March 22, 2020
LaPerche Families,
Are you ready for school at home? We are getting there by learning new technology, transforming our homes into mini-school rooms and helping each other prepare and organize materials. We truly realize the strain this new reality is putting on your family because it is putting the same on ours. In my house, I will have college, high school, and middle school all taking place as well as a husband working from home while I work at school and/or virtually to support all LaPerche staff and families as well as my own kids. Other LaPerche staff have their own little ones at home, parents living with them, and everything in between. We are truly in this together and together we can make this work and be a positive experience for us all.
Virtual Spirit Days begin tomorrow! I just received the first picture of a student’s learning space and it looks great. Once your child has a space set, take a picture of him/her in it and send it to my email at jdorsey@smithfeild-ps.org. Thank you!
As we move into tomorrow we encourage you to be patient and understanding with your child, as well as with yourself!
We know that the transition to distance learning is going to be challenging for everyone including families, students, teachers, and staff. Being calm and understanding when working with your child is a more important priority than worrying about completing all of the assignments and activities in the learning packets.
We know that homework and schoolwork and can create friction between children and parents/caregivers under the best circumstances. Work with your child and the rest of your family to create realistic expectations about what can be completed within the time that you have available. The schedule provided by your child's teacher is a suggestion; make a schedule that works best for your family.
Take lots of breaks, especially when you or your child is getting frustrated. There are tons of suggestions online about breaks that fit the social distancing guidelines. Here are some suggested "Brain Breaks" assembled by our friends in North Smithfield! At LaPerche, we love Go Noodle https://www.gonoodle.com/ for Brain Breaks!
I have received another batch of positive emails (thank you so much!) and questions. Here are the answers to the new questions I received:
Will the lessons online pertain to the material in the packet? Or are the lessons online going to include additional assignments? During the week of March 23-March 27, students will complete the work that was sent home with them on March 13. For K-2, that is all in paper form. For 3-5, some of that work is in paper form and as well as electronic form since the 3-5 graders took home their Chromebooks.
You will receive an email from your child’s teacher by 9:30 a.m. Monday, March 23, reminding your child of the details and expectations of what was sent home on March 13.
Starting March 30, your child will be taught online by his or her teacher and receive new lessons each day/week, just as if we were in school.
Did you get my request for a Chromebook? I have not heard anything back from you. Scott Barnett, Director of Technology for Smithfield, is processing all of the requests. We will distribute Chromebooks to families who requested one on Thursday, March 26 when you pick up the next set of materials for your child. I will be sending a schedule for Thursday for a time and door location for pick up. If you are not sure if your request went through due to technical difficulty, please complete another one by using this link.
Will these virtual days count for school days or do we have to make these up in the summer? I heard we will still have to make them up in the summer. As far as we understand, virtual days count as school days. Educators will be instructing and students will be learning. The big difference is the support we will need from home to ensure students have access to the online content, are following the lessons and completing the assignments. Please reach out to the teacher, specialist or interventionist if your child is struggling. Teachers are going to do all they can to return emails quickly. Please understand they are also balancing what is going on in their homes as you are as well.
Are there special meeting codes the kids will need to access the google hangouts meet for their classroom? YES! The virtual schedule for the week of March 30-April 3 will be shared with families on Wednesday, March 25. At that time, you will see a variety of links for your child to click on at different times during each day. They may not have content on Wednesday when it is shared but on Monday morning they will.
Will we get a sample schedule for each grade level to start with tomorrow? Maybe a sample of what the school day looks like. I would like to include reading & reset time for the appropriate # of minutes. I’m struggling to set up a schedule for tomorrow.
Yes, we would love to help with that.
Below are the minutes for each day starting March 30. On Wednesday, March 25, you will receive the specific times your child will have ELA, Math, Special, etc...Each itinerant block will be at a different time by grade level so the teachers can instruct that grade level. Each intervention time is at a different time so the special educator and reading specialist can work with different groups of students throughout the day. But they will be the SAME for the grade. For example, the intervention will be at 10:00 every day for one grade and at 1:00 for a different grade. We will keep the grade level schedule consistent every day.
Also, there will not be a 60-minute online math lesson. There will be a mini-lesson that is 10-20 minutes long and then the students will have an assignment so they can practice what they just learned. Students will work for the time they need to complete the assignment.
The day will begin for Pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade at 8:30 am. All LaPerche families will have to complete this form for their child to indicate attendance each day. We will add it to the top of the schedule.
Feel free to follow these blocks of time for the week of March 23 or create your own if that works better for your family:
The school day starts at 8:30 a.m. for all! Check-in for attendance by 9:00 each day!
Math 60-minute block
ELA-K-2 60 minute block, 3-5 90 minute block
Lunch and Playtime-60 minutes together from 11:30-12:30 for PK-5
Stem-45 minutes
Itinerant-60 minutes (Art, Music, Library, PE, Health for 4th and 5th)
Intervention-60 minute block
How will I know when my child is working with the special educator, speech pathologist, the reading specialist, etc...? All of the special educators, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and reading specialists are creating their own schedules and they will be reaching out to you via email or phone next week for a time to work with your child. They will coordinate that time with the grade level schedule as well as your schedule at home.
Where can I find the itinerant Activities?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tbd6Om_Y5V0MwTuqY3FvK3FtmLoGIADoD_-VDOueUMY/edit