Remote School
Partners in Teaching
& Learning
Suggestions for Families’ Role in Remote Learning
Do the best you can - families are in very different places with many different pressures - give yourself permission to prioritize family needs
Establish routines and expectations
Communicate with your child’s teacher: questions/concerns
Establish times for quiet and reflection for your child
Encourage physical activity, exercise, and personal care
Be mindful of your child’s wellbeing - speak to s/he about concerns/challenges
Monitor how much time your child is online
Student responses over video provide teachers information about what the child knows and the next steps to take for learning
Support your child by allowing their brains to stretch and think
Resist the urge to provide your child the answer during a video meeting
Notice some of the questions and prompts teachers ask your children - they are intended to push their thinking and build independence
Challenges with Video Meetings at the K-4 level
Adult technology support is needed when students connect with staff
Smaller groups are far more productive than full-class meetings
We are mindful of the demands on families with multiple children as we coordinate the increase in video conferencing K-4
It’s hard to oversee two or more video streams at one time
Families may not have access to multiple devices
Simultaneous video streaming from home can lead to frozen screens and dropped audio
We are mapping out the scheduled video conferences to minimize overlap school-wide
Families should choose which meeting to attend if there is overlap
Vision for Remote Learning
It’s important for us all to remember that it is neither possible nor desirable for remote learning to try to look just like school does. In the best of times we need flexibility, creativity and structure. We need those even more during this pandemic. The table below captures our vision for learning during this extended closure.
Here is What You Can Expect From Us
Continued weekly check-ins by homeroom teachers with families - we’ll honor your request for format.
Grade Level Teams
Send menu of learning activities including choices for students by Monday each week
Suggested structure for a remote learning day
Weekly social and academic learning:
Social
For Example: Class Meeting or Lunch Bunch (1 time per week)
Academic
Reading group (1 time per week)
Read aloud (live or links to recorded content) (1 time per week)
Math (live or links to recorded content) (1 time per week)
Specials Teachers
Send weekly updates with choices for students
Provide Specials LIVE meeting opportunities
Join class or small group meetings
Provide read alouds
Intervention services (Reading Recovery, Title 1 Reading, Kindergarten Intervention)
Twice weekly 1:1 instruction over Zoom
No more groups of 2 or 3 students
Horizons
Send weekly menu of learning activities via live meetings or Google Classroom