Remote Learning Update

All family newsletters and communication is now via email, SeeSaw or the wiki.

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

I hope you had a relaxing week off from school and digital learning tools.  I also hope you feel ready to get back to remote learning together again!  I am very excited.

My family and I had a fun-filled week together with very little technology.  We hiked in the woods and did some yard-work, which at my house entails clearing some land and chopping down trees while moving rocks!  I will share more with the kids tomorrow on seesaw.

Our new remote learning schedule is complete.  I wanted to send this email to you as early as possible so you and your family can plan the upcoming week.  I know what it is like to manage multiple children's schedules, broadband capacity as well as your own working schedules.

Before you look at it, I wanted to explain a few things:

1. Our days/times remain the same for our small group google meets.  We will have another whole class google meet on Friday and there is no need to sign up for that.

2. Most slide-decks have been linked in a slightly different format.  I did it in the "preview" mode so the images would be bigger for everybody to see, but this means that you will need to use the arrow keys to forward through the whole presentation and get to my video-recording.

3.  We will start a new writing unit on Wednesday.  Wednesday's slide-deck is a little longer than the average ones from last week because I wanted to introduce/explain opinion writing and how to get started in depth.

4. Monday's schedule has two lessons for literacy; one for reading and one for writing.  They are related and we will share on Friday.

5.  As we did in the past, I will post a morning message on seesaw around 8am.  This message can be followed up on right away, later during the day, or simply thought about, or talked about at home. I hope your child visits the remote learning schedule (on the wiki and linked below) after that to watch/listen to the literacy lesson.  This lesson is followed up on and modeled by me on seesaw again around 8:15-8:30.  Since these are recorded, there is no need to watch them at this particular time, but the sequence, seesaw, wiki, seesaw-post, helps your child make stronger connections now when we are teaching new materials.  I also hope it helps families by having one child at a time online since passcodes vary and many times devices are shared.

Here is week 2 (2nd grade math will be linked later today)

Remote Learning Schedule Week 2

Lastly, I wanted to offer parent-teacher conferences in google meets in the next few weeks.  They were cancelled due to the school closings, but if you would like to meet up for approximately 15-20 minutes, please email me and let me know which days/times work best for you.  My "office hours" are on the remote schedule as well.

Thanks for reading this very long email.  I will "see" everyone tomorrow:)

Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

Congratulations! We've officially navigated the first week of remote learning and everyone deserves a pat on the back !

Thanks for all of your support during this transition and thank you for helping your child get online to participate in our google meets and online learning activities.  I love watching their videos and reading their responses on seesaw.

As I mentioned in our whole-class google meet this morning, I strongly encourage students to take a break from SeeSaw and screen time next week. Instead, I hope you and your family will go outside, explore nature and do things together that does not require a device or any electronics.

I would like to invite students to participate in the Egg Drop Challenge, if they would like to! This engineering task is completely optional, and just for fun! 

Please see the wonderful resource for other fun and engaging activities to do together. This guide to play was compiled by a fellow educator and parent. 

Lastly, I wanted to share some of the wonderful posts made by students on seesaw this week.  Enjoy our seesaw blog!  Click here (I emailed the password to you)

I will be taking a break from my laptop/email and will be back in touch on Sunday, April 26th with an updated remote learning schedule for the week of the 27th. Have a wonderful week!

Best,

Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

I hope you are still enjoying a nice and relaxing weekend.  It seems like the weather is slowly warming up a bit.  The snow and ice finally melted at my house and I am starting to see some birds and ducks. 

Thank you all so very much for your support, patience and flexibility in the last couple of weeks as teachers are setting up structures for remote learning.  This is a challenging time for everyone so I appreciate your dedication to our continued learning community and relationships.  It was wonderful to see so many students join our google meets last week.  I hope to see all of you in the upcoming week.  I will send a separate email for sign-ups.  Thank you Ms. Z. for joining us as well!  We miss you so much but it is great to stay connected online.  She will continue to check in with the students in the weeks ahead.

Our learning together will transition from maintenance of learning into remote learning of new materials in the next couple of weeks.  Our school administrators have already started sharing some of this with families via phone-messages and emails and I will communicate more details as soon as Team Harmony has finalized plans.  In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have any concerns or questions.  We are all stronger if we manage these uncertain times together.  I will continue to post weekly newsletters on the blog as in the past, although most of our communication now occurs on seesaw or via email.

Best,
Maria

Weekly Newsletter

Dear Families,

Happy Friday!  Today, we're completing our first week of online learning and I wanted to check in to see how the week went for all of you.  First of all, I hope everyone is healthy and safe.  I hope your loved ones all across the globe are safe and healthy too.

I shared lots of links and materials this week.  I hope I did not overwhelm you. These materials/links and web-sites are meant for you as different choices as we continue our maintenance of learning together.  It is great to see more kids participating in our daily morning seesaw challenges.  I love to read your posts.  Ms. Z has joined us on seesaw as well so please look for her comments as well.

On Fridays, the students typically hand in their reading logs.  Since school ended abruptly, many students did not receive or did not get a chance to pack up, their Iditarod reading log maps.  I attached the map to this email.  As you may recall, the students check off towns along the Iditarod Trail as they complete their own reading logs. Since I cannot collect the reading logs and facilitate this process, I attached it to this email in case your child wants to complete the Iditarod Reading Race.  This is voluntary, of course.  I also linked the Iditarod wiki site to this email in case your child wants to print more reading logs and check out some of the web-sites for the Iditarod as well.

http://inspirefirstgrade.pbworks.com/w/page/72349472/The%20Iditarod%20Race

I will send out another email later today with a sign-up sheet for you to join small group google hangouts starting next week!  I will host a daily google hangout with approximately 4 students in each group.  I will provide days and times in another email, so please be on the look-out for that.

I miss all of you and all of your smiling faces.  See you online!!

Checking In

Dear Families,

As you know, school will be closed starting tomorrow.  Our school administration is working on guidelines for what our next few weeks will look like in terms of on-going learning using online platforms.  Luckily, all of the kids already know seesaw, razkids and lexia well!

I will keep you posted and share links as soon as they are shared with me.

In the meantime, please take this opportunity to spend some extra time with your child.  Play board-games together, read a book and talk about the book together.   Cook dinner together or bake a cake together.  Clean the mudroom and fold the laundry together.  If your child does not know how to tie his/her shoe laces yet, learn that! There are countless life skills in these tasks.

Please also remember that our young learners absorb everything around them and they overhear adult conversations.  Many of them are feeling anxious; as we are too.  Check in with them and be transparent and honest about our new reality.

Today, we had a small group of kids, but they did an amazing job working together at school.  We used seesaw to reach out to our senior citizen friends at Wake Robin.  Please visit seesaw and see their thoughtful videos and recordings, supporting those in need at this time.  If your child wishes to make a recording too, please support your child in this endeavour.  Not only would this be kind, it would also allow you and your child to practice a digital platform together that we will use in the weeks to come.

Take care until next time.  I will be in touch in the next couple of days.

Best,

Maria

Iditarod Reading Event

The Annual Great Alaskan Reading Event March 6th-April 3rd,

Welcome to the Harmony House Annual Iditarod Reading Event. Students will be completing reading summaries as part of their reading homework. Students will move along the Iditarod race trail here at school. Each book they read will bring them to a new checkpoint along the trail.

This is optional. Students who do choose to participate will not have to fill out the regular reading log during the month of March. If students choose not to participate they should continue to do the regular reading log and return it on Friday as usual. A small prize will be given to all children who complete the 16 summaries. It is definitely possible to read more than 16 books in a month!

There are a total of 25 checkpoints along the trail. So in order to reach the end, students will need to read and summarize at least 6-7 books per week over the next month. Iditarod reading logs will be in their Friday folders. They can also bring extra logs home for the weekend. We also have opportunities for the students to complete these at school during reading times. Other prizes will be awarded for reaching the 20" check point and the 25" checkpoint.

We want each child to do their own writing when they complete their summaries. Families can encourage neat handwriting and complete sentences. We will be talking with your child about the expectation for this project. Individual student abilities and grade level will be taken into consideration when teachers look at logs.

*Children must choose books that are on their own reading level; “Just Right” books. Chapter book reading is highly encouraged for those who are ready. At any time, a teacher or other adult may ask questions about books read to make sure they read and understood the book.

Sample summary:
Title: The Doll People 
Author: Ann M. Martin 
This book was about: A family of dolls who are alive. When their owners are not around they move around, talk, and even go on adventures. In the chapters I read Annabelle Doll and Tiffany went into the attic to see if they could find Auntie Sarah. She has been missing from the doll house for over 40 years.

Every year we hear from parents that students are motivated by this event. Classes will be doing other learning around the Iditarod throughout the month of March as well.

Here is a link to the Iditarod reading log in case you wish to print extra copies at home.

Sincerely, The Harmony House Teachers