7th Grade Newsletter

The start to the 2020-2021 school year will be unlike any other, and hopefully it will be a once in a lifetime kind school year!

Please know that our emphasis during the first 3 days of school will be to ensure that students have access to technology and Google Classrooms while also taking time for teachers and students to get to know one another. We will begin our focus on curriculum on Monday, August 17.

You may have heard from a few of your child's teachers, but I've asked that we hold off on the emails this week as it will result in parents receiving 7-8 emails; instead, our school website is under construction and being updated with teacher bios, we are working on staff introduction videos for Fall Open House, and we are sending grade level newsletters with information from our core area departments.

In this 7th grade newsletter you will find the following information:

• Information about what to do today in order to prepare for the first day of school
• The "Week at a Glance" (WAG) for our first 3 days of school https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y29S82qxtQhD_zFTt9wd5K387H4xntzURZIIuyZSicQ/edit?usp=sharing

• A message from each subject area/grade level team
• Our Schedule & Updated School Calendar (New Student Holidays/Teacher Professional Development Days added)
  
• Family Hot Spot Internet Access
  
• Student Daily Attendance and Accessing Instructional Materials
  
• Parent’s Guide to the First Four Weeks of School
  
• Free & reduced meal applications
  
• Curbside Meal Pickup Information (August 12 through September 4)
  

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• TODAY, students should use their Renner Chromebook to access Webdesk (http://webdesk.pisd.edu) and ensure that they can log in. For login and use information, please go to https://www.pisd.edu/site/Default.aspx?PageID=17316

• TODAY, please have your student follow the directions linked below in order to join their teachers’ Google Classrooms. On Monday, teachers created links through the Webdesk BACKPACK app in order to make classroom codes viewable on today.

  https://docs.google.com/document/d/179ozvUh39iQyU8iGokBeA1NO9dZHC51dVs_lJuSYgec/edit?usp=sharing

• Student schedules are now viewable through parent portal. It's a great idea to check the parent portal schedule against your Google Classroom listings through the Backpack App. (https://parentportal.pisd.edu/Login.aspx)

• Students must login to Webdesk (http://webdesk.pisd.edu) and be ready to work in their first period class by 8:25 every school day. (Attendance details further down in this newsletter)

• Students will follow the bell schedule that is linked and pictured below.

• Every secondary student now has a student email through the district. This is how students should communicate with their teachers and other school officials. Please make sure that you check your email regularly. To gain access to this email, follow these steps on this site. https://www.pisd.edu/studentemail

7th grade English/Honors English:

Welcome to 7th grade English/Honors English! We are looking forward to getting to know our students and establish digital citizenship expectations for our course during the first week of school. Students will be using a Digital Writer’s Notebook to keep all of their notes, writings, resources, etc. for the entire school year. Starting August 17, we will introduce and establish our notebooks and concurrently begin our study of multiple genres. We will explore how an author’s purpose influences the ways in which they convey their message to the reader. Students will compare and analyze different genres and forms such as graphics, drama, science fiction, and informational text. English 7 and Honors English 7 students will follow the same unit syllabus; however, the texts the students will study will differ. This is an introduction into Honors English for those students.

We are all here for you as we navigate this year together!

Your 7th grade ELA Team: Mrs. Conway, Mrs. Hensley, Mrs. Hudson, and Mrs. Ridley

7th grade LOTE:

Welcome to the Renner Languages Other than English (LOTE) department! The first week of school (Wednesday through Friday) we will be focusing on Social Emotional Learning including getting to know each other, team building, and setting norms.

In 7th grade Spanish and French, the second week of school we will begin our unit with coping phrases, greetings, and exchanging basic information.

We look forward to engaging in the language with your child!

7th grade Science:

Welcome back Mustangs! The first week of school we have planned some activities to get to know our students. In science, we begin our unit with science safety rules in a fun way.

The second week of school starts with setting up a science interactive notebook (INB) and learning about experimental design- observations, hypothesis, variables, constants, data tables, and graphs.

We look forward to exploring Science together this year. Happy New School Year!

7th grade Texas History/PACE:

Howdy and welcome back to school! We can't wait to start the year getting to know our wonderful students and learn more about how to work together to have a productive school year.

We'll start our lessons next week with the geography of Texas and how the American Indians survived in our four distinct geographic regions. Then we'll introduce how the European Explorers interacted with the Natives living in Texas.

We understand that this may be an uncertain time for your child and we are here to help ease them into their 7th grade year with lots of support!

Your 7th grade history teachers are; James Hamilton, Cindy Segler, and Lisa Whitman.

Students will follow the campus bell schedule (below) as they would on a typical day at school. The first 3 days of school, students will join each class live via the link found in each teacher’s Google Classroom. Beginning on August 17, students’ schedules will alternate between synchronous and asynchronous classes.

Schedule for 1st 3 Days: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11cPCNvFWStdQvqrHnWhTYdZKet-dzO3dW5PIJkDzQLk/edit?usp=sharing

Schedule for August 12 - September 4: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E2fNEJjiXv_UtgAxZ-8eAD41V2MzGAb0BQlqU0SQ1kI/edit?usp=sharing

Link to updated school calendar: https://www.pisd.edu/calendar#calendar1/20200811/month

***Changes to calendar (No School For Students):

Monday, August 24 - Student Holiday/Staff Development/Teacher Workday

Tuesday, September 8 - Student Holiday/Staff Development/Teacher Workday

If your family is experiencing difficulty with home internet access, please complete this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSft7BsF4-KA5T-gh0wBrsttWlQM5SqAuAMC1FWXPM9J3DTtEg/viewform

As we begin the 2020 school year, we start in a virtual setting and it is imperative that we follow state guidelines in regards to acquiring accurate attendance reporting. When students are in a virtual instructional setting, students who login into the Plano ISD WebDesk each day and engage in teacher-assigned learning apps (including but not limited to Google Classroom) are considered “present” and will not be marked absent. Students who have not logged in by 3:00 p.m. each school day will be marked absent. This absence can be resolved if the student engages in daily learning assigned by their teachers via the Plano ISD WebDesk by 11:59 p.m. that same day.

Parents and students will receive absence notifications via School Messenger after 6:00 p.m. each day and will be reminded of the opportunity to resolve that day’s absence if the student engages in learning before 11:59 p.m. of the same day via Plano ISD WebDesk. (Notifications may be controlled by parents via Parent Portal.)

Any absences recorded but resolved by the student before 11:59 p.m. on the same day will be reconciled based on login records of the Plano ISD WebDesk. Reconciliation will not appear right away and could take a couple of days to become visible to parents.

Webdesk link can be found here.

Plano ISD has prepared a comprehensive Parent's Guide to the First Four Weeks of School. Please take a moment to review this guide to learn about student expectations, attendance requirements and to view sample daily schedules.

Parent’s Guide to the First Four Weeks of School

Free and reduced meal applications are now available at www.schoolcafe.com/pisd.

Student eligibility status from the 2019-2020 school year will roll over only for the first 30 operating days of school or until a new application has been processed. It is important that households complete an application for the 2020-2021 school year as soon as possible.

We encourage households to fill out an application online, however, if a household requests a paper application, we have them available for campuses to print out here. If the parent/guardian completes the paper application at the campus, you can place it in interoffice mail to FANS.

If the parent/guardian takes the application home to complete, they will need to drop off or mail the completed application to: Meal Application Processor; 6600 Alma Drive Suite B, Plano, TX 75023. Households should allow 10 business day for application processing.

Beginning August 12 through September 4, meals will be served Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Students purchasing meals will receive a lunch for the day and a breakfast for the following day. Meals will no longer be free of charge for all students as provided during the spring remote learning and the summer feeding program. Free and reduced priced meals are available for qualifying students.

Learn more here about curbside meal procedures, locations, etc.

Website: www.pisd.edu/renner
Location: 5701 W Parker Rd, Plano, TX 75093
Phone: 469-752-5800