The SCOOP
Distance Learning Program
Phase Two
April 2, 2020
Your weekly news from Santa Barbara Middle School
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For the Children
The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
The steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.
in the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valley, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
when we make it.
To climb these coming crests
one word to you,
to you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light
- Gary Snyder
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Dear SBMS Families,
As we face these “rising hills and the slopes of statistics” of this public health crisis, we are
not
waiting to meet “in the valleys and pastures... of the next century, or the one beyond that.... “. We are meeting on Monday, excited to get back to our classes and to our students by launching the next phase of the SBMS Distance Learning Program. (SBMS DLP2.0) Our mission, goals, and promises all remain the same. We will continue to keep our student’s wellbeing and safety our highest priority while delivering the best middle school education available anywhere. Our learning targets for the year will be met and the intellectual vitality of each of our students will be fostered through engaging lessons, individualized support, and guidance from the most compassionate, dedicated and experienced group of educators I have ever worked with.
Please read through this Scoop carefully, follow the links and discuss the program with your children. We are extremely grateful for the tremendous level of support, commitment and creative thinking of our community. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, needs or suggestions. We’ve got this!
With love, gratitude and hope,
Brian
Head of School
Santa Barbara Middle School
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DISTANCE LEARNING PHASE TWO
The Plan for Monday
Earlier this week we sent a generic schedule for phase two of distance learning which starts on Monday, April 6. It is now time to dive into the details and logistics of what this coming week looks like for you and your student specifically and how you can be prepared for Monday. We hope you're as excited as we are!
Tomorrow evening an SBMS Cares package will be delivered to your doorstep filled with everything your student will need to begin classes again. Most importantly, it will have their personalized academic schedule, as well as graded classwork, academic tools and games for engaged learning, art projects, journals, instruments, yoga mats, books, bike parts, painting kits or any other supplies needed for their classes and electives this quarter.
Keep an eye out for your delivery!
If you are not home, we will leave the package at the front door unless otherwise asked. Please
email
or call Chiara at (805) 708- 8797 if you would like your package delivered elsewhere. (All packages have been carefully assembled and contents packed following health and safety guidelines.)
Though you are receiving a hard copy of your child's schedule in your care packages tomorrow, you don't have to wait until then to see it! A digital version is now
available on the HUB
. Once logged in, click on the “My Day” tab and select “Schedule and Performance” to see schedules by day, month and week.
Below is the outline to some of the important opportunities and protocols of our digital learning plan which we encourage you to read through with your student before classes resume. Be ready to have your student wake up, eat a good breakfast and log onto the HUB to click into their first class at 8:45AM on Monday morning. See you all soon!
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DISTANCE LEARNING TRIP BOOK
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Each item is bookmarked to take you to the location in the document. For the full Trip Book, please
click here
.
TERMINOLOGY.
What are those fancy words the teachers are using to describe online learning?
CLARITY.
What are the objectives and expectations for each week?
ASSESSMENTS.
How will learning be assessed? *with a note on academic honesty
GRADING
.
How will teachers grade and how often?
COMMUNITY
.
How will my child’s needs to socialize and connect be addressed?
Parents, I know this is a lot of information but I am hoping that it helps you feel at ease that we have thought carefully and thoroughly about the needs of your children and family during this time. I know that many parents are oscillating between moments of gratitude about this new opportunity to connect with nature and their kids and moments of pure insanity, trying to “make it all work.” It’s a lot that our world is going through right now and we all feel it deeply and acutely. What matters most during this time is remembering what’s at the heart of SBMS - our community and love for one another. Staying connected, helping one another out, and granting ourselves some grace will be key to getting us through. I welcome any feedback and suggestions.
With gratitude,
Bianca Vega
Assistant Head of School
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AN UPDATE FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
I hope you and your families are safe and well. At times it's hard to comprehend how quickly daily life has changed, but through this process I have continued to be so grateful for the collective strength and resilience of our community.
SBMS has made the decision to cancel our Auction benefit on May 2nd, due to the obvious need to support the health and safety of our community. Additionally, we have decided to forego a potential online version of our event to instead focus on supporting our school's families and our community's small businesses - who have always given so generously to our school. We have launched an updated
SBMS Haves + Needs page
that lists local available resources. As we grow this new program, we will continue to update you on opportunities to get involved, to provide support to those in need, or to request assistance.
I look forward to the day when we can all circle up again, and until then I thank you all for your collective support of our team, our students, and our community.
With gratitude,
Phoebe
FROM THE OFFICE
We miss seeing everyone! We understand these are challenging times - if you have any questions for the Business Office, please reach out via email to Maida at
maida@sbms.org
or Brandi at
brandi@sbms.org
. We are here to help!
FROM THE COUNSELING OFFICE
Both Steve Smith (
steve@sbms.org
) and Jazzmyn Ward (
jazzmyn@sbms.org
) are available to meet with students and/or families either in person or via Zoom. As always, we’re here to help. Feel free to reach out directly to them via email or contact
Bianca
if you have any other questions, needs or concerns.
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COMMUNITY
FARM BOXES
For health and safety reasons, we must discontinue SBMS as a pickup location for both
School Food Box
and
Get Hooked
. Parents are requested to sign up for a different pickup location though these links. Thank you.
OUTDOOR LEARNING: WILDERNESS YOUTH PROJECT
Here
is a great parent resource that highlights nature! Starting April 6, Nature Link will be offering a free resource portal and Nature Link.
Learn more here
!
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FROM THE PARENT ASSOCIATION
Wow! What a crazy last several weeks we’ve had. Hope everyone is doing well and was able to make the most of spring break and spend some quality time together as a family. Our family played a lot of games and went on hikes, bike rides and walks on the beach. I always treasure the time when we have no scheduled activities and can reconnect as a family.
Now that spring break is almost over, and the family togetherness will continue for what looks like quite a bit longer, we are all anxious about what the next several weeks will bring. Will the remote learning be effective? Will my child stay focused and engaged? Will I have to help with technical issues (my personal fear and not my area of expertise)? Although there will be challenges, I am trying to keep an open mind and go into this with a positive attitude. This could be an opportunity for discovery and possibly help shape how we do things in the future. Who knows what lessons we will learn.
I continue to wake-up every morning and have to remind myself that this epidemic is real and not a dream; asking myself “when will things return to normal?” But maybe our “normal” will look very different after this, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. So, hang in there. We are in this together. And on that note, I wanted to share with you these helpful QuaranTIPS that a friend shared with me. They put a smile on my face.
QuaranTIPS
- Here's a website partially funded by NASA that should keep our kids entertained for a bit. It has over 400 vetted free activities in areas like science, tech, and math.
- The library may be closed but there are plenty of audiobooks from which to choose. For details, click here.
- This had me laughing for days and is too good not to share.
- A number of friends have held Virtual Happy Hours. Make your own quarantini, login to Zoom at an agreed-upon time, and go crazy.
- Don't know what to cook? Michelin-Star Chef Massimo Bottura is teaching free online cooking classes while people are stuck at home and restaurants are closed. Check out his Instagram for details @massimobottura.
- Tired of cooking, even with the help of an online chef?? Support local businesses with this handy list of restaurants that deliver.
- Interested in getting out of the house for a good cause? Register and signup to bag or delivery groceries for the FoodBank, https://foodbanksbc.volunteerhub.com/
We are still hoping to be able to host our PA Meeting speakers virtually, so stay tuned. More to come on that in the coming weeks.
Stay healthy,
Debbie Popovich
PA Chair
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ON THE HORIZON
Monday, April 6:
Classes resume with Phase 2 distance learning
In addition to the Spring Auction being canceled, we are currently canceling the dates for Songfest, Whitneyfest and the Spring Drama Performance. We hope that there will be a slim chance to host some type of reimagined version of these community events including Rights of Passage in June. The school will keep everyone informed on new dates or virtual events.
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