If your child will be coming into the building for club meetings, photos, testing, or other reasons, please send them in with a completed health check form.
BVA Community Town Hall Meetings
You can see all of our resources and recordings here.
We'll be back with more meetings next semester!
In the meantime, check out our
BVA Community Book Club!
Looking for ideas with how to support your BVA learner at home? From Corwin: "The Distance Learning Playbook for Parents: How to Support Your Child′s Academic, Social, and Emotional Development in Any Setting - This essential guide will arm you with the tools and insight to:
Create an environment conducive to learning, establish routines, and most importantly, take care of yourself and your child
Maximize the time you spend supporting learning by focusing on what is proven to work best in education
Help your child develop the cognitive attitudes and habits that foster creativity, critical thinking, and increased responsibility for their learning
Support the development of your child’s social and emotional learning skills, including the ability to navigate social interactions, build friendships, and regulate emotions at a time when they have never been more important to have, and more challenging to maintain
The Distance Learning Playbook for Parents outlines supportive strategies for navigating virtual environments to ensure effective and impactful learning that aligns the needs and expectations of teachers, parents, and students alike."
Our introductory meeting was October 28th. Join us for future meetings on November 10th, November 19th, and December 1st.
Online Learning & Teaching Practices
Each week, Brave Virtual Academy teachers and I discuss our core principles at the heart of BVA.
The Power of an Authentic Audience - As educators, we have learned there is power of purpose when work has an authentic audience beyond "the teacher". We often have students share their work with peers, knowing that understanding how to give and receive useful feedback and seeing others' work also helps us to improve our own. Beyond that, sometimes we call on family members for help. Ideally, we can also connect with a larger community of expertise - publishing sites that offer feedback on writing, contests & competitions, or people working in a field related to the content of the work. Perhaps in your own experience, you've recognized the difference when there is an outside purpose or need for the work you engage in and how that impacts your commitment to the project and the quality of your performance. What resources do you have that might offer a more authentic audience for your child's work in school and at home?
This Week's Enrichment Resources
Each week I'll post resources that offer extension and enrichment opportunities for our BVA learners.
This week is all about fun and games. Really!
"There is evidence that games can have positive effects on reading, reasoning skills, and mathematics achievement" (Pond, 2018). Games can be useful for learning and also for building a sense of fun and community at home. Engaging in games builds resilience and social skills.
We can't wait to hear about your and your children's fun and games! Be sure to share a photo with us @BraveVirtual!
NO SCHOOL
Early Release Day - Friday, November 13th
Thanksgiving Break - Nov 23rd - 27th
Early Release Day - December 11th
Winter Recess - December 21st - January 1st
We have virtual clubs and activities available for learners? And more to come soon!
Primary School - Crystal Clear Science Club
Elementary School - 5th Grade Stock Market Game
Middle School - Student Arrow - Watch Our Student Announcements to Learn More
MS Virtual Clubs - Future Cities | Power of the Pen | Latin Club | Math Counts
High School - 20-21 Activities Handbook;
Bring 2 Change, Courageous Conversations, Fragments, French Club, Partner's Club, Red Cross Club, Competitive Writing Team, & Writing Club are All BVA Friendly
Braves Beat - Keep Up with HS Happenings!
Picture Days - Check Your Child's School Newsletter
ES - 11/23; Retakes 12/11 -
Sign-up for 3rd and 5th graders
4th graders will get photos taken before testing.
If you prefer, you can send in a photo of your child to your child's building yearbook leader
PS - Lauren Girdler
ES - Andrea Thomas
MS - Nicole Zistler
HS - Julie Pfeiffer
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BVA Community Book Club Next Meetings:
November 10th
November 19th
December 1st
Click here to access recording from 10/28
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PS Literacy Nights & Book Fair Nov. 17-19
Save the date!
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Upcoming Testing
Standardized testing can only be offered in-person. Testing is optional.
Students will not miss out on placement opportunities due to opting out of testing. Testing offers a chance for teachers to have benchmarks of students' cognitive level or content understanding. We recognize that offering testing during Thanksgiving Break is not ideal, but these are the only days in the current calendar when we can provide a socially distanced environment for BVA learners to participate. If our face to face learners shift to a different schedule (Plan B), we may be able to offer testing on different dates. Stay tuned!
Please print and fill out this form before bringing your child to school for testing.
1st & 2nd Grade BVA CogAT Testing - November 23rd & 24th
4th Grade CogAT Testing - November 23rd
6th & 7th Grade MAP Testing - November 23rd
Reserve your spot for MAP testing at IHMS
Outside resources shared through this newsletter are meant to be informational, and are not officially endorsed by Indian Hill Schools.