The Bison Bulletin
OVCA Middle School Newsletter ~ September 25, 2020
October's Mindset of the Month: "100% Accountable"!
Direct Link to Newsletter: https://www.smore.com/v4hkp
From the Principal's Desk
This season is my absolute favorite of the year. The time when oven mitts no longer double as driving gloves, leaves begin to change to brilliant colors, and outdoor activities abound. The Goodridges have been busy with bike rides, playing outdoors, and watching our fall flowers spring up and begin showing their pretty faces. And how could I not mention pumpkin flavored everything?!
We have settled into a good groove with courses and classes. Students are diligently working in ExactPath, and we are excited to begin to see your students growing! Our teaching staff continues to grow as we are filling vacant positions to better serve your children. There may be some classroom changes over the next several weeks as our new teachers get onboarded and ready to take over classes of their own. We have grown, and it's exciting! Next week also kicks off our next 7 Mindsets focus: "100% Accountable"! We will be emphasizing to students the importance of accountability in growing and learning both academically, and personally.
All parents should have received an email from our OVCA Office with a Family Income Form docusign link. If you have not already turned that form in, please do so ASAP. It is directly tied to our Title 1 School Funding, and helps to run many of the amazing programs we have here at OVCA. We need your help to get those forms completed so that our school can continue it's delivery of essential services to YOU, our amazing families, and your amazing students!
Thank you, as always, for your support and dedication. We are so enjoying getting to know your children and partnering with you to meet their needs.
Sincerely,
Erin Goodridge
OVCA Middle School Principal
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Important Upcoming Dates
September 25: School Break, NO SCHOOL
September 22/23: NWEA MAP Reading/Math Makeup Sessions, 9am
October 14: First Quarter ends
October 15-16: Fall Break, NO SCHOOL
November 2: Parent-Teacher Conference night, 6-8pm
November 5: Parent-Teacher Conference night, 6-8pm
November 6: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8am-12pm, NO SCHOOL for students
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WEBCAM PERMISSION 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.
If you want your student to be able to use their webcam when we are in the whole group setting, be sure to fill out the permission form below!
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FUN OPPORTUNITIES!
Love to Write? Join the Creative Writing Club!
Ms. Pittman and Ms. Bryson are working with the Oklahoma State Department of Education on the Oklahoma Excel Project, and they would like to include your student in the project to increase their writing skills during the 20-21 school year.
They are hosting the Creative Writing Club and would love for your student to participate. They are looking for this to be a fun yet educational experience. They would ask that students attend two days per week for 30 minutes and participate in all writing activities. For the sake of the OSDE project, they are asking that a commitment be made to be a part of the club for the whole school year. In the link provided, is a survey if you’d like your student to attend. As we navigate this first year, the club size will be small, so your student receives individual attention and guidance in the writing process.
If you have any questions, feel free to email Ms. Pittman or Ms. Bryson If you’d like your child to participate, please fill out the survey below ASAP.
Thank you so much for your consideration in allowing your child to participate in the Creative Writing Club.
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WHAT DO WE DO IF THE OMHS IS DOWN OR LAGGING?
- Take a deep breath and don't panic. It will be okay, and it won't last forever! If you're having trouble, most likely our staff is too, especially if the K12 software is lagging. We keep everyone up to date on social media with any known issues, and will keep the lines of communication open. Students are not penalized for software disruptions when the entire system is down.
- Find some hands-on, offline activities to accomplish! Many teachers have different suggested sites for their courses that students can go in and work. Offline activities are a fun break from a day in front of the computer!
- Your teachers will reach out with instructions via email if it is an extended outage, so always be checking your LC email for information, as this is the primary method of communication.
- Take a "snow" day if it's all just too overwhelming. You know we don't have those in virtual-land anyway, so take a break and catch up when you are fresh. Your teachers understand and if it's happened to you, it's happened to them! It will be okay, and you'll be back online eventually.
Most of all, remember to give yourself grace. Virtual learning isn't for the faint of heart. It's hard work! And sometimes, technology fails us. If and when that happens, you have a plan in place.
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NWEA MAP READING and MATH MAKEUP SESSIONS
IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR NWEA MAP MATH/READING ASSESSMENT READINESS
- All students must have Google Chrome downloaded to their computers. The NWEA site will only work properly with this browser. If you do not have Chrome installed, you can do that here!
- You must enable pop-up blockers for the NWEA Login Page for the assessment. You can go to https://test.mapnwea.org to do that ahead of time! If you're having trouble, teachers will help you during our Community Connection Classes on August 14th.
- Screen resolution MUST be set to 1024x768 or the assessment will not run (yeah, it's super picky like that....). Please be sure your screen resolution on your laptop/desktop is set to that resolution for your testing session, and then you can return it to your preferred or default setting after you are finished with both tests.
- The MAP Diagnostic Assessment is NOT a graded assessment. Students are not permitted to have assistance on the assessment, as we need to have a baseline of what students know/don't know in Math and Reading. This will help us place them in the classes that will help them GROW the MOST as readers and math problem solvers!
- It is recommended that students take no longer than 75 minutes on the test. We need to know what students already know quickly, not what they can figure out after a long period of time. Please prepare your student for this, and remind them that after 3 minutes, they should make their educated guess, and move to the next question.
NEWROW TIPS and TRICKS
- Turn your computer off each night or restart in the morning.
- Clear your cache and cookies daily.
- Refresh is your friend! If something is glitchy, hit CTRL+R for a hard refresh, and that fixes lots of issues.
- Chrome is KING...if you don't use chrome, Newrow will have lots of issues.
- 3 or less tabs open on your browser when you are in a Newrow class session.
- Webcams are optional for students. Students who wish to use webcams in class must have a webcam permission slip on file. You can access using the link HERE.
- Remember: It is not perfect now--but our feedback is helping developers tailor-fit this product to our needs. It will only get better from here! :-)
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RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS & FAMILIES
OKLAHOMA LEARNING COACH ACADEMY!
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K12 NATIONAL NEWS
A Message from Kevin P. Chavous, 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,
Kevin
Kevin P. Chavous
President of Academics, Policy, and Schools
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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.