Good afternoon families!
We hope you are all staying safe, staying inside, and practicing social distancing. Last week was intense for all of us. As teachers prepare to launch remote learning tomorrow, we wanted to send a few guidelines and expectations you should have. School will continue from home tomorrow through the start of Spring Break on April 9. We are expected to resume on April 20 and will communicate if anything changes. Please find info below about schedule, google classroom, and our website.
📝 TIMELINE AND SCHEDULE:
There is no specific timeline your child needs to follow as of now, but routines can be extremely helpful for middle school students. We offer this sample schedule to try to provide structure to the day, but we also know that many of our students’ circumstances involve sharing devices, sharing space with siblings and other family, and other responsibilities outside of school.
9am-10am: Wake up, wash up, eat, get dressed.
10am-12pm: Check TSMS email/Google Classroom for the day's assignments. Spend two hours completing school assignments
12pm-12:30: Lunch Break
12:30-1:00: Enrichment work time / Might also include a movement break (dance/PE)
1:00-2:00: Movement break, get some fresh air. But practice social distancing!
2:00-2:45: Independent reading for 45 minutes
We recommend setting aside a certain amount of time in the late afternoon for social time (FaceTiming friends, connecting via online games, etc.) since staying connected is also important at this time. But we also want to stress that students should not have unlimited time online. And we love the idea of designated tech-free times (including adults, when possible!).
Try to enjoy all this extra family time! Schedule a home movie night, play some board games, or have a dance party. We want to keep spirits up during this stressful time.
GOOGLE CLASSROOM:
Here you can find a .pdf with some guidance on logging into Google Classroom. We fully expect Week 1 to be a lot of working out the kinks and teachers will be flexible with assignments. Or you can go to classroom.google.com and log in with your @tsmsonline.org email account.
Most students will be automatically added to their classrooms via their email address. The other way to join is via a class code that teachers might share. Students/Parents should be checking their email regularly to get necessary communication and updates.
Some grade levels have chosen a schedule for posting work and assignments, so hopefully Monday’s launch isn’t too overwhelming. Also, some teachers have decided to offer virtual office hours and will be communicating through Google Classroom about that. Student accounts have Google Meet activated which allows students and teachers to connect online about work, questions, or just to have a chat.
6th Grade Posting Schedule
Mon/Wed = Math and Science
Tue/Thu = Humanities
Fri = Math and Enrichment
📨 WEBSITE AND COMMUNICATION:
As a way to try and streamline communication, I will also be setting up a page on the school website with information about Google Classroom, communication that goes out via email, and whatever other relevant resources we come across.
Should you need any support, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or anyone on the admin team, your child’s teachers, or Shirley.
Be well!