Hillside News Brief

Upon hearing the sad news that we will not return to Hillside for the remainder of this school year, my heart broke. I am sad for our kids, for our families, and for our amazing teachers, educational assistants, office staff, cafeteria employees, and custodians. Our entire Hillside staff is upset about this end to our normal school experience, AND we are committed to continuing to educate and care for your child(ren) in the best possible way, using all of our ingenuity and talent. Now is the time to help us to do that by encouraging your student(s) to continue to work hard on the content/activities classroom teachers are providing. If you can set aside some time during the day to help with e-learning, your child will benefit. An hour or two is optimal, but even just 20 minutes set aside to ask your child(ren) what they are working on and whether or not work has been submitted for teachers to view would be incredibly helpful! Even a short time of connection around school work and learning would have great positive effect. If you are already spending a couple of hours (or more) with your student(s) engaging with content (and so many of you are), please know that this has a major impact on learning!

Parents and guardians, teaching children and guiding children is what educators live to do! This is our mission in life, and it is our staff's professional purpose. We want to make the best of this very difficult situation. We invite you to partner with us, and please let us know how we can help with our extended campus learning for these final six weeks of school. We are all in this together!

Remember: Spring Break begins Monday, April 6. Teachers will be having some well-deserved downtime. Families have an opportunity to relax and enjoy some time without the demands of extended campus learning. We hope students will return from spring break refreshed and ready to continue working virtually!

We have much to be proud of as a district and school as we have all come together to continue to have a student-centered focus and want the best learning opportunities to be available for Hillside students. We continue to refine and redesign our approach as Westside's Extended Learning Campus continues to evolve. As a District and school, we have taken multiple learning scenarios into consideration in designing student learning that will continue until May 13th.

We are confident Westside has designed an effective plan that creates consistency across all buildings and grade levels. This decision was made to make it as simple as possible for students to successfully/independently complete work within an approximate 2-hour timeframe with minimal new content. Each grade level across the district will have a consistent Monday-Friday schedule for each week where only a few assignments differ. Math and reading/writing will have instruction Tuesday- Friday. Science will occur on Tuesday/Wednesday and Social Studies on Thursday/Friday. The specials schedule will continue in the current rotation. Second Step social-emotional lessons are provided to families once a week and taught at a time that best meets the needs of each family.

Monday - General Student Learning Day. Students will have a learning plan that will not require teacher or parent instruction (e.g. read for 30 minutes). Teachers will communicate a suggested plan for students and families. Families also have the flexibility to design their own Monday learning schedule. The goal is for the Monday routine to be consistent and for learning to still occur.

Tuesday - PE, Math, Reading/Writing, Science

Wednesday - Art, Math, Reading/Writing, Science

Thursday - Library, Math, Reading/Writing, Social Studies

Friday - Music, Math, Reading/Writing, Social Studies

An update from Community Club: Art to Remember products are coming from Indiana; so far, production has slowed because of Coronavirus regulations. We will keep you updated regarding arrival of merchandise. Please watch our newsletter. We will certainly receive these items, but we have no control over when they will arrive.