Kilmer MS News You Choose and Office Hours #31

learning target

Ms. Mattix and Ms. Zemaitis share their learning target in 8th period Science - super excited to learn together. 


From the Principal's Desk:

May 1, 2020

Dear Kilmer Families,

I want to thank you all for your patience, flexibility, and support as we worked towards synchronous learning. We are happy that we were able to launch synchronous learning this week. It was exciting to see so many students in our virtual classes.

On Wednesdays and Fridays, students attend the four core classes English, Science, History, Math, and High School credit World Languages in synchronous learning sessions. Students will join their elective teachers including PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays during Office Hours. All teachers’ office hour times can be found on the Kilmer Distance Learning Hub. All teachers have posted learning activities for students to work on throughout the week in their Blackboards and Google Classrooms which can also be accessed through the Kilmer Distance Learning Hub.   

If your student needs any support accessing the synchronous classes or getting into a routine with the school schedule or with completing school assignments, please contact your student’s school counselor.

Sincerely,

Amy Miller

Principal


Announcements

Staff Appreciation Week 

staff appreciation

May 4 – May 8 is Staff Appreciation Week! Let’s Celebrate our Teachers and Staff by letting them know how much we appreciate them. Below are some ideas:

  • Create a video message to send to a teacher or staff member thanking them
  • Share a best memory with a teacher or staff member
  • Write an email thanking a teacher or staff member

Office Hours

office hours

Every teacher (core and elective) holds office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Office Hours is a time for students to connect with their teacher to ask questions, check-in on assignments, engage in one-on-one or small group discussion. We encourage students to check-in with their teachers (core and elective) during office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All teachers’ office hour times can be found on the Kilmer Distance Learning Hub.


Third Quarter Report Cards

Third Quarter report cards will be mailed home in mid-may, except for those parents and/or guardians who have opted to “Go Paperless.” Parents and/or guardians can take advantage of the paperless option, by logging into ParentVUE, then going to “My Account” and selecting "Go Paperless!" All parents who share the same address as the student must have a SIS ParentVUE account and must select the paperless option. This option must be selected prior to May 12 to prevent the 3rd quarter report card from being mailed. 


Course Requests for 2020-2021

Seventh Grade Students: To see the list of courses that your child selected for eighth grade, please log into your SIS ParentVUE account and click on the course requests tab. Directions for how to view your child’ course requests online in ParentVUE can be accessed at the following link : Online Course Requests in ParentVue . Students can also view their list of courses on the course request tab in SIS StudentVUE. This list of courses is NOT a schedule, but a confirmation of the courses entered into the student information system. Elective choices are subject to change based on space, teacher availability, and schedule conflicts. Please review this preliminary list of courses and look for the following errors: Too few or too many classes, absence of a required course, inaccurate placement by grade or course level. Parents, please contact your child’s school counselor if you have questions or concerns about the selected courses. Course requests are a firm commitment. Course request changes will not be accommodated after June 1.

Eight Grade Students: To see the list of courses that your child selected for ninth grade, please log into your SIS ParentVUE account and click on the course requests tab. Directions for how to view your child’ course requests online in ParentVUE can be accessed at the following link : Online Course Requests in ParentVue . Students can also view their list of courses on the course request tab in SIS StudentVUE. This list of courses is NOT a schedule, but a confirmation of the courses entered into the student information system. If you have questions about your child’s course requests, please contact the high school your child will be attending for ninth grade. The Student Services department can assist you with your questions.


2nd Virtual Spirit Week

Join us for our 2nd Virtual Spirit Week! We look forward to seeing our community in photos

spirit week

Virtual Afterschool Interest Form

The Middle School Afterschool Specialists have put together a number of virtual after-school activities to engage you in the arts, music, STEM, physical fitness, cooking, games, puzzles, literature, and more – things you can do by yourself or with a group of your classmates. This is a place to become explorers, athletes, coders, scientists, artists, authors, dancers, or whatever you choose. These activities will be housed in the Kilmer Afterschool Google Classroom, the code will be shared with students once everything is up and ready to go.

Please complete the Virtual Afterschool Interest Form  to give us a better idea of your interests. If you don’t see an activity you like or have an idea, list it at the bottom of the form.

There will be  a variety of activities (topics) to choose from in the "Classwork" tab. We can give feedback, answer questions, and provide challenges for you along the way. We hope you enjoy this site, and feel free to access any and all of it to help you pass the time actively during this time of social distancing.

If you have ideas for other activities, please contact Kimberly Kardelis


Reminders


Overview of Grading Practices for 3rd and 4th quarter

Third quarter has been extended to Friday, May 1st. Teachers may continue to work with students to close out the third quarter and accept assignments through that date. Access in ParentVUE and StudentVUE to view the report card module will be closed from Friday, May 1 at 4:00 p.m. until Saturday, May 9 at 6:00 a.m. 

Fourth Quarter Timeline:  While third quarter work is being accepted until May 1st, fourth quarter work has been assigned to students.  Any new work will be entered into fourth quarter gradebooks beginning Monday, May 4th

Providing Feedback to Students/Parents and Monitoring Progress: Beginning fourth quarter, teachers should provide feedback such as comments on quality of work and guidance for improvement. 

  • Assignment “marks” will be entered into the gradebook and will be: Proficient, Attempted, Not Attempted.
  • This data will be considered to positively influence the final course grade. 
  • Students and families will be able to see “marks” in SIS, though weekly emails will not be sent since there will not be a quarter 4 grade.

Additional information about how final grades will be calculated will be shared at a later date.


Yearbook

There is still time to purchase your copy of Kilmer’s 2019/2020 yearbook. They are $40 online and can be purchased through this link: shorturl.at/egoS3. At this time, all yearbooks must be purchased through the online portal. Information on how the yearbooks will be distributed this year will be coming in the next couple of weeks. Right now, due to building closures, delivery of the yearbooks will be sometime this summer. Stay tuned for opportunities to send in your photos of stay at home life.


Upcoming Dates

Monday, May 4 - Asynchronous Day

Tuesday, May 5- Asynchronous Day and Teacher Office Hours

Wednesday, May 6 - Virtual Classes, Periods 1, 3, PAWS, 7

Thursday, May 7 - Asynchronous Day and Teacher Office Hours

Friday, May 8 - Virtual Classes, Periods 2, 4, 6, 8