Weekly News for February 3-7

Hello Families,

I hope everyone is having a great start to our second semester! Most Semester 2 courses should be loaded, but please let me know if your child is missing a course. Since there were two non-student days last week and some courses got loaded later in the week, I am going to make an adjustment to the module calendar. This week will be Module 19 and next week will be Module 20. This gives everyone a chance to finish i-Ready and gives time to check off all the activities in the Resource Folders.

You may find things in your new courses that were hidden last semester (assessments, independent reading logs, etc.) and are showing up for this one. If you do, just skip them for now/mark them complete and if you have any questions about anything, please let me know!

💟 💌💗 Next week, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in the form of friendship and kindness during our in-person and virtual lessons. On Tuesday, February 11, we will be making Valentine bags and in-person students can bring in cards or drawings for their classmates if they would like to. We normally have up to 18 students who come to our class on Tuesdays and I suggest that your child writes their name on the cards over a few days to make it less overwhelming for our young writers. Of course, this is an optional activity! On Thursday, we will be having a Virtual Valentine's Day party. Instead of students bringing in cards for their classmates, students can make one card or a drawing ahead of time to show everyone during our virtual class if they would like to do this optional activity. 💟 💌💗

❄⛄❄ As we head into the winter season, please read below for our late start and snow day schedule. ❄⛄❄

Remember that your child should be spending 27.75 hours a week on learning activities. This includes time spent in all the Accelerate Education courses, workbooks, Art and PE activities, reading, and any time learning new skills. Please make sure that these activities are balanced and varied and that your child is showing evidence of learning in each subject. I do look at the amount of time students spend in each subject during the month and base their progress on that as well as the percentage of progression. Keep up the hard work in Accelerate Education!

Thank you for all the hard work you are doing as your child's learning coach! Have a great week!

Ms. Harrier and Mr. Cain

💻 February 7 - Last day to take i-Ready test for first and second graders

📅 February 17 - Presidents' Day - No School or Monday virtual classes

📅 February 19-21 - Ms. Harrier will be at the WALA Conference and unavailable

As the winter weather is upon us, please remember that BGVA is now a South school, which means we follow the South school weather schedule. If South schools are closed, BGVA is closed and I will reschedule any advising meetings we may have that day. If South schools are 2 hours late, then BGVA also starts late. However, since our Tuesday in-person class and Thursday virtual class normally start two hours after BGVA opens, we will continue to start class at our normal Tuesday and Thursday time at 10:00 unless you hear otherwise from me via email by 9:00 am. If there is a late start on a Monday, our Trekker Talk virtual class will start at 10:00 and all K-2 students will come from 10:00-10:30 and there will be no separate grade level meeting that day. Any advising meetings that start at 10:00am or later on late start days will be on time and meetings scheduled before 10:00am will be rescheduled. If your child normally comes to our Tuesday in-person class and you feel that you cannot make it to class safely, please let me know and your child can join our Thursday virtual class!

First and Second Graders can start taking both the Reading and Math i-Ready test at home this week on Clever (https://clever.com/in/bgps). This task will need to be completed no later than February 7. If your child has not taken the i-Ready test before, please make sure you go over this with your student before taking the test.

i-Ready Get Pumped Up for Success Slides

Here is a website that was created a few years ago that gives parents more information about how to administer the i-Ready test at home. I know some information on it is outdated but I don't have edit access to the website and it gives a lot of great information if you are new to giving your student the i-Ready test at home.

i-Ready at Home

Please remember that you cannot help your student read anything on the test. If they see a speaker icon, then they should click on it for it to be read to them. I suggest that your child spends no more than 20-30 minutes on it at a time and your child can take each section over multiple days. There are built-in brain breaks/games as well. Another suggestion is to take the Reading test one week and the Math test the next week to spread it out or at least do one early in the week and the other later in the week. Please email me if you have any questions.

Recently, we informed you through our school weekly newsletter and a specific dedicated email of our new SchoolData platform. The new SchoolData platform is a robust tool that parents can use to stay fully connected with their students' academic progress, including accessing monthly progress reviews. Check your email for a short video demonstrating the process of creating your account and getting connected with your students' learning or click on the following links:

Click here for the link to begin the login process with our new School Data platform.

BGVA Parent Login and Navigation Overview Video

Parent Login Instructions for ALE Connect Application

Please remember that your child is required to attend class either on Google Meet or in person at least once each week. If your child is not able to come to either class during the week on his or her regular day, please ask your child what he or she has been learning that week and send me a direct quote of what he or she said by email. You can also send an audio or video recording of what was said. This is necessary for our required academic weekly contact and if I don't hear from your child, your child will be marked absent and you may get a phone call or attendance email. If your child missed class because he or she is sick, please let me know so I can send it to our attendance office. Thank you!

For every virtual meeting, have your child keep a blank sheet of paper to draw on, a black marker or pencil to draw with, and color crayons or colored pencils nearby. We won't be doing a directed drawing each week, but that way your child is prepared for our class in case it is needed. We often are waiting for students to get their paper and it saves us time if everyone has all the materials they need.

If your child is attending our Tuesday in-person classes, please bring your child to the locked gate by the small parking lot/gym at 10:00 and I will be waiting for your child to walk back to our classroom. Campus Security is sometimes at the gate and may also let you in and if so, you can meet under the covered awning by the east door to the Longhouse. We will be in Longhouse Room 7 for most of the time. I will bring students back out at 11:55 through the gate and you can park along the curb in the parent pickup area closest to the building. If you prefer to park and meet us by the gate at the end of class, that is also fine. Please make sure you are following the traffic flow map when coming on campus. Click on the picture to make it larger. Also, have your student bring a water bottle and a snack if your child needs one. Bring a jacket if it is raining or cold as we usually go outside unless it is raining heavily.

As we come back from a break, it is easy for students to become distracted during class. Please remember to review our virtual class rules with your child before class and ensure your child does not have any distractions (food, toys, blankets) near him or her. This will help your child be ready to learn!

For every class virtual meeting, have your child keep a blank sheet of paper to draw on, a pencil or marker to draw with, and crayons or colored pencils nearby. We won't be doing a directed drawing each week, but that way your child is prepared for our class in case it is needed. I will see virtual students on Google Meet on Thursday!

Topic: Ms. Harrier's K-2 Virtual Class Meeting on Google Meet

Time: Thursdays from 10:00-11:00 AM

Use the same link that you have already received via email for all of our virtual class meetings.

Come join our Monday Morning Trekker Talk Meetings! This is an optional meeting to kick off the week, review last week's learning, preview learning for this upcoming week, and to interact with other students in their grade level. Please make sure your student brings a small whiteboard and dry erase marker or paper to write on each week.

Monday Morning Weekly Check-ins through Google Meet with each grade level.

It’s a great idea to make items available for your student to use during math. Small beans, blocks, Legos or other small items that students can use to physically move around to count and represent addition and subtraction equations will help them with number sense. You can also click on this awesome link for fun virtual math tools!

Virtual Math Manipulatives

Please remember that the due dates for Language Arts may be a bit incorrect on your student's Accelerate Education calendar. Depending on the course, there may be times that the calendar may show that your child should be doing 2 lessons a day or working on more than one module each week. Please ignore the calendar in Language Arts if it is incorrect and only do one lesson a day. Students should be doing one Module in Language Arts and Math each week. Most students should be working on Module 19 in Language Arts and Math Arts this week. It is okay to be in a different place if you are new to our program and are just getting started. This calendar is a guide to help you stay on track so you can finish by the end of the semester. Each module has 5 lessons in Language Arts and Math. For Social Studies and Science, you will notice that there are only one to three lessons in each module.