Dear St. Louis Families,
In these days since we last had your children in our school building, I continue to remind myself that our school year is about #GrowingInChrist which could not be a more apt narrative for the times we are living in now. Each day we are presented with opportunities to help one another grow in compassion, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, and grace. While our 3rd trimester looks a lot different from what we envisioned, it still is an opportunity to continue in our mission of rooting our children in faith, while growing in Christ. I know it is hard to see the fruits of that right now, but the work you are doing with your children in partnership with the teachers is allowing your children to learn many powerful life lessons. As we break for Easter with time away from learning, I encourage you to put the devices and electronics away and truly spend time with one another playing card games and board games, reading and discussing books, and taking walks—all things that you can do while following the stay-at-home order 😊
e-Learning Schedule
When we return the week of April 20th, our e-Learning will look a little different. The concern I have heard the most in surveys is with regard to pacing, the need for time, and questions of sustainability. I hear everyone---no one thought we would ever be in this situation for as long as we are going to be, and no two families are alike, especially in a community with over three hundred families! The needs of everyone are huge. St. Louis prides itself on attending to the whole child, so it is important that we create a learning model that is sustainable and meets the needs of the whole child: socially, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually.
We will adjust our academic learning which emphasizes the cognitive growth to Monday-Thursday.
New work emphasizing the essential skills/concepts necessary for students to progress into the next grade level will be presented in a variety of ways, utilizing many different online tools and student textbooks/workbooks. Teachers will be incorporating more direct instruction via instructional videos either they create or take advantage of ones already made by groups like Khan Academy. Much of the instruction will emphasize Math and English Language Arts as those content areas comprise approximately 2/3 of our instructional day and encompass many of the required essential skills in K-5. Religion, Social Studies, and Science are important and do have learning objectives necessary for grade promotion which teachers are seeking to include in creative cross curricular projects as well as focus questions for the specific content area. Middle School will simply drop the Friday from their previous instructional schedule.
Fridays will be time set aside to attend to the social and emotional growth of our students.
Many of the elementary schools within our diocese are moving to this model as it creates some space in the week better suited for long term pacing while still meeting the directives of the state council on private education as well as the Diocese of Arlington Office of Catholic Schools on appropriate rigor. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Our goal for SEL Fridays is to be intentional about creating an equitable learning environment where students can actively involve other parts of their brain necessary for their social, emotional, and academic growth (CASEL). It is a time where no new work will be presented, and students can effectively choose how their day will go from choices of activities designed to encourage SEL provided by our counseling team. Students can also work on lessons/activities for the Specials classes, or catch up on academic work that they couldn’t finish the other days due to personal or family needs, or meet with the Resource team in small groups, or check in with the Counseling team in small groups. Teachers will use this time to collaborate with one another, plan, prep, and check in with small groups as necessary and needed. It is also our hope to continue with Title I services on these days once state funding is approved. Teachers and members of the Resource and Counseling teams will be working with families to establish these groups based on the needs of students. We have 6 weeks to power through together and I think this will allow us to do so successfully!
Online Instruction
It is important to note that while Zoom and Google meets are good ways for teachers to connect with students, it is impossible to mandate that students attend each session given the needs of families are diverse and households have different devices with different demands. Teachers will be utilizing Zoom or Google as one way to deliver instruction in small mini lessons. We are taking into account the concern with regard to using tools like Zoom and are following directives provided to us by the legal team at the diocese in order to maintain a safe atmosphere. Teachers have been and will continue to state the directions for student attendance in these types of meetings. Please help us keep everyone safe and have your child use his/her device in a common space like a kitchen, family room or dining room rather than their bedroom. It is also helpful that students come ready to participate if the class meeting is one designed for instructional purposes. We appreciate your help and support in this endeavor!
Grading and Assessments
Since there is no plan book for e-Learning and we are all in this together, learning as we go, we appreciate the positive support and communications. Know that we are here to work together for the good of your child(ren) and for their success. The diocese has asked us to continue grading work for this trimester though this is a much harder task then if we were together in the classroom.
- Work will be accepted when you can get it turned in, there will not be be reduced point values for lateness as we understand there is a large learning curve here for all of us. The tasks and assignments being asked of your child are because it is necessary for educational continuity and essential benchmarks for the next grade level. Teachers will be continuing to assess work as well.
- There will not be any big end-of-year assessments like we have had in the past, but know that conversations are happening everywhere within the diocese regarding what next year might look like instructionally, and there are a lot of unknowns. We do know that there will be a lot of grace and latitude utilized by educators now and in the fall, and it may require that our baseline gets adjusted.
- The last day for academic e-Learning will be May 29th. No additional academic work will be assigned after that date. Instead, we will focus on community building activities the first week of June. Kindergarten and 8th Grade will finish June 2nd and grades 1-7 will finish June 4th.
- We will use Scantron next September which will pick up where the student left off in January—thankfully, this early data will help next year’s teachers adjust their instruction accordingly.
- We do know that there is a lot of learning going on in each household daily and not just from the work we send you. These days offer great ways for families to teach resilience, strength, courage, and how we can all grow in Christ. As we continue forward, know that we are committed to our partnership with you and to monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting as necessary and appropriate.
May you all have a joyous Easter Holiday and a wonderful break!
God Bless,
Anne M. Dyke
Principal
