Updates: Week of 3-30-20

Weekly Update: Week of March 30, 2020

Dear Staff-

I just want to check in and let you know how proud I am of your work and dedication to keeping things running as smooth as possible for your students.  We are really creating a plan as we go, and I have been so impressed with what you have been creating. I know that we are PLANNERS, so it's hard not to have a solid plan in place right now.  Please know that everything that you are doing is great! And your compassion, understanding and commitment are beyond great!

Please go forward this week with what you have already planned for students and follow the time allotments for subjects sent out by Dave. This coming week we will get more guidance and support regarding instruction beyond that. 

What I can tell you is this:

(more information will come after next week's meetings with Teaching and Learning- this is simply a head's up)

• Plan to deliver whole group instruction as close to in-school curricular expectations as possible- (meaning moving forward with curriculum currently in place)
• Whole group lessons via google hangout are fine but not expected at this time
• District grade level meetings are being planned for the week of April 6, you will see meeting invites soon.
• Social Studies/Science or IUI - not required at this point - more info coming.

Our main priority at this time is to remain connected to our students and families. Be sure to encourage parents/guardians as many are feeling a little overwhelmed and/or inadequate - make sure that they know that we are here for them, and please share any concerns with me.  

The communication log (Houlton Communication Log) is what we will use to track communication to families starting this week. (Note: Starting the week of April 6 we can ask families for their preference for the weekly check in - phone call or email).  This log will be used to track who we are able to connect with, and alert us if there are any kids we are missing.

Instruction for the week of March 30th and going forward:

• Please send an email Sunday night or Monday morning to families laying out the plan for the week (example). This should be a one-stop-shop (Seesaw, Google Classroom, the Google Docs with links, etc.) for parents to access at any time throughout the week. We will continue daily emails regarding assignments for this week - but we may discontinue this daily contact after April 6th.  More to come!
• Please add your weekly assignments to this Doc HO Online Plans.  If you have any questions, would like examples or need support with this- please connect Lori B. or me. Thank you!

A few nuts and bolts:

• Specialist should continue to push out assignments and activities through classroom teachers and also link those to the  HO Online Plans.  Do try and connect with your specialist teams from other buildings- you can get a lot of good ideas from each other!
• As badly as we want to connect with our kids in person, we are discouraging dropping items off at student's houses at this time. US Mail and virtual connections are great!
• Option: Continue to have PLC/planning meetings with your teammates weekly via Google hangout. Invite Lori and me if you wish!
• Please be cognizant of the emails that you are receiving. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are taking advantage of our current situation and spamming educators. This article may be especially helpful to you. You can continue to report malicious emails using the fish hook in their email box. Thanks for your help.