Intermediate News- November 8
Update For Intermediate Families From Principal Gene Hoskins
Need A Spanish Version Of The November 8 Intermediate Newsletter? Use The Link Below For Spanish Translation:
Intermediate News For November 8: Parent-Teacher Conferences, New Instructional Program for Hybrid (In-person) and Virtual (Online) Learners
I hope this newsletter finds all of Intermediate Spartans and their families well, and enjoying the amazing weather! There is a great deal of information, pictures, and videos in this newsletter- please take some time and check out the posts and links embedded in this update newsletter.
Parent-Teacher Conferences - November 23 and November 24:
We will host virtual parent-teacher conferences on Monday, November 23 from 11:20 AM - 2:40 PM and 6:00 PM - 7:40 PM and on Tuesday, November 24 from 11:20 AM - 2:40 PM. Teachers will be contacting parents this week to schedule a virtual parent-teacher conference. If you would like a parent-teacher conference and have not scheduled it yet, please contact your students homeroom teacher through email or ParentSquare. Details about conferences:
- Dismissal & Lunch: Hybrid (in-person) students will be released from school at 10:30 AM on 11/23 and 11/24. As with all days, students will take home a bagged lunch on conference days.
- Virtual Meeting Link: Teachers will be sharing a Google Meet link that you will be able to use for your virtual parent-teacher conference. If you prefer to have a phone conference instead of a virtual video conference, please let your child's homeroom teacher know and a phone conference will be scheduled instead of a virtual meet. As always, the link will work best on your child's school Chromebook because it is part of the Sodus google account. The link should also work on other home computer desktop, laptop, or Chromebook.
- Conferences Scheduled For 15 Minutes: You will have an opportunity to schedule a 15-minute conference with your child's homeroom teacher. Given that the schedules are virtual, it will be very important that we adhere strictly to the start and end time for the scheduled conference. When you log in for your parent-teacher conference you will have to wait for the teacher to allow you to enter the google meet. This will ensure that all families will have privacy in discussing their child's progress with his or her teachers.
- If you experience technical difficulties: If you or your teacher experiences any difficulty in joining the Google Meet together, your teacher will call you to to conduct the conference over the phone. Given the schedule of conferences, if there are technical difficulties we will need to switch quickly to a phone conference so that conference stay on schedule.
New Instructional Model For Hybrid (In-person) and Virtual (Online) Students:
Superintendent Kise shared a letter with all families this past Friday through a ParentSquare post. I am including a link to the entire letter from Superintendent Kise in this newsletter below. Some important pieces of information about results from our recent parent survey and changes to the instructional program moving forward:
- The start of these new instructional programs will begin Monday, December 7.
- There was a significant increase in the number of parents who chose a hybrid (in-person) model for the rest of the year - this will necessitate a new schedule for both in-person and at-home (online) learners. The new schedules will begin on December 7.
- In-person (hybrid) students will attend classes from 7:25 AM - 1:15 PM.
- We will need to create a new master schedule for both in-person and virtual students. I am collaborating with the Intermediate School Leadership Team in developing a new master schedule. We will be sharing new student schedules for all students as soon as we are able to. I am hopeful we will have these new schedules available for students and parents in time for parent-teachers conferences during November 23 & 24.
- Due to space restrictions in grades 4 & 5, we will add a grade 4 teacher and grade 5 teacher. This will allow us to meet social distancing regulations. There will now be 5 total classroom teachers at each of these grade levels. With this, some student/teacher re-assignments will need to be made. I will be working closely with Intermediate School teachers and School Counselor Michelle Bucenec to make these changes. We will make efforts to limit changes, but some changes will need to be made.
- We will designate two teachers to specifically teach our 100% virtual learners. Currently, virtual learners are taught by classroom teachers. By having two teachers assigned to only virtual learners, they will be able to focus on the needs of these students only. This will result in the re-assignment of our virtual learners. The new teachers will work with these students’ current teachers to ensure a smooth transition.
- Please know that the model you choose will be the model you will need to follow through June 25, 2021. We will be developing schedules and will have very limited flexibility for changes once this schedule begins. This means that it is very unlikely that you will be able to move from in-person to virtual or virtual to in-person effective December 7, 2020
New Mask Guidelines For Students and Staff Members:
During a meeting with our Department of Health (DOH) this week, the Director stressed the importance of full-time mask wearing while in school. As you are aware, Wayne County, like other areas around us, is seeing an increase in the number of COVID positive cases. Given this, mask wearing becomes even more important. Research has proven that mask wearing is extremely effective in preventing the spread. We all need to do our part as we strive to keep ourselves, loved ones, and those around us safe. We are requiring all students to wear masks full time when in school with a few exceptions:
- While eating or drinking (breakfast, lunch, snack, etc.).
- Mask breaks must be provided. It is recommended that an approximate 2-minute mask break be given approximately every thirty minutes.
- The mask break will be given only when students are 6 feet apart and when no movement is taking place in the room.
As always, if you have any questions about information contained in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact me through email at ehoskins@soduscsd.org, by phone at school at 315-483-5206, or on my cell phone after school hours at 315-576-7090.
Thank you!
Gene Hoskins
Intermediate School Principal
Taking a "Brain Break" with the Water Cycle
Halloween & Red Ribbon Week at Sodus Intermediate
Sodus Intermediate School - Principal Gene Hoskins
All digital newsletters for Sodus Intermediate School are posted in the left margin of the Intermediate School page of the Sodus website. The link to the Intermediate school page is listed below.
Traducción al español a través de Google:
Todos los boletines digitales de la Escuela Intermedia Sodus se publican en el margen izquierdo de la página de la Escuela Intermedia del sitio web de Sodus. El enlace a la página de la escuela intermedia se encuentra a continuación.
Email: ehoskins@soduscsd.org
Website: https://www.soduscsd.org/Page/476
Location: 54 Mill Street, Sodus, NY, USA
Phone: (315) 483-5206
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SodusCSD/
Celebrating Intermediate Spartans Who Completed Summer Packets
SEL Tip: Social-Emotional Learning Tips From Sodus MTSS Coordinator Kristin DeFeo
SEL Tip #10 - Self-Awareness
Link backing to SEL Tip #1 (from the first week of school - and here we are nine weeks later!!) reminder - Grounding is a practice that you can use yourself that can help pull you away from unwanted, negative, or challenging emotions. Take a few minutes to stop - listen - reflect - watch this incredible video “Moonrise” shared with me by Mr. Humbert!
*With “Hallelujah”
https://soduscsdorg-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/kdefeo_soduscsd_org/EfXXak0yoeVHmfpxV-EiiawB9SBtS_4D3FhAjNab1ctebA?e=Qf6zhz (*once it loads on sharepoint - click play)
*With just piano
Enjoy
Mrs. DeFeo
Home School Connection - "Working Together For School Success" November Newsletter (English) - Use The Link Below Provided By Mrs. Bucenec, Intermediate School Counselor
Intermediate School Student Council Food Drive "Together We Can"
Intermediate School MTSS News
21st Century Community Learning Center - Update From Director Val Fanning
Intermediate School Patriotism Week - November 9 - November 13
Patriotism Week - Veteran Recognition
Dear Sodus Intermediate Families,
Our Intermediate School students will be participating in Patriotism Week from November 9 - November 13 this year. This annual week-long celebration is sponsored by our Intermediate School Improvement Team. In years past we have ended the week with an assembly during which we recognize family members of our students and staff members who are veterans or who are currently serving in a branch of the Armed Forces. Unfortunately we will not be able to hold our in-person assembly due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, we would still like to honor these family members by recognizing them in a video that can be shared with our school community.
If your child has a family member who is a veteran or who is currently serving in the Armed Forces, we would like to include him or her in this video recognition. Please email me at ehoskins@soduscsd.org by Friday, November 6 and include the following information:
Your child’s name
Name of the veteran or active duty service member
His or her relationship to your child
Military Branch the he or she served in (or is currently serving in)
If possible, please include a picture for our presentation along with the email
Thank you for helping us recognize those in our community for their service to our country!
Sincerely,
Gene Hoskins
Intermediate School Principal
Principal's "Word of the Day" Creative Writing Challenge for Intermediate Students
Dear Intermediate Spartan:
Becoming a better reader requires building a strong vocabulary and also improving your writing skills. This week we began a new daily tradition in the Intermediate School - our “Word of the Day” during the morning announcements. After announcements Mrs. Blanchard emails all students the Word of the Day so you can see how it is spelled and have the definition. Each Friday we will also send you my weekly “Word of the Day” creative writing challenge. My challenge to you is to create a short paragraph or story that uses each of the “Words of the Day” for the week. These paragraphs or stories can be as creative as you would like, but they must be school-appropriate and use the words correctly. If you submit a story or paragraph that uses all of the words correctly, I will give you $10 in Spartan Bucks. These stories must be shared with me as a google document, or emailed to me at ehoskins@soduscsd.org, by 2 PM on the following Wednesday. Understanding proper spelling and punctuation are important, so stories that use the words correctly and also have correct grammar (spelling and punctuation) will earn an additional $5 in Spartan Bucks.
This week’s “Word of the Day Challenge” should be submitted to me by 2:00 PM on Wednesday, November 11 and include this weeks “Words of the Day”: volume, perpetuate, frontier, gripe, temporary
Remember - this is an OPTIONAL opportunity to earn Spartan Bucks! If you decide to create the story with the words, you can email it to me or share it with me as a google document.
You have several ways you can turn in the story or paragraph that you create:
You can type it as an email and send it to me.
You can create a new google doc, type in the story or paragraph, and then share that google doc with me.
You can write it out on a piece of paper and then turn it in to your teacher next week.
Good luck!
Mr. Hoskins
If Sodus Intermediate had to go to 100% Virtual Instruction for a period of time.......
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