Letter from Abby Sheffer: Information for Lower School Families
Lea este correo electrónico en español.
Dear Lower School Families:
Welcome to our new families and welcome back to the families returning to Creative Minds! We’re thrilled to kick off the school year with you, even if it’s not back to school as usual when we return to learning on an all-virtual schedule, on Monday, August 31. The start of a new year is always an exciting time in a school community, and this year, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed!
Our Program
We’ve spent the past few months developing a strong virtual-learning program for starting the 2020–21 school year. We grounded our planning in three goals that were based on parent and teacher feedback and our school vision:
- Increase opportunities for live engagement, while maintaining flexibility
- Provide universal social-emotional support and increase opportunities for connection
- Stay true to Creative Minds’ student-centered approach and holistic curriculum
With those goals in mind, we designed a virtual-learning program that we’re proud to implement. Here are some of the highlights:
Live morning meeting each day that will incorporate strategies from our social-emotional learning program, Conscious Discipline
Live social groups with facilitated games and activities to provide students fun ways to connect with their peers
Enrichment classes four times a week, along with fun, optional lunchtime activities, like movement breaks with Mr. Johnson and language lunch bunches with Ms. Lopez and Ms. Long
In preschool and prekindergarten, six daily learning centers for students to choose from: Art, Math, Science, Literacy, Read-Aloud, and Music and Movement
In kindergarten through 4th grade, daily instruction in the International Primary Curriculum, literacy, and math, which will include the following:
- Live small-group instructional support three times per week for each subject
- Daily recorded lessons and independent tasks, as well as optional office hours, to make our students’ daily schedules flexible
- Live share sessions, when students can show off the work they’re proud of and reflect on their learning
View and print the full schedule for preschool and prekindergarten or kindergarten through 4th grade.
Technology
All students in preschool through 2nd grade will receive an iPad, and students in 3rd and 4th grades will receive a Chromebook tablet. We’ll also distribute WiFi hot spots to any families that don’t have reliable internet connections. Stay tuned for information about picking up devices and requesting a WiFi hot spot.
Last spring, our 3rd-grade teachers and students had success with Seesaw, a learning-management system; Seesaw will be our school-wide learning platform in 2020–21. We’ll offer tutorials for students and how-to videos for families.
Questions?
Our FAQs, in English and in Spanish, have more information about the upcoming year. Please feel free to email me at abby.sheffer@creativemindspcs.org with questions as we prepare to welcome students back to class. I look forward to working with you and seeing your children!
In community,
Abby Sheffer
Director of Lower School