Ensure Instructional Quality

All BRSSD students will receive high quality instruction that is aligned with the California Common Core Standards in English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science and Health. We have State-Board approved curriculum adopted in each of the core content areas that serves as the base of our classroom instruction. Teachers will supplement materials as appropriate to ensure students develop as well-rounded students, academically, behaviorally and social-emotionally. The full details can be read in the BRSSD Plan to Return to In-Person Instruction, and a synopsis is provided below.

Cohorting

We will split each class into two groups: an A group and a B group. There will be between 12-15 students in any cohort, as full classrooms typically have 25-30 students, depending on the grade level. One cohort will be live, in person with the classroom teacher, and the other cohort will be engaged in at-home learning (asynchronous assignments, live specials with PE, Library, Music and Science specialists).

Hybrid Model for Central, Cipriani, Fox, Nesbit, Redwood Shores, & Sandpiper

We are offering an AM/PM model for our students who opt for Hybrid Learning. Each classroom will be split into two groups; the A group will attend school in the morning and go home before lunch; the B group will attend school in the afternoon and come to campus after lunch.

The A group will attend school in the morning, from approximately 8:30am - 11:00am. The B group will attend school in the afternoon, from approximately 12:30pm - 3:00pm. Times are approximate, and will be finalized at the site level. Grade levels will also have a staggered start/end time in order to minimizing gathering at drop off/dismissal.

When the A group is on campus and engaged in learning with their teacher, the B group will work on independent practice assignments and attend various synchronous learning opportunities throughout the week (weekly Library time, bi-weekly PE sessions, weekly music in grades 3-5, and bi-weekly science in grades 4-5).

For Grades6-8 at Nesbit and Sandpiper, the students will see both of their teachers on a daily basis; PE will be taught via distance learning at Sandpiper and Science will be taught via distance learning at Nesbit. During their on-campus block, students will see both their ELA teacher and their Math teacher. Electives will be offered within the stable cohort.

Hybrid Model for Ralston

At Ralston, students will receive instruction in 6 classes each day. ELA, Social Studies and Science will be taught in person; Math, PE and Elective (or Composition in grade 6) will be taught via distance learning. Students will stay in the classroom with the stable cohort and teachers will rotate between periods. Between the on-campus time and at-home time, there will be a 90-minute break to allow ample time to travel to/from school as well as eat lunch.

This model allows our Math, PE and Elective courses to continue to be heterogenously grouped with mutli-graded students in any given class. Our 6th graders will no longer receive an elective (they receive two periods of ELA: Literature will be taught in person; Composition will be taught in distance). Our 7th and 8th graders will have to select one elective as opposed to two.

Phased Approach

We will return to school in a phased approach. This will allow us to bring smaller groups of students on campus at a time and provide time to make adjustments before scaling up to the entire school population.

Our first group of students to return will be our youngest learners: Tk, K, Grade 1, Preschool, and K/1 SDC. They will return for a partial day on January 19, 2021. Kindergarten students and Grade 1 students will start their full day schedule on Monday, January 25.

Our second group of students to return will be our Grade 6 students, our 6-8 SDC located at Ralston. They will return on January 25, 2021.

Our third group of students will be Grades 2, 3, and 7. Elementary students will engage in a half day schedule the week of February 1, 2021, and return to a full day schedule on February 8, 2021. Our Grade 7 students will start full tieme on February 1, 2021.

Our final group of students to return will be Grades 4, 5 and 8. Elementary students will start with a half day on February 22, 2021, returning to a full day schedule on March 1, 2021. Grade 8 students will return for a full day on February 22, 2021.

Curriculum and Standards

All of our students will receive instruction that is standards-aligned and grade-level appropriate. Regardless of the instructional model, teachers will use our adopted textbooks as the base curriculum.

In the instance of hybrid learning, students will follow an A/B schedule in person. Our Teacher Leaders have created a modified scope and sequence to ensure that we are aligned in the curricular units and specific student-skills taught across all sites and grades. Our adopted curriculum is all state-board, and district-board approved and are as follows:

English Language Arts: Units of Study in Reading and Writing, K-5 and 6-8 for Nesbit/Sandpiper; Study Sync for Ralston 6-8

Math: Math Expressions K-5, CMP3 6-8

Science: Twig Science K-5, Stemscopes 6-8

Social Studies: Social Studies Alive! K-5, History Alive! 6-8

Health: Great Body Shop, K-8

Social-Emotional Learning: Second Step, K-8

BRSSD has a pacing guide for each content area developed and edited by our teachers, and we will continually update the plans to ensure alignment across sites and grade levels.

Reading and Writing Curriculum: Units of Study in Reading and Writing, StudySync

Students have access to the all textbooks via Clever.

Math Curriculum: Math Expressions for K-5, CMP3 for Grades 6-8

Science Curriculum: Twig Science for K-5; Stemscopes for Grades 6-8

History Social Science Curriculum: TeachTCI for all grades

Get in touch at feedback@brssd.org

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