At Grace, our approach to education is intensely personal: hands-on, individualized, and supportive. As we grow into this new way of being Grace and learning from a distance, we believe that preserving and strengthening relationships and connections must come first. We offer the following ideals to guide our planning:
We recognize that this crisis is impacting the emotional well-being of every member of our community and so we prioritize balance and connection whenever possible. Everyone needs to know what they can and can’t do from day to day, and communication is critical to our ability to be responsive and supportive to one another.
Our students are at the center of our work and we believe they should have voice and agency in their learning. We wish to empower students in this time away to set goals for themselves and access what is offered by Grace at a pace that fits their own needs and those of their personal family schedules. As we near the end of the school year, we will ask students to reflect on their distance learning and review how they have grown and where they will need support in the next school year.
We see this Distance Learning period as a marathon and not a sprint; we wish to iterate and evolve our work with students over time. We will strive to balance synchronous and asynchronous teaching so that students and teachers can connect virtually and students can also move at their own pace. We wish to offer both predictability and flexibility so that children can thrive.
We believe that this distance does not remove what we value most: a culture of belonging where each student is deeply known and loved.
Our talented classroom teachers and specialist teachers are providing curriculum, plans, ideas, and meetings for our Grace students.
These folders include all the materials you need for your distance learning plan. Click here to access the folder for your class.
We're still keeping in touch with our community as much as always -- maybe more! Here is a list of our all-school communications:
Bonus Resources for Distance Learning at Grace: a wonderful collation of ideas, articles, resources, and tips to enrich your time at home curated by Learning Specialist Melissa Lafionatis and updated frequently
Mindfulness with Mr. LaPietra: Grade 5 teacher Mr. L offers these guided meditations to anyone interested. "My hope," he writes, "is that the videos can be of as much help as possible. They are made for kids, but can also be used by adults."
School Counselor's Corner featuring articles and ideas from Grace Counselor Renee Stewart
Gryphon News (Direct delivery every week, or find archives here)
LIVE Chapel: Wednesdays at 12:45 pm (access code sent via email) or view the March and April 2020 chapel videos here
LIVE Assembly: Fridays at 9:00 am (access code sent via email)
Head of School Zoom Meetings: Jen Danish meets with Grace families weekly. See the calendar below for times (access code sent via email)
If you need help with access codes, please contact Executive Assistant Noelle McHugh at nmchugh@geds.org)