Tiger Beat
4/10/2020
Please Remember:
Please know that I am wishing each of you well and hoping you are finding peace, safety, and good health in your daily lives. As a reminder, there is a FAQ on the District Covid-19 section of the website that answers many questions- SEE LINKS BELOW. Please share these links with your families to remind them to look there for answers. Like Dr. Pettet said, please direct questions to me first, and then I will try to get answers for you if I don't know them.
New Information since last week is bolded.
Moving and Packing Up Rooms
Moving/Packing Up Room: Right now, we are planning on having teachers in the buildings to complete end of the year tasks the weeks of May 18th and 25th. This would involve all "end of the year" types of requirements as well that we need within the building. Again, please know this timeline could change based on any additional guidance announced by either Governor Holcomb or Mayor Hogsett.
Personal Items for Students: We will be working in the coming weeks to devise the specific system (this is also dependent on orders from the governor, etc) but students will have opportunities to pick up items the week of May 18 or 25th.As far as consumables, students will have the opportunity to pick those up at this time as well. They will also be able to return their library books. IF the student needs something that IS ESSENTIAL prior to those dates (medicine, dental orthodontic device, etc) then have them email me to make arrangements for pick up.
Access to the buildings and guidelines to follow:
Badge access to your building will be available every Monday in April from 7:00AM - 7:00PM. Please contact me ahead of time if you have to come in. Please let me know no later than 5:00 PM the Sunday evening before so I can send a list to IT to turn badges on.
If you have to come in -
Please use gloves or something to cover your hands when opening doors. We have limited custodial support. This will help with keeping door knobs clean.
Please do not bring in food. We have limited custodial support. This will help with keeping our buildings clean of trash.
Please do not bring any pets with you. We have limited custodial support. This will help to keep our buildings safe.
Please do not bring your kids or anyone with you. We have limited custodial support. This will help with keeping our buildings clean.
If you absolutely have no choice but to bring your kids with you, please make sure they stay in your room with you the entire time. We have limited custodial support. This will help with keeping our buildings clean.
Please only come into the building if you need access for use of technology or for items that you need to complete eLearning lessons at your home.
If you do not need the use of technology or an item from your room for eLearning, please do not go to your building. Please stay home.
Social Distancing - Please make sure that you are no closer than 6 feet with anyone while on school property.
Monday PD and Planning
Monday is designated as a Planning PD day. You will have options for this day to customize your learning. Some items are optional while others are required before the end of the school year.
(OPTIONAL) Nadine will be providing different technology PD’s that will prove to be very useful during this learning time.
(REQUIRED) Conscious Discipline- Before the end of the school year, we need to complete the last 3 videos. You can use the online CD Workbook as a guide when completing this PD.
1. Click the link https://consciousdiscipline.com/my-account/
2. Click Log In
3. Username: brook.wessel-burke@ftcsc.org Password: ActonTigers1
4. Click Digital Resources
(OPTIONAL) Conscious Discipline Webinars and Free Resources
Free Webinars from Dr. Bailey- free social story about why I can’t go to school and helpful responses for families about Covid-19- click below
https://mailchi.mp/consciousdiscipline/covid-19-for-educators?e=0a2a646fed
- PLEASE EMAIL WHEN YOU'VE COMPLETED THE VIDEOS SO I CAN KEEP TRACK!
E-Learning
- At our elementary level, semester grades will be the 3rd quarter grades.
- Related arts will give semester grades based on what they had from quarter 3.
- Please continue to make a connection and provide guidance and feedback with each student weekly.
- Google is having a difficult time keeping up with all the users. Nadine recommends assigning the work to 5 students at a time until you assign to your whole class. If you try to do a whole class assignment it may not go through to all kids.
Paper Pencil E Learning packets will be available each Monday as well as food from 3-5 at Arlington and Kitley. Please remind parents of this also.
Reach out and call these families to determine how we can support them. If this student is Sped or EL, SPed/ EL teacher will need to contact as well.
If you are not reaching a family, please fill out the google sheet that Molly sent out. This is how we are OFFICIALLY documenting our attempts to reach EVERY student. As of now only first and third grade teachers have filled this out. 2020 Corona Virus Concern Form
Office hours: This means you need to check your computer regularly but you do not have to sit at your computer. Go about your day but be available to support.
We are NOT taking attendance. We do NOT want to add additional stress for our students and families (or YOU). Do your best to reach out to families. Let me know if you can't reach them. I'm here to help.
Remember no assessments and no grades.
All students now have free access to BrainPop!
Your school is: Acton ElementaryAdministrator password: acton2020
- Next week Dr. Pettet will be promoting a district spirit week where we will encourage students to "dress up" and submit photos to the district website. Please encourage your students to participate!
Special Services (EL and SPED)
- If students with IEPs, ILPs, or 504s have incomplete work, please reach out to them and support.
- Upcoming Case Conferences---Megan, Jessica, Jourdan and Aerin will be scheduling case conferences and we will need you to join us for those. We will organize and email you soon.
- MOLLY is the primary PAR for conferences and Jen will be secondary if Molly is not available.
- Teachers of EL students- Please encourage them to login to Mrs. Alger's Google Classroom as well.
- For sped families who want a paper copy of documents sent home, Sharon and Troy are mailing those - teacher just notifies us and we print and mail it for them. PLEASE EMAIL BROOK and TOR (Megan, Jessica, and Jourdan). We will make sure these families get their copies.
- Material provided by resource teachers will be based around IEP goals; students still need to complete general education eLearning material and SpEd teachers are building time in their respective eLearning schedules to touch base with GenEd teachers to help keep track of student progress.
- SpEd staff must still attempt to Progress Monitor IEP goals so we have offered creative strategies for doing so - Sarah Reaves has also been providing TA to teachers who need more creative ways to gather data on students.
Absences
- If you still have an absence in Aesop that you no longer need, please go in and delete it.
- If you will not be able to hold your office hours one day, you will need to report that absence.
Zooming with Classes
Zooming with Classes
Zooming with Classes
Coaches Corner
Happy Friday Everyone! I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. I have missed seeing all of your smiling faces. I have emailed each one of you this week to check on you and see how each of you are doing. I will be assisting each of you as requested. Please do not hesitate to call, text, or email anytime.
Using the screen share option, you can pull up any video you would like to watch with them.
Reminders from Nadine's Monday PD:
- The preferred option to meet with students online is Zoom. Google Hangouts is not recommended because students can meet without a supervising teacher which can lead to other issues.
- It has been asked that we not post our Zoom meeting links anywhere but in our Google Classrooms for security reasons. Please feel free to announce on your other classroom pages (Facebook, Dojo, Seesaw, etc.) that you plan to have a Zoom meeting, but just direct them to your Google Classroom for the links/codes, etc.
- It has also been asked that no screenshots of the meetings be posted on social media. Having the students/ pictures and names out there can cause privacy issues. If you have any questions about these items, please let me know.
- You Tube- Due to copyright guidelines, when you are posting read alouds, be sure to list it as "unlisted" in the privacy settings and then post the links in your Google Classroom.
- You may have heard some talk about unwanted visitors joining Zoom meetings. Here are a few suggestions: Ask students to use their first AND last names to join. Utilize the "Waiting Room" feature. This allows you to control who can get in. Only allow the host to screen share. Mute all microphones automatically and only allow them to be unmuted by the host.
Raz-Kids is now free! This is a great resource for parents to provide reading materials to their children that meets their appropriate reading level. With public libraries being closed, parents are looking for material for their kiddos to read that is on their level. By creating a classroom, your students have access to a variety of books on their reading level. Below are helpful resources to get you started. Many of you have already worked with Raz-Kids and already know how to set it up. It is super simple but very helpful for parents and students.
FTCSC Hedgehog Focus
The Hedgehog Concept is based on an ancient Greek parable that states, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." ... Hedgehogs, however, simplify the world and focus on a single, overarching vision, which they then achieve.