Parents

August 30, 20202

Hello, 4th Grade VLA Families and Students,

I can’t believe we’ve already made it to our 3rd week of school! I hope that the transition has found each of you in a good rhythm. Please remember that if you ever have any questions or need clarification on assignments, applications, or just want to talk about the virtual classroom expectations, don’t hesitate to email me.

It’s been fascinating learning my students over Zoom and Google Meets. These last few weeks students have been playing for us their favorite song and explaining its meaning and importance in their life! My personal favorite activities have been our Friday morning scavenger hunts! I’ve seen lots of creativity with their “found” items. 😂

For this upcoming week, I just wanted to highlight a few important items for you.

Please purchase The Trumpet of the Swan by the end of the week. We will begin reading this as our first core literature book on Tuesday, September 7.

Thursday, September 3 is back to school night from 6:30-7:30 pm. Here is my Zoom link:

Topic: Ms. Flowers B2SN

Time: Sep 3, 2020 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86274690528

Meeting ID: 862 7469 0528

Friday, September 4 is a collaboration day which in the Virtual world means “non-instructional day”. I will upload assignments for students to complete and will be taking attendance per their submissions.

Beginning Friday, September 11, our new district-wide Friday schedule will be shortened to 90 minutes of live instruction per cohort:

AM: 8:10-9:40

PM: 12:05-1:35

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!

And if at any point you might feel overwhelmed, remember that stressed spelled backward is desserts.

Ms. Flowers 🌸

August 27, 2020

Dear LCUSD Elementary Community,

I hope this email finds you well and experiencing pride in your child(ren)’s accomplishments after nearly two weeks of distance learning. I have been monitoring instructional practices and have been pleased with the levels of rigor and engagement our teachers are working hard to prepare. I know that our students are putting forth their best efforts and I am appreciative of all that parents are doing to facilitate the learning as it takes shape from work stations in your homes.

In tracking communications from parents and teachers, two strong messages have surfaced. One is the concern from parents about the amount of screen time and the other from teachers regarding the increased need for planning and collaboration time given the distance learning and instruction requirements. To that end, in a negotiation session with the La Canada Teachers’ Association yesterday, we allowed for teachers on Fridays to deliver their regularly required 90 minutes of instruction from the start of the AM (8:10 a.m.) and PM (12:05 p.m.) schedules. During those consecutive 90 minutes of time they will also prepare students for independent work and practice off-screen. Students’ independent work will then take place during the rest of their school day, for AM students until 11:05 a.m. and for PM students until 3:00 p.m. Families may also choose for their student to do the independent practice work at a time that is convenient with their schedules.

Also, the first two Elementary Collaboration days are scheduled for September 4 and October 2, 2020. When our physical campuses were open for in-person learning, those minimum days ended at 11:35 a.m. With our current distance learning AM/PM schedules it would be disruptive to family routines and would result in overcrowded Zooms to move all of the instruction to the AM. So, on those two days, teachers will post in SeeSaw or Google Classroom the independent assignments for the day and students will be able to do the work asynchronously. Teachers will identify the independent work assignments that are due on those Fridays (or the following Mondays), and attendance will be taken based upon the student's turning in the work.

The Memorandum of Understanding with the Teachers’ Association will be revisited by October 9th. So, I welcome your feedback regarding the structure for instructional delivery on Fridays as well as the Collaboration Days.

Sincerely and with gratitude,

Wendy Sinnette

Superintendent