Hi 2020-2021 Dragonfly Families!
I will be using this blog to house links, updates, schedules, and any other information for the school year! Please be sure to check it often or subscribe for notifications! This is a space to house information about our learning while Seesaw will be the vessel for our work during the day. Here is a visual schedule for our class! I will also be sending out a link with this schedule to your email that will also have the specific links for encore zooms! I will post the link for that schedule below as well.
(schedule with related arts links)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nRvQmbOleB9c4U4Tbvl-JJVgd6EV1b13R89I2oScNAA/edit?usp=sharing
(Zoom information)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6194607125?pwd=UGlOT0pNQ2NvSGxZWHZZenpwUWRDQT09
Meeting ID: 619 460 7125
Dear Families,
Welcome back! For all of you, this was probably one of the most unique summers on record. My summer was relaxing and slowed down, focusing on the things that matter most! I hope all of you had an active, exciting, and safe summer. We will be starting off our year a bit differently than we would have liked to but I am really looking forward to getting to know all of the students and all of you as parents/guardians. It’s going to be a great year (no matter how different it may look)! I am committed to providing your child with a connected community, challenging curriculum, social and emotional support system, and an exciting school year that closely resembles what our year would be like, had we been starting in our physical classroom. Together, we will move mountains and I want you to know how appreciated you are. !
This letter is designed to provide you with specific information pertaining to this particular class so please read carefully.
*Reminder from orientation* There are technology and classroom goodie bag pick up times today 9/8 from 1:00-4:00 and Wednesday 9/9 from 9:30-11:30. There is a supply goodie bag and technology for each dragonfly student.
Communication: In order to have a successful year, it is essential that any concerns and questions you have, are immediately brought to my attention. Anytime you have a problem, no matter how small, please call me at school, request a conference, or e-mail me at sdonlon@sau16.org. Email will be the quickest way for me to respond, but the communication form that works best for you works for me!
Mrs. Saxton: The Dragonfly Class is SO fortunate to be supported by Kim Saxton this year! She will be joining us each day for our Zoom sessions, as well as supporting students in small group and 1:1 settings.
Class Blog: I will work hard each week to keep up-to-date with a classroom blog. Our class page can be found using this link: https://smsdragonflies.blogspot.com/. Please bookmark this page as I will post important information, pertinent to our class, including schedules, assignments links, and academic newsletters. You can also subscribe on the right hand side but be sure to follow through with the email they send you from “feedburner” to fully subscribe to getting notifications. This email can sometimes go to spam! There is a link to our class page from the SMS school page.
Seesaw: Seesaw will be your child’s way to connect to our classroom. Everyday your child will log into Seesaw to read the morning message or see a video of me, find any daily news, lessons and assignments. You can access Seesaw from a web browser or the app on a mobile device. There are TWO apps (you need both). Your child will access the “CLASS” app to complete their work and you will access the “FAMILY” app to view their completed assignments in their student portfolio. Personalized logins and instructions will be emailed to you soon.
Zoom Link: We will be using the same zoom link (and only one link!) each day. Students will be able to easily access this link from our class website, but I have also copied the invitation below for your convenience. Your child will be accessing this link throughout our school day, in each subject area. You may find it beneficial to have your child stay “in” the Zoom session for the entire day and just turn the audio and video off when they are engaging in independent practice. Hopefully it is easy enough, however, that they can jump in and out of Zoom if they would prefer. Managing multiple Zoom meetings a day will be something we work on throughout the year.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6194607125?pwd=UGlOT0pNQ2NvSGxZWHZZenpwUWRDQT09
Meeting ID: 619 460 7125
Schedule: A schedule will be sent out to you today for what our anticipated day weeks will look like. As you review the schedule, I ask for your permission to be flexible and understanding as the schedule will likely need to be modified after the year is underway. While the basic framework will remain, we may need to tweak some components to best accommodate our learners (which of course we won’t know until we give it a try!). For example, the first 6 weeks of school will have a primary focus on building classroom community, practicing routines and procedures, and building stamina for remote learning, so the timing of activities may vary. Thank you for your patience, and I welcome feedback as the year progresses. Per the SAU expectations, you can expect for your child to be engaged in learning from 9:10-2:15PM each day. Throughout the school day, your child will receive multiple opportunities for live instruction.
Attendance: Per school and districtwide directive, it is expected that your child will participate in daily class assignments and Zoom meetings. Attendance will be taken in the morning and after lunch.
Related Arts: 1D will receive instruction from their related arts teachers daily from 10:25-10:55. I will attach the zoom link here! They will also be in our schedule for our easy access. 1D will follow this schedule:
Monday - Library with Mrs. O’Connor- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5406939107?pwd=bkFZRXI0dUhvZTV0Sk1GUS96OHdudz09
Tuesday - PE with Mrs. Locke- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5792254221?pwd=eStzZEE3V0ZtYkhDTGhuTjZ3ZWxvQT09
Wednesday - Art with Mrs. Dow- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2310474610?pwd=ZTJSSVNzaG83R0taT2NZTmRhak9RQT09
Thursday - PE with Mrs. Bachelder- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9900045988?pwd=WmYzSVN3N2tNM0ppZ1JUVGF3TlE3Zz09
Friday - Music with Ms. Curtis- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2121681035?pwd=NWx4bG9hbXJETnZLdW9XM2prY3k4QT09
At Home Learning Environment: Please work with your child to designate an “at-home” learning space. This should be a space with a hard surface (like a desk or table), a sturdy, comfortable chair, and access to technology (preferably where their device can easily access a charger). It would be helpful if students had paper (lined and blank), a notebook, writing utensils, a small dry erase board with markers, and headphones available. A supply bag will be available with technology pick up for each student before the start of school and will have most of these materials! If you have any difficulty obtaining any necessary supplies, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as I imagine we will be flying through them!. We have plenty of available resources at the school and I am happy to get them to you. Additionally, to help promote a daily, school routine, please make sure your child gets dressed and eats breakfast before morning meeting each day.
Snack: Our snack time would typically be around 10:00 every day. While you will not find a scheduled snack break, I encourage your child to eat a healthy snack, mid-morning, to fuel their brain for learning. If possible, please have your child avoid having their snack during a live zoom session.
Soft Start: While our school day won’t officially begin until 9:10, I encourage your child to start their day in a way similar to what would have been provided in an in-person experience. As you may know, last year, first graders began their day with an outdoor recess. This may work at your home and could work to provide some activity and fresh air before the demands of remote learning beginning. On days when there was not an outdoor recess (due to weather or scheduling conflict), students were given an in class ‘quiet time’ to start their day. This could work to provide some unstructured time to play, create, build, or unwind. Whatever works best for you works for me, but I strongly encourage your child to have this soft start before our school day officially begins. After the first few weeks of school, my plan is to open our Zoom link beginning at 9:00, for students who would like to log in and “free chat” with their friends. I will, of course, be present, but will not begin our meeting until 9:10. This ten minute “free” time is optional.
Zoom Expectations: Our classroom runs using the responsive classroom approach (https://www.responsiveclassroom.org). As a class, we will work together at the beginning of the year to establish expected Zoom behaviors. We will draft a classroom contract that we will all sign. Through lots of positive, clear language, student behavior will be reinforced, reminded, or redirected. I continually find students are motivated to do well and be positive members of our classroom community.
Screen Time: As we will be spending much of our time accessing our learning through technology (although, I can assure you that I value a healthy balance of screen and non-screen activities in the remote setting), I encourage them to step away from the screen when school is not in session. Spending time engaged in unstructured play and out in the natural environment is a critical piece of child development.
Classroom Contact List: As we are in the virtual classroom, many families may find it helpful to have access to a family class email list. This could be used to host virtual playdates (or potentially socially distant outdoor playdates!) or to communicate with other families. I will work on creating a class list over the first week of school. Please let me know, through email if possible, which email you would like on the classroom contact list!
Book Orders: Scholastic book orders will be available every month throughout the school year. The book orders can be paid by check or, more conveniently, online. I will send out ordering information when the first book order is available!
***I realize this is a TON of information so please take your time soaking it in and if you have any further questions about any of these areas or any not included in this newsletter, please contact me! Let the learning begin!!
Best,
Sara Donlon
