerns at this time of day because they are trying to plan and organize instruction with their colleagues. They will respond as soon as they can when their collaboration time is finished.
All assignments issued by teachers, including our special area teachers (PE, Health, Art, Music, Library Skills, Developmental Guidance, Book Smarts) are required to be completed. Students will have extended time to complete assignments. For example, assignments issued for the week of 3/30 to 4/3 will be due by noon on Monday, April 13th.
Independent reading should be a part of every student's day. Below are minimum expectations for daily reading:
Grade 1: 20 minutes
Grade 2: 20 minutes
Grade 3: 20-30 minutes
Grade 4: 30 minutes
Grade 5: 30 minutes
If students finish assignments and you are looking for more learning resources, click link below:
https://www.garnetvalleycurriculum.com/instructional-resources
Thank you, again, for all of the support at home. We are fortunate to have the willing and capable support of our parents and guardians!
Parents' Assistance Needed with iPads!
Parents,
Prior to the extended school closure, all elementary student iPads were managed by each classroom teacher. Each teacher monitored the student iPad daily and reinforced which free apps should and should not be downloaded. Due to this extended school closure, we had to alter that model and need your support in managing your child's iPad. Students should not be downloading free apps to their school-issued iPad without teacher or parent permission. Please check-in with your child/ren to ensure they are not downloading apps that are not school-related. If you find an app that was downloaded without permission, please delete it. We greatly appreciate your support with this.
Technology Assistance for Students and Parents
Q. If I have a technical problem or question, who should I contact?
For all technical problems or questions, click (HERE) to fill out the tech support form. A member of our tech team will contact you after you submit the form.
April Fitness Challenge from Mrs. McCusker and Mr. Custer
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wYzdbULBWDCrwTGCDOspkIZlppULwC61/view?usp=sharing
Important Information From Our School Nurse
Attention Parents of 2nd and 5th Grade Students
The School Health Act of Pennsylvania requires a dental examination for all third grade students and a physical exam for all sixth grade students.
It is recommended that this examination be done by your family dentist/doctor since he/she can best evaluate your child’s needs and assist you in obtaining necessary treatment.
If your child has had a dental/physical exam as recently as September of 2019, please have the attached form completed for that visit. If not, please take the appropriate form when you go for your next scheduled appointment and return the completed form to school by September 30th of the upcoming school year.
Thank you in advance for your assistance and cooperation in completing this requirement.
Below is the link to the Physical Examination form:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ii4MDmpi7FBSTrQHCDK0KiABZkCOcOkR/view?usp=sharing
Below is the link to the Dental Examination form:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mC80AEwod7uI4uxDUwLzUGiDcpPyRIUh/view?usp=sharing
Adjustments to School Calendar
As we gain a better idea of when we might return to school, we will decide which events/programs will remain, be canceled, or be postponed. Stay tuned.
Events that have been cancelled:
May 15 Jaguar Color Dash
May 27 Art and Literature Fling
June 5 Service Awareness Walk
The cancellation of the above events does not indicate that we won't be in school on these dates. That remains to be seen. There simply will not be enough time to prepare for these events given the current school closure time frame.
New Tentative Dates for Shrek, Jr.
With the possibility of our time out of school being extended, we are setting new tentative dates for the performance of our school play. Fingers crossed!
Tuesday June 2
1:30 School Performance; 7:00 Evening Performance
Wednesday, June 3
7:00 Evening Performance
Other Important Updates From Our Home and School Association
IMPORTANT 2019-2020 YEARBOOK INFO FOR ALL STUDENTS AND PARENTS: In this time of uncertainty, we're not 100% sure how the yearbook, let alone the school year, will shake out. Each year we have worked to make the yearbook a true snapshot of what was happening at that time, and this year should be no different, regardless of the circumstances.
So let's forge ahead and capture this super weird time in the 2019-2020 Yearbook! It is likely that we will be missing some of our usual events, but YOU CAN HELP! Please take pictures of your kids working from home on their GVSD devices, practicing good social distancing by Facetiming with friends, staying active, and playing outside (outside pictures are the best!). Send your favorite and best pictures to bsesyearbook@gmail.com, and please email the same address with any questions.
Look for more details coming soon about how the yearbook ordering process will work this year!
For the most up to date information, check out the BSES HSA Website!
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Instagram - @bethel_springs_hsa
Twitter - @bseshsa1