Dear Families,
As the weeks wind down, I'm trying to put myself in the lessons on SeeSaw more by filming short snippets where I'm talking directly to the students. I'm trying to create more engaging and playful lessons as we slide into summer that are hopefully interesting and fun for learning at home! Some SeeSaw highlights from this week include building a fort for engineering and sharing it with the class and celebrating the rain with rain art + some rain inspired read alouds. Check them out on SeeSaw when you get a chance, it's pretty cute to see the forts kids started building today!
Ms. Emily has been pulled to provide teaching support for fourth grade due to a family emergency with that teacher so I'll be covering the remaining lessons and the Monday zoom meeting that Emily was posting. I'm hoping she'll still be a part of whatever our end of the year celebration looks like though on June 3rd!
The final round of Scholastic Book Orders will be due by Monday at 10am. I'll be ordering books as gifts to put in bags for the last day of school but if you'd like to order additional summer reading books for your child, this is a great opportunity to do so and we can hand them off to you and your child on the last day of school, June 3rd, when we say goodbye! (see more on this good-bye below). You can order online by clicking on the hyperlink above and linking to me using the activation code: J9F3L. Orders will be shipped to my house and I'll be sure to wear gloves and a mask when I sort the books into separate bags for distribution.
Our big reading buddies in 5th grade are writing stories with their little Kindergarten buddy as the main character. They plan to share these stories with us when they are finished so I'll pass them along when I receive access!
NEXT FRIDAY I'm encouraging the kids to wear costumes to circle time and come in character. This can be a simple headband, a mask, or a full on Halloween costume with make-up. I'll send a reminder in the tag-lines of the circle time emails next week to keep it on your radar. We'll hang out in costumes and have a playful zoom session.
Parent Meeting Highlights:
After talking with a handful of parents during the optional parent meeting today I was able to get some really great feedback about the remainder of the year- my teacher brain has been spinning for days wondering what to do as we wrap up the year. I'll continue to post lessons to SeeSaw like I've been doing and we'll have a fun final zoom on the last Monday of school, June 1st with a special theme. The last day of school is June 3rd and Matthew has given me permission to allow a socially distant pick up with families in cars to drop by the school to say goodbye to Ms. Tami and I (and hopefully Ms. Emily if she isn't busy with fourth grade). More details to follow on this in the coming weeks, but we'll prepare a little bag with a small gift, a card, some seeds for a home garden, and the report card. I'm hoping this might provide some closure to the end of the year for kids as we launch into summer. If you order any Scholastic Books we'll hand the book orders off to you when you drive by on the last day, a great way to enhance summer reading at home! I was originally hoping we could do more of a gathering mid-summer with a pot-luck, but it seems that the unknown nature of the virus and how long we'll need to be socially distant, or meeting in smaller groups, continues to change, so it feels important to have closure as we enter into summer vacation.
Questions/Comments from the parent meeting:
- Will LEXIA and IXL still be available during the summer or will you need to make new accounts for your kids? - Yes they will be available and we encourage you to keep having your child practice school skills all summer! You are already in some sort of academic routine now, maybe lessen it for summer days but incorporate daily reading along with some weekly phonics and math practice! You can also sign your kid up for extra practice on Kahn Academy Kids. I know two students in class have started this and are loving it. You can use your child's school email address if needed for registration.
- If you do a socially distant pick-up for the students at school on June 3rd, can we set aside time for them to play together with masks for a short period? Unfortunately we can't allow this. Technically the campus is closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Matthew will allow families to drive in to receive a small gift bag from us but you must remain in your car during this time. In unpacking this further, we recognize that the restrictions may continue to change, but this will be how we'll proceed for the remainder of the school year at school. You as parents will need to make choices with your own family about what you are comfortable with regarding play with classmates and friends over the summer.
- Summer Camps- Meghan, Riley's mom, is following up with LandPaths about Camp Bohemia's age restriction at 7 years old for Camp Bohemia. They currently have space over the summer and it's a wonderful camp (what used to be called Coyote Camp held at Ocean Song), they just require the kids to trek across the entire property during the day. We're thinking that if they do allow 6 year olds to attend, this could be a good way to provide some socialization over the summer for students with socially distant principles in place and high quality programming. She'll let us know if she hears back! Meghan also recommended Sea Squirt Camp put on by Sonoma County Regional Parks. The website looks like they'll still be offering a summer camp for kids.
- Parent Report- A parent reported that he had much more success with his child this past week after implementing more structure (a two hour block each day) for school stuff and adding in incentives.
- Parent Feedback- Sometimes my kid likes watching the SeeSaw lessons but doesn't always want to do the activity. This mom reported that her son loved the rain inspired art this week and that he always LOVES doing the Cosmic Kid Yoga videos. - Great to hear!
- What School might look like in the Fall: We're beginning to talk about what school might look like in the Fall with social-distancing measures in place. There is still so much unknown and Matthew has shared that the schools aren't getting much direction from public health yet. This will continue to change as Superintendents put pressure on public health to provide guidance. Obviously you as parents will be kept in the loop and I know some sort of survey will go out to get feedback from you. He senses that there is economic pressure for schools to be open fully to be able to fully open the economy. The superintendents within the county continue to meet to discuss what this might look like. At Harmony we are imagining an outdoor learning space special to each class to help split the groups that provides shelter from rain and sun. Again, we are just in the beginning stages of digesting what this might look like but I want to keep you in the loop.
Zoom Kids/Family Yoga with Hediyeh on Tuesdays from 11:00-11:40am
In my weekly email, I'm providing information about how to access the live Kids/Family Zoom Yoga that Hediyeh has started offering! She's a mom at our school (parent of an incoming K and 2nd grader) and teaches at Thrive Yoga in Sebastopol. She led our yoga classes in the Fall. I've been zooming on Saturday mornings for her flow class and it's helping me find some balance (haha) during this weird time.
Sending you all love. Please let me know if you need anything or have any questions!
Allie
As the weeks wind down, I'm trying to put myself in the lessons on SeeSaw more by filming short snippets where I'm talking directly to the students. I'm trying to create more engaging and playful lessons as we slide into summer that are hopefully interesting and fun for learning at home! Some SeeSaw highlights from this week include building a fort for engineering and sharing it with the class and celebrating the rain with rain art + some rain inspired read alouds. Check them out on SeeSaw when you get a chance, it's pretty cute to see the forts kids started building today!
Ms. Emily has been pulled to provide teaching support for fourth grade due to a family emergency with that teacher so I'll be covering the remaining lessons and the Monday zoom meeting that Emily was posting. I'm hoping she'll still be a part of whatever our end of the year celebration looks like though on June 3rd!
The final round of Scholastic Book Orders will be due by Monday at 10am. I'll be ordering books as gifts to put in bags for the last day of school but if you'd like to order additional summer reading books for your child, this is a great opportunity to do so and we can hand them off to you and your child on the last day of school, June 3rd, when we say goodbye! (see more on this good-bye below). You can order online by clicking on the hyperlink above and linking to me using the activation code: J9F3L. Orders will be shipped to my house and I'll be sure to wear gloves and a mask when I sort the books into separate bags for distribution.
Our big reading buddies in 5th grade are writing stories with their little Kindergarten buddy as the main character. They plan to share these stories with us when they are finished so I'll pass them along when I receive access!
NEXT FRIDAY I'm encouraging the kids to wear costumes to circle time and come in character. This can be a simple headband, a mask, or a full on Halloween costume with make-up. I'll send a reminder in the tag-lines of the circle time emails next week to keep it on your radar. We'll hang out in costumes and have a playful zoom session.
Parent Meeting Highlights:
After talking with a handful of parents during the optional parent meeting today I was able to get some really great feedback about the remainder of the year- my teacher brain has been spinning for days wondering what to do as we wrap up the year. I'll continue to post lessons to SeeSaw like I've been doing and we'll have a fun final zoom on the last Monday of school, June 1st with a special theme. The last day of school is June 3rd and Matthew has given me permission to allow a socially distant pick up with families in cars to drop by the school to say goodbye to Ms. Tami and I (and hopefully Ms. Emily if she isn't busy with fourth grade). More details to follow on this in the coming weeks, but we'll prepare a little bag with a small gift, a card, some seeds for a home garden, and the report card. I'm hoping this might provide some closure to the end of the year for kids as we launch into summer. If you order any Scholastic Books we'll hand the book orders off to you when you drive by on the last day, a great way to enhance summer reading at home! I was originally hoping we could do more of a gathering mid-summer with a pot-luck, but it seems that the unknown nature of the virus and how long we'll need to be socially distant, or meeting in smaller groups, continues to change, so it feels important to have closure as we enter into summer vacation.
Questions/Comments from the parent meeting:
- Will LEXIA and IXL still be available during the summer or will you need to make new accounts for your kids? - Yes they will be available and we encourage you to keep having your child practice school skills all summer! You are already in some sort of academic routine now, maybe lessen it for summer days but incorporate daily reading along with some weekly phonics and math practice! You can also sign your kid up for extra practice on Kahn Academy Kids. I know two students in class have started this and are loving it. You can use your child's school email address if needed for registration.
- If you do a socially distant pick-up for the students at school on June 3rd, can we set aside time for them to play together with masks for a short period? Unfortunately we can't allow this. Technically the campus is closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Matthew will allow families to drive in to receive a small gift bag from us but you must remain in your car during this time. In unpacking this further, we recognize that the restrictions may continue to change, but this will be how we'll proceed for the remainder of the school year at school. You as parents will need to make choices with your own family about what you are comfortable with regarding play with classmates and friends over the summer.
- Summer Camps- Meghan, Riley's mom, is following up with LandPaths about Camp Bohemia's age restriction at 7 years old for Camp Bohemia. They currently have space over the summer and it's a wonderful camp (what used to be called Coyote Camp held at Ocean Song), they just require the kids to trek across the entire property during the day. We're thinking that if they do allow 6 year olds to attend, this could be a good way to provide some socialization over the summer for students with socially distant principles in place and high quality programming. She'll let us know if she hears back! Meghan also recommended Sea Squirt Camp put on by Sonoma County Regional Parks. The website looks like they'll still be offering a summer camp for kids.
- Parent Report- A parent reported that he had much more success with his child this past week after implementing more structure (a two hour block each day) for school stuff and adding in incentives.
- Parent Feedback- Sometimes my kid likes watching the SeeSaw lessons but doesn't always want to do the activity. This mom reported that her son loved the rain inspired art this week and that he always LOVES doing the Cosmic Kid Yoga videos. - Great to hear!
- What School might look like in the Fall: We're beginning to talk about what school might look like in the Fall with social-distancing measures in place. There is still so much unknown and Matthew has shared that the schools aren't getting much direction from public health yet. This will continue to change as Superintendents put pressure on public health to provide guidance. Obviously you as parents will be kept in the loop and I know some sort of survey will go out to get feedback from you. He senses that there is economic pressure for schools to be open fully to be able to fully open the economy. The superintendents within the county continue to meet to discuss what this might look like. At Harmony we are imagining an outdoor learning space special to each class to help split the groups that provides shelter from rain and sun. Again, we are just in the beginning stages of digesting what this might look like but I want to keep you in the loop.
Zoom Kids/Family Yoga with Hediyeh on Tuesdays from 11:00-11:40am
In my weekly email, I'm providing information about how to access the live Kids/Family Zoom Yoga that Hediyeh has started offering! She's a mom at our school (parent of an incoming K and 2nd grader) and teaches at Thrive Yoga in Sebastopol. She led our yoga classes in the Fall. I've been zooming on Saturday mornings for her flow class and it's helping me find some balance (haha) during this weird time.
Sending you all love. Please let me know if you need anything or have any questions!
Allie