While these remote learning activities are not the same as being together in class, we want to help you maintain your child’s learning at home. Here are some suggestions to make the time productive and positive.
As a general guide, your children should spend no more than this amount of time per day on these activities:
Kindergarten through Grade Two: 2 hours
Grades Three and Four: 2.5 hours
Grades Five through Eight: 3 hours
High School: 3.5 hours
Our teachers are juggling disruptions just like everyone else, Nevertheless they are committed to communicating with you.
We want to know if you and your children are OK. Please respond to emails and calls so we know how you are doing and if you need help.
Teachers are committed to responding to your questions in a timely manner. Email is the best method to reach them.
Teachers have set up an hour each day for "virtual office hours." This time is so teachers can help students with questions about content. The time will be posted in their email/posting coming out Monday. At the High School, Office Hours will follow this schedule.
The Methuen Public Schools uses a standards-based report card for students in grades K-6. These report cards provide families with detailed and objective information about their children’s progress toward mastering the Massachusetts learning standards. The state’s learning standards detail what students should know and be able to do by the end of the school year. As such, here are a few pointers for understanding your child’s report card:
Massachusetts learning standards: These state standards detail what students should know and be able to do by the end of the school year. Information about your child’s progress toward mastering the standards will be shown as follows
Students work on most standards throughout the whole school year. “Above Standards” and “At Standard” performance might look different in Trimester 1 than Trimester 3.
You might see more of these on the Trimester 1 report card. This might be because the standard was just introduced or because of the academic challenges facing students since the spring.
The curriculum for each grade and subject supports teachers to know what to teach when. Standards marked “NA” on the report card haven’t been introduced to students yet, which is ok. For this year, our remote start to the school year also contributes to the use of “NA.”
This is new under the “responsibility for learning” section. Teachers assess this expectation based on whether students are regularly participating in class discussions, responding to teacher prompts, and completing assignments on remote learning days.
Be kind to yourself and your children. At times, everyone will feel anxious. Give your children (and yourself) time and space to work through those feelings. Here is a link to a web page that includes some helpful advice and some additional resources that our counseling team is contributing to.
The best thing students can do with their time is to read and write about things that interest them. See the resources below for some online resources.