Hello families,

 

It is hard to believe we have already reached the last week of the first quarter. We continue to be delighted and amazed by the resiliency our students have shown as we navigate this very different way of doing school.

 

Notes for this week:

*During our reading time, students are reading a book of their choice and completing a Literature Circle job paper for each day.

*In writing, students are finishing their persuasive essays. They will also have time to explore some writing prompts.

*During social studies, students are creating a project explaining how Fairbanks/Alaska compares to either another community in Alaska or another state in the US.

*Our math time will be spent reviewing some key place value concepts.

 

Library Books

If your child would like to check out books from the library, please email Mrs. Brice at brandy.brice@k12northstar.org. She can check the books out to your child, and have them available for Weller’s Wednesday material pick-up day.

 

Make-up Work

We encourage students to check Google Classroom and complete any missing assignments before Friday.  As always, we are available to answer questions and support students between our meeting times, and up until 12:00 pm. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

 

Friday Read-in/End of Quarter Celebration

 

This Friday, we will be holding a Virtual Read-in! Students will be encouraged to gather lots of reading materials, find a comfy spot, and read, read, read. Because of this special event, we will hold our morning meeting at 8:10, but we will not have any other meetings for the day. Students will also not have any assignments to turn in that day. We hope they can enjoy a day of fun to celebrate the end of the first quarter.

September 11, 2020

 

Dear Families,

This past week included more firsts as our students began working out of their math and reading textbooks at home.  How refreshing it is to look at an “old fashioned” textbook rather than an online ebook.  As we continue to complete work either online or in student journals (composition books) we kindly request your help in ensuring that each student has four labeled notebooks - one for math, reading, writing, and science/social studies (which can be abbreviated “science/s.s.” on the cover).  Now that our routine is in place, we’d like to remind our students to have a prepared work area which includes all of their notebooks, textbooks, and writing utensils.  

 

We’d like to continue to compliment our students on their ability to adapt to their new virtual school.  We see students engaging, asking questions, remaining in meetings for help, and logging on and off Google Meet to ask questions when they arise.  We are proud of what they’ve accomplished in this short period of time.  

 

Next week:

*We will continue to explore properties of numbers in math

*We will finish our scientific plant/animal drawing

*We will begin to craft an informative writing piece about our animal/plant’s adaptations

*During our reading time we will focus on nonfiction text elements as we read informational text about trees

Dear Families,

This week we noticed how our students are feeling considerably more comfortable when it comes to technology.  They’re navigating Google Classroom to find daily agendas, assignments, and incomplete work.  Students applied their photo-taking skills to submit work.  We’ve been on Peardeck, Nearpod, Jamboard, FlipGrid, Google Meet, Google Slides, Google Chat, and Google Docs.  Wow!  And it’s just been over two weeks!  

 

Password Change

Speaking of technology, today we worked with our students to change (and record in their notebooks) their school passwords.  Passwords are required to be at least 8 characters long.  We recommend a combination of letters and numbers as well as using familiar words and numbers.   Students will need to completely log out of their Chromebooks and log back in with their new password in order to join our meeting Tuesday morning.  

Check your district emails and Powerschool notifications for further instructions.

 

Journals/Notebooks

If you haven’t already, please help your child find 4 notebooks. This will enable your child to organize his/her work.

 

How to help your child

As we move into our regular curriculum, we encourage students to work independently. This promotes their perseverance and brain growth. As teachers, we want to teach your child and allow you to take care of the many tasks you need to do throughout the day. Allowing us to take your child’s questions also gives us some important information and helps us plan for future teaching. Your child is welcome to jump into ongoing Google meetings, send us a message through Google Chat or give us a call at Weller to get help. 

 

Next week:

*We will continue to explore properties of numbers in math

*During our reading time, we will practice comparing and contrasting

*We will develop our writing skills through writing prompts.

*In science, we will continue to explore plant and animal adaptations.

 

Hello families,

Considering our unusual start to the school year, we’re happy to report that we had a successful first full week.  Our students had a chance to see us as the humans we are as we made mistakes (mostly related to technology) this week. Our growth curve is as high as our students. We are all learning together as we continue to navigate online learning. This week proved to us that, yah, we can do this! Our students are learning, communicating, turning in assignments, and helping one another, in addition to gaining many new technology skills. THANK YOU for all that you are doing for your children’s education.

Here are a few important points to note:

• Our live Google Meet times will be at 8:10, 9:15, and 10:30 from here on out unless we tell you otherwise. On that note, there will NOT be a meeting at 9:15 on Monday, August 31.
• Students will need to change their Google passwords by September 8th. We will help students do that as a group next week.
• As we move into more academic work, we would like to send some books and supplies home. Please plan to pick up books and supplies from Weller on Wednesday, September 2 anytime between 8 am - 5 pm.

 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

 

Stephanie Richardson

Karma Roth

Sunnie Fredricks

907-457-1629

Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year!

 

It may seem that nothing is running as usual right now, but one thing has remained the same: We are excited to be a part of your child’s educational journey this year. While your child may be officially on one of our rosters, we will all be teaching, supporting and encouraging your child.

 

A quick bit about us….

Stephanie Richardson has been teaching for more than 20 years. She taught 5th and 6th grade in Unalaska for 6 years, 4th and 5th grade at Ticasuk Brown for 4 years, and then has taught 4th grade at Weller since 2009. She is excited to be learning along with 3rd and 4th graders this year.

Karma Roth is starting her 21st year of teaching.  She taught high school math at Howard Luke Academy, 3rd grade at Nordale, 1st grade and Weller, and 4th grade at Weller since 2002.  She has spent a decade of those years coaching track and cross country running at West Valley.  She is a lifelong learner who values learning both inside and outside the classroom.

Sunnie Fredricks is a student teacher through UAF’s Post Baccalaureate Licensure Program. She has been a martial artist for over 20 years and has been instructing for fifteen, so she is excited to bring the trust, mutual respect, and indomitable spirit that she strives to embody and apply it in the classroom.

We want your input

You know your child best, and to help us plan for the year, please take some time to fill out the short Student Profile Questionnaire about your child. Click here to access the questionnaire.

Our Start

As we start the school year in distance learning, we will be building the foundational skills for success in the new online format. The first week of school will focus on relationship building, virtual classroom etiquette, social and emotional wellness, basic technology skills and routines and expectations. We will build student stamina in the online learning space and establish a strong foundation from which to move forward with academic instruction. While we will be delivering lessons and connecting via Google Classroom, students will spend much of their day completing learning activities away from the computer. We are committed to providing a high quality educational experience for all of our students in the face of exceptional challenges. We have all been impacted by the inability to bring students back on day one. But we are committed to doing all that we can to create a positive learning environment that exemplifies our Weller spirit. In that spirit, we ask for your patience and flexibility as we navigate this school year together.

 

Material Pick-Up

If your child needs a Chromebook, they will be distributed at Weller this Wednesday, August 19 between 9 AM - 3PM.  Please call 457-1629 ext. 45021 when you arrive and we will deliver your Chromebook.

Permissions

Please fill out the following form in regards to Mrs. Fredricks using student samples for her UAF assignments.  Click here for the UAF School of Education K12 Permission Form

Tentative Schedule for this week:
Thursday 8/20	Friday 8/21

 

Please have two composition notebooks and a pencil ready for today. 8:10 am - Short Morning Meeting via Google Meet  8:30 am - Offline learning activity. 9:15 - Google Meet check-in  15 minute Break/Snack 9:45 am- Watch instructional video. Complete instructional activity 10:30 am - Google Meet check-in 15 Minute Break/Snack 11:00 am - Watch instructional video. Complete offline learning activity 12:00 - lunch! 12:30 pm - Get instructions for PE and complete PE activity (Be ready to share your ideas tomorrow) 1:10 pm - Pat yourself on the back for your day’s hard work! *Note: Google Meet recordings will be posted during the breaks

Please have two composition notebooks and a pencil ready for today. 8:10 am - Short Morning Meeting via Google Meet  8:30 am - Offline learning activity. 9:15 am - Google Meet check-in 15 minute Break/Snack 9:45 am - Watch instructional video. Complete instructional activity 10:30 am - Google Meet check-in 15 Minute Break/Snack 11:00 am - Watch instructional video. Complete offline learning activity 12:00 - lunch! 12:30 pm  - Get instructions for PE and complete PE activity (Be ready to share your ideas tomorrow) 1:10 pm - Give yourself a high five for another awesome day of doing your best! *Note: Google Meet recordings will be posted during the breaks

We recognize that work schedules and computer/internet access may impact your child’s ability to attend our live Google Meet sessions.  Students can still access these recorded sessions at a time that works best for families. Students’ grades will not be impacted if they are not able to come to the live sessions.

Website

One of the best places to find general information about our class is at our class webpage, found at https://www.k12northstar.org/Page/10143. This webpage will be updated each Monday, and will include general announcements and information for the week. Please bookmark this page so you can refer back to it each week.

 

Google Classroom

Students will be using Google Classroom both during remote learning and in-school learning. Please help your child sign into Google Classroom before Thursday. Click on one of the following links for additional help signing in: *Instructions for accessing Google Classroom *Video showing how to accept an invitation to Google Classroom *Having trouble with Class Link? Click here for written help. or click here for a video *General technology help for parents

Help

We are available and eager to help your child navigate the learning activities. You can call us or email us anytime between 7:30 - 3:00 and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Wondering who to contact first with a question or concern? We will both be happy to answer your questions. However, each student in the class has been assigned to a teacher, and we consider that teacher to be the primary point of contact for that student’s family. Although there is a primary point of contact, we appreciate having messages cc’d so we can help your child as best we can. Stephanie Richardson - stephanie.richardson@k12northstar.org 457-1629 ext 45021 Karma Roth - karma.roth@k12northstar.org 457-1629 ext 45022

Bus sign up and computer check out

If your child needs to ride the bus, please don’t forget to sign up for the bus at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfuedcLfuph1bO-CY2wsulBW_uY_yTgrGg6U_x5qfzNvAz0dA/viewform

If your child will need to check out a computer, please log into your Powerschool account and complete the AUP form.

 

It's going to be an exciting year. It will also undoubtedly challenge all of us, including the children, in different ways. Flexibility and grace towards each other will be essential to building resiliency and making this a year of growth for all of us in spite of the circumstances. Together we will create wonderful learning opportunities for our children this year. 

 

We look forward to being partners with you this year,

 

Stephanie Richardson, Karma Roth, and Sunnie Fredricks