Dear Glen Meadow Families,
Dr. Kosek and I are writing to you to keep you informed as our students are home over the next two weeks. While it is early in the two weeks that students in the Vernon Township School District will not be in school, please know that we miss seeing your children and the everyday learning and activities that normally take place in our building; school is eerily quiet. As we all know, this is a major transition for the entire town, county, state, and country; however, all of us in the Vernon Township School District are doing the best we can to ensure that our academics go on to the best of everyone’s ability. We ask for your continued understanding and patience as we all practice “Social Distancing”. Here’s an article published on 3-16-20 from the New York Times on Social Distancing that you might like to read. Here’s an article entitled: “Talking with children about Coronavirus Disease 2019” that you might find helpful when speaking with your children.
Having said this, our first day of online learning was successful; hundreds of Glen Meadow students logged on to continue the learning process. As you know, over the next few weeks, all learning will take place on Schoology. Each teacher will be placing online activities on their classes’ Schoology page. Your children should look every day for a new posting in all classes and should log on each day to complete the task. Having your child log on each day is a way that we can check for “attendance”. While “attendance” is virtual, it can take place at any time during each day from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm. We are aware that many parents and guardians may still be working outside of their homes and older children may have to care for younger siblings. We actually call this type of learning, “asynchronous”, meaning your child is NOT learning during their regular periods of the day. As I have reviewed Glen Meadow teachers’ Schoology pages, I see a lot of creative and innovative lessons. You may find that some lessons will take two days.
For example, Ms. Yost, our Librarian, posted the following:
“Today, I finished reading Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. I loved this book about Darius, who feels like he is living in two worlds. He is Persian-American and is generally picked on at school. He doesn’t speak Farsi, so he often feels left out at events with the Persian community as well. When Darius’s mother learns that his grandfather is dying of a brain tumor, the whole family goes to Iran to see him. It’s Darius’s first time in Iran, and he becomes friends with Sohrab. Darius finally has a friend, but will he finally feel like he found a place to fit in with the extended family he has never met in person, or is he too American for all of them, too?? Tell me about the great things you are reading while you are at home. Send me your book reviews and talks to tyost@vtsd.com, I’d love to hear all about it!”
Mrs. Holderith and Mrs. Kepfinger posted the following today:
“1. Warm Up: Complete #2-12 evens (“Find the sum or difference” section) in the packet that was passed out Friday. The packet is attached here if you did not receive one. Please print out a copy and complete all work assigned each day. I will collect the packets when we return.
- Go to Moby Max through Clever, and click on “Math.”
Complete the Placement Test if you haven’t already done so.”
And finally, Building Innovation and Design teachers assigned the following:
“For your first at-home task, I would like you to measure your bedroom, and create a floor plan of your room using FloorPlanner
When you measure your bedroom, use a tape measurer (if you have one), or a yardstick/ruler. If you don’t have any of those, you can use a sheet of paper to measure (they are 11 inches long), or download an app if you have the storage space to do it. I have a tool on my Google Pixel phone called “Measure”. Write down your measurements.
When choosing “Create Project”, I would recommend using the Room Wizard so you can adjust the sliders as necessary to get the correct measurements of your walls. Also include windows and doorways, as well as furniture. Try to be accurate as far as size and spacing.
As you finish, export a 2D image and upload it to this assignment. I’ll give you until Tuesday night to upload your design in case you get caught up in something.”
As a family you may want to come up with a schedule for your children, establish a “check-in” time, place time, down time, and go play outside time! Luckily it’s spring and the weather seems to be breaking.
A few reminders:
Families will be hearing from our School Counselors Ms. Regan (nregan@vtsd.com), Mrs. Keane (nkeane@vtsd.com), and Mrs. Lash-Lain (clash-lain@vtsd.com) [in for Mrs. Pisco]. Please reach out to your child’s counselor if you need support or assistance; they are here for all of our students!
Families whose children who receive free or reduced breakfast or lunch, pick up for “Grab-and-Go” meals can be picked up daily at Vernon Township High School from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
If you have not had your child pick up his or her Chromebook (or need a charger), you can receive one by going to Vernon Township High School from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. If you do not have Internet access, you can apply to receive “Kajeets”, which is a hotspot. Here is the link to apply. You can also put in a ticket if your child’s Chromebook needs repair, here’s the link. The post from 3-16-20 entitled “Day One Info for Families” contains a lot of great information…don’t miss it!
Please email Dr. Kosek or me if you have any questions at ekosek@vtsd.com or rgebhardt@vtsd.com We will get back to you with a call or a returned email with an answer. Please also remind your children that Dr. Kosek and I will be monitoring online activity. All school rules apply, students must use Chromebook appropriately.
Please continue to check the vtsd.com main page to keep current on up-to-date information from our Superintendent, Ms. D’Avino, and the Board of Education. All Board meetings will be streamed live, the public is not permitted to attend per instructions from Governor Phil Murphy that has stated that people should not be gathering in large groups. There is a Public Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, March 18, at 7:00 pm.
I encourage you to try some of the mindfulness practices and yoga at your desk while you are at home.
Please stay well and thanks for checking out the vtsd website as well as the Glen Meadow link for continued updates as we deep clean our school!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gebhardt and Dr. Kosek