JMS 5th Grader Newsletter

We hope you all have had a wonderful summer! We are excited to welcome our 5th grade students into the building with the newly implemented staggered schedule released Thursday, July 19th. This newsletter will include information about the staggered schedule, laptop pick up if you have chosen ConnectOR and also other information about Jefferson Middle School!

Please know that we are working hard to ensure safety for all of our students and staff as they return to the building. Health and safety is always our number one priority at Jefferson Middle School. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please contact our admin team and we will reach out as quickly as possible.

Please check out the information below to learn more about Jefferson Middle School!

Have a great week,

Phil Cox, Principal

Jenifer Laurendine, Vice Principal

Ben Fowler, Instructional Technology Coach

Out of an abundance of caution, we have unfortunately had to cancel our Fall Orientation and Open House events that occur each year in our building.

Our staff has worked hard to provide our parents and students with a virtual Orientation/Open House experience! In addition, we have included the Course Curriculum/Registration Pages so you can move forward in preparing for the 2020-21 school year.

JMS Fall Orientation and Open House

https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/academics/counseling-center/2020-2021-oar/

JMS 5th Grade Curriculum Course Guide

https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/academics/counseling-center/2020-2021-oar/jms-5th-grade-curriculum-guide/

Or in a PDF handout: https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/04/JMS-5th-Grade-Curriculum-with-Video-Links-2020-21.pdf

Again, if you have any questions regarding the information above, please reach out to our admin team or you can also contact our School Counseling Department by reaching out through the JMS website: https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/academics/counseling-center/2020-2021-oar/ We hope you and your families are well and healthy and we are anxiously looking forward to seeing you and your students soon!

As we begin to welcome students into the building on our staggered schedule this coming Thursday and Friday, your child will not be issued a student laptop unless we have received the paperwork (CELA & TUA). Once the paperwork is complete, your child will receive his/her device in homeroom on Thursday or Friday.

Below are the steps on how to complete the sign up process. In addition, you can watch the following video to help walk you through the process: Click Here for the Video (Also featured above)

Steps to complete (You can also watch in the video, shown above)

1. Go to www.ortn.edu

2. Click on Tab Online @ORS

3. Click on Tab for Students and Families

4. Log on to Family Access to Skyward

5. You should see on the Homepage a message that states, “An Online Form is Now Available to Fill Out”

6. Click on the link “Fill Out an Online Form”

7. Pop Up “Would you like to complete it now?” Answer Yes.

8. Read the form and complete the tasks at the bottom

9. Complete and submit. You will see that you have successfully submitted at this point

If a parent/guardian has not completed these steps as outlined in the video and above then students will not be issued a device until the forms have been completed.

If you have not signed up for Skyward, please see the back of this sheet for more instructions. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Laurendine at jllaurendine@ortn.edu or 865-425.9257.

If you have completed the ConnectOR application process for full online instruction this year, we will have a device pickup event on Wednesday, July 29th from 7:30am - 4:00pm at Jefferson Middle School.

We will have your child's device ready for pickup between those hours in the front lobby of JMS. Please be sure you have completed the appropriate CELA and TUA forms prior to picking up your child's device.

If you have any questions, please contact Jenifer Laurendine at jllaurendine@ortn.edu or 865-425-9257.

As you are aware, the ORS District announced last Thursday that we would return to school on a staggered schedule beginning this week. Thanks again to all of our parents and families for their patience during this anxious time.

• Last names A-K will attend school in-person on Monday and Thursday. These same students will be remote learners on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
• Last names L-Z will attend school in-person on Tuesday and Friday. These same students will be remote learners on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
• Wednesday will be a remote learning day for all students, A-Z. During this time, the building will undergo a deep cleaning.

• Teachers will have a remote mini lesson for students to complete via Canvas.
• Teachers will be available with Office Hours from 9-12pm on Wednesdays.
• CDC teacher will contact parents to create a schedule that best serves each individual student.
• Students will follow their 7-period schedule when they return to the building. This will allow for more individual attention for each student while in the building.
• This staggered approach increases student and staff safety due to smaller numbers to social distance in classrooms, communal spaces, hallways, lunch, chorus, band, PE, etc.

• First Student Transportation will not be affected by this staggered schedule. It will also decrease the number of students on the bus daily.
• Teachers will provide a blended learning approach and utilize Canvas when students are at home to continue the learning process and new concepts are introduced.
• The staggered schedule will help in transitioning our students back to the building safely, while allowing us to execute our safety protocol more effectively.
• In the event the buildings do transition to virtual learning and we are remote for an extended period, students will continue using and learning through the Canvas Learning Management System.
• In the event that we can return to normalcy later in the school year, it will be crucial to implement the same staggered schedule to return, in an effort to safety return our students before opening the building to all students.
• If you have previously applied for ConnectOR but feel this staggered approach is a better option for your student, you may unenroll to the ConnectOR program. Please click on the link below and complete the entire form to unenroll your child from the ConnectOR program: https://forms.office.com/Pages/DesignPage.aspx?fragment=FormId%3DvdNYGNb6YE61OeUm8KqiP_OHCCa49f1PjSTpVRJjq8dUOTVQMEg5UjM5QUtBQk1GVzhXWExIUkVFTy4u

SKYWARD versus CANVAS

Skyward is the Student Management System (SMS) for Oak Ridge Schools. Skyward is the way that we report data to the state, manage attendance, report food service transactions to parents, and manage student schedules. All report cards are distributed through Skyward. Additionally, most emails and Skylert messages from the building and district are distributed through Skyward. Final grade calculations are done in Skyward. It is important to have an email address on file with the district, as it is required to access Skyward. Follow the link to this video to see an introduction to Skyward: https://youtu.be/LPRZenR1v6A.

Canvas is the Learning Management System (LMS) for Oak Ridge Schools. Canvas allows teachers to upload content and assignments to the web, give feedback and grade student work, and connect to outside textbook platforms and third-party educational tools. Though final grades are placed into Skyward, Canvas houses most of our assignments, files, and additional information. Our teachers are using Canvas to keep students and parents on track as we blend online and in-face instruction. ConnectOR students from JMS will be using Canvas to manage their coursework. Final grades will then be placed in Skyward.

As always, if you have questions, please contact me at bjfowler@ortn.edu or 425.9301 x9290.

In the age of Remote Learning, JMS staff has done an amazing job to help transition our students and families into this new style of learning. Utilizing our Learning Management System, Canvas (video below), our teachers have been able to continue to engage students digitally. We have used Canvas for years as a part of our Blended Learning model, where students receive both educational opportunities at school and online.

When we return to school on our staggered schedule, we will continue to use Canvas in order to help keep continuity and when students are not in the building. In addition, we will continue to grow this model in preparation if there are any future closings. We feel confident in our staff and their amazing abilities to connect as best as we can through digital resources like Canvas. During this closure we have seen great innovation promoted through Canvas and amazing learning opportunities achieved by students during this phase. It's not all about technology, but Canvas does allow us to have the platform necessary to communicate, provide resources, information and opportunities for student growth and learning. To learn more about Canvas and how we use it to help with students and parents, check out the video below.

Canvas is our learning management system. We utilize Canvas to communicate with students and parents about announcements, information that is important to each class, links to resources to help support in class learning and also digital assignments.

Our 5th grade team is AMAZING at the amount of detail they provide on their Canvas pages. We encourage parents to spend 10 minutes each week with their child logged on to Canvas and read the details for each teacher's page, announcements, and assignments.

Our goals through Canvas is to communicate effectively, provide resources, information and also online grades for students and parents.

In Canvas, our teachers work to provide:

• Announcements - A weekly look at what will be taught throughout the week
• Assignments - Some assignments will be digital and completed through Canvas and some will be analog and completed on paper. The goal for teachers here is to update with information to help explain the assignment and the due date.
• Calendar - A student calendar that shows all of the student's class and helps to color code each. The calendar allows for parents to see due dates for assignments, quiz and test dates.

Safety is our number one priority at Jefferson Middle School. The video below helps show the process for both drop off and pick up each day. We want our parents and students to be aware of the process in order to create the safest environment for all during these busy times. The following times below give you the best idea for drop off times:

There are two loops on campus. One loop on the gym/football field side of campus, which is a car drop off loop all morning long. The second loop on the softball field side is the bus loop at the beginning of the morning and becomes a car loop after buses leave. Buses will enter the loop from 7am - 7:10am each day. Please do not enter the loop if buses are present. In addition, please do not pass buses at any time while in the loop.

Please utilize the loop on the gym side to drop off your child each morning. When 5th grade students arrive on campus, they report to the gym until 7:30 am.

Our custodial and maintenance crews have worked hard throughout the summer to complete our Innovation Center! What's an innovation center you may ask? Take a moment to envision an open space where students can gather to collaborate, communicate, design, analyze, think critically and creatively. Those skills are honed and sharpened daily throughout our classrooms within the building, but sometimes you need more space, sometimes a change of venue may be needed to help inspire, motivate and also support the needs of a specific lesson.

The space is equipped with 21st century furniture and it will be utilized by our students and staff as space for innovation, creativity, and learning for the 2020-2021 school year. Also, this will provide more seating and area for students during am lobby hours prior to the start of first period. The removal of these lockers downstairs also coincides with the installation of new 7th and 8th grade lockers on the 2nd floor, pictured below.

We wanted to take this opportunity to inform you that the grading scale at Jefferson Middle School is different than the elementary school. At Jefferson Middle School each of the core classes and special areas will implement the following grading scale:

A - 93 - 100

B - 87 - 92

C - 75 - 86

D - 70 - 74

F - Below 69

We realize that this will be a change and adjustment and we want to make sure we communicate it to you prior to the start of school. Please feel free to reach out to your child's teachers if you have any questions about grades.

Welcome back and hope that you are excited to return to school either by remote or in the building! Either way you will learn your curriculum the school counseling office is here to assist. This week’s article will include some items to help with transitioning back to school, release of schedules and important child-care information. In the coming weeks we will be providing important information with how the school counseling office can assist through this pandemic. We have all experienced a roller coaster of emotions during the last 4 months but one of the most important item is that we must reach out to one another when assistance is needed. Please reach out to JMS counselors and administration if we can help your JMS child.

Tips and Tricks for Transitioning Back to School During Corona Virus

• Schedules will be made available for students and parents through Skyward on Tuesday, July 28th at 4 pm. Schedule changes will only be made if there is a missing a core or required class, or if there is an error in an elective.
• In order for the student to request a schedule change, they need to go to the online counseling form on the JMS website and request to meet with their school counselor. Putting in a request does not meant that the request will be granted.
• Please contact the Counseling Office if you have any questions regarding schedules.
• The Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge is preparing to be open and provide transportation after school (Linden, Woodland, Glenwood, JMS) beginning the first week of school (July 29th, 2020) with restrictions and requirements for the COVID-19 situation. The Club will be limited to 50 children per day to maintain a safe social distance and masks will be required when indoors on-site. All members MUST be pre-registered to attend, and drop-ins are not permitted. We will not provide transportation to any children not pre-registered with the Club directly. You MUST contact the Club to reserve your spot and complete the required paperwork. We will be on a first-come/first-served basis. The weekly fee for attending after school is $25/week per child and an active membership ($15 annual fee) is required. Expectations, Member Handbook, Member Behavior Agreements, COVID-19 cleaning procedures, etc. will be provided upon registration. Please email the Club at ewebb@bgccv.org if you have any questions or need the forms emailed to you directly.
• The Emory Valley Early Learning Center (EVELC) offers comprehensive and family-centered preschool programs for children from one year old to kindergarten in an inclusive, high quality early learning environment. Inclusiveness, expert knowledge, and a care and concern for ALL children makes EVELC distinctive in East Tennessee.

https://www.emoryvalleycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Application-Packet-.pdf

• Girls Inc. delivers life-changing programs that inspire girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Research-based curricula, delivered by trained professionals, equip girls to achieve academically; lead healthy and physically active lives; manage money; navigate media messages; and discover an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. The network of local Girls Inc. nonprofit organizations serves 140,000 girls ages 6-18 annually at over 1,200 sites in 350 cities across the United States and Canada. There is a van that transports your child from JMS to Girls Inc. communications@girlsinc.org

Good luck this school year and reach out if we can assist in any way for the upcoming school year!

The JMS PTO would like to welcome all new 5th Grade families to middle school and invite you to learn more about PTO activities and how you can get involved.

If you would like to receive PTO text or email alerts, please click below to be added to our contact database. We use the Remind app to send meeting announcements, information about volunteer opportunities and other reminders.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=vdNYGNb6YE61OeUm8KqiP2Oz2qvUyvVNvrYWhtzgeydURTg2TVcyT1FCREVGVDlSUUdKUzNVOFIyOS4u

We know you may have concerns and questions as we restart school on our staggered schedule this Thursday and Friday.

We will continue to keep you posted as we receive updated information that may impact our students and staff. As always, our number one priority will continue to be the safety and health of our JMS Community.

Beginning next week, we will provide information that will provide a look deeper into utilizing Canvas in a remote capacity. If at any time you need assistance, please reach out to us as we are ready to serve every student, every day!

We thank you for your patience, understanding, feedback, and support during this ever-changing landscape.

Have a great evening and stay well!

Phil Cox, Principal, pcox@ortn.edu

Jenifer Laurendine, Vice Principal, jllaurendine@ortn.edu

Ben Fowler, Instructional Technology Coach, bjfowler@ortn.edu