March 23rd

 ***UPDATE*** 
Please make sure students accept the Zoom meeting invite for tomorrow at 11am!!  Please make sure they answer the question of the day in Reading class.  I will be using it for attendance.  

We made it through our first week of online learning!! Thank you so much for emailing, asking questions, and sending comments on google classroom, it was awesome!  We have to do our best to stay connected. I also want to encourage the students to start emailing me directly with their questions, or posting on the class comments in Google Classroom.  Some have been which was fantastic!!  I want them all to get more acquainted with google classroom, and become a little more independent.  As always, parents are welcome to email me any questions/concerns they have, and give feedback.  How are students handling the transition to more computer time?  Is the work load too much, too little?  Suggestions??  I'm open to it all, it's been very helpful!!  Thank you!!!  

Last week, we definitely hit the ground running!  I know it was lot!! It was definitely a learning experience.  We're gonna change up some things, adjust some expectations, and most importantly, not stress out!!  We'll get through this together, just like everything else :)  I also want to thank you all so much for your kind messages, support, and patience. Its a slow recovery, which creates challenges so your kindness really meant the world to me.  I appreciate it so much, THANK YOU!!! 

I will also be setting up a couple of meetings through ZOOM every week, so the students and I can see each other and go through some lessons.  I was thinking of Tues and Thurs around 11am?  Let me know if that will work for you all.  We can always try different times every week if needed, to try and accommodate all requested times.  

I also do not want to solely rely on the computer for their learning.  I want to try and get them away from the computer as much we can, if that makes sense.  I would still like them to handwrite some of their work.  Studies have shown that handwriting as opposed to typing will help with comprehension, overall processing, and are more likely to retain the information.  I would like to try this with some Science assignments this week.  Science has been a weakness for the class as a whole, so I want them to try extra hard in this subject.  They can turn in their handwritten work at the end of the week using either a scanner, or any apps that will convert them to a PDF. 

Some Apps that have been recommended by some teachers and parents are Tiny Scanner, Simple Scan, Mini Scanner, and Genius Scan.  You simply download them to your phone, take a picture of the document, and it will convert it to a PDF.  Then you will be able to add the file into Google classroom. I will post detailed instructions before Friday.  Have a great Monday!!