Good Afternoon Community:
What a beautiful day! The sky is cloudless and the sunshine is exactly what I needed after a long and dreary week! Hope you are finding time and space to enjoy today’s warm weather!
This week is TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK! Please help me in expressing sincere gratitude for all of our teachers! Their dedication, care and concern for the students’ of R.H. Conwell is evident in all they do. Thank you!
Last Monday, Sarah Crawford and I hosted a Zoom meeting for parents to share how remote learning was going for families. It was wonderful to see so many faces and to spend time checking in with one another! The turnout was positive and your excellent feedback and suggestions were shared to our teachers.
As educators, it is our practice to continually strive to reflect and refine our work and your input is valuable to us. We invite you to join us for another Parent Zoom on May 11th. We will host two meetings.
- Pre-K – 2nd grade parents zoom meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m.
- 3-6th grade parent zoom meeting beginning at 7:15 p.m.
I will send an email later this week with the Zoom invite for both meeting.
Last week I shared the updated guidance from the Commissioner of Education. That guidance for school districts included two priorities for the remainder of the school year.
- Student engagement
- Define essential standards most critical for student success in the next grade level.
During the course of this week, our faculty identified essential standards for the remainder of the school year. We looked closely at the prerequisite standards for the next grade level and teachers consulted with one another about the essential standards for student success.
I want to be clear that our intent is not to change anything dramatically, but rather adjust some of our practices based on the feedback from parents during our Zoom meeting, and to develop engaging learning assignments that allow students to have exposure with the essential standards.
Please talk to your child’s teacher and share what is or isn’t working. This will only strengthen our work with the students during the next six weeks. Please ask for help when you need it, and most importantly, make sure to breathe and give yourselves a break. We are not expecting this time to replace being in the classroom. Find a rhythm that works for you and your family, and enjoy this stay-at-home time you have with one another!
I am confident in the resilience of the Worthington school community and our dedicated faculty. Please feel confident in reaching out to me with any questions.
Warmly,
Gretchen