Week of August 25-28
Acton Staff Weekly Updates
Things to Know
Mrs. Godsey's chrysalis hatched! Isn't it beautiful!
Are you done with your Safe Schools Videos? If not, please get those done quickly. The deadline is the end of the month.
From the Clinic: Please send students down to the clinic with their belongings IF they are coming down for sickness.
Please at the beginning of the day collect any MD notes that the students bring in and have someone bring them to the front office, I need these for tracking purposes.
From the Office: Please make sure attendance is completed by 10:00 AM each day so we can follow up on all absent students in a timely manner.
From the cafeteria: We've adjusted a few grade level lunch times and are still in the process of adjusting the procedures in the lunchroom to help with transitions. We are trying to dump trays a minute or two earlier and will try to line up the first couple of classes so they are ready to be picked up as soon as the teacher arrives. This will allow staff to clean tables before the next group comes in.
Interventions: RISE Interventions, and regular intervention schedules will start this week. IA's will be reporting to their assigned locations and new lunch duty assignments. The schedule is always available in the Acton Shared Drive in the schedules folder. Please be patient as we work through this together. Staff members will be covering for absences and we have a few staff members out so IA's may not be in your rooms some days.
Upcoming PD/eLearning Day-Friday, September 4
Make sure you watch the video Nadine sent out on 8-20-20 about the upcoming eLearning Day. It is important for you to work with your grade level team to make sure your eLearning slides are the same. For example, you can do your welcome video together… Just make sure you are socially distanced and wearing masks. The expectation will be 15 minutes of work per subject. You will not be expected to do live meets with your class. Teachers will be available to families via email from 9:00-11:00 a.m. This information will be communicated to families.
Set up your Epic account ASAP if you have not done so already.
Schedule: For Clarification here is the In-Person A/B teacher schedules. You can also see these assignments on the RA schedule form.
K A: Godsey, Rabourn, Keppner
K B: McMaster
1 A: Miller, Elliottt, DeVore
1 B: Gilkerson
2 A: Howland, Parsons, Fuyana,
2 B: Brooks Fortner
3 A: Simmons, Jewell, Milholland
3 B: Seavers, Olmos
Upcoming PD/eLearning Day-Friday, September 4
Make sure you watch the video Nadine sent out on 8-20-20 about the upcoming eLearning Day. It is important for you to work with your grade level team to make sure your eLearning slides are the same. For example, you can do your welcome video together… Just make sure you are socially distanced and wearing masks. The expectation will be 15 minutes of work per subject. You will not be expected to do live meets with your class. Teachers will be available to families via email from 9:00-11:00 a.m. This information will be communicated to families.
Set up your Epic account ASAP if you have not done so already. See me if you need assistance.
Please add me as a co-teacher in your Google Classroom. I promise I won’t mess with your set up! I want to be prepared in the event that you need support with teaching students virtually.
From my Mask and Social Distancing Email on Wednesday:
Schools are under a microscope and the media is looking for something to spotlight. We don't want to give them anything negative about our students and staff. We need to work together to protect ourselves.
It is imperative that WE all wear our PPE over our nose and mouth when around students and staff. I've been giving gentle reminders the past week or two, but we have to ensure we are all working together to keep each other and our students safe while at school. Our district policy requires that we wear the PPE.
I ask that we all commit to supporting our students with the same thing. Students and staff must be wearing masks in the halls and in the classrooms. You can allow for short mask breaks if students are socially distanced AND facing forward at desks.
Social Distancing needs to be taught and reviewed regularly. Please practice staying an arms length (approximately 3 ft) away from each other in line, in the hall and in the classrooms. If students are at stations, can you put markers on the floor to identify how far away to be from one another? Also, students must have their masks on during these stations.
*CLARIFICATION* In the classroom during mini-lessons, my recommendation is for kids to stay in desks unless you can have them sitting about an arms length apart with masks on. If students are playing math games on the carpet, space them out as much as possible. They may need to reach to get cards from their partner, but they shouldn't be sitting so close to be touching elbows and knees. I know you are doing your best with this!
Lunch: Masks must be on in line to get food and when students are NOT eating. They can remove their masks when they are eating only. Students should be every other seat in the cafeteria, which we have been doing. I am going to add more dots on the floor in the line because we need to make sure students are not bunching up in lines.
Recess, students can take their masks off outside if they are staying 3-6 feet from one another. I suggest when you are lining them up and walking them out you remind them of this. If they are running near one another or near one another on equipment, mask up. If they are swinging and no one is right by them, then mask down is fine. If they are playing tag or an outside game where they are getting close to one another, they should mask up.
Some of us post photos on DOJO, email or FB. Please be careful with this. If you post a photo, you must be able to ensure every student in that photo is correctly wearing a mask (covering nose and mouth), is not touching another student and is practicing social distancing. If you are unsure of a photo that you want to share, please run it by me first. In the past, posting pictures of kids smiling at stations was a way to promote the fun and learning that is happening in the classroom. Our new normal is that these photos may not be possible. If we are going to post pictures we need to show students masked appropriately and socially distanced.
As a school and a district we have worked hard to build the trust of our families that they can safely send their kids back to school. One photo can ruin that trust very quickly and I know we don't want that for our school community.
I know this is tough but we must make sure we are all doing our part to keep our school family safe. I don't want us to get relaxed and let our guard down.
Thank you for your attention to these items! You are doing great and I know you are working very hard, but reminders and self awareness must be reviewed periodically.
A few other important pieces to add:
- We will be replacing the support staff sign in out sheets with one that is more detailed that will support contract tracing efforts if/ when needed. We are adding an area to the classroom sign in/sign out sheets to list students who receive support. If you are within 6 feet for 15 minutes it is super important to note this.
- Sign in sheets may say 1:30-2:00. However, if you gave a student a break (and were within 6 feet for 15 minutes) this needs to be noted. We have to be cognizant of the time we spend with individual kids.
- Confidentiality--We only share news when it is our news to share. "What did you hear?" "Did Wendy talk to you?" conversations are not helpful because they cause additional concern and questions while the contact tracing and parent communication is happening. Operating not only by FERPA, but HIPPA now too.
- Social Media--Be careful of what we post
- Stuff--If you are a confirmed exposure, are your possessions/lessons organized where you could quickly get your things and go home? If you get word over the weekend and are not allowed into the building, do you have what you need to work remotely?
Coaches Corner
TGIF!!
BOY assessments are well underway. Let me know if you have any questions or need my assistance.
Don't forget our District Mini Lesson Bank. This is a great resource to use. Please email me with any great mini lessons you would like to share on the bank!!
Extensions, Tier 2 Push-In support, and letter tracing start next week. Please look at the IA schedule located in the Acton Shared Drive under "schedules" for your support time and for the IA that will be in your room, if you still have questions after I met with you this week.
Make sure to look at the updated CFA calendar that is located in your grade level's CFA dashboard. Don't forget to go through your cycle docs, paying close attention to the learning progressions and resources offered. Many cycle docs have added resources and learning progressions since last school year.
As we have talked about, the Digital Scholastic site is not ready for teachers to use yet. I will let you know as soon as we can start entering data. Haley is working diligently to get us access as soon as possible.
I will collect reading logs every 4 weeks. Please remind students regularly to be working at home to get those minutes met. The Million Minute challenge bulletin board will now be located in the cafeteria to provide equal access to all grade levels. As soon as that is finished, I will be talking to kiddos about our reading log incentives.
As always, let me know of any questions or concerns you have. I will try to attend all grade level meetings, when possible.
Have a relaxing weekend!
What's Happening This Week?
Bully Prevention Lessons During RA Classes
Monday 8/24- Brown Day for Kindergarten6:00 School Board Meeting
Tuesday 8/25
7:55 CD Video #3 Building our School Family
Wednesday 8/26 RED for ED OR Black Day for Kindergarten
Staff can wear Jeans if they wear black or red
7:55 PD- TBD
12:00 Core Team
Thursday 8/27
Friday 8/21- WEAR Staff Shirts
Brook will be coming around to take team pictures in your shirts.
Counselors Corner
Just a reminder that next week, Aug. 24th-28th, I will be conducting the bullying prevention lessons during related arts. Please send your students with a pencil if possible. I will have extra just in case.
Conscious Discipline-School Family
Why do we create a School Family? A School Family creates a positive school climate that is integral to academic and life success. The School Family model fosters relationships, conflict resolution skills, resiliency, shared power, and optimizes brain development. We are helping to shape our students' view of relationships, how they perceive the world, and how they handle adversity in their life.
On Tuesday, we will all be watching the CD Video #3 Creating the School Family. Please encourage students to add to your Friends and Family Board and think about how you are creating the classroom and school family with your class.
PPE
Masks or face shields are required for our staff to wear each day. If you do not have one, please see me so I can provide one for you. Face shields are also provided for each teacher. This will be handy to have at our Guided Reading tables. Window partitions have also been provided.
Staff must be wearing face masks or shields at all times inside the building, unless there are no students in your room.