At Highcroft, we help learners grow in a safe, caring community where ALL are valued and supported to become leaders.

April

• April 6 - April 22: Virtual Learning, Building Closed
• April 9: Rock Your Silly Socks
• April 10: No School; No eLearning, and No Class Meetings

Greetings,

While we are adjusting to our “new normal,” I hope you and your family are finding ways to remain connected to others. Our staff had a virtual baby shower for Mrs. Mueller and a bridal shower for Ms. Epstein, and it was food to the soul to hear and see them all having some fun!

As you may have read, we will move eLearning for students to a four-day schedule starting the week of April 13. Students will participate in eLearning Mondays-Thursdays. Fridays will be teacher workdays for continued professional growth to support your students in an online environment. For elementary learners, our focus will be on providing helpful feedback during our eLearning. To that end, and to ensure an equitable approach for all students, the following will be in place:

• eLearning: Focus will be placed on priority standards for ELA and Math during the eLearning period.
  • In most instances, the focus will be on continuing to improve already introduced skills and activities students can do “independently.” In most grades and content areas, the priority standards have already been introduced by this time of the year.
  • When new standards need to be introduced, the activities will be designed for exposure and guided practice; mastery is not expected.
  • In Science and Social Studies, work will focus on the skills of scientists and social scientists that students have been learning throughout the school year.
    • Feedback from teachers could encourage students to self-reflect, ask, and answer questions on the previously taught unit topics, make observations made in the real world, as well as their personal interests.
• Progress Reports: Recognizing the challenges of learning from home, third-trimester progress reports will be replaced with ongoing feedback from teachers on a set of key learning goals for students.

Our teachers have designed learning experiences to adhere to the district expectations and to ensure all of our students have the resources and means to access and complete the learning experiences we ask of them. Other district updates can also be found on Parkway’s website or by clicking here.

With the transition to “take-home” technology for students, please remind your students that their Parkway accounts and Parkway devices are monitored by district filtering and monitoring software even when they are at home. Chromebooks and tablets can be used for non-school tasks when students are at home, but all web searches and electronic activity must be school appropriate.

Be on the lookout for our morning announcements each weekday by 9:05 via email and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also invite you to recognize your child when they display our ROSE values by submitting a Virtual Gotcha. Click here to complete the Virtual Gotcha form.

Be well,

Cartelia Lucas

Principal

clucas@parkwayschools.net

Mrs. Beeler - Grades K,1,2,4

Mrs. Banks - Grades 3,5

You can encourage your child to check in with their counselor using this google form. We love hearing how our kids are doing. Counselor Check In

We are at least a week and a half into eLearning. You may have tried to make a schedule for yourself and your child(ren). You likely have had to change your plans numerous times and adjust. Change can be hard for adults and children alike, which is why flexibility is a good skill to teach and model for our children. Flexible thinking allows us to better cope during a crisis. We all have had to practice flexibility the past couple of weeks as we think of “going to school” in a different way! To continue practicing ways to be flexible with your children, click on this link for a Flexible Thinking Activity.

Resource Reminder:

• Parkway Website: https://www.parkwayschools.net/Page/10020

• Meal Request: https://www.parkwayschools.net/domain/2421

• Technology request or assistance: https://www.parkwayschools.net/domain/2420

If you have an emergency please call one of the following resources for help:

• 911/Take your child to the ER

• National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

• Behavioral Health Response Crisis Line: 1-800-811-4760

• Saint Louis Crisis Nursery: 314-768-3201

• Salvation Army: 211 (mortgage, utility bills, clothing, medication bills, etc.)

3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Students and Parents:

Check out my Strings Google Classroom page (accessible through Schoology) for fun Strings assignments and activities you can do at home.

Starting next week, 4th and 5th graders will be working on recording and turning in a video of them playing a song.

Feel free to e-mail me if you or your child needs help tuning their instrument at home.

Highcroft Sweeties,

I hope you are enjoying your time at home as much as you can.

Please take time to enjoy the music around you. Whether that is an instrument you made at home (Link on my website) or singing along with your favorite movie musical!

Please keep an eye out for more information on how to participate in the music around you.

This coming week there will be uploads to each grade level tab on my music website with links to the lyrics and songs for each grade level's musical.

I miss you all!

There are many factors considered in determining class placement and parent input is of great value. If you would like to share information about your child, you may do so by completing the Google form linked below; however, completion of this form is optional. For placement consideration, this form must be submitted by tomorrow, Monday, April 6, 2020, at 4:30 pm. We are not able to consider contributions after that date and time. The completion of this form is for input purposes only and does not guarantee any aspect of placement.

REQUESTS FOR A SPECIFIC TEACHER WILL NOT BE HONORED.