mrsjaffe14

Dear Families:

My power went out at 5:00 p.m. and was just restored at 8:00. I imagine that many of you were without power, as well. When I lost power, I was in the middle of preparing a survey to send you! 

All of our lives have been turned upside down, and we are experiencing unique stresses that are testing us in many different ways. As I try and navigate the strange new waters of teaching remotely, I’m trying to assess how things are going. From your kids, I get a somewhat inconsistent response; they’re all on board some days and absent others. It would help me as we move forward if I knew better how YOU think things are going and what more you and/or your child needs from me.

I’d appreciate it if you’d complete this simple, short survey to give me feedback. Please click here to complete the survey, and then submit it when you are finished.

Sending you my warmest regards,

Mrs. Jaffe

Good Morning!

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted on this blog. As I said to you earlier, my focus now is on connecting with your kids; but, today seems like a good day for a check in. Here are my observations:

1. Daily Morning Meeting – I have REALLY enjoyed starting the day meeting with your children. It’s not exactly like a morning meeting at school; as one student observed, “We’re together, but we’re not really together.” Some Fox Hill teachers have split their morning meeting into smaller groups for ease of management. Today, I asked kids for their preference: Continue meeting as one class, or split up into smaller groups. They were unanimous in their desire for sticking with one meeting.

During the morning meeting, I usually have one or two topics to discuss. This has been going very well since kids now know they need to have their mics muted until they want to speak. I also review that day’s Daily Work Log Choice Board to highlight new choices or work that they are required to complete.

At the end of the meeting, I read aloud from a chapter book we had been reading together in school — a nice way to end the meeting 🙂

2. Accountability for the Daily Work Log Choice Board – My expectation is that students will let me know on each day’s Work Log what they have completed that day. The key is that they need to TURN IN THE WORK LOG WHEN THEY ARE DONE.  I, then, review their work, give them feedback at the bottom of the Log, and then return it to them. Whether or not kids formally “turn in” the log is less of a concern to me than that they just write in it so I know what work they completed. I can still view it in Google Classroom and make my comments on it.

A bigger challenge from my perspective is that some kids are not turning the Log back in to me or writing in the Log at all, so I have no idea what they’re doing! We talked about that in today’s meeting. Several kids said they forget. So, each afternoon, I’m going to post an ANNOUNCEMENT in Goggle Classroom to remind them to turn in their Log. I would appreciate it if you could help remind them, as well.

3. Technology – Each day I am trying to improve the process of communicating with kids, assigning work, and doing due diligence at the instructional end. I am making mistakes and trying to correct them or improve the process as I go along! Sometimes kids are helping me along the way 🙂 I appreciate your patience.

4. Reading Resource – Since you can’t get to a library for more books for your kids, you may be interested in opening an epic! account. Epic! is a digital library of countless book titles. Some of you may already be familiar with Epic!; maybe a few of you already have an account. If not, now is the time to open an account! It is free through June 30. If you go to the epic! website, you can sign up.

As always, please reach out to me if you  have questions or concerns: jaffe@bpsk12.org.

Regards,

Mrs. Jaffe

Good Morning!

Wow! That Google Hangout was quite an experience! This new communication platform will take us all some getting used to, but I hope your kids enjoyed it. Understandably, they had many questions, and my main objective was to simply reconnect with them and answer their questions. Several things moving forward and starting tomorrow:

1. I am changing the procedure for how kids join the daily morning meeting, however the meeting will always start at 9:30 a.m. I told kids this this morning, but now here it is in writing:

• They should go to the Google Classroom folder called Homeroom Rm 14.
• Read the morning message.
• Open the link in the message for meet.google.com, and type the “nickname” (this is an access code) that I provide in the morning message. This will provide one-time-only access to the day’s meeting.
• I will repeat this procedure every day, and there will be a different nickname every day.
• Once they type the nickname, they can join the meeting.
• I WILL NO LONGER PROVIDE A MEETING INVITATION THROUGH THEIR BPS SCHOOL EMAIL.

2. Google Hangout is an imperfect platform for our purposes. There were some glitches today for kids, but mostly we got through it. Last night around 8:00 p.m., teachers received an email from the district’s technology specialist with a suggestion for parents.

• Hangout will work best if your child is on a laptop or Chromebook.
• The screen view will be greatly enhanced if you download a Chrome extension onto your laptop. I did this last night, and I was able to see all the kids on my screen at the same time. Here is a link to the Chrome extension. Once there, just click on Add to Chrome (takes five seconds!). This is not a requirement, but it does enhance the Hangout experience.

3. NO WORK HAS BEEN ASSIGNED FOR STUDENTS TO COMPLETE TODAY. However, I did already post the Choice Board of work for tomorrow in the Homeroom Rm 14 Google Classroom folder. I talked about it in the meeting this morning and showed kids a paper version of it, but I don’t expect them to use it today … unless they’d like to!

4. The Choice Board has no times on it. I am leaving it to you to decide what works best for your family as far as when your child completes the work.

Please, please, please feel free to give me feedback on how this is all working for your child and for you. I will see your child again tomorrow morning!

All my best,

Mrs. Jaffe

Families:

Some of your kids have “accepted” my meeting invitation to tomorrow’s Google Hangout. That’s great! That said, they still have to go back to their email tomorrow and click on the meeting link that redirects them to Google Hangout. They can do this right at 9:30. 

Thanks so much!

Mrs. Jaffe

Good Morning Families!

I am SUPER excited to connect with your kids tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. for our first Google Hangout MORNING MEETING!

I have shared a link with your children in our new Google Classroom folder called Homeroom Room 14. However, in the event that they don’t check the folder before we meet, please have them take a look at these guidelines for a Grade 5 Google Hangout. This new platform will require establishing new rules of etiquette for a meeting.

Enjoy the day,

Mrs. Jaffe

Wonderful Families!

Greetings to you on this beautiful Friday afternoon! I don’t know what a “week” is anymore, so it’s hard to say happy end of the week. I almost missed my garbage pickup up yesterday because I lost track of the fact that it was Thursday!

First, a big SHOUT OUT to Saanvi, Aiden, Avery, and Arun for submitting the most recent book reviews. Check them out to the right. Better yet, have your kids check them out; perhaps it will inspire them to do the same. Everyone is welcome to submit more than one review.

We (including me!) are all waiting for the roll out of a plan from the district that will help provide some further structure to your child’s day. I have already used this expression before with a couple of parents, but we’re all flying this plane as we’re building it. From my perspective, the best way to launch this effort is with baby steps. Here are the steps I’ve taken so far:

1. As we move forward, I would like to shift the focus of communication from you to your child. This doesn’t mean I’ll stop posting; rather, it means that YOUR CHILD CAN EXPECT TO HEAR FROM ME DIRECTLY EACH DAY. The two avenues I will use for communication are your child’s school email address and Google Classroom. 

2. I have created a new Google Classroom folder called “Homeroom Rm 14 2020.” The first thing your child needs to do is get on Google Classroom and join that new class. Trust me, your child knows how to do that! Each day, I will post daily “assignments” in this folder. The assignments will come in the form of a big grid of CHOICES by subject area. Your child can decide what to do within each subject area. I consider this to be a kind of “log” of your child’s activities. Each day, your child will fill out the right side of the log and turn it back into me so I can see what s/he did. We’re going to start this VERY LOW KEY so that I can build a routine that everyone gets comfortable with — including me!

3. Our first Morning Meeting will be this Monday, March 30 at 9:30. (Previously, I had said it would be 9:15, but I’ve changed that.) Before the “meeting,” kids should log onto their school email. There, they will see a GOOGLE HANGOUT “meeting invitation.” When they click on the link in the email, it will automatically connect them to our virtual video Morning Meeting. This may sound complicated, but I am confident it will quickly become a regular routine. If any of your children have forgotten their school email address or password, just contact me; I have all the addresses and passwords.

I will not post or assign the daily choice board of work until Tuesday. I will discuss it with kids on Monday so they understand what to expect. My goal is to make a few choices available each day so that NO ONE GETS OVERWHELMED. The ultimate goal here is to provide some structure, engagement, and prevent backsliding. Please know that anyone with individual needs or concerns should reach out to me directly. I welcome the communication.

Enjoy the weekend!

Mrs. Jaffe

Good Afternoon!

By now you are probably all aware of Governor Baker’s announcement that extends school closures until May 4. As this health crisis persists, we count our blessings, love and cherish those around us, and hope for each other’s safety and well-being. 

Teachers will receive some more concrete plans for your child’s learning expectations, but I think what you will see as the bigger change is more opportunities for them to interact with me. This may not work for all children at the same time, but whoever can participate in the opportunities I offer will be welcomed! 

I will start with a Morning Meeting on Monday, March 30 at 9:15 a.m. Your child will be invited to connect with me through Google Hangout. Instructions for how to do that will be forthcoming. It will be a Room 14 first!!

On another note, kudos to Joann K. for submitting our class’s first book review! Check it out to the right under Book Reviews — Here’s What We’ve Read. Please encourage your child to do the same by filling out this Google form.

Until tomorrow,

Mrs. Jaffe

Hello Families!

I wanted to let you know about a couple of changes/additions I made to this blog to make finding resources easier for you and to encourage communication with your kids. 

I added two new pages to the blog which you will find on the right side of this page. The first new page is called Distance Learning Resources. You will find all of the resources I have sent you since the school closure; they are arranged by academic area and include live links.

There are three new links on this page. One link is for the math game Math Playground (this has always been listed at the bottom of the home page) because I hear from kids and parents that they really enjoy it.

Another link under Writing/Vocabulary is for Freerice. This has also been available at the bottom of my blog page. Freerice is a vocabulary development game. When you open the link, you may think that the game is set at a pretty low level, but you can adjust the difficulty in the menu bar at the top left of the screen.

The last link is to the new Fox Hill Reading Room blog which also includes resources for kids.

The second new blog page is called Book Reviews — Here’s What We’ve Read! I’m inviting your kids to write a book review of any book they’ve finished, and I’ll post the review on the blog page. They can do this by filling out the Google form that is linked at the top of the blog page. I started with a review of a book that I finished last week, just to get things rolling!

Finally, please remind your kids to comment on the blog so we can hear from each other!! They can add a comment at the bottom of this post. Also, encourage your child to post a book review by completing the Google form!

All my best,

Mrs. Jaffe

Hi again …

Please remind your child that the optional contest for the fifth grade yearbook cover is still on! Kids were informed about this before the school closing, so some may already be working on their drawing. Here are the guidelines:

• Include the Fox Hill School “fox” in the picture
• Include the year “2020” in the picture
• Drawn on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, portrait orientation
• Drawn in color

Drawings can be submitted when we return to school. Mr. Rosenblatt will select two drawings, one for the front cover and one for the back cover. Remember, this contest is optional. 

Thanks for your support!

Mrs. Jaffe

Greetings Families:

Yesterday’s snowfall was unexpected, yet lovely. Today, I’m glad to see the sun shining. I know I can get outside for a walk!

Burlington is moving closer to some more formal plans for learning expectations while your children are home, and I am in the process of crafting some plans of my own. I think what the district is aiming for is some uniformity so that individual teachers are not doing vastly different things. 

It has been wonderful to hear from some of your kids who have posted comments on the blog. From what kids are saying, you’re all doing your best to provide some structure to the days and combine some active learning with fun. That is the best approach.

Here are a few new resources to add to your took kit:

1. Math

– Here is a link to a Math Choice Board. The goal for the board is to engage in some fun, low-stakes math activities that are geared to elementary kids, grades K-5. If possible, I suggest you print the Choice Board so it is available and visible.

– Here is link to a new district-wide math blog called K-5 Math Burlington.  The blob consists of a daily challenge/activity that you can find for your child’s grade level.  These activities are meant to be short, engaging, and fun.  Kids can even comment on the blog after they complete the challenge.  

Thanks to the district’s wonderful math coaches — Mrs. Fortunato, Mrs. Murray, and Mr. Pera — for creating these new resources.

2. Reading

– The wonderful children’s author and teacher, Kate Messner, has created a page on her web site of other authors and illustrators reading aloud from their books or offering suggestions for activities. Here is the link to Kate Messner’s learning at home resources.

3. Writing

– As inspiration for writing, here is a Creative Story Prompts Choice Board. Some of your children may already have a creative writing journal at home; if not, they can just start one! All that is needed is paper and pencil or a blank Google document. These are just ideas — your child may have his or her own ideas — or they may inspire your child to come up with alternatives. Creative writing like this need not take more than 20-30 minutes a day, which means that a story does not have to be completed in one sitting. Like the math Choice Board, I suggest you print these creative writing prompts so your child has easy access to them.

Continue to encourage your child to post comments on the blog. I will reply to all of them. 

Best to you,

Mrs. Jaffe