Staying Together While we are Apart – An Update from Mr. Foti
Good afternoon, this is Mr. Foti, Elementary School Principal, I wanted to send out a message today to check in with our students and families. It has now been three weeks since we’ve seen each other together at school, and we are all missing our students and our routine of coming to school every day.
I have seen a lot of communication and well wishes between students and teachers and it’s great to see how everyone is making the best of this ‘stay at home’ time, and keeping in contact in safe ways.
As you may have heard today, the statewide school closure has been extended to at least April 29th. We keep close tabs on the Governor’s directives and we are preparing for the possibility of further extensions to the closure.
In the meantime, we have been building the framework for online access to instructional materials, as our teachers, assistants and aides have been learning about the Google platform and how they can best deliver instruction to our students through electronic media.
Our teachers will use Google Classroom as a platform for learning. If you have a laptop or an ipad at home, Google Classroom is accessible either through signing into a chrome browser or by downloading a Google Classroom App. You can find guidance here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PDVZvie0DnFbFEVFB8U3j89o1mD5BCUXTE6ymbb9y_k/mobilepresent?slide=id.g4f60ec15fb_1_6
We have a number of resources, including tutorials on Google classroom and Google Meet, on our The Remote learning handbook, which can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fbDEyo8tWfOKRSJ1xClHZwZOI3VHgZUHeNM25REShog/edit
If your child has any issues logging into their chromebook, please first check out this resource:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-J00m5SVEqZc9ZQ-9I7pwLSEgqZlZOgozVO7gyCwHaI/edit?usp=sharing
Our website has links to other resources, including Social/Emotional support for families. Please stay tuned for additional resources posted to our website.
The district is making devices available to households that need a device in order for our students to continue to work remotely. We realize that many students already have their own laptops or computers at home so picking up a device is not a requirement, however, if your child needs a device in order to access electronic instructional materials, please come to pick up a device at the high school flagpole entrance vestibule based on the schedule below. We will ask that parents are present, and sign an agreement to return the Chromebook at the end of hiatus from school, whenever that date may be.
**Please note that devices are available for students in grades K-12. If you have a pre-k student, we will do our best to provide a device in a couple of weeks should we remain out of school.
Device Pick-Up Schedule
Tuesday April 7 8:00 am - Noon Grades K-6 Chromebook pick-up
Wednesday April 8 8:00 am - Noon Grades K-6 Chromebook pick-up
If the hours of 8 am and 12 pm are not convenient to your schedule please contact the school at (518) 753-4458 ext 3507 to make alternate arrangements.
If you are unable to access the internet, we will make paper copies of school work available to you. Please contact your child’s teacher or the school office if you have no internet connection and we will be in touch with you to make arrangements.
We closed our third marking period as of our last day of school before the break, March 16th. We will be distributing grade reports through the mail near the end of April. Since March 16th, we have considered the work we have provided to the students as review and/or skills practice. Today, we start material that will be considered fourth quarter work. Your child’s active participation is required, and we will be providing support to ensure that you can adequately access all needed materials electronically, or otherwise if you cannot access materials through an internet connection.
All teachers have set up Google classrooms, and should have communicated to you about how to connect and access work that they will assign, through that platform. If your child is in grades Pre-K through 2, your child now has a google account. Your classroom teacher has password information. To improve the functionality of google classroom, it was necessary to change our domain name for google. This impacts the google login for all students. All students and staff will now login into their Hoosic Valley google accounts with @hoosicvalley.org - additional guidance can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-J00m5SVEqZc9ZQ-9I7pwLSEgqZlZOgozVO7gyCwHaI/edit?usp=sharing
Our goal is to provide your child with structured learning experiences that they can access on line, and that they can complete with a minimum of parental support. We do hope that you will support your child’s continued learning by being aware of the expectations outlined by their classroom teacher, and by creating the conditions that will support them in completing work assigned. The work that we are distributing will need to be graded, and as such, we will need your help in assuring that your students are staying on top of assignments.
The first step will be to establish some routines for your child(ren) that will enable them to spend the time they need on school related tasks. I have linked a very useful website from PBS that gives some good tips on establishing routines to support school work at home.
https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/schools-closed-how-to-make-a-new-home-routine
We know that this situation places a large burden on the shoulders of parents, who are also juggling many other demands at the same time, and so we strive to provide work that can be done as independently as possible.
Please stay in contact with your child’s teacher, and let them know of any difficulties you are experiencing. They can offer support, and we are asking them to refer concerns to other school personnel who can provide support to you when needed.
This is an unprecedented situation in most of our lifetimes, and we are very aware of the challenges that remote learning places on students, parents and families. We are mindful of this as we plan and move forward. Please feel free to email myself at m[email protected], or call us at (518) 753-4458 ext. 3507 with any questions, and someone will return your call.
We will add guidance to the website regularly, so please continue to check in.
Thank you and stay safe!
Mark Foti
Elementary School Principal