Update for Week of March 30

Good afternoon Parents: 

(Sorry in advance for the length of this email.)

I hope this email finds you all healthy and doing well.  I just want to say what a joy it was to see so many of your children’s beautiful faces during our parade on Friday.  I know that many of my teachers teared up several times as did myself.  We miss and care for your children deeply.   With the extension of the school dismissal until May 1^st, that may change things a bit as far as instruction. 

Chomebooks and Wi-Fi Access

I know that some of you continue to have difficulty accessing Wi-Fi.  I want you to know that if you have need of internet access, you can use any of the district parking lots to use our Wi-Fi signals. We would kindly ask patrons to stay in their vehicles and maintain appropriate social distancing while on school property. If have not picked up your student Chromebook and would still like to do so, please call the office and make an appointment.   Your students Chromebooks should connect very easily once in range.

Instruction and Learning

Distance learning WILL CONTINUE. The majority of the learning that has been taking place up until this point has been review for many of our classrooms.  Starting on Wednesday your children will start receiving instruction that may be new to them or will start building on previously learned concepts.  It is EXTREMELY important that you try to keep your child progressing through their learning each day.  It will be so much for difficult for them when we do return to school if they have not kept up on their schoolwork.

I will be asking the teachers to identify for your students when an assignment is practice and when it is an assessment.  Parents, please do not help your children on the assessments.  Their teachers need to know what they can do on their own. This is what is reported on the report card and must reflect their own abilities.  On the practice assignments please definitely help them.  The practice assignments are required.  This is the only way that your teachers will know if your student is on track or if they need to add more instruction.  Teachers should be grading the practice work in Google Classroom so that you can get an idea of how your students are doing.

I know that keeping them focused can be difficult at home.  Home is normally their place of relaxation, down time and fun. Here are a few suggestions that might help:

1. Create a schedule and post it where everyone can see it.  (Get up at the same time everyday, have recess breaks, lunch break, etc.)
2. Stick to the schedule.  Children are creatures of habit.  They like their schedules and do so much better when we stick to them. 
3. Find a way to have fun every day.  I will be sending out the newsletter this week.  There are some ideas from Playworks to help us have some fun. 

Please have your children join Coach B’s Google Classroom.  Here is her class code: uwfns7p

Please have your children join Ms. Nichole’s Dance Google Classroom.  Here is her class code: ecn2pce

Office Hours and School Property

Schools will still be open but with limited personnel, and patrons SHOULD CALL IN ADVANCE and set an appointment to ensure appropriate social distancing.   The number is 385-646-5020.  We have also asked teachers to distribute materials by placing them in baskets outside the main doors. They should notify you when you have items for you to pick up.  You will also return assignments there as well.

Playground equipment and areas are NOW closed (this does NOT include open field spaces but please practice safe social distancing).

Report Cards

To view your child’s 3^rd quarter report card you will need to log into ‘Parent Portal’.

There are two ways to can view students report card:

1. Clicking on the Student Center tile, this will show the actual report card .
2. Clicking on the Gradebook tile, this will show their grades, just not in the report card format.

Breakfast and Lunch
 
Grab and Go breakfast and lunch service WILL continue. However, to the highest extent possible, please remain in your vehicles and food will be brought to you. Hours remain the same (8-9am for breakfast and 11:30am – 1pm for lunch). Lunch locations will be reduced starting on Monday, so please check www.graniteschools.org later this weekend for a list of updated distribution sites. As a reminder, ANY student of Granite School District can go to ANY of our locations for food service. Please spread out during these times as much as possible to ensure appropriate social distancing.

Counseling Office

1. Our counseling staff are working during the school dismissal and are available to consult on any difficulties regarding mental well-being. Their contact information is below: 

 Diana Lehwalder, School Counselor, 385-646-2118, dlehwalder@graniteschools.org          

 Nicole Feigt, School Psychologist, 385-646-8092, ndfeigt@graniteschools.org 

1. We have a website now too! Here is the link https://sites.google.com/granitesd.org/calvinsmithcounseling/home  

Kindergarten Registration

We are going to put kindergarten registration on hold for the time being. 

Thank you so much for all the patience and kindness you have shown.  We know that this situation can be challenging.  I try to always find something good in all situations.  So here is my positive thought for the week.  Until now, we have been living in a world that was go, go, go,  often distracting us from the things in life that should be most important to us,  our families.  This has provided us a rare opportunity to focus on our families, spend time with our children and slow down our lives just a bit.  I am trying to look at this extra time with them as a precious gift rather than allowing it to be an additional burden.

Please take care of yourselves. Take walks, read a good book, play a game as a family. 

Sincerely,

Cindy Dunn
Principal
Calvin Smith Elementary