Marshall Enews 8/14/2020

Posted on: August 14, 2020

Marshall Elementary Weekly E-News

August 14, 2020

A Peaceful, Productive, Healthy, and Happy Community

The mission of Marshall Elementary is to work as a community to achieve higher levels of thinking and learning by empowering every learner everyday.

School News and Information

Happy Friday! I hope everyone is doing well. Welcome to the 2020-21 Marshall E-News. If you are new to Marshall, each Friday we give an update on the upcoming week, events around TSD and any information that is important to the education of students at Marshall.

You should have received your class placement in the mail. These were mailed out on August 5, 2020. If you did not receive the email, please let Mrs. Wilder know: wildert@talawanda.org

As you know, the 2020-21 school year will start remotely. Planning, adjusting, sharing and collaborating has been non-stop since the TSD Board of Education made their decision. The staff at Marshall is ready to create a great online learning environment. We ask that you be patient the first few weeks of school. We will need to make adjustments to meet the needs of everyone. We have a good plan in place but there may be some changes needed along the way.

Remote Learning Schedule

I would like to take a couple of minutes to explain how Marshall’s weekly remote schedule will work.

During the time that we are remote learning, the Marshall school day will begin at 8:30 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Students will log into their devices for the morning announcements and a class meeting that will last until 8:50. This time will allow teachers to check in with students, provide feedback from the day before and help to build a positive classroom environment.

Your child will participate in three remote learning sessions throughout the day. This will allow for instruction in English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies. Most likely instruction will take place at the beginning of this session through a zoom meeting or a video recorded lesson and then students will be expected to work independently or in small groups with teacher supervision. Marshall students will also participate in two thirty minute small group sessions. During this time students might be working with their teacher in small groups on specific skills or working with an intervention specialist or the gifted teacher. This instruction might not look the same day to day or week to week. It may be a small group zoom meeting, a pre-recorded video or work on the different educational sites that Marshall uses.

Students will also participate in a thirty minute specials class each day. They will rotate between art, music, physical education and STEM. We are very excited that this year all Marshall students will get to participate in STEM!

Students will have two thirty minute independent practice sessions at the end of their school day. They should use this time to complete any work that they have not finished from the day or to make revisions to previously submitted work.

Talawanda recognizes the importance of frequent brain breaks during the day to allow students to step away from devices and be active, Therefore, they will have four ten minute breaks throughout the day. Please encourage them to move their bodies, get some water and use the time to interact with the people in their learning setting. Students will also have a lunch break from 11:20 - 12:20 each day. Again we encourage students to step away from devices and spend some of this time being active.

Marshall students will not follow this schedule on Wednesdays. Wednesday is an instructional support day designed to allow students some independent time to complete assignments and participate in individual or small group instruction. Your child’s teacher will communicate with you if/when your child is scheduled to work with a teacher.

The staff and administration has worked very thoughtfully to create this schedule, always keeping the best interests of Talawanda students and families at the forefront of their thoughts. If you still have questions, please feel free to email me at hintonc@talawanda.org or Emily Lykins at lykinse@talawanda.org or call us at 513-273-3600

Hotspot

If you are in need of a hotspot for online learning, please contact Mr. Hinton at hintonc@talawanda.org

Attention Kindergarten and 1st Grade Parents

1st Grade Families

In order to be ready for the first day of school on August 24, 2020, we will need to collect your iPad from last year so we can update them and install all the correct apps for 1st grade. The collection date will be Monday August 17th. You may drop them off at Marshall anytime between 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM and by appointment.

The iPads were scheduled to be replaced this year and we thought the new ones would have arrived by now and we could set them up and switch them out with you. Unfortunately, the delivery is delayed so we need to collect them, update them, and then get them back to you on Marshall’s Pick Up Day.

Marshall Pick Up Day

We will have a kindergarten-5th grade pick up day on Friday August 21, 2020. The pickup day will allow kindergarten and 1st grade students to pick up their iPads and any materials their teachers may have. All 2nd through 5th grade students will also be able to pick up their materials for online learning. More details will be shared early next week. Our pick up day will be from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm with scheduled times for each grade level to limit the number of people at the building. If you are unable to make it during your scheduled grade level, please see if a neighbor or friend would be able to grab the materials or you may come at a different time that day. We will also set up a time for Thursday evening if you cannot come on Friday but remember we are trying to limit the number of visitors at one time so if you can come at your scheduled time we would appreciate it. Again more info will come early next week.

Remote Learning Schedule

Please look for additional communication next week. We will continue to update you on remote learning and our material pick up day.

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Chad Hinton

Principal

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