Dear Laurel Families,
We are all becoming more adept at delivering our lessons virtually, and the students are settling in to homebound instruction. You have all been so supportive and patient as we all have been learning together. All of our teachers are communicating by text about how to improve their lessons and also how to include more activities that will build community in this time of separation.
Here are some things we still need you to help us with:
Organizational Tips
In order to keep everyone organized, and further their executive functioning skills, we suggest having students use their daily planners to keep track of the times of their classes, their Google Classroom Assignments and other projects. This is a good collaborative discussion with your children, especially if there are several children at home who need your assistance.
Technology Tips
We understand that some parents are currently unable to add their home printer to their child's Chromebook to print assignments and worksheets from Google Classroom. We wanted to share a link with you suggested by our IT department that may help you navigate the challenges of integrating our school Chromebooks with your home technology set up.
Safety Considerations and Expectations for the Virtual Classroom
We are continually mindful of maintaining the most secure and safe learning environment we can for our students in this new learning landscape. To that end, please ensure that your children log off and close their Chromebooks and/or cover their cameras with a post-it note or piece of opaque tape when they are not using the camera for a live session.
Please realize that we are teaching our classes, but not in control of your child’s physical environment. We expect them to be safe as they are learning in your homes, and you can assist us with that.
Here are some issues that we observed as we taught the last few days:
- Showing off by jumping on or hanging off beds or other furniture
- Distracting other students by muting and unmuting classmates and or teachers during a session
- Chatting through a Google Chat in which the teacher is not present...distracting attention.
If your child has difficulty with these issues, perhaps you can be close by to monitor what is going on.
Attendance Sheets:
The log in sheets we sent home are for you to sign off on each class that your student attends. For example, if your student attends reading, math, language arts, music and art class, you should list those, date them and sign that they attended and you are aware of it. We will collect these as documentation of their attendance which will also be paired with our attendance sheets that we are keeping.
This documentation may be needed to assure sending districts, and other schools that your child has indeed completed the expected amount of work for their grade level. Time spent working independently on assigned work also counts for an assigned class. If a teacher assigns a project or an i-Ready lesson and they do not see your child virtually on that day, your signature validates your child’s attendance in the class. If you cannot download and print our signature sheet, feel free to make your own using blank paper of any sort. The signature page will become part of a student’s permanent file.
Virtual Teas With Dee
To continue supporting our parent community, we would like to offer Google Meets for our parents beginning next week. Please email me and let me know if you would like that opportunity. I have learned how to record my classes this week and if you miss one you can still listen at a later time, but it would be so nice to have you and your voices live. I think we can do it by grade at different times, and if you have other suggestions I would love to hear them.
Feedback
And finally,
I know that a lot of teaching and learning happened this week, but after this first week online, we need some feedback from you. As we debrief about the week and make plans for the next, please let us know how things are going for your children by responding
to the following survey
. Thank you!
-Dee
P.S. There will be no classes or assignments over spring break! We will all need a true break by then!
