 The Amity Weekly Minute:
September 20, 2020
What's New?
From the Desk of Mr. Drouhard
Amity Families,
This past week was our first week of transitioning students back from hybrid learning from home. We appreciate your efforts to engage students in the curriculum while they are away from us. It is extremely important to the work that we do at Amity and is essential for our students to progress through the curriculum. Our teachers are really working hard to provide supports for students while they are working at home, so that lessons are understandable and manageable.
What you don’t see once students come back to Amity is teachers working to maximize the two days that they have with students in person. They assess student learning and their retention of knowledge, and then adapt lessons to appropriately address student’s needs. Our teachers are working to teach the toughest concepts so that easier topics can be addressed at home. We greatly understand the value of each day, hour, and minute that we have with our students and are working to maximize this time!
Thank you for your continued support. We could not do it without our amazing parents!
Take Care,
Josh
Weekly Photo Gallery
Back by popular demand: We're bringing back the Amity Weekly Minute Photo Gallery! Click the link below to access photos from all around Amity Elementary during the week!
No Kindergarten Classes On October 16th
We will not be having AM or PM kindergarten classes on October 16th. This is the end of the quarter and a teacher record day to prepare grade cards. Kindergarten teachers will be preparing a small learning activity to be completed at home that day.
MAP Make-Up Testing For Virtual Students
A huge thank you to the virtual students who were able to make it in for the MAP assessment this past Wednesday. If your 1st through 6th-grade virtual student wasn't able to come on Wednesday, please plan on having them come to Amity on September 23 at 8:30 AM. We will be administering the make-ups next Wednesday. Please arrive with your school-issued Chromebook, a pencil, and a face mask. The assessment should take approximately two hours to complete. Parents you are welcome to drop your student off and then when your child is finished we will call you to come and pick them up. The MAP gives us valuable information about your child's performance and will allow us to identify gaps and strengths. For our 1st through 3rd graders, we are mandated to assess their reading abilities within the first 30 days of school per the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. Please reach out to Michelle Ellis with any questions.
Additional Lunch Distribution
This weekend, we had several extra lunch packs that went undistributed. If you were not able to make the pickup, or just want a few extra student meals for the week, we will be holding an additional distribution on Monday, September 21 from 3:15-4:15 p.m. in the back parking lot of Amity.
This distribution is available for ALL Amity families regardless of whether or not you have filled out the lunch request form. If you have not yet signed up and would like to request lunches every week, you can fill out the form below.
Note: The remaining lunches from this weekend will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis until all packs have been passed out. One per Amity student.
Help with Utility Bills
Below are information sheets by Duke Energy to help customers navigate past due or current utility bills - including new options of moving due dates, paying bills over many months and details on assistance programs (LiHEAP, PIPP, etc.). Customers can always call United Way's 211 for additional support or connection to community resources.
Girl Scouts Robot Building Party
In Case You Missed It
Chromebook Routines and Security
With sending Chromebooks back and forth between home and school, it will be important to build new routines with your child. Designate a place that they will be charged prior to coming back to school and add it to the checklist of things to pack in their backpack. It will be important to have a charged chromebook each day at Amity, as our teachers rely on Chromebooks coming back to school and ready to use.
Secondly, I want to assure parents that students will be able to use their Chromebooks at home and remain safe. Even though our Chromebooks are off of school property, they still have security features built into the device to block content and monitor searches to help our students make good decisions. We will reach out to you if an unsafe search occurs. Please make sure you remind students of these features. If you ever want to view your student’s search history, please type in “chrome://history” into the address bar or by hitting the keys, “Control” and “H” at the same time.
Deer Park Library
Deer Park Library is working to provide services to our students even during COVID19. Please click the link for recent information from them.
Information For Parents Regarding Hybrid Work Days From Home
When will our students start getting work for hybrid learning at home?
We will start our hybrid learning model, where we expect students to work at home as well as at school, the week of September 8th.
What type of work should I expect for my student to complete?
Our hybrid model of work at home will look differently than the completely remote model we used in the spring. The in class time allows teachers to set the groundwork for students to work at home and then check in on this work the following week. Students will complete paper worksheets as well as online work using Schoology as the hub of academic tasks.
How much work should I expect for my student?
Our goal, even with going on a hybrid plan, is to provide the appropriate amount of work for students to progress through their grade level academic curriculum. This could cause an increase in work from our remote learning experience in the Spring, as students are expected to progress following state guidelines. I understand that hearing an increase of work may increase anxiety in parents, but we will be able to better support our students in setting up lessons and executing them through our time in the classroom each week.
What will Wednesday’s look like for my student since the teachers don’t have students at Amity?
Wednesday morning affords us the opportunity for our teachers to meet with students digitally. Teachers will publish a schedule that has time in the morning for individual, small group, or whole class Googlemeets. In the afternoon students will continue working on their assigned work at home. Teachers will spend the afternoon uploading lessons onto Schoology for the rest of the blended days that students are learning from home.
Tips for parents and students:
- Build your own three day routine. Set up your Wednesday schedule with virtual meeting times or teacher office hours built in. Set up your blended learning days with academic times, breaks, and lunch.
- Check into Schoology first thing in the morning to refresh your mind on the work you have to complete for the day.
- Establish a common place where work will be done. Work to find a place away from the TV or other electronic devices to eliminate distractions.
Below is the link to the Updated Hybrid Calendar for when students will be reporting to school in person. Please note some adjustments around holidays, conferences, and election days.
6th Grade Remote Learning Academy Students
Students taking courses in Apex, please consult the following document for fun activities that count as class time and for important links:
Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Information Page
A page on the Deer Park website has been created which is dedicated to bringing you the most up-to-date information on all things affecting Deer Park Schools. It includes several quick links to local, state, and national health organizations, along with a frequently asked questions section. Please visit the page to stay up to date with all COVID-19 information.
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