Weekly Newsletter- The Week of May 10

Hello Families and Happy Mother's Day! We hope you are spending time with the ones you love and enjoying your time together.

We will be sharing conferences with you this week. We will send out conference notes and end of the year (administered in February) test scores via Transparent Classroom emails. If you have any questions or concerns about the conference items that will be shared with you, please send an email to both Ms. Jazmin and Ms. Marianne.

Please remember that we have a reaccuring community meeting via Zoom every Monday at 11 am.  It is the same link and password every week. That will be sent to your email every Monday morning via Transparent classroom so that you can have it handy.  Please reiterate with your children that we would like for them to make sure their face is in full view throughout the meeting, we ask that they are sitting (not laying down or walking around).  We also want them to refrain from using the chat option, as we have found that it is a distraction for some.

We will also have the share meetings on Wednesday. 1st grade-1PM, 2nd Grade-1:30PM, 3rd Grade-2:PM. We will send out an email reminder for these meetings as well.

On Friday we will have our end of the year Zoom party. Students can decorate their areas, wear whatever (costumes?) they want, and eat whatever snacks they want. We will have a share time when students can share a special item from their home or share a special memory from this school year. We will also include a dance party so the students can dance! 

This week, students should continue to work on the animal choice boards and turn in their work on the Seesaw platform. The expectation remains the same in that we would like for students to complete one language and one math activity each day. We expect our students to be challenging themselves to do the best work they can. If your child has an assignment returned to them, we expect them to read and follow the directions, make corrections, and submit the assignment again. If you can, please help us by monitoring your child's work and making sure that they are doing this.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20ELA%20and%20Math%20Choice%20Boards%20May%204-15.pdf

Please remember, the Explorations choice boards have fun and engaging lessons and are available to students. We encourage students to work on these daily, if possible.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20Explorations%20Choice%20Board%20May%204-15%20.pdf


Dates to Remember:
May 15, 2020----------Last Day of School Zoom Meeting at 11

Weekly Newsletter: The Week of May 3

Hello Families!

This Friday, May 8, Charles Ellis will be celebrating Field Day virtually! Students are not expected to complete choice board assignments or journaling prompts on Friday. Get outside and participate in Field Day activities instead! Coach Lesley has created a slideshow to help students celebrate Field Day at home this year! Please click on the Field Day link on the Explorations choice board to participate. Don't forget to share your pictures on the Ellis Media Center page on Facebook!

Please be on the lookout for conferences to be shared with you the last week of school. We will be sending out conference notes and end of the year (administered in February) test scores via Transparent Classroom. If you have any questions or concerns about the conference items that will be shared with you, please send an email to both Ms. Jazmin and Ms. Marianne.

We are excited to announce that our new choice boards have been completed and students will work on them for the final two weeks of the school year! This time, our cultural curriculum leads us to the study of animals. The expectation remains the same in that we would like for students to complete one language and one math activity each day. We expect our students to be challenging themselves to do the best work they can. If your child has an assignment returned to them, we expect them to read and follow the directions, make corrections, and submit the assignment again. If you can, please help us by monitoring your child's work and making sure that they are doing this.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20ELA%20and%20Math%20Choice%20Boards%20May%204-15.pdf

Please remember, the Explorations choice boards have fun and engaging lessons and are available to students. We encourage students to work on these daily, if possible.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20Explorations%20Choice%20Board%20May%204-15%20.pdf

Also, please remember that we have a reaccuring community meeting via Zoom every Monday at 11 am.  It is the same link and password every week.  That will be sent to your email every Monday morning via Transparent classroom so that you can have it handy.  Please reiterate with your children that we would like for them to make sure their face is in full view throughout the meeting, we ask that they are sitting (not laying down or walking around).  We also want them to refrain from using the chat option, as we have found that it is a distraction for some. This week, Ms. Beth is planning to stay on  Zoom  after our community meeting ends in order to meet with her 3rd Grade Writing Students. If you have a 3rd grade student, please be prepared for a longer meeting this week.

Dates to Remember:
May 15, 2020----------Last Day of School (stay tuned for details on a celebration)

Weekly Newsletter: The Week of April 26th

Hello Families!

We hope you are all staying well during these uncertain times. The ups and downs which have accompanied these unusual circumstances have been a struggle, but we are here for you and your child. If you are having difficulty with the technology we are using, please send us an email so we can get you in touch with someone who can help. If you or your child are struggling in any way please let us know, so that we can be of assistance to your family.

You should have received an email this week which included an invitation to the Epic! website. This is an awesome reading resource for our students to use and we have gotten some wonderful feedback about it. While it might be a struggle to go out and get books for your child to read at this time, there is an entire library for them to explore online! About one third of the class has accepted the invitation, but we have already read for over 13 hours this week! Congratulations to all of you who are reading on Epic! and to those of you who are reading books more traditionally and turning in your reading logs on Seesaw! You are doing a fantastic job!

 The Rocks and Minerals choice boards have not changed and the expectation remains the same in that we would like for students to complete one language and one math activity each day. There are many levels at which your child can participate in the activities and we expect them to challenge themselves daily to do the best work they can. If your child has had an assignment returned to them, we expect them to make corrections and submit the assignment again. If you can, please help us by monitoring your child's work and making sure that they are doing this.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20ELA%20and%20Math%20Choice%20Boards%20April%2020-May%201.pdf

The daily journaling prompts remain optional, but we highly encourage your children to respond at least a few times a week as these writing exercises are helping them to build strong writing skills.  Our main focus is to instill in them the skills for building a strong paragraph and also to learn how to reflect thought on "paper".

Please remember, the Explorations choice boards have fun and engaging lessons and are still available to students. You can follow the instructions provided on the journal prompt for Thursday to have your child join the Explorations Seesaw classes and submit work.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20Explorations%20Choice%20Board%20April%2020-May%201%20.pdf

Also, please remember that we have a reaccuring community meeting via Zoom every Monday at 11 am.  It is the same link and password every week.  That will be sent to your email every Monday morning via Transparent classroom so that you can have it handy.  Please reiterate with your children that we would like for them to make sure their face is in full view throughout the meeting, we ask that they are sitting (not laying down or walking around).  We also want them to refrain from using the chat option, as we have found that it is a distraction for some. This week, Ms. Beth is planning to stay on  Zoom  after our community meeting ends in order to meet with her 3rd Grade Writing Students. If you have a 3rd grade student, please be prepared for a longer meeting this week.

Dates to Remember:
May 15, 2020----------Last Day of School (stay tuned for details on a celebration)

Weekly Newsletter Week of April 20

Hello Families!

We have new choice boards with our new theme, Rocks and Minerals, ready for your viewing pleasure in Seesaw and below when you click the link!  We will send them out as an announcement in Seesaw. These choice boards will be used by your children over the next two weeks!  The expectation remains the same in that we would like for students to complete one language and one math activity each day.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20ELA%20and%20Math%20Choice%20Boards%20April%2020-May%201.pdf

The daily journaling prompts remain optional, but we highly encourage your children to respond at least a few times a week as these writing exercises are helping them to build strong writing skills.  Our main focus is to instill in them the skills for building a strong paragraph and also to learn how to reflect thought on "paper".

Our explorations teachers have been creating some really fun and engaging choice boards as well!  They have special instructions for submitting the work on their own Seesaw class.  Please follow their instructions at the top of the choice board.  We will be posting the Explorations choice boards in Seesaw, but will not create "activities" for them as those should be submitted on their Seesaw class.  If there are any questions regarding the Explorations choice boards, please email Ms. Angie at Angela.Laplante@sccpss.com.

http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/Ellis/LE/Shared%20Documents/Lower%20Elementary%20Explorations%20Choice%20Board%20April%2020-May%201%20.pdf

Also, please remember that we have a reaccuring community meeting via Zoom every Monday at 11 am.  It is the same link and password every week.  That will be sent to your email every Monday morning via Transparent classroom so that you can have it handy.  Please reiterate with your children that we would like for them to make sure their face is in full view throughout the meeting, we ask that they are sitting (not laying down or walking around).  We also want them to refrain from using the chat option, as we have found that it is a distraction for some.  We are going to try something new this time to allow for some more share time amongst the students.  We will have what is called breakout rooms in Zoom, at the later part of the meeting.   There will be a teacher in each room.  Please be patient with us as we this will be our first time having breakout rooms and we are sure there will be kinks to work out.

Dates to Remember:
May 15, 2020----------Last Day of School (stay tuned for details on a celebration)

Weekly Newsletter Week of April 13

Hello Families!  We've all made it through another week!  We hope everybody was able to find some sort of rest and relaxation over this long weekend.  We also want to thank you all for doing your best in guiding your children through these times.  We know it's been challenging to say the least.

Choice Boards
This coming week we will continue with the same choice boards.  We ask that you guide your child to choose different activities they may not have gotten to, create their own extensions for the posted activities or chose a different extension (the language choice board activities had different choices/directions with which to take the activities), and the math choice board has seven activities to choose from.  They may also go back and make work they already turned in even better!  Also, if you find other engaging activities, go for it! 

The week after next we will introduce new choice boards, with a new theme, for math and language arts that will span two weeks!

Letter Exchange
We will be sending everyone a message with their pen pal's name and mailing address today, Sunday. We are so excited for this project!  Please remind your child that letters have a specific format that needs to be followed.

Seesaw

We have been enjoying seeing your children and their work on Seesaw!  We have just a few reminders regarding Seesaw.  

• Please help your child find the correct assignment to turn the work under. 
• When responding to a journaling prompt please remind them to begin with a topic sentence, add supporting details, and end with a conclusion (beginning, middle, and end).
• Before they turn in/upload and assignment they should ask themselves if they did their best work.  If they didn't, then they should not turn it in until they feel they gave their best effort. 
• Reading logs are to be turned in at the end of the week, not daily. 

Zoom

We will use the same link and password for or weekly community meeting.  We hope to see everybody again, and those that were unable to join us last week.  The link and password will be sent out via Transparent message that goes to your email Monday morning. 

Dates to Remember

May 15, 2020----------Last Day of School (stay tuned for details on a celebration)

Weekly Newsletter- Week of April 5

Hello Families!  As you’ve all heard, Phase 2 of school closures will now continue through the end of the school year. This news was both expected and shocking at the same time for the both of us.  We know there are many challenges facing all of us and we are here to help you and your child get through this time of “crisis schooling” the best we can.  We have uploaded an assignment in Seesaw where your child may write about their feelings about school being closed for the duration of the school year. We hope they use that space to commiserate with one another.

We have intentionally kept the expectations minimal and are trying to be very mindful when asking of  anything from our students and families.  With this idea in the forefront we have decided to add a couple of things with the purpose of maintaining connection and community as the focus. Below we will delineate the expectations moving forward.  The starred items are required, and the rest is strongly suggested, but again DO WHAT YOU CAN.

*Seesaw
This is a biggie! This is the program that Charles Ellis is utilizing for Lower Elementary.  This is how we are staying connected and also checking student work and giving feedback. We introduced Seesaw earlier than other Lower Elementary classrooms as a way to keep our community engaged.  Because we introduced it early we used the classrooms that Ms. Angie had set up in her technology class.  We are finding that we want to create a new class where Blue Jays and Cardinals can see each other and interact with each other, as we are one community.  We will no longer be posting assignments in Ms. Angie’s Tech Classes and will not have access to Ms. Angie’s classes!!!

Please follow the below instructions:
1.Go to app.seesaw.me
2.Choose "I’m a Student"
3.Sign in using your school Google email address
4.Click on your profile icon on the top left
5.Click on the +Join Class button
6.Type in the code: PYGC NGQJ. This code expires on April 9, 2020


*Choice Boards
Our developmental teams at Charles Ellis have been developing new choice boards that are themed with Cultural/Cosmic studies that integrate Math and Language activities, in anticipation of Phase 2. The expectation given by the school district is that each student is completing two choice board activities per day; one Language Arts and one Math.  We will be putting up each choice from the choice board as an assignment on Seesaw, and when your child completes an activity, they should upload it to Seesaw under that specific assignment.

We will also put up an “activity” for any work/projects that are completed that are not on the choice boards on Seesaw.  These could be research projects, science experiments/activities, photos or videos of practical life activities that have been completed, etc.  If you wish to do one of these activities in place of one or in addition to  your choice board activities, please feel free!

We are also sharing with you the Explorations and Social Emotional choice
Boards for Lower Elementary with you that the Explorations team and our counselors developed. Your child is required to complete one activity per week from the Explorations choice board.  The Social Emotion choice board is completely optional.

The choice boards can also be found in PDF format on the Charles Ellis web page.

Math

Language Arts

*Reading Log
The district is requiring that each student read for 20 minutes daily, and log it.  We are providing you with a reading log you may use.  If you’d rather write it on a piece of paper or type it up, that is fine with us.  We will also upload a weekly assignment for students to upload their reading log, weekly in Seesaw.

Daily Journaling Prompts
We are loving the responses we are seeing from the daily prompts.  You may have noticed that the prompts we are posting are trying to help your child have a positive mindset throughout this time.  We will continue with these types of prompts, but also may be including prompts that are more academically focused as we have six weeks of this remaining!

Community Meetings
We will hold a weekly community meeting every Monday morning at 11:00 a.m. via Zoom.  The link for that recurring meeting will be sent via Transparent Classroom message that goes to your email, as a way to protect your children from hackers etc. is to keep the meeting link private at all times, meaning not sharing on social media, blogs, etc.
We will use these meetings in a variety of ways and they will evolve as we see what the needs are.

Classroom Penpals
This one is optional as well, and we only want those that feel that they can participate regularly to do so. We will assign interested students to a pal as we want to make sure that all that want to participate receive and send letters. Please click on the document below if interested and fill in information.  The day you write your letter it will count as your Language Arts choice board activity!  We will have an “activity” in Seesaw where your child can post a picture of it.
We think this new addition will be so much fun for your children, and what a learning experience to participate in “snail mail” and to be forced to slow down!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScu8032st89WKAKQt_0lp1_L1k3JSOQa00HPuRF0LmD8n1HQg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

Practical Life
These types of activities are central to the Montessori philosophy! Activities such as washing dishes, baking, helping to cook or prep a meal, setting the table, sweeping, cleaning windows, gardening, cleaning a bathroom, sewing, knitting, weaving, painting, drawing, crafting, etc.

*Weekly Newsletter
As always, please continue to read the weekly newsletter as this is where we keep you updated with what is going on.

Office Hours
Ms. Marianne and Ms. Jazmin will be available Monday-Friday mornings from 8 am 9 am to respond to emails with any questions you may have about assignments, or give any other needed support.

*Internet Safety/Technology
As we navigate these uncharted territories for us, we have a lot to learn!  Ms. Marianne and I are doing our best to learn the new to us platforms, so there will be glitches and hiccups.  We ask for your patience with us as we move forward.

We would like for families to go over a few things with their children regarding the behaviors that are expected of them both on Seesaw and Zoom.  Ms. Angie, or technology guru, has developed the following pledge for you to go over with your child.  We would like for you to discuss with your child and we will also be posting this as an assignment in place of a typical journal entry. The number three is intentionally left blank so that they can come up with something for that space.


Remote Learning Pledge
Goal: Maintain a safe, supportive, learning space for everyone.

This pledge is a reminder to conduct myself with grace and courtesy when using technology to communicate with my teachers and classmates:


When using Video  - either in a live meeting or in a recording, I will:
1 Make sure the video pertains to the assignment.
2 be my most professional self during the recording (not eating, sticking to the subject, have it planned out, etc.

3


When typing or Comments -  to my teachers or to classmates, I will:
1  only type comments that pertain to the work
2 be sure my comments are ONLY positive and making sure I am filling my classmates’ buckets

3


When sharing Photos of my work with teachers and classmates, I will:
1 be sure that they pertain to the assignment
2 be sure to show them to my parents BEFORE posting

3



*I understand that I signed a Technology Acceptable Use policy in my Student Handbook at the beginning of the school year. I understand that there are consequences for using technology inappropriately.


Dates to Remember:
4/10/2020 No School
5/14/2020 Last Day of School- Stay tuned for a special celebration!

Weekly Newsletter- Week of March 29, 2020

Hello Families! We felt it was important to continue with the weekly newsletter so we can have some sort of routine and normalcy.  It's good for all of us. 

We hope everyone received the message from Ms. Tanya informing families that Phase 2 of school closure will begin April 2nd . The developmental levels have been hard at work preparing for Phase 2.  More information will be going out to families in the next newsletter.  During this time we ask that you continue to do what you can.  We hope that we've made it apparent through our messages that what is most important to us is that your family is healthy; mind, body, and spirit.

Some reminders:

Try to complete one choice board activity per day.

Try to respond to the journaling prompt daily. 

GO OUTSIDE! Soak up the sunshine and listen to the birds!

Anything else is considered additional; Khan Academy, Moby Max, XtraMath, Reading (although, if you have access to books at home we do strongly encourage reading daily). 

If you can upload your journaling prompts and choice board work on Seesaw, that's great!  Seesaw provides a space for the community to feel connected.  We have to approve all comments and posts, and we've already deleted several.  We ask that students are only posting positive comments on other student's work.  To login to Seesaw, use your child's Google school credentials:  FirstName.LastName@students.sccpss.com and then password.  If you need the password, please email us.  The login is found at the bottom of the page.  You DO NOT need a class code nor QR.  You may download the app or use a web browser. If you are completing other projects, independent research, science experiments, please also post in Seesaw under the Choice Board Activities assignment in Seesaw. We are truly loving seeing and hearing from all of you that are already on Seesaw! 

This first week was challenging for us on many levels, as we know the same probably rings true for you.  All we ask is that you help your children get through this experience the best you can, and we are doing our best to do the same. 

Peace, Love, and Fortitude
Ms. Marianne, Ms. Jazmin, and Ms. Carolina