Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Kindergarten teachers have created a home learning program to help students enjoy a successful week of online learning that endeavours to maintain strong ties between the student and the school.

It would be helpful for each student to have the following equipment:

● Pencil Case with pencils, scissors, glue, paper or workbook

It would be helpful for students to have Seesaw, Matific and Reading Eggs installed on their iPad or accessible on their computer. They will also need to have their logins for Seesaw, Matific and Reading Eggs accessible. Please contact your child’s class teacher if you are unable to access these.

Kindergarten learning activities will be emailed to parents with the whole week being provided at the one time. If possible, students should post their completed work to Seesaw each day so teachers can monitor their learning progress. Work needs to be completed well and not rushed.

Daily Routine

● Students to check Seesaw for announcements or messages from the teacher which will be uploaded by 9am each day.

● Students, with parent help, check the weekly plan to see the tasks allocated for the day.

● Students can take photos of their completed work and upload it to Seesaw by clicking the + Add green button and then selecting photo or upload to add their work for teachers to see. This does not need to be done for all pieces of work – 1 or 2 pieces of work per day is all that needs to be added.

● From Week 2 of Term 3, (if Home Schooling continues) all student work will be posted on Seesaw and children will be asked to respond to tasks throughout the day by clicking Add Response. From Week 2 students will be given Must Do and Can Do tasks. They will be asked to complete their Must Do tasks first before beginning the Can Do tasks.

● Students should enjoy regular breaks ideally away from screens so that they can also have some play time.

Our aim is to provide written/oral feedback on one or two activities per day. We hope parents/caregivers can also give feedback on student work throughout the day to support their child's learning too.

We aim to log onto Seesaw at various times throughout the day between the hours of 8.50am and 2.50pm to see how our students are progressing. We will also be 'virtually' marking the class roll each day when we see student work get uploaded. If students don't upload work after 2 days, we may need to make a call to families to check in and see how they are going. This is more from a wellbeing stand point just to ensure everything is okay.

There is no expectation that children are working from 8.50am-2.50pm. Home schooling is very different to being in a classroom with other students. Tasks can be completed a lot quicker than during a school day. We highly encourage that children have ample play and rest time too, as their emotional wellbeing is the highest priority in times like these.

Please do not feel the need to complete all the tasks we set each day. Some days will be harder than others and your child may only do a couple of their activities. That is totally fine. We are incredibly understanding of the extra load home schooling and working from home is placing on parents at this tricky time.

Communication: We ask that students ask their teachers for help earlier, rather than later. Teachers are eager to ensure that students are confident in navigating their way through online / home learning.

If you wish to speak with your child’s teacher please contact the school office via email with your message northrocks-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au which will be passed onto them.

Online Safety: Keeping students safe in the online learning environment is a key priority for us. We know that most student devices and home networks do not have the same high level of monitoring and filtering that we have at School. Please check the internet security settings in place on your network to ensure your child has a safe and positive online learning experience. Please see the eSafety Commisioner’s website for more information and tips on cyber safety https://www.esafety.gov.au/

The teachers look forward to seeing all of the fabulous student work that they complete over the coming week and can’t wait to welcome everyone back to class very soon.

Thank you,

Kindergarten Teachers