Wow! What an amazing first week of distance/online learning! As I told the kids today, I am SO impressed by them and how ready they are to be in second grade. They are all so respectful and responsible. We are still working on staying muted on Google Meet during lessons, but doing a wonderful job for the most part. They have done a FANTASTIC job with muting/unmuting mics during discussions, turning cameras off/on, and being back to class on time during breaks.
I also want to shout out families! You all have been so wonderful with helping your kiddos be prepared each day. I appreciate that many of you are keeping me in the loop on what's going on at home. You are also doing a great job trying to problem-solve/troubleshoot when issues pop up. Give yourselves a pat on the back for a fantastic job well-done this week! Your patience and support has been so very appreciated by myself, the kids, and other teachers at Pinebrook!
Just a few things I noticed this week:
- If kiddo needs to go to the bathroom and it's not a break, they can just go. They might miss a little bit of a lesson, but should be okay. Just please remind them that it should not be a "I'm gonna go to the bathroom AND get a drink AND look outside", it should be "Bathroom, wash hands, back to class."
- Please make sure that kiddo's materials (pencils, dry erase markers, journals, white board, etc.) are right near them for easy access. For the most part, it looks like everyone is set, but just remind kiddo to check prior to class starting that they have everything.
- Please remind kiddo that they should only unmute when they are asked to or have a problem. There are just a couple of kids that are unmuting just to unmute.
- I've discussed it with them, but would love if you could reiterate that not everyone will get a chance to share every day. There are twenty of us and we will be starting lessons soon so we will have less time to share. I'm going to try my best to make sure that every child gets a chance to share during the week. They are always welcome to pass on their turn though!
Reminders for September 11th, 2020
- Please practice accessing Schoology with your child.
- Click HERE for a video on logging into Schoology.
- Remember that we are moving toward having the kids do this on their own.
- I will not be sending out the link. Please make sure that your child knows where to find the Google Meet button on Schoology.
- Monday's morning session will be a lot shorter.
- It is teacher meeting/planning day on Monday. Therefore, we will only be meeting on Monday mornings from 8:15am to about 8:30/8:45am. We will do a morning meeting and possibly a read aloud in that time.
- Your child will only need to complete their Monday Asynchronous playlist..
- Please make sure your child logs onto the Google Meet at 8:15am!
- There are no specials on A Week Mondays. This coming week is a B Week, therefore, the kids should complete their Asynchronous SEARCH lesson on Monday.
- SEARCH will always be Asynchronous/on their own. It is on Schoology.
- Second graders will be expected to complete SEARCH on B Week Mondays.
- As per Mr. Thiessen, we are still not doing small groups next week. We will start them in late September or early October. I will send you an email with your child's individual schedule for small groups before this starts.
- We still do not have Seesaw. When we have it, I will send you your child's login information. The kids will have time to explore it before we start using it.
- If you need to print your child's QuickCard again, please view THIS VIDEO for directions.
- There is now a "How-to" folder on our Schoology that I have been adding various instructional videos and documents to (like logging into Schoology).
- There is a "Google Meet Recordings" folder where the recordings of our morning sessions will be saved for later viewing.
- Teachers will not be expecting any work to be turned in next week. We are still just working on creating and practicing routines.
- We will start turning in work when we get access to Seesaw. I will contact you when Seesaw is available.
