ALWAYS Awesome!
Trauma-informed distance learning: This post talks about "four core priorities" (rather than strategies) for trauma-informed teaching during the school closure: predictability, flexibility, connection, and empowerment.
Family/educator resource: The University of Washington Center for Philosophy for Children has great resources for families and educators to help with "big questions" related to COVID-19. Categories include fear/worry, loneliness/isolation, boredom, and illness/death.
Video link: Our new video of student/family greetings and spirit days is here, on Twitter, and on our school website. You are also welcome to post it in your Google Classrooms.
Earth Day spirit day: We will have another spirit day this Wednesday, April 22. It’s Earth Day – so we are asking families (and staff!) to send or post a photo of students doing something to help the Earth, enjoying the outdoors, or both. Please promote with your families and students.
House fire family donations: Our family that experienced a house fire the week of the closure is now in a rental house. We did not collect any donations the week of the closure, but would like to try again. You can send money via PayPal or Venmo to Elizabeth using the e-mail elizakelley@gmail.com, or mail her a check -- text or e-mail for address. We will get the family an Amazon gift card with any donations gathered by the end of April.
Accessing interpreters: An attached document has info on accessing interpreters during the closure. We have been given the OK to use Language Link -- the real-time three-way conference calling system -- to contact families who are not engaging. Janet is the point person for all three services, and can provide the Language Link account number on a case-by-case basis.
Priority/essential standards: Elementary math and literacy coaches, along with CRC educators, are working hard to bring priority snapshots and modified curriculum maps to teachers. We know that we can't cover everything in a digital learning environment -- but how do we decide what to cover? We are drawing from the work of Larry Ainsworth, who writes about four criteria for essential standards:
- Endurance: Learning a student will need for a long period of time (used in subsequent units of instruction and over a period of years)
- Leverage: Learning based on a standard that is taught and used in more than one content area
- Readiness: Learning that involves a prerequisite skill for future leanring
- External exams (aka state testing)
i-Ready: Instructional usage held steady from the week before spring break, with 65% of students using i-Ready in both math and reading. Let's keep working to improve the overall usage rates, as well as the amount of time being spent, by recognizing our students for their work!
Approved digital tools: See the attachment for how to enroll in the Canvas course that allows you to see digital tools approved for use by the district.
