The Hopkins School Hawk Squawk
Principal's Updates - 5/3/2020
Updates from the Hopkins' Office
Dear Hopkins' Families,
Announcements for this week:
- "May the 4th" Be With You Virtual Spirit Day: We loved seeing all the spirit this past week, including adorable pets and baby photos! Tomorrow is Star Wars Day! There might a Jedi or Stormtrooper visiting classes and I hear there is a special guest making an appearance in Morning Announcements (see below)! In the Remote Learning Resources section (also below) are some fun activities connected to May the Fourth for interested families. Please share any photos with us!
- Teacher Appreciation Week - May 4th-8th: The first week of May each year is the time when we honor the teachers around the country for their incredible efforts with students. Families - please check out the email sent Saturday for a special update! Information is also available on the HPTA's Facebook pages for each grade level. Reach out if you have any questions!
- Hopkins' Curbside Pickup of Student Materials: We are awaiting the final "OK" on our plan from the Hopkinton DPH. We will send out full directions in a separate communication from the office later this week for families to retrieve items left at Hopkins through a "curbside pickup."Hopkins is currently slated to have ours next Tuesday and Thursday, May 12th and 14th - times will be by National Park Team; special hours will be established for families needing to pick up medicine from Mrs. Steen.
- Brunch with Bilello & Babson: Mrs. Bilello and Ms. Babson have coordinated virtual brunch dates for any interested students to drop-in for a few minutes and say "hi" between 8:30-9:30 later this week. 4th graders are invited Thursday and 5th graders on Friday. See the invite below with links to these zoom sessions!
- Principal's Cabinets Nominees for Creativity: Congratulations to all our nominees for Creativity (see below for names). Students should look for certificates & Hawk Medallions to be included in their locker/desk pickup bags next week! Mrs. Bilello will also be reaching out to all nominees for a virtual Principal's Cabinet lunch meeting scheduled for next week! Nominations for Leadership and Effort Principal's Cabinets are coming up later in May, so stay tuned!
- Morning Announcements: This week's new Morning Announcements with special guest announcers, including Superintendent Dr. Cavanaugh, are also included below. We will continue to post these to the Hawk Squawk and share with students weekly through Classroom. Many families have indicated that they enjoy maintaining the routine of saying the Pledge as a family in the mornings over breakfast. This also gives students the opportunity to see some of the many Hopkins' staff who may not be in their daily zoom sessions.
- Family Survey Results: As shared last week, the vast majority of surveys voiced support for our efforts and an almost equal numbers of families at Hopkins indicated their children would benefit from more learning opportunities as those sharing that they have been struggling with quantity. This is not surprising, given the vastly different levels of independence and learning profiles among our students. Our current remote learning instructional model includes about 1.5 hours/day of direct instruction & 1.5 hours/day of independent learning and is based on a variety of factors including state/district mandates, developmental needs/attention span of students, and contractual requirements. We continue to address the grade level standards as we "move forward" with instruction and are incredibly grateful to have such a supportive and engaged adult community in homes to assist teachers with this challenge, so thank you!
- Differentiation for Remote Learning: At Hopkins, we always try to address student/family needs through differentiation of instruction and learning opportunities. Please reach out to us if you have concerns in our remote learning environment. We will try and support your child's individual needs, whether that be in the form of accommodations or to suggest enrichment. As a school, we will continue to share a variety of enrichment opportunities for families searching for "more." Some of these can be found below and include options for STEAM, Wellness, SEL (Yoga with Mrs Shea!), as well as a variety of Virtual Field Trips to take as a family!
- Technology Support for Families: We are thankful to have established a Google Classroom learning platform that many of our students were comfortable navigating, though we know adults at home are much less familiar with it. Family tech resources are in a section below, including links to our district tech support team. Mrs. Doty also located a helpful video for families to view. We are continuing to make adjustments to our Classroom practices as a school. Based on parent feedback, we are coordinating with our HPS tech department to offer family Q&A/support sessions. These will be designed to help families navigate the Google Classroom platform in greater detail. Please stay tuned for an update, as we hope to have zoom sessions established for the week of May 11th for interested families.
Stay well,
Vanessa Bilello
Principal, Hopkins School
Remote Learning Resources & Enrichment
Hopkinton Public Schools Tech Support
Support from HPS Tech Department
- Email helpdesk@hopkinton.k12.ma.us and put your question in the body of the email and a ticket will be generated for you.
- The Tech Center is managing and triaging all tickets and someone will reach out to you with help. If you see a reply from the helpdesk ticketing system please respond to it. This is how we can engage in a back and forth conversation about the issue.
- Techs will be available to help parents and students between the hours of 7:30am and 8pm. So please submit a ticket and we will get to your issue as soon as possible.
Social Emotional Learning Resources for Families
Hopkins' Counseling Department Resources
Resources for Talking with Children About COVID-19
Important Links for Families
Communication
Our school website has static information, but it is also updated with current news, photos and bulletins. Every other week, you can expect a school-wide update from the Principal’s Office, the Hawk Squawk. This is distributed to families via email and can also be found on the school’s webpage. You can also follow us on Twitter: @hopkinsschool, Instagram (hopkins_elementary), and Facebook (HopkinsElementarySchool). Ms. Babson sends out the Hopkins Herald newsletter every other month. This includes articles written by staff and students at Hopkins, as well as many pictures from our hallways.
In addition to the above school-wide methods, please communicate openly with your child’s teacher(s). Each teacher has an email address and voice mailbox. Many also utilize Google Classroom, a website and/or Twitter to share news. You can find their contact information on our school website or you can call (508)-497-9824 to reach teachers’ voicemail.