Newsletter #28


Ana in J2Mercurio is a wonderful artist and she posted this drawing as her exit ticket to express how she felt about her first Zoom experience. 

Dear parents,

On Sunday morning, April 12, you should have received an email with your child's Distance Learning Plan 2.0 schedule for the week ahead and important information concerning the roll out of the plan over the next two weeks.

During this week of April 13, as explained, the homeroom teachers will welcome your children for two major moments :

The literacy and math activities will be asynchronous while we continue to work with teachers on the roll out for this week. This will allow us to collect feedback and be ready for the following week. Specialist teachers and language teachers will welcome the students for live sessions as described in the schedules.

Note that Wellness Wednesday is still under development and will not be available this week. We hope that our students will take the opportunity to disengage from their screens as much as possible and we thank you for your patience as work out the logistics of the activities to be offered on future Wednesdays.

For this Thursday evening, the Junior School administration is organizing a Q&A for parents that will be an opportunity to share the rationale behind our model and answer  questions parents may have.

As a reminder, note that your child's schedule is a private schedule for the homeroom class only. The links we have provided are private links. For the security of all the classes, please do not share the document with extended family, friends, etc. to avoid the possibility of having to filter out uninvited guests.

Once again we want to thank our students, teachers and you, the parents, for remaining engaged during this challenging time. We are aiming for excellence and, in these challenging times, it is difficult. The commitment of our teachers is remarkable. Ms. Scullin and I witness it every day of the week as we work with them. Never hesitate to encourage them! Many of our teachers have shared the kind and supportive messages they receive from you. This is positive energy that we all need.

Pascal Vallet, Junior School Principal 

Susan Scullin, Junior School Assistant Principal

REMINDER

We know that not all families are able to join all live sessions. We are aware that some families have unique circumstances that may prevent this. In those cases, students may still work on the asynchronous Seesaw activities provided by their teachers and that remain relevant to the day’s lessons. As we explore the technology in the coming weeks, we hope to be able to include recorded sessions for those who couldn’t attend live.

Please note that we are still in the process of developing our use of technology and its integration with our curriculum and teaching. Our teachers are working hard to transform their lessons in this new environment; we know there will be tech glitches and unforeseen issues. We will address these as they arise!

DON'T FORGET TO SUBMIT YOUR CHILD'S DAILY ATTENDANCE

Zaco (J2EW) makes an appearance all dressed up for Distance Learning.

IMPORTANT DATES

EVENTS THIS WEEK

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

TO DO: BEFORE YOUR MORNING MEETING STARTS EACH DAY!

TO DO: JS WELLNESS SURVEY

HIGH PRIORITY: JUNIOR SCHOOL Q&A - THURSDAY, APRIL 16 AT 7:15PM 

On April 16, 2020 at 7:15PM, you are invited to join us for the Junior School Webinar Q&A, an opportunity to learn more about the Distance Learning Plan Version 2.0 and to have your questions answered by the Junior School Team.

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT: RESOURCES & INFORMATION

The UNIS Support Team recognizes that many families and students are struggling during these challenging times. Please consider using these resources for support :

Additional Resources from the JS Support Team, geared for our younger students, can be found here: 

As we start the Distance Learning Week 4, you may have found yourself re-establishing routines, setting new goals and creating more structures. 

Checking in on our students' social and emotional health is more important now than ever. We have included this fun Daily Check In for your child(ren). These daily check-ins focus on emotions and also provide your child(ren) with additional practice and review of social emotional learning skills that they have been learning over the school year.  This check in explores how your child is feeling, offers a self-care tip of the day, provides a question to think about, introduces a character trait of the day, and teaches a mindful exercise. 

Some additional resources that may be helpful are the following: 

Finally, we wanted to leave you with a reminder about the importance of a little act of kindness and strength that goes a long way in the midst of this world wide issue. Each night at 7pm, you may have heard and participated in cheering, clapping,  banging, and singing in unity to give thanks to all of the healthcare workers around the city. This act of gratitude has brought smiles, warmed the hearts of so many, and is a constant reminder about connection, coming together to support one another, and a sense of good in this dark time. It is essential for our well being and the well being of our children to see lightness in the dark. This act is just one of many that are happening around our country. Here are just a few more to remind you about kindness, gratitude and heroism  that are happening right now! 

With care and support,

Alyssa Frost (J2/J4), Amy Iamundo (J1/J3) and Dr. Dana Marnin

INFORMATION: VIRTUAL RECESS

In an effort to address the need to increase opportunities for social-emotional interaction between our students,  and as you may have noted in the schedule shared over the weekend, this Thursday we will launch our Virtual Recess. 

Virtual Recess will be optional, as we understand that some parents want to limit screen time for their children, and it will be supervised by Junior School staff, including Teaching Assistants and Playground Supervisors.

If you would like your child to join the recess you will need:

We have developed the first "Virtual Recess Essential Agreements":

In terms of security:

We have worked directly with the company Zoom, and they have developed a new feature that allows us to break the class into smaller groups. UNIS staff who are hosting the Virtual Recess can jump into any smaller group to interact with the students and to make sure that everything is fine. Adults keep full control of the Virtual Recess.

INFORMATION: JS LIBRARY - UPDATED LINKS TO ACTIVITIES 

Here are some helpful links from your librarians to activities and information for this time of enforced home stay, all available on the Junior School Library Homepage.

Please visit the JS Library Homepage -  Junior School Library - https://library.unis.org/common/servlet/logout.do?site=100  where you can find these and other continuously updated links to activities for you and your children during this time of distance learning.

Love from the librarians, 

Ms. Barrer and Ms. Iwasykiw

INFORMATION: WATCH MATILDA!


Here are the permanent links to the Matilda performance videos!

Now you and your family and friends can watch the shows at any time, from anywhere! The videos are password protected: MAT2020 

MINCHIN CAST

Full show

Teaser

KELLY CAST

Full show

Teaser

INFORMATION: VARIOUS UPDATES

INFORMATION: UNIS SPEAKERS SERIES RECORDINGS

Justice Breyer

UNIS Speakers Series 1

Max Hollein

UNIS Speakers Series 2

Michael Mayer

UNIS Speakers Series  3


REMINDER: MAKING AN APPOINTMENT FOR A MEETING WITH THE SUPPORT TEAM

In order to meet with a member of our Support Team:

You will receive a notification from Calendly.

Once the Support Team receives your request, they will send you an email with:

REMINDER: VIRTUAL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

We hope that this message will find you, your children and everybody in your family safe and healthy. 

For your information and convenience, below we are listing courses that are virtually available from after school providers. If interested, please feel free to register using their links. We will keep sharing with you more and more online resources.  

Please note that UNIS has NOT processed charges for the registration in the Spring After School Activities. 

FROM THE AFTER SCHOOL PROVIDERS: 

Amanda Sawyer is offering all her classes remotely. She has also recently partnered with a few specialists in self-defense & physical fitness, yoga… 

If interested please register using the above link. 

Writopia 

US Chess Academy 

CinemaKidz

Spark Business Academy 

Parker Anderson Enrichment 

MORE ONLINE RESOURCES at your disposal: 

Some more resources for students: 

Additional free learning websites: 

We will share more resources, as we learn about them. I am at your disposal if you need any further information. 

Please stay safe! 

Lidana Jalilvand, Director of Special Programs

REMINDER: UPDATE YOUR PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION

Please take the time now to review your family profile and contact information to ensure that your cell phone numbers, email addresses and home address are correct and are entered in the correct fields. You may update your information at any point throughout the year, but if you have not reviewed your information recently, we encourage you to do it today. 

All departments at UNIS rely on the information that you provide in the Veracross Parent Portal to contact you. The only way you can be reached in an emergency, or when there are school wide announcements, is through the information that you have entered in the Portal. After logging into the Portal at myunis.vc , you may review and update all of your family contact information by:

If you need support in order to make your updates, please email veracross@unis.org

REMINDER: 2020 - 2021 CLASSES

Our teachers will soon begin the process of creating class lists for the 2020-2021 school year. Homeroom teachers and specialists collaborate to create balanced classes across each grade. Teachers take into account friendships and social interactions from this and previous years and are careful to ensure that children are placed in a group with familiar friends and where they will also have the opportunity to develop new friendships. Our school psychologist and counselors review all class groupings before they are finalized.

While we cannot honor specific requests for teachers, if you have any concerns about next year’s class placement be sure to contact your child’s counselor before Friday, April 17.