We miss you and hope all of our families are safe and well! We continue to encourage you to adhere to the guidelines set forth by the state of Maryland and engage in best practices to stay well. This week we want to share how proud we are of our SFES Staff Family #SFESconnects! They are working incredibly hard on their training and preparing for distance learning. We will post a picture from our Google Meet staff meeting this morning on Twitter. They miss you all as well and are looking forward to seeing you soon virtually!
Today would have been the day that marks the end of the 3rd quarter. An email went out this week to explain that teachers will be using grades from prior to closure to complete report cards at the end of this month. You can find additional information here Third Quarter Grading for the 2019-2020 School Year.
Next week marks Spring Break for you and your families. I hope that you can rest and enjoy the time together. Our staff will continue to engage in professional learning for the new instructional learning model through next Wednesday, but will be off Thursday, April 9 through Monday, April 13, to enjoy a shortened break with their families. If you have questions or need assistance with anything please contact me through email at joy_smith@hcpss.org.
Please know that all of us are thinking about you every day!
Joy B. Smith, Principal
Additional Information
Email Communication
On Monday, you should have received an email from your child’s homeroom teacher. We are asking that you take a minute to respond to that email. This will allow us to know that you are receiving communication from the teachers. This will be important as we continue this journey into our distance learning. Please continue to check your emails on a regular basis so that you can stay up to date with information as it is changing on a regular basis.
Canvas
As of right now, HCPSS is planning to begin distance learning for elementary students on April 20th.
The Canvas Learning Management System (Canvas LMS) is going to be the “hub” of communication and learning between teachers, students, and parents.
It will be beneficial to familiarize yourself with this platform. You can access Canvas as an observer using the user name and password you created when you enrolled your child in HCPSS. This user name is most likely your email. Here is a link that explains more about Canvas for parents: https://hcpss.instructure.com/courses/9495/pages/how-do-i-dot-dot-dot-in-canvas.
We recommend logging into Canvas on your laptop or smart phone (there is a Canvas Parent app), going to settings and making sure the account is linked to your personal email, and set up notifications to get an alert sent to your email for the various features. Please be sure to select "Immediate Notification" for announcements.
Phone Communication
During this time, staff members will be using their personal phones to contact our families. If you receive a phone call that states, No Caller ID, it could be a staff member trying to contact you. We know that this is a challenge to determine what calls are spam and what calls are important. Our staff will leave a message, but we do not have one number for you to call back at this time. If you get a voicemail message, please send an email to your homeroom teacher and/or to Joy Smith, Principal, at joy_smith@hcpss.org.
Supporting Instruction at Home
As we support continuity of learning through a move to distance learning, the following tips and suggestions are offered to support families in transitioning to a home-based learning environment. Your child’s teachers will be providing specific instruction, learning activities, and assignments that will take the place of classroom learning experiences while school buildings are closed. Here is a link to some tips to help support your child at home, as we know it is a challenge to create a schedule, healthy learning environment and transition to distance learning.
Grab and Go Meals
Ongoing, weekdays through Friday, April 24
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Locations:
*There will be no meal service Friday, April 10 or Monday, April 13. Meals for those days will be distributed Thursday, April 9, with instructions for storage and preparation.
A list of additional food distribution locations, not sponsored by HCPSS, is available online.