The Bison Bulletin
OVCA Middle School Newsletter ~ December 7, 2020
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DECEMBER MINDSET OF THE MONTH:
"Live to Give!"
From the Principal's Desk
It's hard to believe that our first semester is almost over! We have just over a week left to wrap up our first half of the year. We have had a very successful first week of Mid-Year Growth testing, and we are all so proud of your children as they showed resilience and perseverance in finishing some challenging questions and overcoming some technical obstacles. As a whole, our testing went much more smoothly than the beginning of the year, and the large majority of our student body has been able to complete both math and reading assessments. If your child has not been able to test yet, we will be holding makeup sessions next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. See our calendar for more details. These tests will count toward Math and English grades for completion and growth, so be sure your children are doing their best and taking the assessments seriously.
As we begin to wrap up semester 1, please make sure that you are reaching out to your teachers and to staff if you have questions about assignments, or about your student's grade. Teachers have begun to enter zeroes for missing work, so if you have an extenuating circumstance, please reach out to let them know so they can work a plan out with you to finish the semester strong.
Our last week of semester will look a little bit different, so be looking for some slight schedule changes in the coming week for the week of December 14th. The last day of the semester is Wednesday, December 16th, and courses will CLOSE at 5pm on that day. Students have until that time to submit assignments. After 5pm on December 16th, all grades will become final and go on their report card.
May you and your families have a wonderful last couple of weeks of school before we take some time to rest and be with family. As always, it is a privilege to serve you!
Be well,
Erin Goodridge
OVCA Middle School Principal
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Important Upcoming Dates
December 8/9: NWEA MAP Mid-Year Test Makeups, 10am
December 14: Regular Schedule Day
December 15: Regular Schedule Day
December 16: No Regular Class Connects; Grade Level Live Help 9-11am & 1-2pm
December 16: Last Day of 1st Semester (2nd quarter ends); COURSES CLOSE 5PM
December 17-January 5: Winter Break, NO SCHOOL
January 6: First Day Back, "Welcome Back to School" Orientation week
February 10: OVCA Middle School Spelling Bee
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YOUR MID-YEAR GROWTH ASSESSMENT HEADQUARTERS
Check this section for what you need to know to get yourself and your OVCA Middle School student ready and in the right mindset for their mid-year growth assessments coming soon!
Getting Prepared for the Test
- 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 can help during live help time, or during class if there is time.
- 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.
- Google Chrome is KING...if you don't use chrome, Newrow will not work.
- 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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ALL FAMILIES MUST COMPLETE SURVEY BELOW
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!
OVCA Middle School Spelling Bee!
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RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS & FAMILIES
Safe and Healthy Schools Newlsetter
A Letter from the National Coalition for Public School Options
Oklahoma Parents,
We hope you and your family are faring well during this difficult time.
We are the National Coalition for Public School Options – and since 2008, we have grown to be the leading, parent-led grassroots organization in the country ensuring families across the country have the ability to choose the school option that works best for their child.
Regardless of whether your family is newly-enrolled or not, it is important that lawmakers understand your positive experience with virtual education!
While PSO and our voices can speak from a national perspective, decision-makers in Oklahoma City are more interested in hearing from parents like you to hear YOUR EXPERIENCE, and that’s why we are contacting you today.
We hope that you can take 2 minutes to complete the survey below, which we will use to inform legislators of how and why the virtual option works for your family.
The information you provide is protected, and will be used for the sole purpose of educating lawmakers, and helping us identify who represents you in the statehouse and senate.
Click here to take our survey!
For more information about our organization, please visit www.publicschooloptions.org.
Moving forward, we hope to be in touch about potential opportunities for you and your family to get involved in education advocacy in Oklahoma. To that end, please reach out to me directly at Luke@PublicSchoolOptions.org if you’d like to find more ways to get involved!
We cannot overstate the impact of completing this brief survey – most especially, as it relates to decision-makers perspective on online learning.
Thank you for your consideration, and your time!
Luke Martz
Oklahoma State Director
The National Coalition for Public School Options
FREE TUTORING THROUGH OVCA!
We are excited to announce our school’s new Tutoring Initiative! OVCA will offer personalized academic tutoring based on your child’s needs with an emphasis in the subjects of English Language Arts (Reading/Writing) and Mathematics.
At this time, our new tutoring program will be completely virtual through an online service called TutorMe. Through this program, your child will be able to access a tutor at any time of the day to work on any subject. While the emphasis will be in math and reading, tutors for all subjects are available. The tutor will work with your child’s curriculum to help them improve their grades and gain confidence. The focus of tutoring is to equip your child with different methods of learning so they can have life-long skills in how to best solve problems for assignments, homework and projects.
Tutoring Sign-Up Link
Please contact Allison McCartney, our OVCA Tutoring Manager for more information.
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K12 NATIONAL NEWS
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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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.