Learning is Fun!

March 23, 2020

Dear Parent/Guardian/Student,

As you are aware the COVID-19 outbreak has forced our province to declare a public health emergency. The restrictions put in place have dramatically changed everyone’s day to day life and will change how education will be delivered for the time being.

We have been hard at work preparing for this new reality and wanted to provide you with a clear description of what you can expect from me as your child’s teacher. These expectations were developed in consultation with Alberta Education, our school division and by our school staff.

There are slight differences between grade levels and if you have multiple children attending school you may see slightly different expectations. For our classroom you can expect the following:

Frequency of Contact

I will be providing a daily message to the class through Google Classroom; to access our classroom to support your child, you will need to use their login. Once per week, I would like to schedule an individualized personal contact with parents and once per week, I would like to have individualized personal contact with students. These connections might happen together or as separate calls. This might happen through a phone call, a video platform, a Remind text or an email. During our initial connection, we can determine your availability and preferred form of communication.

In addition, we will have an opportunity for the entire class to connect on-line once per week. This may be a scheduled time that whomever can make it will join in, or it may be done through using the technology to make a recording so that all can participate whether they record during the day or in the evening.

Workload

Students should expect 5 hours of instructional based work per week. Our primary focus will be literacy and numeracy and we may integrate some social studies or science concepts when applicable. I will also provide other suggested activities to support your child’s physical and mental health. We know that many parents will be working alongside children in the evenings to support them and wanted to ensure that the workload will be manageable.

Routine

I will post my weekly plan in Google Classroom on Monday by 9:00 am each week, beginning on March 30. You can expect a plan in Google Classroom this week for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In the meantime, allow your child to work on Prodigy, Studyladder, Raz-Kids, and Epic, as well as the daily booklets I sent home (Daily Language Review, Daily Math/Word Problems, Daily Comprehension, and Daily Writing). I will be available during school hours (8:30 to 2:45) Monday to Friday and have also set aside one hour on Mondays and Thursdays from 7:00-8:00 pm to support families and students that cannot connect during the day. We are striving to design student work that requires minimal preparation for parents and guardians and a minimal amount of materials and/or printing at home.

Assessment

I will provide individual feedback to your child a minimum of two times per week (once each for literacy and numeracy). This might occur during our regular weekly check in or it might be right within Google Classroom. The type of feedback will likely depend on the assignment itself. Your child can still expect to receive their March report card and we are working with Alberta Education to determine what report cards and promotion to the next grade looks like at the end of the year.

Other Considerations

As mentioned above, we may have other activities we will share with you to promote physical and mental wellness. We definitely want to make sure that our students keep their bodies and their brains active.

For students who do not have access to a computer or the Internet, we are working on ways to ensure that you can receive print materials.

In the event that I myself become ill and am unable to fulfill the above expectations, I will share my Google classrooms with another teacher to manage until I am able to fulfill those duties. If your child becomes sick, please let me know.

Thank you for your patience through all of this. I miss seeing my students each day and look forward to being able to support them as best I can.

Sincerely,

Mrs. McClain