Parents and Grandparents,
In order to get ready for jumping into remote instruction full-time Wednesday here is what I recommend you do at home to make this successful for your student/s.
Each of your students should have a quiet place to work where they will be comfortable and have plenty of room to complete classwork as though they were in their usual classroom. Classes will begin at 8:00 and end by 2:45. We will determine times for tutoring once we ensure we have worked all the kinks out of our daily schedule. We will take our normal lunch/recess breaks based on your grade level.
We will use Zoom to give kids access to their classrooms where teachers will be doing instruction and providing feedback to students in real-time. We will be creating a page Monday with links to your teacher/s classrooms. Realize for our 4th to 8th-grade students, students will "move" from class to class by selecting their teacher's Zoom link. For younger grades classes will be a bit more static but we will use the same concept especially when moving from the primary teacher's classroom to a special teacher's Zoom classroom. Younger students may need a bit of help to get started but we ask that everyone do their best to engage in the process since we are unsure at this time how long we will have to use this instructional model. Use this link to try Zoom today until 3:00.
What to have to be ready -
School supplies and textbooks from school. Use this link if you are missing anything so we can have them available for pickup.
A device that you can use the Zoom app on. iPad, Chromebook with a camera, laptop with a camera, phone with a camera, various kindle models... If you can download an app on the device you own it should work.
Headphones with microphone. Dollar stores have good quality Bluetooth headphones with a microphone for $10 and wired for $5. If you have a computer without a camera you may consider purchasing a web camera for less than $30 at Walmart, staples or another electronics store. Headphones would be much more important to be able to speak to the teacher than having video capability for the teacher to see your student.
What to expect once we get going -
We will follow our class schedule and make this available online for ease of moving from class to class. This will be posted online Monday so you can select links based on the day and time to make it easy to move around.
Attendance will be taken and students will be expected to show up in each class at the beginning of each period.
Stay calm. This is a pretty simple platform to use but we do realize there is a learning curve to getting started. We will work together to make this work for our students' success.
Even though this is a stretch for some of our families I hope that the structure we are providing and the ability to continue teaching your students in an engaging manner will benefit our community as we begin the adventure of remote instruction.
Please use the form links we provide for feedback for the best results. The form/survey results go to multiple individuals for a quick response. If you reply to my email it will be less likely that you get as prompt service.
We will do our best to support our families but realize we are going to do our best to transmit and interact with your students while we are doing remote instruction. We ask you to do your best to ensure your student can get online as quickly as possible and communicate with us so we know how we can support you.
Let the adventure begin,
Deacon Dave
P.S.
Just remember assignments will be posted on Monday by 3:00. Please don't worry if you don't see them early.
Monday's assignment will be due Tuesday at 12:00. This will be more an exercise of checking in and getting ready for Wednesday.
Wednesday we will begin class at 8:00. We will post everyone's 9:00 class that is usually Mass on Wednesday so there will be no break on Wednesday until lunch.
In order to get ready for jumping into remote instruction full-time Wednesday here is what I recommend you do at home to make this successful for your student/s.
Each of your students should have a quiet place to work where they will be comfortable and have plenty of room to complete classwork as though they were in their usual classroom. Classes will begin at 8:00 and end by 2:45. We will determine times for tutoring once we ensure we have worked all the kinks out of our daily schedule. We will take our normal lunch/recess breaks based on your grade level.
We will use Zoom to give kids access to their classrooms where teachers will be doing instruction and providing feedback to students in real-time. We will be creating a page Monday with links to your teacher/s classrooms. Realize for our 4th to 8th-grade students, students will "move" from class to class by selecting their teacher's Zoom link. For younger grades classes will be a bit more static but we will use the same concept especially when moving from the primary teacher's classroom to a special teacher's Zoom classroom. Younger students may need a bit of help to get started but we ask that everyone do their best to engage in the process since we are unsure at this time how long we will have to use this instructional model. Use this link to try Zoom today until 3:00.
What to have to be ready -
School supplies and textbooks from school. Use this link if you are missing anything so we can have them available for pickup.
A device that you can use the Zoom app on. iPad, Chromebook with a camera, laptop with a camera, phone with a camera, various kindle models... If you can download an app on the device you own it should work.
Headphones with microphone. Dollar stores have good quality Bluetooth headphones with a microphone for $10 and wired for $5. If you have a computer without a camera you may consider purchasing a web camera for less than $30 at Walmart, staples or another electronics store. Headphones would be much more important to be able to speak to the teacher than having video capability for the teacher to see your student.
What to expect once we get going -
We will follow our class schedule and make this available online for ease of moving from class to class. This will be posted online Monday so you can select links based on the day and time to make it easy to move around.
Attendance will be taken and students will be expected to show up in each class at the beginning of each period.
Stay calm. This is a pretty simple platform to use but we do realize there is a learning curve to getting started. We will work together to make this work for our students' success.
Even though this is a stretch for some of our families I hope that the structure we are providing and the ability to continue teaching your students in an engaging manner will benefit our community as we begin the adventure of remote instruction.
Please use the form links we provide for feedback for the best results. The form/survey results go to multiple individuals for a quick response. If you reply to my email it will be less likely that you get as prompt service.
We will do our best to support our families but realize we are going to do our best to transmit and interact with your students while we are doing remote instruction. We ask you to do your best to ensure your student can get online as quickly as possible and communicate with us so we know how we can support you.
Let the adventure begin,
Deacon Dave
P.S.
Just remember assignments will be posted on Monday by 3:00. Please don't worry if you don't see them early.
Monday's assignment will be due Tuesday at 12:00. This will be more an exercise of checking in and getting ready for Wednesday.
Wednesday we will begin class at 8:00. We will post everyone's 9:00 class that is usually Mass on Wednesday so there will be no break on Wednesday until lunch.