Sept. 11 - Baby/toddler photo of student due (please email to Mrs. Williams)

Sept. 12 - Scholastic Book order due (see link below)

Sept. 14: Blended learning schedule begins

Sept. 21 - NWEA Testing begins this week

Nov. 3: No Classes, Professional Development

Nov. 4-5: Parent/Teacher Conferences

We begin our blended learning schedule this Monday. Class will begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at 2:55. When learning remotely, students will attend via Google Meet according to the schedule below. I have explained to students that their experience from home might be a little different as we move to blended learning. We will still meet for lessons, but since students will be attending in person, I might not be able to answer all questions immediately or troubleshoot tech problems right away. We discussed being independent learners and remembering to use the skills we talked about for resolving most tech issues. These can be found at the end of our Torrey Hill Family Tech Guide linked below. I will be implementing "Breakout Rooms" which will be explained to students next week. Students will be able to choose a "door" or separate google meet during independent work time based on level of need for support (teacher, peer, independent). More to come on this soon!

Our remote and face to face daily schedule will be as follows:

M-Th:

9:15- Day begins

9:30-10:15 Math (join through Mrs. Williams' Google Meet)

10:15-10:30 Snack/Story

10:30-11:15 ELA continued (Mrs. Williams' Google Meet)

11:25-12:05 Math (Mrs. Williams' Google Meet)

12:10-1:00 Lunch/Recess

1:15-2:15 Math continued (join through Mrs. Schomaker's Google Meet)

2:15-2:45 Small group instruction, independent work completion

2:55 Dismissal

Fridays:

Students will be expected to log into their Google Classroom Meet at 9:15am for our Morning Meeting where we will discuss the assignments for the day.

Students will need to bring all items for learning to and from school. Below is a list of items that should be in student backpacks each day.

1. Charged chrome book

2. Headphones or earbuds

3. Mouse (optional)

4. Math and ELA notebooks

5. 3 folders

6. Pencil bag/box (pencils, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue stick, pencil sharpener, highlighter)

7. Water bottle (NO DRINKING FOUNTAINS AT TH)

8. 2 masks

9. Snack

10. Optional - it is quite cold in the building right now. A sweatshirt or jacket might be a good idea.

In order to prepare for next week, I have placed materials for your child in the Torrey Hill office. You will find a math workbook and language arts book. These will not be referenced in lessons until Tuesday, so if you are able to come to the TH office for pick up, that would be very helpful. If for any reason this is a problem, please contact me and we can make other arrangements.

NWEA Testing

We will begin NWEA during the week of Sept. 21. All students will test remotely. Even though it may be tempting to help your child, students must work independently to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the test results. I glean a lot of meaningful data from our NWEA results, and create instructional groups based on that data, therefore, I want to ensure the results are accurate.

NWEA is an adaptive test designed to determine at what level students are ready to receive instruction, so if students are performing well, they will see more complex questions. They may see concepts they have not yet learned. It is okay for them to take an educated guess. Again, please do not define vocabulary words or offer assistance (aside from tech issues!) LOL!

I truly appreciate your support and understanding on this!

1) A basket of books next to your child's workspace--a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Libraries are still open and a great place to start with a collection of books if you don't have access to a lot at home.

2) I encourage you to go onto https://www.getepic.com/ and sign up for a FREE 30 day trial. Students have free access to Epic during school hours only.

3) Download the 'dualless chrome extension' on your child's chrome book. Once downloaded, play around with the different split screens and teach your child how to use.

OR

4) Show your child how to split screens manually by clicking on the two boxes in the upper right hand corner. We went over this a lot, but it would be good practice to play around with it. This would be helpful when on sites like kahoot and quizizz.

5) I recommend purchasing blue light blocker glasses for your child to wear during screen time. Amazon has a ton of options.

6) During breaks, please help me in encouraging your child to walk away from the screen, run around outside, ride their bike, close their eyes, etc...

6) Review the supplies list linked below and have items ready by your child's workstation next week. If you need any assistance with supplies, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Here are a few tips that will be helpful in keeping chromebooks working well.

Forgot your username or password? Please keep this information in a safe place in your home, but if it is forgotten or lost, just contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Many common Chromebook problems can be resolved by shutting down and powering back up. If this does not resolve the problem, try a hard reset by holding down the refresh button and power button at the same time. This forces a full reboot and corrects many strange behaviors. (See image below)

Check for unnecessary extensions. Inside the chrome browser, click the 3 dots in the upper right, select more tools and then extensions. Remove anything that doesn’t belong. Some extensions can cause the chromebook to misbehave.

To power off your chromebook, select the menu in the bottom right corner and select the power icon.

Now more than ever it is so important for your child to have books in the home. Plus our class gets FREE books with every order!

Class Order Due Date: 09/12/20

Connect to Our Class Page with the link below and shop the flyers with your child:

All books ship to the class, and I hand them out to the kids to take home.

Thank you for encouraging the love of reading!

PS: Feel free to forward the class page link to extended family who may want to support your child's reading.

Class Code: H4393

Please use the link below to view COVI-19 frequently asked questions:

https://www.lakefentonschools.org/covid-19-resources--4

If you are looking for ways to support your child's learning, please visit the link below. You'll select Grade 4, then scroll down for unit descriptions and games to support 4th grade objectives. Should any questions arise as our year progresses, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please be sure to log in to your Parent Vue account. Through Parent Vue, you will be able to see your student's grades in all subjects as well as any missing assignments. If you have any trouble please call the Torrey Hill office at 591-3617.

Email: jewilliams@lakefentonschools.org
Location: 12410 Torrey Road, Fenton, MI, USA
Phone: 810-591-3103
Twitter: @JenniferWilli58