As we turn the calendar to October, we are just finishing our third full week of school. In some ways it feels like we have been back in school for months, but the reality is that for our hybrid MON-TUES students, they have only had six days physically in school (and our THU-FRI kids have had eight days physically in school). It is early, but everyone is starting to hit their stride, becoming familiar with the schedule, expectations and how to manage the variability that the week provides.
Whether you have a student who is fully remote or a student coming into school two days per week, the current framework for school certainly brings with it some challenges. One of the things that we know about young adolescents, and certainly 5th and 6th graders, is that most of them are just developing the skills of self-regulation, time management and the executive functioning skills that help them to learn, work and manage their daily lives. All of those are skills that are essential when you are trying to manage a combination of offline and online learning environments and a mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities. But all of those skills take time, instruction, and practice in order to develop. The overused analogy of building the plane while it’s in the air certainly applies to this situation. The skills that our students need to thrive in the current framework are the same skills that they are just starting to develop. We know that it can be frustrating at times, especially when seeing our kids struggle. We want them to be organized, to know what assignments are due, to know when the Zoom meeting is, to be self-directed and more independent, but they aren’t. A lot of young adults in college aren’t there yet. Right now we are asking and expecting our 5th and 6th graders to be there. They aren’t (yet). With that in mind, know that we are going to provide them with the guidance and support that they need to help them navigate through whichever learning environment they are in, to develop those necessary skills, and grow. It’s not going to be pretty at times and it isn’t always going to be easy. But that’s ok. That’s why we all have such an important role in this. Our kids need us to support and encourage them when they struggle, celebrate with them when they succeed, and pick them up when they fall.
Virtual Planners
Because of the many different teachers our 6th grade students have, Teams have created Virtual Student Planners. The planners list all assignments that students will work on both while in school and while at home during each week. This is a terrific tool for students to use to plan and manage their own time, and for adults at home to help students manage what they should be working on for different classes. In addition to using the planners, students should check their Google Classroom Streams and email daily to review additional supporting information posted by their teachers, including text to read and related videos to watch.
The Virtual Student Planners can be found on the WGMS homepage under ‘School Links.’
https://www.westgenesee.org/west-genesee-middle-school/wgms-virtual-planners/
Open House/Title I Curriculum Night
The WGMS Open House/Title I Curriculum Night is Thursday, October 15th at 6:30 PM. This will be a virtual Open House with 5th grade teachers connecting with parents live and 6th grade Teams posting videos taking parents through all of their different classrooms. Additional information about accessing those live links and posted videos will be sent to parents and caregivers over the next two weeks.
Half-Day Schedule
On October 16th we have a scheduled half-day for students as part of our Teacher Workshop Day. Arrival time is the same, but dismissal for students will be as following:
10:00 AM dismissal for all 6th grade students getting picked up
10:00 AM dismissal for all 5th and 6th graders riding the bus
10:10 AM dismissal for all 5th grade students getting picked up
Link to Nurses Blog
If you did not see the update from West Genesee Nurses earlier this week I encourage you to read it. With changing guidance relative to COVID-19 symptoms, as well as the availability and timing of testing, it’s important that all of us have an understanding of the most up to date information.
https://www.westgenesee.org/note-from-west-genesee-nurses-to-families/
We don’t know what the rest of the year is going to bring. Perhaps we get the opportunity to bring more students into school more often, or perhaps we are in a situation where we have to all be fully remote for a period of time. Regardless of what comes our way, we know that the relationships our kids develop with teachers and other adults in school are critically important to how well students learn. The academic expectations, rigor and pace will start to increase, but we will continue to take the time to make connections and build those relationships along the way. Every day we have our students in the building is a gift and we will continue to do our part to keep this year rolling along.
Let’s continue to take care of one another, stay healthy, be smart and mask up! As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or email me.
Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms
