August 2020

Dear GPA Parent/Guardian,

Welcome to OUR VIRTUAL SCIENCE CLASSROOM. My class is YOUR class. My name is Mr. Elson, and I want to welcome you and your student to Gompers Preparatory Academy (GPA). I will be your child’s chemistry teacher. This is my 2nd year at Gompers Preparatory Academy, and it is a privilege to work with the wonderful families of our school. This year will be start differently as we begin distance learning. I hope that we can work together to make our class a success. Now more than ever, your role as a parent is important. The encouragement and help that you provide for your student are now more vital than ever.

How can you help your child get used to distance learning? Here are some tips to help you as a parent and as a learning coach. And please remember you are not alone. I am here for you and your student. Understand that, as we stay in communication, we will work together on getting your child what they need to be able to learn.

8 Tips for Parents as a Learning Coach

1. Make sure your learner is on time, prepared and ready to learn every day.

2. Make sure the computer is fully charged the night before.

3. Make sure your student has dressed appropriately and is in GPA attire when participating in live video conferencing.

4. Know your child’s schedule, start time, and communicate with their teachers.

5. Attend Zoom classes as often as you can and be a part of our Google Classroom.

6. Be involved throughout the day.
   i) Check-in
   ii) Make sure your learner is on task and takes breaks
   iii) If your learner is off task, Please Ask: What should you be doing right now?

7. Follow-up at the end of the day.
   i) How did you do today?
   ii) Did we meet our goals?
   iii) What did you learn or create today? Ask to see their science notebook or google classroom to see their work from today.
   iv) See if they finished the assignments or not and if they turned them into google classroom.

8. Keep in contact with the teachers.

1. PowerSchool for Parents, monitor the assignments and grades

2. Monitor daily progress, making sure students are getting their assignments turned in in Chemistry - this means uploaded into Google Classroom - and finishing their homework or video notes for the day

During distance learning, we will use Zoom and other conferencing and virtual meeting platforms, to deliver class meetings, homework, assessments, special projects, and much more to our students every day. Google Classroom will play a big part. In our classroom, the practice of teaching both the skills of the standards-based curriculum and higher-level thinking skills reinforce each other and facilitate deeper levels of knowledge for all learners. Most days we will use the computer to explore the lesson for the day and we will practice together during the video conferencing time. In addition, I will provide your child with tutorial videos and other resources people have been helpful in their learning of this amazing part of science. These may vary for each unit. We want to discover and investigate and the skills of labs and critically thinking and concluding from the facts are an important part of not only science but being able to think and evaluate many things in your daily life. So we may be doing some virtual labs or have options for simple things that can be done with the parents permission. Also we are preparing them for college so at times we will look at websites or careers to help them with their college goals, SAT studying and exploration of options for careers after graduation.

Parents and students will be able to access off-campus learning opportunities through our Google Classroom page. Parents should have their login information, as Google Classroom will be the primary platform for the distribution of our chemistry weekly assignments.

Expectations for Chemistry Students

1. Be kind and spread acts of kindness. Help someone when they need it as they may be the one to help you when you need it.

2. Exercise politeness and respect in your online contributions and actions.

3. Make sure your surroundings are proper

4. Leave a respectful digital footprint by not sharing embarrassing, illegal, or inappropriate content.

5. Adhere to the GPA Code of Conduct handbook

6. Adhere to the GPA Technology Use Policy (pg. 17)

7. Adhere to GPA culture, non-negotiables, REACH values, and core beliefs.

8. Complete and turn in assignments on time.

Parents, if your child is ill and will not be able to participate for the day, please email the attendance office at attendance@gomperscharter.or and me at relson@gomperscharter.org.

Thank you for being apart of your child's educational team. Thank you for your commitment this year as we learn science together. I am excited to see what the year brings to your child's education and what they can achieve as we work together.

Sincerely,

Mr. Robert Elson
relson@gomperscharter.org

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. " Nelson Mandela.

"There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is vanity. There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love." Bernard of Clairvaux, saint and mystic