Greetings Families,
I hope you have enjoyed your first week of remote education. This week we have another packet that is available at ArchwayArete.org or you can plan to pick one up from the school on Monday. I, unfortunately, won't be available to help with the distribution this week as I am on Zoom from 10:00-2:30.
I have a couple of things to discuss before I get to the lessons, so let me get started with that.
Packet A vs. Packet B
This week, we have uploaded two packets to the resource page on the school's site. Packet A is the complete packet. Packet B is much shorter and only has the pages necessary for students to complete their work on. If you opt to print our packet B, you will need to allow your child to access Packet A via a computer or other device for the readings and instructions. Remember, you can always pick up a complete packet at Arete tomorrow.
Please make sure you keep the packet from last week and this week. Your child, likely with help from you, will be uploading them online next week.
Zoom Meetings
This week, 4B will be having two Zoom meetings. Both are at 1:30 p.m. The first one is on Monday and the second is on Thursday. If you do not already have a Zoom account, you will need to go to zoom.us to create an account. For these Zoom meetings, please do not create an account for your child, but let your child use your account. Please use your first and last name for your user name so I know which account is for your child. If you have an account with a different name, like a nickname, please let me know. I will send out the Zoom invites by email later today.
I would like to go over some Zoom etiquette before our first meeting though. Here are some requests.
I hope you have enjoyed your first week of remote education. This week we have another packet that is available at ArchwayArete.org or you can plan to pick one up from the school on Monday. I, unfortunately, won't be available to help with the distribution this week as I am on Zoom from 10:00-2:30.
I have a couple of things to discuss before I get to the lessons, so let me get started with that.
Packet A vs. Packet B
This week, we have uploaded two packets to the resource page on the school's site. Packet A is the complete packet. Packet B is much shorter and only has the pages necessary for students to complete their work on. If you opt to print our packet B, you will need to allow your child to access Packet A via a computer or other device for the readings and instructions. Remember, you can always pick up a complete packet at Arete tomorrow.
Please make sure you keep the packet from last week and this week. Your child, likely with help from you, will be uploading them online next week.
Zoom Meetings
This week, 4B will be having two Zoom meetings. Both are at 1:30 p.m. The first one is on Monday and the second is on Thursday. If you do not already have a Zoom account, you will need to go to zoom.us to create an account. For these Zoom meetings, please do not create an account for your child, but let your child use your account. Please use your first and last name for your user name so I know which account is for your child. If you have an account with a different name, like a nickname, please let me know. I will send out the Zoom invites by email later today.
I would like to go over some Zoom etiquette before our first meeting though. Here are some requests.
- Please ensure that your child isn't wearing anything distracting, such as a shirt with a funny saying. It isn't required, but you might ask them if they want to wear their uniform shirt.
- Please have them sitting with a wall to their back. This will help ensure that nothing unexpected happens during the meeting.
- Please ensure that the wall behind the child is free of pop-culture that may be distracting or anything else that might be distracting. I recommend a fairly blank wall.
- You may sit with your child during the Zoom meetings, but please keep other individuals from interrupting the meeting.
- If other people will be in the same room, siblings or other family members, we recommend that your child wear headphones to keep what other students are saying private. It may make students uncomfortable and unwilling to talk if they know that a peer's siblings are listening in to their conversation.
- Do not allow your child to record any of the Zoom meetings. I will have the recording feature in Zoom turned off, but I need your support to ensure that they are not using another device to record the meetings. This is to protect your child's privacy.
When you enter the Zoom meetings, you will start in the waiting room. Your child will remain here until I let them in. This is to ensure that other individuals do not join the meeting who should not be here. Upon entering, I will already have them muted. Once the meeting starts, I will unmute students as is appropriate. If you have used Zoom before, I have also disabled some of the other features. For example, students will not be able to utilize the chat feature, file share feature, or the screen share feature. This is again to limit distractions and possibly inappropriate conduct.
I hope this doesn't happen, but if a child becomes disruptive, I can remove them from the Zoom meeting, or I can send him or her to the waiting room. I can also allow the child to stay in the meeting but turn off his or her video. I will only do this if a student is intentionally trying to be disruptive. I don't expect this, but I want to make sure you know what options I have. Noise won't typically be a concern because I will have the students muted.
In the Zoom window, there will be a place for your child to raise his or her hand. This is how I will give your child the opportunity to speak. Usually, I will only have one-three students unmuted at any time during large Zoom meetings. However, if your child is in a smaller Zoom meeting, with only a few students, I may very well not have anyone muted. For next week's meetings, they will be muted unless I call on them (this is a teacher's dream!!!).
I will also copy and paste a helpful resource Great Hearts has produced for families using Zoom after my signature.
I will also copy and paste a helpful resource Great Hearts has produced for families using Zoom after my signature.
Next Week's Zoom Meetings
Both Zoom meetings are optional next week. Going forward, all Zoom meetings will be optional unless they are specifically set up for students who are struggling with a particular subject area. If that is the case, Ms. Johnson or I will talk with you to set up those meetings times.
Monday's meeting (1:30 p.m.) is a community-building meeting. That means the main purpose is for students to simply interact with their peers and me. It will be controlled, but the students will have some freedom. I would like for them to briefly talk about something they have been doing to have fun during the past few weeks or something they did while on spring break before the government took action to reduce social interaction. Or, if they have something that is appropriate to share with their peers, which would be most things (pop-culture items would be okay for this), they can show it to the class. This might be an award they won, a souvenir from a cool place they've been, or something that many other students may not have seen or possessed before. Each student's window for sharing is limited as the meeting is only scheduled for one hour. Each student has about one minute to share.
Thursday's meeting (1:30 p.m.) is a tutoring session. It will be open to students to ask questions about anything found in their packets relating to math. All students are welcome to attend this tutoring session, but they should come prepared to discuss math. This will not be a forum for them simply be social with their peers.
Zoom Meetings Beyond School Ones
I don't know how your family is doing with one another, but my kids seem to either love each other more than ever, or they wish they would have never met the sibling they had just been kind to. They are very up and down with one another. This isn't a mandate, but I recommend that you try to set up small and possibly large playdates with your child's peers from time to time. By giving them this outlet to socialize, they may be better prepared to focus during our class Zoom meetings that require them to participate as students. Again, this is not an expectation but simply a recommendation.
Struggling Students - Zoom Tutoring Sessions
As noted above, we will be having some Zoom sessions that are required for students to attend. This will be for students who are struggling in math or English. Ms. Johnson will be taking the lead on these once we get things going, but I will also likely be leading some as well. These will be small group meetings, likely just a few students to six or seven at the most. We will email you if we believe your child needs to participate in one of these sessions.
Reaching Out to Ms. Johnson and Me for Help
Last week, I received one text from a parent who didn't understand a direction and a call from one parent who needed help logging into Typing Quest. Other than that, no families reached out to me. I don't believe any reached out to Ms. Johnson. I want you to know that we are here to serve your child and you. If you need some help, please don't hesitate to ask! It is our pleasure to help in any way we can.
Lessons
Math: This week, students will be introduced to dividing decimals by a whole number and dividing whole numbers that require a decimal. They will also learn how to round decimals to the one decimal place (tenths place). I've included the instructional pages to help support your child with this.
History: In history, students will be covering the next two chapters of the unit on the United States Constitution. The format for reading and answering the questions is the same as last week's. History will happen on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.
Writing: Writing activities will follow last week's procedure as well. Students will respond to writing prompts based on the history reading. Writing will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Spalding: In Spalding this week, students will learn two new words a day Monday through Thursday. The procedure will mirror last week's activities. They will write a new sentence for every word on Friday.
Literature: Students will read the next two chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Monday and Wednesday and write summaries for each chapter on Tuesday and Thursday. Students will have a reading activity on Friday.
Reading Comprehension: Each day, the lessons end with a reading comprehension worksheet. These are worksheets that your child has been doing throughout the year.
Science: This week, students will be introduced to the circulatory/cardiovascular system. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students will have a reading and a worksheet to complete using the information from the passage.
Thursday's meeting (1:30 p.m.) is a tutoring session. It will be open to students to ask questions about anything found in their packets relating to math. All students are welcome to attend this tutoring session, but they should come prepared to discuss math. This will not be a forum for them simply be social with their peers.
Zoom Meetings Beyond School Ones
I don't know how your family is doing with one another, but my kids seem to either love each other more than ever, or they wish they would have never met the sibling they had just been kind to. They are very up and down with one another. This isn't a mandate, but I recommend that you try to set up small and possibly large playdates with your child's peers from time to time. By giving them this outlet to socialize, they may be better prepared to focus during our class Zoom meetings that require them to participate as students. Again, this is not an expectation but simply a recommendation.
Struggling Students - Zoom Tutoring Sessions
As noted above, we will be having some Zoom sessions that are required for students to attend. This will be for students who are struggling in math or English. Ms. Johnson will be taking the lead on these once we get things going, but I will also likely be leading some as well. These will be small group meetings, likely just a few students to six or seven at the most. We will email you if we believe your child needs to participate in one of these sessions.
Reaching Out to Ms. Johnson and Me for Help
Last week, I received one text from a parent who didn't understand a direction and a call from one parent who needed help logging into Typing Quest. Other than that, no families reached out to me. I don't believe any reached out to Ms. Johnson. I want you to know that we are here to serve your child and you. If you need some help, please don't hesitate to ask! It is our pleasure to help in any way we can.
Lessons
Math: This week, students will be introduced to dividing decimals by a whole number and dividing whole numbers that require a decimal. They will also learn how to round decimals to the one decimal place (tenths place). I've included the instructional pages to help support your child with this.
History: In history, students will be covering the next two chapters of the unit on the United States Constitution. The format for reading and answering the questions is the same as last week's. History will happen on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.
Writing: Writing activities will follow last week's procedure as well. Students will respond to writing prompts based on the history reading. Writing will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Spalding: In Spalding this week, students will learn two new words a day Monday through Thursday. The procedure will mirror last week's activities. They will write a new sentence for every word on Friday.
Literature: Students will read the next two chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Monday and Wednesday and write summaries for each chapter on Tuesday and Thursday. Students will have a reading activity on Friday.
Reading Comprehension: Each day, the lessons end with a reading comprehension worksheet. These are worksheets that your child has been doing throughout the year.
Science: This week, students will be introduced to the circulatory/cardiovascular system. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students will have a reading and a worksheet to complete using the information from the passage.
Grammar: The grammar lessons will take place on Tuesday and Thursday. The grammar lessons for this week are paragraph edits that require students to read an error-filled paragraph to find and correct the mistakes.
Well, this has, as usual, been a fairly long blog post. If you have any questions about anything, please let me know. If you would ever like to have a curriculum night sort of Zoom meeting (parents only), please let me know. I know that this new way of schooling puts a great deal of stress on you, and I want to partner with you as much as possible. If having a Curriculum Zoom Night would be helpful, don't hesitate to let me know. If you want to just Zoom with me personally to share your thoughts, fears, frustrations, concerns, joys, hopes, desires, or anything else, please let me now. I have always loved talked with families! Thank you for all of your hard work on behalf of your child--especially now.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren
Well, this has, as usual, been a fairly long blog post. If you have any questions about anything, please let me know. If you would ever like to have a curriculum night sort of Zoom meeting (parents only), please let me know. I know that this new way of schooling puts a great deal of stress on you, and I want to partner with you as much as possible. If having a Curriculum Zoom Night would be helpful, don't hesitate to let me know. If you want to just Zoom with me personally to share your thoughts, fears, frustrations, concerns, joys, hopes, desires, or anything else, please let me now. I have always loved talked with families! Thank you for all of your hard work on behalf of your child--especially now.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren
Parent Guide to Zoom – Guidance for Families
Participating in online video conferences can be an integral part of staying connected through this time of remote education. However, using this new platform requires developing new habits. Setting guidelines will ensure that everyone acts with integrity before, during, and after these sessions.
For Students: Using the Platform Responsibly
- Limit distractions and protect your privacy and the privacy of your classmates.
- If possible:
- Use earbuds or headphones.
- Work in a quiet space free from distraction.
- Sit in front of a school-appropriate background where personal information (family pictures, for example) will not be visible.
- Sit with your back to a wall to limit the chance of other household members being in view of your screens.
- DO NOT record any part of the Zoom meeting with any device (video, audio, or picture).
- DO NOT take screenshots of any part of the Zoom meeting
- Follow all usage and etiquette directions given by your teachers.
- Keep your microphone muted until directed
- Follow teacher directives on enabling video.
- Use the chat feature appropriately.
- Close all other browser tabs and windows
- Conduct yourself as if you were in the classrooms.
- Sign in on time.
- Be a courteous listener.
- Use appropriate language.
- Stay on-topic.
We take seriously the safety of our students and the protection of their privacy. Students should not have to worry about people other than their classmates watching them during class discussions, nor should they have to worry that their class interactions can be used against them. With this end in mind, we have taken precautions to limit opportunities for students to be unsupervised while using the Zoom platform or use it as a tool to harm others. For privacy reasons, students should not record any part of Zoom meetings on any device. If your student misses the meeting, please reach out to the teacher. We ask for your partnership in this endeavor. Wherever possible, please support your student in taking the measures outlined above.
Even with the protocols, we have in place, it is still possible for students to create their own personal Zoom accounts with a personal email address. It is a violation of Zoom’s Terms of Service for minors to have their own Zoom accounts; please help us maintain a safe online learning environment during this time by monitoring your students’ online activity and following the tips below:
- Avoid logging yourself in as a participant; space is reserved for students. Note: students should not have to create a Zoom account (they only need to click on the link provided by the teacher).
- Please keep the sessions private by limiting family members in the room.
- Do not disclose any personal information during a session with other students. Should you need to discuss progress, or any area of concern, please reach out via email and we will call you back at a time when synchronous lessons are not in session.
- You may hear teachers refer to your child by their first initial of their first name in order to provide a further level of privacy during the session.
- Please DO NOT record any part of the Zoom session with any device (video, audio, or picture).
- Please DO NOT take screenshots of any part of the Zoom session.