Dear Parents,
We have been thinking of each of you this week as we prepare for our distance learning beginning next week, March 30th. Here are just a few reminders:
First and foremost, please be patient with yourselves, your children, and your teachers as we all learn how to do something new together. You will receive the first set of lessons tomorrow, March 27th. Please take the weekend to read through and digest the information. The contact list for faculty can be found below. Please feel welcome to reach out if you have questions. The faculty will have office hours Monday-Friday from 1p.m.-3p.m.
Daily Rhythm:
We have been on "spring break" and many of you may still be working on establishing a daily rhythm. Here are some suggested daily rhythms for you to consider. The children are very used to having a rhythm to their school day. While it may be hard to set a rhythm at first, know that it will provide the scaffolding the children need to move through the day smoothly.
Communication:
We are looking forward to our weekly class meeting calls with the parents of each grade. Class meetings are a time to address questions that are general and the group of parents participating can benefit from hearing. If you have specific questions regarding your child, please use the faculty office hours to discuss those with your class teacher. We will use the feedback from these calls to continue to evaluate and improve our approach to distance learning. If you are unable to participate, teachers will send out a recording of the call for viewing at your convenience.
Schedule for Zoom parent meetings:
EC, Thursday, 4/2 2:00 pm
Grade 1, Monday, 3/30 8:00 pm
Grade 2, Thursday, 4/2 7:00 pm
Grade 3, Monday, 3/30 4:00 pm
Grade 4, Wednesday, 4/1 6:00 pm
Grade 5, Thursday, 4/2 5:00 pm
Grade 6, Wednesday, 4/1 7:00 pm
Grade 7, Wednesday, 4/1 5:00 pm
Grade 8, Thursday, 4/2 6:00 pm
Parents will receive an email with an invitation to join the parent meetings.
Lessons:
Tomorrow, you will receive an email with a digital file of lessons for the week. There will also be a box for each class under the dismissal area. The class boxes will serve as our post office for delivering hard copies of lessons for those families without a printer or with limited email access.
Depending on the grade, the weekly email will also include video and/or audio files to accompany the lesson. Teachers will provide support to parents without the ability to access these files.
Please utilize the office hours listed above and parent meetings to address questions related to the lessons.
We recognize that this is an ever changing situation and we will continue to adapt our approach as necessary using your feedback. Please remember through all of this to do what you can and not worry about what you cannot accomplish. Our only expectation is that we all do the best that we can. We are in this together and it is temporary.
Warm Regards,
Tracy Edwards, Director of Administration
