Claggett's Corner
OVCA Elementary ~ September 21, 2020
Everything is Possible
Upcoming Dates
September 25th: No school The OLS will remain open if you need time to catch up on any work
October 14th: Last day of the 1st quarter; all work must be completed in the OLS by 5:00 pm
October 15th - 16th: Fall Break, No school
The 2020-21 school calendar is available for download below.
As our students are falling into a routine attending their daily live class connect sessions, we want to make sure all students and learning coaches understand what behaviors are expected during these live sessions.
- Be on time and ready to learn.
- Be in a quiet area. This will allow you to focus and keep noises & backgrounds from distracting peers in class.
- Stay focused during class. Stay on topic when using the chat box, the whiteboard tools, or talking on the mic.
- Be respectful of yourself and your peers.
Mrs. Winsett, one of our 2nd grade teachers, shared this video of the importance of creating a daily routine to be successful each and every day.
Family Income Form
Last week, Community Family Advisors (CFAs) reached out to families to provide reminders to families who, at that time, we were missing Family Income Forms. These forms are important for all families to return as this does help determine part of our school's funding. If you are unsure if your family's form has been completed, please reach out to myself or your CFA about this. Be sure to include your child's student ID number (or their first initial and last name). Best practice is to include this in all communications as it makes it easier to quickly locate your child and be able to answer your question(s).
These forms are due by this Friday, September 25th.
7 Mindsets Survey
Bison On Track Calendar
To make sure students know what assignments to complete each day, each grade level team creates a Bison On-Track calendar. This calendar can be found within each grade level newsletter sent out each Friday by the homeroom teacher; I've also included them at the bottom of this week's Mrs. Claggett's Corner for you download if needed. For help on how to use the calendar, please view a video by clicking here.
Teacher Tips
Start off the new school year by establishing a great practice! Have you ever thought about reading buddies for your kids? Its’ a win-win! Older kids (siblings, cousins, neighbors) can read to younger kids, and also listen to their younger buddy read. The older kids gain confidence, get great practice reading aloud, and enjoy showing off their skills to younger ones who have not mastered reading yet. Younger ones love the attention and the chance to ‘hang out’ with an older buddy. They develop fluency skills while reading to their older buddy, while also getting assistance with challenging words.
Word walls: Create a word wall within your classroom at home. This allows the student to see What you are working on. You can make a word wall for sight words, vocabulary words, and math words. Click here for examples of a word wall. Another great strategy is using a manila folder or the inexpensive folders from Wal-Mart or Dollar General to house word walls. Use your students grade appropriate sight words.
Media Release Form
OVCA is focused on providing a safe virtual learning environment. With this in mind, we ask that a legal guardian complete the below survey for each student enrolled with OVCA. The media release form includes two sections: Photograph, Testimonial and Interview Release, and Face to Face Platform (webcam) Usage School-Guardian-Student Compact. You will be given the choice to accept or decline each opportunity.
Together we can help students reach their full potential through personalized learning this year! Thank you for taking the time to complete this form.
A Message from Kevin Chavos, President of Academics, Policy, and Schools
Dear Families,
Welcome to the start of a new school year!
As a parent, I know one of the most important decisions you will ever make is choosing a school for your child. At K12, we don’t take this decision lightly.
We realize the first few days of the new school year have not had an ideal start, and we greatly appreciate your responses and feedback. However, I want you to know that now more than ever, the dedicated teachers and staff at every K12-powered school are committed to providing a high-quality, engaging, and personalized academic experience.
As you can imagine, we are seeing unprecedented interest in our online programs and services from families and school districts across the country. Based on this increased demand, teams have been hard at work strengthening operations to better serve each student’s learning needs. Onboarding processes for both students and staff are ongoing. As such, we’re experiencing some intermittent technical issues, which we are working to resolve as quickly as possible.
During this process, we are asking for your patience with possible delays in logging into your online classes and potential issues accessing your courses in the online school. Students may experience these events sporadically through Monday, September 14, as we are currently in high volume start of school weeks. To minimize impacts to students, our internal teams are working around the clock, in close coordination with our strategic partners, to strengthen our systems, infrastructure, and technological resources for all K12-powered schools.
For the start of school, and throughout the year, I encourage you to keep open communication with your students’ teachers. If you’re unable to access the online school, log into your school email account at portal.office.com. Note that your username and log-in information are the same as your online school username and login.
Please keep in mind that your amazing teachers are also providing additional resources to ensure students are getting the support they need. These include but are not limited to: conducting live sessions on complementary online platforms, sharing pre-recorded instructional videos and creative hands-on learning ideas with students, holding additional office hours to provide one-on-one support, and extending due dates for assignments and projects.
In the days ahead, please continue to check the K12 Help Page for updates at: https://www.help.k12.com/s/article/Service-Disruption. All updates will be added to this link as they are made available.
Each and every day, K12-powered faculty and staff focus on delivering a rigorous, dynamic, and inspiring learning program for students. This year, that includes:
Enhanced class sessions with new technology that includes the integration of NewRow, a built-for-education video-based virtual teaching tool, and ClassLink LaunchPad—an award-winning platform that gives students single sign-on access to the entire K12 library of apps, links, and school resources from one location and on any device.
An expanded version of K12’s English/language arts and math curriculum that’s providing students with more engaging, interactive lessons
Through a partnership with Newsela, students in grades 6-10 will have access to hundreds of informational texts at five different reading levels. This program uses an adaptive algorithm to quickly determine and adjust students’ reading levels and match them with appropriate reading resources.
Please know, that by choosing a K12-powered school, you’re choosing a world-class education services provider with more than two decades of experience. You’re choosing an expert in interactive online curriculum, assessment tools, and teacher training. And you’re choosing a leader in technological innovation and researched-based learning platforms.
Each of these priorities highlight K12’s commitment to keeping students learning, regardless of the classroom setting.
This week and throughout the year, we welcome the opportunity to hear from you. Whether you have challenges, suggestions, or positive feedback—it all matters. Please send them to WhatsOnYourMind@k12.com.
We couldn’t be more excited about the start of a new school year, and we appreciate your patience and support as we continue to serve the growing online learning community.
Regards,
KevinResources
Attachments
Ready, Set, Grow
The Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities and provides equal access educational programs and activities. As required by Title IX, the Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy does not discriminate on the basis of gender, in its educational programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the Title IX non-discrimination matters:
- Angie Foust, Title IX Coordinator, afoust@okvirtual.org, (405) 259-9478 ext 2069, 1160 S Douglas, Midwest City, OK 73130
- Additionally, you may contact the Office of Civil Rights by calling 1-800-421-3481.