August Principal Update
In a typical year as the calendar turns to August, our attention as parents begins to focus more and more on getting our children ready to return to school in September. We commit to getting to Target to stock up on school supplies while there are still ample quantities of all necessary items in a sufficient array of colors and designs to suit the momentary whims of our children. We note shoes that may need to be replaced, make a determination on the ongoing dependability of last year's backpack, and spend some time locating a lunchbox that will need to pass an obligatory nose test.
For students, there is a mix of emotions, especially for those changing schools like all our incoming sixth graders. For most students, there is excitement about reuniting with friends, meeting new teachers, and re-engaging in learning, mixed in with a pending sense of dread at the loss of the easy free-flowing schedule of summer. There can also be some fear as well. For me, the summer before I entered middle school my older brother's friends would come around the house and always find time to tell me fear invoking stories about the hallways, restrooms, and playgrounds of middle school, along with providing me with a healthy dose of the apparent wickedness of all middle school teachers.
But this is a different kind of August, isn't it? The anxiety about returning to school is not limited to just our students, but extends to us as parents, perhaps taking us back to a time we thought we left behind long ago. As parents, we are worried about online learning. We worry that our children will fall behind and be ill-prepared for their futures. We worry about an eventual return to in person schooling in either a hybrid or full return model as a pandemic continues to swirl. Suddenly, that trip to Target becomes the least of our concerns.
I want you to know that our entire Hamilton staff is currently working hard to prepare for the beginning of school in an online learning environment. We currently have 10 work groups tackling such things as scheduling, Google Classroom set up, scope and sequence of learning, meeting the needs of students with special needs, welcoming students to the new year, parent communication, etc. We take to this work willingly and with diligence as we seek to provide students with a comprehensive education, and to offer the social and emotional connections important to schooling. We care deeply about our students and take great pride in preparing them for their futures.
When I headed off to middle school as a 10 almost 11 year old one September some decades ago, I found the hallways to be enjoyable places to connect with friends, restrooms safe, and the playground a place of fun and laughter. I also found all my teachers to be kind people, skilled at engaging me in my learning, and who cared about me and my future. All of us at Hamilton plan to do the same for your children across the 2020-2021 school year, regardless of the format of schooling!
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Some Direction for Online Learning
Below is a window into our planning for online learning at Hamilton. Please know that we get new information from the district and State on an almost daily basis that impacts our work. As such, the below description should be considered still a work in progress.
Schedule: The current plan is to run our regular eight period day Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday each week. Periods will be shortened to 40 minutes to accommodate a 10 minute break for students between each period. One of the eight periods is lunch, which when paired with the 10 minute breaks between periods ends up being a full 60 minutes. There will also be an Advisory class that meets daily for 20 minutes that will initially focus on social and emotional supports and connections for students.
Time: The school days of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday will begin at 8:30am and conclude at 3:42pm. Added up, the amount of scheduled learning time will be about four hours and 40 minutes for all students, although many students may complete each day's learning in well under this amount of time. At times, students will be meeting live with their teachers for instruction, or working live with small groups of students in virtual breakout rooms. At other times, students may be working independently on or off line, or being directed to do something away from their computer like a small experiment or outdoor activity. We recognize that this amount of instruction may pose difficulties for some students, including at times students with identified special needs and we are working on appropriate accommodations, including the ability to participate in any class asynchronously at a time that is convenient to the student.
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Curriculum: We anticipate continuing to use adopted State standards to guide instruction in most classes, with remaining classes following district adopted standards (same is pre-pandemic instruction). Our intent, and a reason behind running our full eight period schedule each instructional day, is to insure that in June 2021, all students have had the opportunity to move forward a full year in each class (or half year in semester classes) and be well prepared as they matriculate to the next course or grade level of challenge.
Classroom Organization: All classroom teachers will be using Google Classroom to organize learning for students. We have a work group coming together to formulate best practices on the use of Google Classroom.
Parent Communication: We anticipate holding periodic virtual parent information meetings to help all parents understand expectations for online learning, and how best to support their children's learning. See below for more information on our first virtual learning opportunity for parents. In addition, and you will be reminded of this often across the year: please download Infinite Campus to your phone as a means to monitor your child's progress on assignments and attendance.
Attendance: Students are expected to attend all classes, and are encouraged to do so at the scheduled time of each class. However, students who are unable to attend class(es) due to things such as family childcare needs, will be able to attend any class asynchronously and prove their attendance by submitting assigned work, and/or completing online class exit slips.
Grading: As shared in my last newsletter, we will be returning to our regular 1-4 grading system for assignments and will not be using the pass/fail system of grading.
More to Come: As we continue to develop and finalize plans for online learning, we will continue to share information with families, including in future editions of Hamilton Headlines.
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For parents interested in hearing more about online learning, mark your calendars for Wednesday, August 12, 6pm, for an opportunity to hear from our Hamilton Instructional Coach, Kathleen Doherty. More information with link information will be coming your way soon. |
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Last month, the school district surveyed parents on their feelings and plans with regard to the three possible formats for learning: online, completely back in school, and a hybrid of these two models. Results are now available to the public and can be accessed by clicking on the below graph. |
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A one stop resource for pandemic related needs across summer
Our social work team has created a summer resource guide available in English and Spanish. It has information about rent assistance, mental health, child care, and more during this era of pandemic. Please click below to access the information.
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Photo Finish
The work continues on our Hamilton campus in preparation for our eventual return to regularly scheduled programming!
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Our Hamilton custodial crew hard at work cleaning, buffing, and waxing all floors throughout our school. |
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The annual defrosting of the workroom refrigerator. |
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District workers install a Plexiglas barrier in the main office in preparation for our eventual return to in person schooling. |
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Exactly how I found the bookshelf in the Hamilton hallway! |
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