August 28, 2020

This year we celebrated Rakhi at Yasmeen's new apartment in Sacramento. Here is a picture of Maya tying one on for Dylan. Rakhi is the simple but beautiful thread tying around the wrist of a brother, conveying lots of love and emotions. Sisters wholeheartedly tie Rakhi on the wrist of their brothers and pray to divine for bestowing him prosperity, health with serenity. Brothers who deeply and truly understand the deep message of Rakhi, pledge to keep their sisters safe from all evil circumstances of their life and promise to stand by her in every up and down moments of life. The brothers usually give their sister's gifts. Rakhi festival also has a social significance because it underlines the notion that everybody should live in harmonious coexistence with each other. For those of you who remember my nephew who I called Chunky Monkey when he was a baby. Well, that is him sitting behind Dylan. Can't really call him that anymore, not so chunky! 

Are. You. Ready? 

Wow! And just like that: School. Here it is. A whole different type of school. One we have never experienced or taught.

Are You Ready?

For 180 days of awesomeness, fun, and laughter.

Are You Ready?

For ALL kids to be included, loved, cared for and noticed.

Are You Ready?

To be visible (virtually), honest, intentional and kind.

Are You Ready?

To make a difference. For. Every. Child. No. Matter. What.

Are You Ready?

For failure, re-learning, unlearning and growth?

Are You Ready?

To connect with peers, admin, friends and family.

Are You Ready?

To Show Up. Every Day.

Are You Ready?

To reflect every day so that kids run back to the screen not away from the screen?

Are You Ready?

To be all in, no excuses, every child, end of story?

Tell me.

Are. You. Ready?

I am.

Back to School Night

VIRTUAL Back to School Night September 1:

It will start with a message from the Principal. Some teachers will be sending a pre- recorded video to families and then host live Q &A for two sessions 6:20 and 6:55. Some teachers are hosting live sessions for two sessions 6:20 and 6:55.

 

Schedule

6:00-6:15 Principal message- video recording

6:20-6:50 Session 1

6:55-7:25  Session 2

Please drop off your donations to my office for Jessica Crawford’s family or you can Venmo me at @Jas-BainsWright and I can put it towards a gift card. Every little bit helps. 

The Sub Process in distance learning

A teacher should record their absence in Absence Management & notify site administration of his/her absence.

Each administrator should be added to every classroom so that he/she can support the substitute in getting online to teach the class(es). 

The teacher should be able to still push out the asynchronous activities, but the substitute would need to cover the synchronous times. 

Site admin and/or teacher should also communicate to students and parents that there would be no office hours that day.

We can use subs that we have used in the past. 

 

TAKE A DEEP BREATH BEFORE YOU READ THE BELOW. DON'T STRESS OUT. WE DO HAVE SOME TIME BEFORE GIVING THE TEST. 

The MAP Test Administration window for all students opens: Testing can be done while students are at home using a link. You will have to take time to train yourself. Please watch the videos. At SV we will be testing from 9/8- 9/11. Here is the spreadsheet link to let us know when you will be testing CLICK HERE 

·  ELEMENTARY students: Monday, August 31st - September 11th   

There are a few changes to the testing process from previous years so please read the following information carefully. Here is the Step-By-Step Guide on how to set up test sessions, student directions, and video support resources. I am including some of those videos below for your convenience.

UPDATES and REMINDERS:

·  MAP testing will need to occur during your synchronous instruction time.  All students will be logged into your class Google Meet. You will give them the link to the test, the session name, and the password and they will be able to start their test while keeping the Google Meet open. 

·  There is a new testing location for students that will allow them to test remotely. Once you have set up their test, students will go to https://test.mapnwea.org/ to enter the session name and password you give them.  These steps are outlined in the guide. 

·  Students will have ONE opportunity to test in Reading and mathematics. They will not be able to retest. It is critical that you proctor and monitor the students closely so that you can be sure students gave their best effort so that accurate data is measured on where students are in their learning. In addition, the system will prompt the proctor letting them know if a student is "rapid guessing". This will be done by having students in a Google Meet, with their mic muted, in one window and your MAP testing session open in a different window.

·  Students who rapid guess will result in their test ending and be coded with ***7 on the report as invalid and they have another chance to test during your make-up testing sessions.

·  Equity for All - Accessibility & Accommodations - Removing Barriers - Be sure to look at the available supports. Here is the link to see what is available in MAP

·  To turn on Text-To-Speech - Simply turn the Chromebook on and click on "Ctrl Alt Z and this will turn on the ChromeVox spoken feedback feature. Then open the MAP APP and the screen content will be read aloud.

Here are the test names for each assessment by grade level.

PLEASE BE SURE TO SELECT THE CORRECT NAME FOR YOUR GRADE LEVEL WHEN SETTING UP YOUR TEST SESSIONS. This will ensure that students do not have the ability to select the incorrect test. 

 Grades 1 & 2 - 

Growth: Reading K-2 CA 2010

Growth: Math K-2 CA 2010

**reminder - Grade 2 take these tests and not the Growth 2-5 tests ***

 Grades 3-5  

Growth: Reading 2-5 CA 2010 V2

Growth: Math 2-5 CA 2010

 Grades 6-8

Growth: Reading 6+ CA 2010 V2

Growth: Math 6+ CA 2010

Here are several videos that support teachers as they administer the Fall MAP Growth test remotely. More information can be found in the Step-byStep Guide. This series of short videos are designed to help you gain a solid foundation of knowledge on how to conduct remote testing with MAP Growth.

 

·  Remote Testing - Explained and Demonstrated for Teacher and Student (Vimeo link - 5:09min)

·  Remote Testing - Explained and Demonstrated for Teacher and Student using iPad (Vimeo link - 5:58min)

·  Remote Testing - Common Challenges and Situations During Testing (Vimeo link - 5:32min)

·  Remote Testing - Student Rapidly Guesses During MAP Test (Vimeo link - 1:42min)

·  Screen resolution fix for Chromebooks - (Vimeo link - 1:24min)

·  Screen resolution fix for Windows - (Vimeo link - 1:28min)

 

Share this information with families:

If students were issued a district chromebook (grades 1^st-8^th) and do not need it because they have one at home we would be more than happy to have it back so we can reuse them with students if their devices need repair. Initially we thought that every student HAD to have a district issued chromebook for MAP testing and we were just informed that it can now be accessed from a website and students do not need a district issued device. If a student would like to return their chromebook with the charging cord please just have them come and drop it off in the crate outside of the front office.

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

I have really appreciated how everyone has volunteered their own time (BEING there) to either help out a new staff member or someone who needed extra help . Staff members are really CHOOSING their attitude when there is so much to learn at a rapid pace. Keep smiling :) YOU are MAKING someone’s day just by offering a helping hand or just by listening. You make me proud!! Love this school and everyone (virtually) in it!!