mrsjaffe14

Dear Families:

I feel like I have done nothing but say goodbyes for the last three days! Our homeroom had a wonderful, emotional final morning meeting yesterday, and this morning we met with the whole fifth grade, all the fifth-grade teachers, and Mr. Rosenblatt. As a final send-off for the kids, we made them a farewell video from the whole Fox Hill staff. Here is a link to the video so your kids can watch it at home.

Thank you again for all your support throughout the year and especially during these challenging final months. It was a pleasure having your children for my last year at Fox Hill!

Warmest regards,

Jamie Jaffe

Hi Families:

It has been an emotional couple of days! This morning we had our last homeroom-based morning meeting. There will be one last GRADE-LEVEL MORNING MEETING tomorrow — the last day of school — with Miss O’Donnell, Miss Curran, Mr. Deane, and myself. Please remind your children that the meeting will be at 10:15 a.m. I will post a link in Google Classroom.

Best,

Mrs. Jaffe

Dear Families:

“Finish line” was the password for today’s morning meeting, and it certainly feels like we have arrived there! All students finished their PSA, and we shared the final ones in today’s meeting. Just a handful of students have yet to share with me their personal reflection, and then the formal part of teaching and learning will be at an end. WOW! Not quite the finish I expected, but we made it.

At today’s morning meeting, we talked about what we wanted the last week of school to look like. I wanted to share some information so you know what will be different.

1. Morning meetings will be at 10:00 instead of 9:30. There will be a morning meeting on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, June 15, 16, and 18. The last day of school — June 19 — will be a GRADE-LEVEL morning meeting/Wall of Fame, but the fifth grade teachers have not decided on a time for that meeting.

2. There will be no more Daily Choice Boards from me posted in Google Classroom. Students have a fun assignment to work on next week — a Memory Book — but this is not something there are expected to submit to me. Students can continue to access any links to activities they’d like to do on their own by going to the remote learning page of the district web site. 

3. School iPads, power cords, chargers, etc. must be returned to Marshall Simonds Middle School on:

• Monday, June 22 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. OR
• Wednesday, June 24 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

I will keep you posted on where at the middle school you need to go to return the devices and accessories.

4. Information about summer technology resources can be found here, including information about summer Choice Boards for your child.

5. Last by certainly not least, I look forward to seeing you at next week’s Grade 5 Grab & Go Celebration on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17 anytime between Noon-2:00 p.m. There I will shower you and your children with virtual hugs and congratulations, a “diploma,” and a bag of remembrances! 

Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Jaffe

Hello Families:

A couple of important reminders for this week:

1. There will be no morning meeting tomorrow, Monday, June 8. I will be at Fox Hill all day clearing out my classroom. I will be posting a Choice Board for tomorrow, so students are expected to be working on Monday.

2. There are “must do” two assignments on tomorrow’s board. One — about the May 30 ISS space launch — is due Tuesday, and the second assignment — a personal reflection — is due Friday. I especially encourage you to talk with your child about the personal reflection as part of it relates to how the quarantine has impacted on your whole family.

3. Your child’s belongings can be picked up from Fox Hill this Tuesday or Wednesday, June 9 or 10. You recently received an email from Mr. Rosenblatt about this, but I’m linking it here in case you misplaced the information.

Thanks for your support!

Mrs. Jaffe

Dear Families:

I wanted to share a couple of important things for next week:

1. There will be no morning meeting on Monday, June 8 because I will be at Fox Hill all day packing up our classroom. Also, I will not hold my usual “office hours” for kids from 2:00-3:00. Because I am retiring, I have to clear out all the contents of my room, so there is a possibility I may take one additional day next week to complete the task, but if I do I will let you know that after Monday.

2. I am asking kids to complete one final writing assignment. It is a personal reflection about how the quarantine and remote learning has affected them, affected their families, and impacted on their feelings about school. The reflection will be assigned on Monday, and they have all week to complete it. All Burlington fifth graders are completing a similar assignment. Students must write at least one fully developed paragraph, but they may certainly write more than that. They are being provided with questions to focus their response.

Because the assignment involves reflecting on how the quarantine has impacted families, I encourage you to talk with your kids about the assignment. I also think that your involvement may give them the push they need to get through this last week of “regular” work and daily Choice Boards. For your information, here is a link to the assignment and the guidelines for writing.

Thanks for all your support!

Best,

Mrs. Jaffe

Dear Families

I just wanted to remind you that we will not have morning meeting tomorrow. I will be at Fox Hill all day packing up students’ personal belongings. I will post a Choice Board tonight, though, and students are currently working on their final project — making a public service announcement. There are also plenty of other choices on the board to keep them occupied. We will return to our regular 9:30 a.m. morning meeting on Tuesday. 

Enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day!

Regards,

Mrs. Jaffe

Families:

Today Mr. Rosenblatt emailed Fox Hill staff to inform us that next week we would begin packing up your kids’ personal belongings and making them available for pickup. When kids’ personal items can be picked up I don’t know yet, but there is a schedule for when teachers are to be in the building to start this process.

Fifth grade teachers will begin packing up on MONDAY, JUNE 1. That means that we will not have our regular morning meeting on Monday, and I will not be available for any live teaching or office hours on that day. However, I will post a Choice Board of work for students to do on Monday.

We will resume our regularly scheduled morning meeting on Tuesday, June 2 at 9:30 a.m. I’ll keep you posted on details as I receive them.

Have a great weekend!

Best,

Mrs. Jaffe

Hi Again!

A number of us had problems this morning during morning meeting and math groups with the screen view of Google Meet. Please ask your child if s/he had this problem. (This would be true for anyone using a Chromebook or laptop.) Here is the solution:

1. Remove the Google Chrome Extension that you added a couple of months ago.

2. Use this link to reinstall the Extension. 

I did this, and it worked for me!

Best,

Mrs. Jaffe

Families:

Tomorrow morning, Wednesday, May 27, fifth graders will have a virtual tour of the middle school at 9:00 a.m. I will post a link to the meeting in Google Classroom so that your child can join the virtual meeting. Please remind your child to be up and ready for this 9:00 a.m. meeting.

We will have our regular morning meeting right after the middle school tour. A link for our regular morning meeting will also be posted in Google Classroom.

Thank you!

Mrs. Jaffe

Families:

I should have mentioned one more thing in my last post:

While there will be fewer DAILY assignments to submit in the next couple of weeks, my expectation is that kids are still spending 2-3 hours each day engaged in learning. If you find that all of that time is not being devoted to our two upcoming long-term assignments, there are plenty of other options on the Daily Choice Board to engage your child for that amount of time. If you would like me to make any suggestions for your child, just let me know.

Best,

Mrs. Jaffe