March 19, 2020
Dear Parents,
I hope this letter finds you healthy and optimistic. I am trying to be optimistic and prayerful during this time. I know that this is a tough time and that many people are going through very hard times especially for small business owners as well as people who are suffering with the corona virus or have lost their lives from the virus.
I wanted to let you know that I am trying my best to provide this “At Home Learning” for you. It has been very difficult to do and the learning curve is extremely high for the teachers. I can imagine what you are all going through at home trying to help your children to continue with their studies. So with that being said, I wanted to tell you to “try your best”. I understand that things may not go smoothly and I will be flexible and try to help you.
I am so sad that this is our new reality. I really miss my students every day. I am keeping you all in my prayers and I am trying to stay positive. – Ms. Semandiris
Math
Ms. Semandiris
Students will go to my Math Google Classroom every day to see this daily lesson. I will have instructions written out for each lesson including Khan Academy Video tutorials about the content we are learning. In addition, there are 1 to 2 videos on Connect-ed that the students can watch before beginning the work in their student book. I ask that you keep all “My Math Homework” pages after the students self correct in a folder to be turned in to me at a later date. There will be a “drop-off Day” in the future. So you do not have to email me a picture of every page. I encourage students to do the math lesson from 8:30 – 9:25 Monday –Friday.
Chapter 8, Fractions and Decimals
3/23 Ch. 8 Lesson 8 Write Fractions as Decimals p. 595
3/24 Chapter Review P. 601
3/25 Practice test. They will click √ mark Connect-ed.
3/26 Chapter Quiz – Google Quiz.
3/27 30 Minutes of ALEKS
Math
Mr. Schreck
Chapter 9, Add & Subtract Fractions
Friday: Take short quiz on lessons 1-5 in 5B Math classroom. Log on to ALEKS for 30-45 minutes
Monday: Lesson 7, Subtract Unlike Fractions, part 1
Tuesday: Lesson 7, Subtract Unlike Fractions, part 2
Wednesday: Lesson 9, Estimate Sums & Differences
Thursday: Review Lesson 7 & 9
Math (Mrs. H): 5th & 6th
Students and parents, thank you for all of the support as we work through remote learning. I know it feels strange, and we miss the daily interaction and seeing you each day. I was so excited to see all of the views on the Youtube lessons! Below is the format for our remote learning. I included these directions in my first assignment in Google Classroom assignment, but I thought I’d share here too. Next week, I will send a new assignment each day (instead of sending the whole week) with a short video and the assignment that goes with it. Parents, I would love you to check the Google classroom with your students so that you can feel a part of their learning. Thanks again for your support!!
Monday – Wednesday:
You’ll have a video and a short lesson, where you will do odd problems in the textbook. You are NOT going to submit these to me while we are away, but please save all of your work because I will give you a grade for these when we get back to school.
When you finish your assignment, you can take out a red pen, open to the answers in the back, and correct your work. Rework problems you didn’t get correct, and try to figure them out. You will get full credit on these assignments if you correct your errors.
On Thursday, we will have a quiz. This quiz will be created based on the M-W learning. If you’ve been keeping up on your assignments, you will be prepared for this quiz. You will complete the quiz, take a photo of it, and send it in on Google Classroom. It will be due by Thursday night. I will enter these into PowerSchool by Friday. Like I said, if you are staying on top of your M – W work, you will feel prepared. The good news for you is that these are open book! But you must complete these quizzes on your own without asking friends/family members for help.
On Friday, I will provide different ways to practice! These videos/exercises/games will be related to our weekly learning. Friday is also a good day to work on ALEKS!
Reading
Next week in Reading, look for a greater emphasis on working toward the 20 min/day reading goal and a reduced amount of assigned written work. Many of the students have enjoyed listening to classical music while reading in class. Good collections can be found on youtube by searching ‘music for reading’ or ‘music for studying’. Please ask your child to double-check this week’s ‘At Home Learning’ document to make sure all assignments are up to date. Remind them that assignments in Google Classroom do not need to be emailed. They show up automatically in my classroom.. No need to send or push ‘turn it in’. We miss your kids!
Social Studies
*Please keep the Social Studies packet that the students have been working on at home. Do not send it to me on email. There will be a drop off/turn in day in the near future and I will be collecting those at that time. Students will get full credit for completing the packet I assigned this week. More info from the school will come regarding the drop off day later.
Next week students will start Chapter 11, To Declare Independence or Not. In this chapter we will be learning about three Loyalists who were loyal to the King of England (Britain) and three Patriots who wanted independence from Britain. Usually we do a very cool debate in class and we prepare for it in groups. Then we usually have a live debate. Instead of doing that, I will be having students read from the book and then choose one of the Loyalists and one of the Patriots. Using the information in the book, they will choose one person on the Loyalist side and one person from the Patriot side and create one Google Slide for each person. The slides will show the argument for or against independence. Specific directions will come out next week regarding this. This will be assigned on Monday and be due by 3pm on Friday. I will be pushing it out on Google Classroom and it will need to be done on the slideshow that I push out to your child so that I can access it. I am significantly cutting down on the Social Studies so that we can manage the “At Home Learning”. Thanks for your understanding.
Ms. Semandiris
Language Arts
Week 2 of “At Home Learning”, we will continue to learn about figurative language by exploring personification! In hopes of receiving accurate and complete work, I am going to assign two assignments due at the end of next week. Students will have all week to learn about personification by completing 1) a personification worksheet and then 2) a writing prompt. Both assignments should be submitted via Google Classroom by Friday March 27th at midnight. I will post both assignments on Monday so students can access materials all week and go at their own pace.
Science
Students have begun a unit in Astronomy. They will make a short presentation of a planet of their choosing in Google Slides. See Science Google Classroom on Monday for instructions.
Religion
We will continue on in the Religion book. The tests will be multiple choice quizzes with 10 or less questions. They will get a grade for completing a study guide and the quiz will be short. Next week we will have a short quiz on Chapter 17 on Thursday.
- I have decided to also do a service lesson once a week. Your child will clean their room and do one chore that you need help with around the house. So you can start thinking about ideas!!!!