Click here to access Classdojo
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Click here to access our class Padlet
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Click here to access and sign up for Prodigy Math. When it asks if your are playing at home or school please click on school. If you click on home it won't ask for the code:
-2nd Graders, use Ms. Jen's math class code: 2516A0 (the last digit is the number zero).
1st Graders, use Ms. Anna's math class code: 801D21
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Sign in code for epic SLL-7405
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Welcome to the 4th Quarter
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Dear Families,
This space is where I will be posting important information while school is not in session. Please check back daily. Don't forget that the tab at the top of the web page titled "more" has a lot of good resources and activities students can be participating in during these times. As we get going I will add more apps, etc. All my best to you, Ms. Jen SeeSaw Helpful Hints One helpful hint for students to be able to write in an activity is to increase the size of the virtual paper. The size the children see is often too small for them to write on neatly. By clicking on the + sign-in the magnifying glass in the upper lefthand corner of the screen the page will increase in size. Also, if your child has not completes the whole assignment they can click the draft button on the upper right corner and the assignment will be saved to be completed later. |
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5/18
Dear Families,
We never could have predicted that our school year would end this way... You all have done the incredible (and nearly impossible) job of teaching/working/parenting and living from home. I commend you all for your sincere efforts, your tireless diligence, and your immense patience with this whole new way of learning!
It also feels very different to be ending the school year amid such strange circumstances and with so many 'unknowns' as to how and when our school year will begin again. I want to assure you that we will be communicating with families throughout the summer months to keep you up to date and informed with new policies and procedures that the state may require us to implement before reopening schools this coming year.
That being said, the teachers and staff at Skyview are all moving forward and planning for the start of next year with excitement and enthusiasm! Please keep an eye out for our Summer Skylines which will share the teaching assignments for each grade level; the new class-lists; as well as the classroom supply lists for each grade level. If you have any questions regarding the grade-level reconfigurations for next year, please feel free to contact Ms. Dena anytime! dford@skyview.k12.az.us
Here are some reminders for the last week of school: On Monday, May 18th from 11am to 1pm, the Primary teachers will have students’ end-of-year books and personal belongings from their cubbies ready for pick-up! It is important that you bring the books that were in your child's book bag on Monday. Belongings will not be handed out if books are not returned. The actual book bag can stay at home. Please plan to drive by Skyview between 11am-1pm to pick up your child’s things! You are welcome to come into the classroom to pick up materials (we’ve extended the pick-up time to ensure some social distancing among families). However, if you are not comfortable coming into the building, we will be happy to put your child’s things on the little sidewalk in front of the school and you are welcome to drive through and pick everything up that way.
During the final week of school I have scheduled one-on-one mini-conferences with each student. If you haven’t signed up for a time yet, please do so on the Sign-Up Genius . Also, please be sure to have your child fill out their Glow & Grow reflection sheet (these can be found below or on the padlet) prior to our individual meeting. You can take a picture of it and email it to me, or post it in their portfolio on class-dojo. I look forward to connecting with your child to reflect on their school year, and to set some goals for the new year ahead! NOTE*** We will be having our last weekly whole-class zoom meeting on Wednesday at 8:30 am. We will be celebrating two birthdays; Amelie Faye and Elleis Stultz)
Also, your child’s final progress report will be emailed to each family during the last week of school. Each family will be receiving an additional 50 hours of volunteer time (added to whatever you’ve already done this year) for your time ‘volunteering’ to teach your child from home:-)
On Thursday, May 21st from 9:00am-10:00am is our final reverse parade! All families are invited to drive through the Skyview parking lot and wave (at a safe distance) to their teachers. We look forward to seeing you all there, and celebrating the end of the most unusual school year!
One last thing… Many families have asked if we will keep our Padlet up and running over the summer? The answer is, yes! We will not be posting any mandatory assignments - just some fun photos, projects, and activities that you and your child(ren) can work on this summer together! If you have any suggestions of things you’d like to see added to the Padlet, or types of activities your child is interested in, please let us know!
Sending you all lots of love and gratitude as we sail into summer!
Love, ~ Ms. Jennifer & Ms. Anna
5/14~ Check out Emily's sunshiny weather report on classdojo.
As an activity today please have students make appreciation cards or videos for Ms. Lucy and/or Ms. Ashley Ortiz (Lisa's T.A.). We would love for you to post these videos and cards on the ART/DANCE DOJO. See image on the left as an example of where to download these cards or videos. Both ladies have been such a positive light in our children's educational experience and amazing humans at Skyview.
5/13~ Yesterday during our Zoom meeting Ms. Lisa and Ms. Bre announced to the class that both Ashley, Ms. Lisa's aide and Lucy, Ms Bre's aide will not be returning next year. We thought it would be nice if the kiddos could draw a picture or write some messages to both Ms. Ashley and Ms. Lucy on the art/dance classdojo site. It would really mean a lot to both of them.
Also, we will have one last class zoom meeting next week on Wednesday at 8:30 am. This is a day and time change. We will not have our regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday at 9:30. I will put a reminder and link on the classdojo site.
Please save-the-date and plan to drive by school on Monday, May 18th between 11am to Noon to pick-up your child’s things! We will trade you the books in your child's book bag for their personal belongings. The students may keep their book bags to use next year or at home. Also, if you checked out a chromebook to use during this time please be sure to return it on this day as well. It is really important that all of these items are returned to school no later than Thursday, May 21st.
5/12 ~
Welcome to Tuesday. This morning we will Zoom at 9:30. The code is on classdojo. Today we will have a weather report from Hayden Barnes. During our final week of school (May 18-20), I will be setting up short, mini-conferences with each individual student, to reflect on their past school year and to set goals for the upcoming year. Attached is their Glow & Grow sheet that I would like them to compete BEFORE our scheduled meeting time together. There is one page that has questions they can think about and two blank pages to choose from to complete. Please click here for the Sign-up Genius so that you can choose a good time for your child’s meeting with me (via Zoom!)
5/11~ Dear Families,
Just when we’ve finally gotten into the rhythm of distance-learning, the school year comes to a close! We have two more weeks left in this final quarter, and I encourage you all to help your child(ren) finish strong!
This coming week, the Primary teachers will be posting new assignments on the Padlet for math, phonics, reading and science. For writing, students may continue to work on their booklets during this coming week. On Monday, May 11th, we will have printed packets available for those families who have requested them. If you previously requested printed copies, but no longer need them, please let us know asap. Likewise, if you need anything printed out for next week, let your child’s homeroom teacher know before Monday, and you can pick up copies at Skyview between 11am - Noon. Thank you!
Our class will have our regularly scheduled Class-Zoom meeting on Tuesday, May 12th at 9:30AM, (the meeting links are on the Class-dojo).
We will not be assigning new home-work items, but there will be some fun things posted on the Padlet during the final week of school. However, Monday, May 18th will be the day that families can come to Skyview to pick up their child’s personal belongings. Our classroom aids have been working hard, putting together a special end-of-year book for each child which highlights the quality work they’ve completed during the first three-quarters of the school year. Please save-the-date and plan to drive by school on Monday, May 18th between 11am and Noon to pick-up your child’s things!
During our final week of school (May 18-20), I will be setting up short, mini-conferences with each individual student, to reflect on their past school year and to set goals for the upcoming year. Attached is their Glow & Grow sheet that I would like them to compete BEFORE our scheduled meeting time together. There is one page that has questions they can think about and two blank pages to choose from to complete. Please click here for the Sign-up Genius so that you can choose a good time for your child’s meeting with me (via Zoom!)
Thursday, May 21st is our official last day of school for the year. We will be having our final reverse parade for Kindergarten through 6th grade students on Thursday morning to celebrate the end of the year! (Middle School is having a separate graduation parade on Thursday evening.) Stay tuned for more details… exact time and themes to be announced soon!
Ms. Dena recently sent out a special school bulletin announcing some changes at Skyview that are happening for this coming school year. We are all genuinely excited about the grade level shifts, and we are all diligently working on the logistics and details during this time, to make next year a smooth and easy transition for everyone! You are all probably wondering…. “So, who is my child’s teacher going to be next year?” Well, we still have a few more things to finalize before we can share that information with our school community, but I assure you that the social and emotional well-being, as well as the academic growth of your child is a high priority for us! We take all of these factors into consideration when placing each student with their next teacher, as well as with the other students in the class. If you do have questions about the upcoming school year, Ms. Dena has asked that you kindly reach out to her, dford@skyview.k12.az.us as she is more than happy to talk with you about any questions or concerns you might have. Thank you so much for your patience as we work together through these exciting new changes!
With Gratitude,
~The Primary Team
Ms. Jen & Ms. Anna
5/7~ It's the end of the week!! Are you staying cool out there? Today Sam will be bringing us the weather. We will not have a Zoom meeting today. See you next week on Tuesday. Keep sending your pictures it's a great way to stay connected and see what everyone is up to. Don't forget to checkout classdojo and the padlet to view pictures and see Lemonade with Ms. Jenny videos. They are fantastic. Have a wonderful weekend!!
5/6~ Happy Hump Day!! Be sure to check out Charlies' Hot, Hot, Hot weather forecast on classdojo!! It was great to see you all on Zoom yesterday. We will not have our weekly Zoom on Thursday this week. We are currently working on gathering all of the student's personal belongings. The plan is to have everything ready to be picked up on Monday, May 18th. More info will be sent out as we get closer to that date. What are you doing to have some fun during this time? Take some pictures and send them to me jromero@skyview.k12.az.us so I can post them on classdojo.
5/5 ~ Happy Cinco de Mayo!! Thank you to all of you for making my day with that amazing video!! It really filled my bucket and reminded me how much I love and miss all of you !!!
Today be sure to check out weather girl Arya McCabe live from Prescott Valley with her cat on classdojo. This morning at 9:30 we will have a zoom meeting, we will be celebrating Presley's birthday. I have set up a Sign up genius for Zoom chats with Ms. Jen. These chats are for either students that want to say hi and check in or need some help with their activities or it could be for parents that want to checkin or need some help navigating homeschool learning. Please click here to sign up. Also, checkout Park Plaza on Facebook. They will be having street taco packages for sale today to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. What a fun way to go out and support one of our local businesses in Prescott. Have a fantastic day!!
5/4~ Happy Birthday Presley Fann!! Rumor has it she turns 104 today :). Please send birthday messages to me at jromero@skyview.k12.az.us and I will get them to Presley. May the fourth be with you!! Happy Star Wars day and happy May!! Hard to believe we are already in the month of May. It was so great to see so many of you at the reverse parade on Thursday. Today we have Elsie bringing us her weather report from Las Vegas. Be sure to view the video on classdojo. This week students will start making an End of Year lapbook. This assignment will be completed over the next two weeks for writing. In science we will continue to learn about simple machines and be sure to check out the fun Star Wars activities under the Family fun column on our padlet. Thank you for continuing to turn in assignments either on classdojo or SeeSaw. Whichever works best for you. A quick note, the links to our class zoom meetings do not show up on the "students" classdojo page. In order to get the link you must sign out of the student page and log in as a parent. I am not sure why.
I have set up a Sign up genius for Zoom chats with Ms. Jen. These chats are for either students that want to say hi and check in or need some help with their activities or it could be for parents that want to checkin or need some help navigating homeschool learning. Please click here to sign up. Have a fantastic day!!
4/30~Happy tie-dye and tutu day!!!! Lucia is representing in her weather report today. Head over to classdojo to check it out. Don’t forget to email your Spirit Week photos to jkrasin579@gmail.com, for tomorrow’s episode of Lemonade with Ms. Jenny! She’ll be accepting photos until 5pm tonight. Also, don’t forget to drive through our Reverse Parade today from 3-4pm. I can't wait to see you all!! Because of the parade we won't be having a Zoom meeting today.
4/29~ Wednesday is WACKY!! Don't forget to head over to classdojo to see pictures of everybody's spirit and also the great weather reports from our Daily Guides this week!! I hope to see you at the Reverse parade tomorrow at 3:00. Also, if you and your family have been creating or doing something fun like a garden or project please share pictures of these with us. You can send them to jromero@skyview.us.az.
4/28~It’s Spirit Week at Skyview! We hope that you and your family will take part in this fun activity by dressing up and showing off your Skyview Spirit! Here are the themes for each day:
Tuesday is Pajama Day - Wear your comfiest jammies all day long! Wear your PJs to our Zoom meeting this morning at 9:30. You can find the link to the Zoom Meeting on classdojo.
Please email photos of your Spirit-Week costumes to your teachers school email:
Ms. Jennifer’s Homeroom: jromero@skyview.k12.az.us
Be sure to check out Trinity ad Liam as our local Skyview Meterologists on classdojo! This week we will have new items posted on our Primary Padlet. We are launching into our new science until on Simple Machines. This is a fun, hands-on unit where children are able to discover how inventors have used the idea of simple machines to make work and life easier throughout history.
Both 1st and 2nd grade students will have new math packets for this week, as well as new phonics activities. There is also an opinion writing project for Primary students and a character study for reading.
Please continue to carve out at least 15 minutes each day for your child to practice reading aloud. You can read books that you have in your home, or log-in to our classroom Epic account and have your child choose ‘good-fit’ books that they can read independently. A good-fit book is one that your child can read fluently and accurately. Fluency means they read it like they talk, without sounding like a robot. Accuracy is knowing about 99% of the words, without needing to stop and stretch them out. Once your child has read their book aloud, please help them with their comprehension (understanding) of the concepts and main ideas. I’ve attached a document with questions that can help your child to become a better reader when reading fiction and non-fictions texts.
See you at 9:30,
Ms Jen
4/27~ Welcome to Mascot Monday!! This week we will have a Zoom meeting only on Tuesday at 9:30. The Zoom meeting on Thursday has been cancelled because of the reverse parade. We hope to see you at the reverse parade at 3:00 :). We are working to gather your child's personal belongings along with some amazing schoolwork and artwork that we have collected over the year. When we get closer to completion on this I will let you know and we will have a pick up day to collect these items. Have a fantastic day!!
Monday-Mascot Monday
Tuesday- Pajama Day
Wednesday- Wacky Wednesday
Thursday- Tie-dye, Tutus Thursday
REVERSE PARADE #2 Thursday at 3 in the Skyview parking lot
4/24~ Welcome to the end of the week!! I don't know about you but I am looking forward to a beautiful weekend! Next week is going to be exciting we are having a virtual Spirit Week. Here are the themes for the days:
Monday-Mascot Monday
Tuesday- Pajama Day
Wednesday- Wacky Wednesday
Thursday- Tie-dye, Tutus Thursday
REVERSE PARADE #2 Thursday at 3 in the Skyview parking lot
Please take pictures/videos of your spirit and email them to me. I will post the fun on classdojo. Also, a lot of you are liking SeeSaw as a way for your child to complete and submit work. One helpful hint for students to be able to write in an activity is to increase the size of the virtual paper. The size the children see is often too small for them to write on neatly. By clicking on the + sign-in the magnifying glass in the upper lefthand corner of the screen the page will increase in size. Also, if your child has not completes the whole assignment they can click the draft button on the upper right corner and the assignment will be saved to be completed later. I hope this is helpful. Have a fun filled weekend!
Gratefully,
Ms. Jen
4/23~ I hope everybody enjoyed a beautiful day yesterday! Today we have our Zoom meeting at 3:00. everybody come with your party clothes on. We will be celebrating Sadie H's birthday. To get the meeting ID go to classdojo. Sadly we do not have a class meteorologist today. I will be sending home an email and the necessary paperwork for 4 lucky kiddos today to be next week's weather people. A few helpful tips for SeeSaw; I have had some zoom meetings with a few families this week and all of them were very pleased with the ease of SeeSaw, however I need to let you know a couple of helpful hints. In order to use SeeSaw you have to download the app. There are two apps. One is for the parents to check in on their child, this is the family app. In order for the children to see and complete their activities the SeeSaw classapp needs to be downloaded. Please see the icons above, they look very similar. It is completely up to you whether you use Class dojo or SeeSaw. SeeSaw is help for families that don't have access to a printer. See you later this afternoon!
4/22~ Happy Earth Day!! Happy Birthday Sadie H!!! We will be celebrating Sadie's B-day tomorrow at our 3:00 Zoom meeting. The meeting ID can be found on our classdojo page. It's going to be a beautiful day according to our local adorable meteorologist Amelie. Be sure to check out her weather forecast on Classdojo. Rumor has it that Presley and Cole are famous and were on 12 News yesterday with his weather forecast and joke. Click here to see the link. We are still in need of a weather forecaster for tomorrow. If you are interested email Ms. Jen before noon today. Go out and celebrate Earth day doing something fun in nature. Share some pictures and we'll post them on our Classdojo page!!
4/21~ Today Cole Flood is our jokester meteorologist. Check out his video on classdojo! We have some birthdays to celebrate this week. If you could make a short video wishing Emmalyn a happy birthday and another video for Sadie H that would be fantastic. I will combine the videos and send them to the girls. Yesterday was Emmalyn's birthday so we will be celebrating her in our 9:30 Zoom meeting today. The login for the Zoom meeting can be found on the parent classdojo page. I have set up a Sign up genius for Zoom chats with Ms. Jen. These chats are for either students that want to say hi and check in or need some help with their activities or it could be for parents that want to checkin or need some help navigating homeschool learning. Please click here to sign up
This week I am still in need of someone to volunteer to be our class meteorologist for Thursday, If you are interested email me before tomorrow. For this activity a student would dress up as a meteorologist and create a video weather forecast for the day. I will post the videos on Classdojo. I will upload some sheets with information that the kiddos can use to gather the data they will present in their video. Have a beautiful day!!
4/20~
Spring is in full swing and we hope you all are getting outside and enjoying this wonderful weather! Don't forget to check out our Class meteorologist daily on classdojo. Today it is Presley Fann :).
This week, our ‘Mini-Meteorologists’ will be learning about wind and the different types of clouds during their Science activities. Next week we will be launching into our final Science unit about Simple Machines! If you haven’t already, please log in to our Classroom Epic account (this is an account that has already been created for your child at school - you do not need to sign up individually).
If you are in Ms. Anna’s Homeroom, the code is: wxp5241
Coming up this week - Both homeroom classes will be hosting our weekly class zoom meetings:
Ms. Jen’s class meeting @ 9:30AM on Tuesdays & 3:00pm on Thursdays.
Ms. Anna’s class meeting @ 10:00AM on Wednesdays & (Additional meeting
time TBA *please see survey that was just emailed to you about a day/time for
a second meeting).
Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day! Attached is a fun Earth-Day activity for all ages, sponsored by Prescott College. Feel free to participate at your discretion and submit a project to the coordinator (contact info included on the attached poster.)
Also, just a quick note about the Primary Padlet: The Primary Team works diligently to get everything uploaded for the week on Monday mornings. However, please always check back throughout the week, in case we’ve added something new! We are also strongly encouraging families to create a schedule that works for their unique circumstances, so assignments will not be due until the following Monday. Please be sure to take some down-time for you and your children and build in breaks from school work! (Your teachers are going to be taking breaks on Saturdays and Sundays in order to do our other jobs as spouses and parents).
Feel free to reach out to us with questions, and let us know if you need support with anything. Remember for our class that instead of printed packets you can also access worksheets etc on the Seesaw app. These do not need to be printed out and can be completed right in the app.
If you would like printed copies PLEASE BE SURE TO LET YOUR CHILD’S HOMEROOM TEACHER KNOW ASAP IF YOU NEED PRINTED MATERIALS. We are printing packets on Mondays and will have them available for pickup at Skyview between 11am-Noon. Thank you!
Big (virtual) Hugs!
The Primary Team
Ms. Jen &~Ms. Anna
4/16 ~ Good morning everyone! As of today I have 4 pieces of art for Good Samaritan from children. I know we can get at least 20 pieces from the children. Please before anything else today if your child hasn't completed this task have them make a piece of art and email it to me this afternoon. The directions for this activity are on the far right of the padlet under Family Fun activities. I would really like to brighten the halls of this community.
Today at 3:00 there will be a class zoom meeting. Please find the code on the parent classdojo page.
A lot of you have expressed a need for paper copies of the work that is on the padlet. I would like to try something in place of this. Earlier in the week I shared with you about the app Seesaw. On this app students will be able to access the worksheets and virtually write on the assignments and submit them without having to take pictures
and uploading. Later today I will be sending the directions for the student sign-in for Seesaw. Please have your child sign in and start looking at the activities that have been posted. These activities are not required. This is just another option for families to be supported in homeschooling. If you are comfortable with downloading the assignments off of the padlet and uploading onto classdojo please continue to do so.
Next week I thought it would be fun to reintroduce the Daily Guide segment into our morning meeting. For this activity a student would dress up as a meteorologist and create a video weather forecast for the day. I will post the videos on Classdojo. I will upload some sheets with information that the kiddos can use to gather the data they will present in their video. For next week I will take 4 volunteers. If you are interested send me an email by Thursday at 3:00 to let me know that your child would like to participate. I will get the information and day out to the families by the end of the day Friday so there is enough time to prepare.
4/15 ~ Today I would like to send the child made art to Good Samaritan Prescott Hospice in Prescott, AZ. If your child has not completed this activity please have them work on it during the day. The directions are under "Family Fun " activities on the padlet. I would like to send at least 20.
Next week I thought it would be fun to reintroduce the Daily Guide segment into our morning meeting. For this activity a student would dress up as a meteorologist and create a video weather forecast for the day. I will post the videos on Classdojo. I will upload some sheets with information that the kiddos can use to gather the data they will present in their video. For next week I will take 4 volunteers. If you are interested send me an email by Thursday at 3:00 to let me know that your child would like to participate. I will get the information and day out to the families by the end of the day Friday so there is enough time to prepare.
4/14~ It was so fun to see so many of you at our Reverse-Parade on Friday. We miss and love all of your families dearly! If you weren’t able to make it over to school this time, we will definitely be doing it again sometime before the end of the school year!
I just wanted to touch base with families about a few things this week, and as always please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may be having. Check out the slideshow above. New pictures of the parade, from Ms. Gwen, were added
Coming up this week…
We have our class Zoom meeting at 9:30am on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing all of your kiddos on that day! We would love to hear about/see something they have made; a skill they have learned; a project they have done; or anything else they would like to share with their class this week. We’ll try to keep the shares to about 1 minute each so that everyone has time to share if they want to! We will also have a parent Zoom after our student meeting. This is a time to ask questions, share ideas on what’s working (and what’s not,) and connect with each other.
Yesterday I sent out, via email, the login information for SeeSaw. If you haven't already signed up please do so. This week will be a time to explore and get used to the format. Seesaw is an app that allows students to interact with their assignments by recording their voices, responding to assignments by typing and drawing directly in the app. Another key feature is that students have the option to work right on an attached worksheet rather than having to print out the page. If you have any questions please reach out so that I can assist you.
Until we get everyone up and running on SeeSaw, many of you have questions (and might be feeling frustrated) about how and what to upload into the Class Dojo. I just want to let you know that whatever you have done so far is great. I’m getting lots of great school work “turned in” and responding to assignments as quickly as possible! The Class-Dojo is the platform that was chosen to use schoolwide, and even though it doesn’t fit every need (like not being able to upload more than one photo at a time) we’ll try to make it work through the end of the school year. Here are a few suggestions and tips for uploading into Class-Dojo that might be helpful:
Ms. Jen
4/13~Happy Monday families. Today is Max Phillip's birthday. If you would be able to video your child saying Happy Birthday to Max and sharing a birthday compliment. That would be fantastic. Email these videos to me by 12 today and I will make a movie to send to Max. I am currently working on adding activities to the padlet for this week. This week's activities are in yellow. Also, I have test piloted a new and much easier platform to access activities and upload student created materials. On this platform children are able to upload more than 1 paper at a time, have more interaction with assignments by recording themselves, drawing, and creating videos. Documents can be written on directly from the app and don't need to be printed out. This platform is called SeeSaw. I will be sending out needed information to access this app later today. As always if you have any questions please reach out from 8:30-10:30 and then also from 1-3 pm. Make it a great day!!
4/8-9~ Good Morning families. My morning got away from me with my "mom" duties and my letter is a little late. I wanted to let you know that I am posting an activity on the Padlet (Under Fun Family activities) to help a local retirement home. My hope is the children can participate to bring a little sunshine to our elderly community during this isolating time. Please check it out and email me a picture of your child's project. Tomorrow we will have our Zoom meeting at 3. There have been some problems with connecting on Zoom so I am asking that you connect through the parent login on classdojo instead of the students page. I hope you have a wonderful day...stay warm. Might be a great day to fly a kite.
4/7~It's Zoom meeting day!! Please see the link on classdojo to join. Our meeting will begin at 9:30. Parents, right after the class meeting at 9:45 I will have a quick forum for questions you may have about online learning etc. Today is the last day to request weekly paper packets for your child. Please email me and let me know if you would like to receive these. The paper packets will be available for pick up only on Mondays in the late morning. Time to be determined before Friday. Paper packets will still need to be uploaded on classdojo to be turned in. Go out and make it a great day and enjoy the sunny weather before the rain comes tomorrow.
4/6 ~
Thank you all for what each of you are doing to help your child be a successful learner at home! It’s not easy to work from home, teach your child, and navigate the ups and downs of daily life right now. We know you are all doing the very best you can under these unique circumstances, and we appreciate your continued support!
We wanted to share a few things and reminders as we move into the next few weeks of distance-learning together:
Class-dojo: There are two ways to access the Class Dojo -
is where Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Anna will be posting student assignments at the beginning of each week. New assignments will be uploaded on Monday mornings (and will be a new color from the week before). Students are encouraged to work through these weekly assignments at their own pace. Help your child create a choice schedule which allows them to choose the order in which they would like to work through the weekly assignment. NOTE* Encourage your child to make at least one harder choice first - before doing the thing they naturally gravitate towards which is likely the easiest one for them (i.e. making sure they are eating their vegetables BEFORE they have dessert!)
Zoom: We are really enjoying seeing all of our students at our weekly Zoom meetings. This week, we will also be hosting a special ‘Parent-Meeting’ AFTER our student-Zoom call. Parents, if you would like to join us for the parent portion of our meeting (to ask/answer question, share what’s working/what not, and connect with other parents who are in working through similar challenges at home), this meeting will take place directly following your child’s class-meeting:
Daily Schedule: We highly recommend making a daily schedule that works for YOUR family! I’ve attached a sample schedule that I am using for my own family to help us keep up with daily school work as well as daily life: Feel free to use this, create your own, and/or modify it to work for you and your child. Here are some helpful time guidelines, recommended by the Arizona Department for Education, for doing school-work at home: (NOTE* Even though our child attends school from 8:00am-3:00pm, they are not expected to sit and do schoolwork for 7 hours every day:)
We hope you all have a wonderful week, and feel free to reach out to your child’s homeroom teacher with any questions, ideas and/or suggestions you have! Remember, we’re all in this together!
Gratefully,
~The Primary Team
4/2~Don't forget we have a Zoom Meeting today at 3:00. Please bring a game that you like to play with your family to share with everybody. Also, here is the schedule that you might use to help guide your family for the day. This is just a suggestion. In our family we sit down with our children in the morning and look at their Padlet. We discuss which activities they would like to accomplish or that are a priority and then write them down in the corresponding box. You'll notice that when the times are added up it is more than the recommended 1-2 hrs a day. Most of the time your child will get the task done before the time is up. The boxes are to write in the activity that will be accomplished for the day. You can either print the schedule out and write on it or type into the actual document.
CLICK HERE FOR SCHEDULE
As we go into the weekend remember games are a fantastic way for families to connect and for children to learn executive function otherwise known as EF. Executive function is a group of skills that help manage tasks and goals. These mental tools begin to develop early in a child's life. Games help the mind stay focused, practice self control and allow for flexibility solving problems to be able to manage and complete tasks. Pop some popcorn, gather around the table and get ready to have some family fun!
4/1~ Happy April Fool's day!! It was great to have the dance party yesterday with the kiddos!! Those are the part of my day I look forward too. A lot of people have been asking how long the children should be focusing on schoolwork while at home. A good guideline for our age students in Primary is no more that 1-2 hours a day spread out in short increments. Please just do what's best for your child. With the weather being better this week try to encourage your child to be outside and or doing recreational activities for at least an hour. Everybody is finding out what is best for their family and this is a good thing. Some families are working well with the structure of a schedule for the day and others are keeping more of a unstructured day. You know your child and family best. Some families have asked for a template for a schedule, so later this morning I will be posting an example on our Padlet. With the decision to not come back for the school year there are a lot of questions about how Skyview is going to proceed with meeting the end of the year standards so that children come back next year ready to go. I want to let you know that the Skyview staff will be meeting on Friday to discuss this and as soon as there is a plan I will reach out to all of you with the information. Finally, if you haven't logged on to classdojo as a parent yet please do so because some of the items I am posting aren't making it to the student's page. ( I'm not sure why). Make it a great day everybody!!!
3/31~ Last day of March! We will be having a Zoom classroom meeting this morning at 9:30. Go to classdojo to get the link to this meeting. If you signed up for a parent Zoom with me on Signup Genius I will be emailing you the link the day of our meeting. It breaks my heart that we will not be able to join together for the remainder of the year. We will make the most of it through Zoom. This is all new to us so we will move on with understanding, love and kindness and we will succeed! Please know that I am here for all of you! Different ways are going to work for different families so we will get creative and do what is necessary to make a positive impact during this difficult time. I'm glad to be going through this with such an incredible group of children and parents!
Carpe Diem, Ms, Jen
3/30~ Thanks for visiting the website to check in. I hope your family had a restful weekend and was able to enjoy the great spring weather. I will be sending out progress reports today along with a sign up genius for a Zoom check in. This Zoom check in is not required. It is just a way for me to check in, make connections and see how online learning is working with each family. Click here for Signup Genius
On padlet you will notice that we are starting to color code each lesson. This is to help differentiate activities weekly. Purple activities were from last week and blue activities are for the current week. You are able to work at your own pace and also skip around to choices that are a good fit for your child. Thank you for all that you are doing!!
3/28~ Although the way we are communicating is through the computer and we are including assignments that are online please don't forget that free exploration and self guided play and learning are also very important. The Primary Team is really going to try to give everybody many different options and ideas during this time. Ms. Dena shared this article with the staff that does a wonderful job of speaking to this point. Many of you might have seen it on the Skyview Facebook page.
Click here for article
It is great seeing all of the posts from the students on class dojo. Please keep them coming!
If you haven't had your child log into Padlet and or Prodigy please do so. These are important websites that will help guide your child's learning during these times. You can click on the links above to get started. As of today 13/24 families have completed the Zoom survey. If you have not completed it please do so before Monday. Here is the link Zoom Survey. My hope is that from the survey I can find times that fit most families schedules so that the students can stay connected.
Our next Zoom Meeting will be Tuesday at 9:30 am
Attached are the directions for how to use Zoom
zoom_instructions.pdf
Dear Families,
We never could have predicted that our school year would end this way... You all have done the incredible (and nearly impossible) job of teaching/working/parenting and living from home. I commend you all for your sincere efforts, your tireless diligence, and your immense patience with this whole new way of learning!
It also feels very different to be ending the school year amid such strange circumstances and with so many 'unknowns' as to how and when our school year will begin again. I want to assure you that we will be communicating with families throughout the summer months to keep you up to date and informed with new policies and procedures that the state may require us to implement before reopening schools this coming year.
That being said, the teachers and staff at Skyview are all moving forward and planning for the start of next year with excitement and enthusiasm! Please keep an eye out for our Summer Skylines which will share the teaching assignments for each grade level; the new class-lists; as well as the classroom supply lists for each grade level. If you have any questions regarding the grade-level reconfigurations for next year, please feel free to contact Ms. Dena anytime! dford@skyview.k12.az.us
Here are some reminders for the last week of school: On Monday, May 18th from 11am to 1pm, the Primary teachers will have students’ end-of-year books and personal belongings from their cubbies ready for pick-up! It is important that you bring the books that were in your child's book bag on Monday. Belongings will not be handed out if books are not returned. The actual book bag can stay at home. Please plan to drive by Skyview between 11am-1pm to pick up your child’s things! You are welcome to come into the classroom to pick up materials (we’ve extended the pick-up time to ensure some social distancing among families). However, if you are not comfortable coming into the building, we will be happy to put your child’s things on the little sidewalk in front of the school and you are welcome to drive through and pick everything up that way.
During the final week of school I have scheduled one-on-one mini-conferences with each student. If you haven’t signed up for a time yet, please do so on the Sign-Up Genius . Also, please be sure to have your child fill out their Glow & Grow reflection sheet (these can be found below or on the padlet) prior to our individual meeting. You can take a picture of it and email it to me, or post it in their portfolio on class-dojo. I look forward to connecting with your child to reflect on their school year, and to set some goals for the new year ahead! NOTE*** We will be having our last weekly whole-class zoom meeting on Wednesday at 8:30 am. We will be celebrating two birthdays; Amelie Faye and Elleis Stultz)
Also, your child’s final progress report will be emailed to each family during the last week of school. Each family will be receiving an additional 50 hours of volunteer time (added to whatever you’ve already done this year) for your time ‘volunteering’ to teach your child from home:-)
On Thursday, May 21st from 9:00am-10:00am is our final reverse parade! All families are invited to drive through the Skyview parking lot and wave (at a safe distance) to their teachers. We look forward to seeing you all there, and celebrating the end of the most unusual school year!
One last thing… Many families have asked if we will keep our Padlet up and running over the summer? The answer is, yes! We will not be posting any mandatory assignments - just some fun photos, projects, and activities that you and your child(ren) can work on this summer together! If you have any suggestions of things you’d like to see added to the Padlet, or types of activities your child is interested in, please let us know!
Sending you all lots of love and gratitude as we sail into summer!
Love, ~ Ms. Jennifer & Ms. Anna
5/14~ Check out Emily's sunshiny weather report on classdojo.
As an activity today please have students make appreciation cards or videos for Ms. Lucy and/or Ms. Ashley Ortiz (Lisa's T.A.). We would love for you to post these videos and cards on the ART/DANCE DOJO. See image on the left as an example of where to download these cards or videos. Both ladies have been such a positive light in our children's educational experience and amazing humans at Skyview.
5/13~ Yesterday during our Zoom meeting Ms. Lisa and Ms. Bre announced to the class that both Ashley, Ms. Lisa's aide and Lucy, Ms Bre's aide will not be returning next year. We thought it would be nice if the kiddos could draw a picture or write some messages to both Ms. Ashley and Ms. Lucy on the art/dance classdojo site. It would really mean a lot to both of them.
Also, we will have one last class zoom meeting next week on Wednesday at 8:30 am. This is a day and time change. We will not have our regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday at 9:30. I will put a reminder and link on the classdojo site.
Please save-the-date and plan to drive by school on Monday, May 18th between 11am to Noon to pick-up your child’s things! We will trade you the books in your child's book bag for their personal belongings. The students may keep their book bags to use next year or at home. Also, if you checked out a chromebook to use during this time please be sure to return it on this day as well. It is really important that all of these items are returned to school no later than Thursday, May 21st.
5/12 ~
Welcome to Tuesday. This morning we will Zoom at 9:30. The code is on classdojo. Today we will have a weather report from Hayden Barnes. During our final week of school (May 18-20), I will be setting up short, mini-conferences with each individual student, to reflect on their past school year and to set goals for the upcoming year. Attached is their Glow & Grow sheet that I would like them to compete BEFORE our scheduled meeting time together. There is one page that has questions they can think about and two blank pages to choose from to complete. Please click here for the Sign-up Genius so that you can choose a good time for your child’s meeting with me (via Zoom!)
5/11~ Dear Families,
Just when we’ve finally gotten into the rhythm of distance-learning, the school year comes to a close! We have two more weeks left in this final quarter, and I encourage you all to help your child(ren) finish strong!
This coming week, the Primary teachers will be posting new assignments on the Padlet for math, phonics, reading and science. For writing, students may continue to work on their booklets during this coming week. On Monday, May 11th, we will have printed packets available for those families who have requested them. If you previously requested printed copies, but no longer need them, please let us know asap. Likewise, if you need anything printed out for next week, let your child’s homeroom teacher know before Monday, and you can pick up copies at Skyview between 11am - Noon. Thank you!
Our class will have our regularly scheduled Class-Zoom meeting on Tuesday, May 12th at 9:30AM, (the meeting links are on the Class-dojo).
We will not be assigning new home-work items, but there will be some fun things posted on the Padlet during the final week of school. However, Monday, May 18th will be the day that families can come to Skyview to pick up their child’s personal belongings. Our classroom aids have been working hard, putting together a special end-of-year book for each child which highlights the quality work they’ve completed during the first three-quarters of the school year. Please save-the-date and plan to drive by school on Monday, May 18th between 11am and Noon to pick-up your child’s things!
During our final week of school (May 18-20), I will be setting up short, mini-conferences with each individual student, to reflect on their past school year and to set goals for the upcoming year. Attached is their Glow & Grow sheet that I would like them to compete BEFORE our scheduled meeting time together. There is one page that has questions they can think about and two blank pages to choose from to complete. Please click here for the Sign-up Genius so that you can choose a good time for your child’s meeting with me (via Zoom!)
Thursday, May 21st is our official last day of school for the year. We will be having our final reverse parade for Kindergarten through 6th grade students on Thursday morning to celebrate the end of the year! (Middle School is having a separate graduation parade on Thursday evening.) Stay tuned for more details… exact time and themes to be announced soon!
Ms. Dena recently sent out a special school bulletin announcing some changes at Skyview that are happening for this coming school year. We are all genuinely excited about the grade level shifts, and we are all diligently working on the logistics and details during this time, to make next year a smooth and easy transition for everyone! You are all probably wondering…. “So, who is my child’s teacher going to be next year?” Well, we still have a few more things to finalize before we can share that information with our school community, but I assure you that the social and emotional well-being, as well as the academic growth of your child is a high priority for us! We take all of these factors into consideration when placing each student with their next teacher, as well as with the other students in the class. If you do have questions about the upcoming school year, Ms. Dena has asked that you kindly reach out to her, dford@skyview.k12.az.us as she is more than happy to talk with you about any questions or concerns you might have. Thank you so much for your patience as we work together through these exciting new changes!
With Gratitude,
~The Primary Team
Ms. Jen & Ms. Anna
5/7~ It's the end of the week!! Are you staying cool out there? Today Sam will be bringing us the weather. We will not have a Zoom meeting today. See you next week on Tuesday. Keep sending your pictures it's a great way to stay connected and see what everyone is up to. Don't forget to checkout classdojo and the padlet to view pictures and see Lemonade with Ms. Jenny videos. They are fantastic. Have a wonderful weekend!!
5/6~ Happy Hump Day!! Be sure to check out Charlies' Hot, Hot, Hot weather forecast on classdojo!! It was great to see you all on Zoom yesterday. We will not have our weekly Zoom on Thursday this week. We are currently working on gathering all of the student's personal belongings. The plan is to have everything ready to be picked up on Monday, May 18th. More info will be sent out as we get closer to that date. What are you doing to have some fun during this time? Take some pictures and send them to me jromero@skyview.k12.az.us so I can post them on classdojo.
5/5 ~ Happy Cinco de Mayo!! Thank you to all of you for making my day with that amazing video!! It really filled my bucket and reminded me how much I love and miss all of you !!!
Today be sure to check out weather girl Arya McCabe live from Prescott Valley with her cat on classdojo. This morning at 9:30 we will have a zoom meeting, we will be celebrating Presley's birthday. I have set up a Sign up genius for Zoom chats with Ms. Jen. These chats are for either students that want to say hi and check in or need some help with their activities or it could be for parents that want to checkin or need some help navigating homeschool learning. Please click here to sign up. Also, checkout Park Plaza on Facebook. They will be having street taco packages for sale today to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. What a fun way to go out and support one of our local businesses in Prescott. Have a fantastic day!!
5/4~ Happy Birthday Presley Fann!! Rumor has it she turns 104 today :). Please send birthday messages to me at jromero@skyview.k12.az.us and I will get them to Presley. May the fourth be with you!! Happy Star Wars day and happy May!! Hard to believe we are already in the month of May. It was so great to see so many of you at the reverse parade on Thursday. Today we have Elsie bringing us her weather report from Las Vegas. Be sure to view the video on classdojo. This week students will start making an End of Year lapbook. This assignment will be completed over the next two weeks for writing. In science we will continue to learn about simple machines and be sure to check out the fun Star Wars activities under the Family fun column on our padlet. Thank you for continuing to turn in assignments either on classdojo or SeeSaw. Whichever works best for you. A quick note, the links to our class zoom meetings do not show up on the "students" classdojo page. In order to get the link you must sign out of the student page and log in as a parent. I am not sure why.
I have set up a Sign up genius for Zoom chats with Ms. Jen. These chats are for either students that want to say hi and check in or need some help with their activities or it could be for parents that want to checkin or need some help navigating homeschool learning. Please click here to sign up. Have a fantastic day!!
4/30~Happy tie-dye and tutu day!!!! Lucia is representing in her weather report today. Head over to classdojo to check it out. Don’t forget to email your Spirit Week photos to jkrasin579@gmail.com, for tomorrow’s episode of Lemonade with Ms. Jenny! She’ll be accepting photos until 5pm tonight. Also, don’t forget to drive through our Reverse Parade today from 3-4pm. I can't wait to see you all!! Because of the parade we won't be having a Zoom meeting today.
4/29~ Wednesday is WACKY!! Don't forget to head over to classdojo to see pictures of everybody's spirit and also the great weather reports from our Daily Guides this week!! I hope to see you at the Reverse parade tomorrow at 3:00. Also, if you and your family have been creating or doing something fun like a garden or project please share pictures of these with us. You can send them to jromero@skyview.us.az.
4/28~It’s Spirit Week at Skyview! We hope that you and your family will take part in this fun activity by dressing up and showing off your Skyview Spirit! Here are the themes for each day:
Tuesday is Pajama Day - Wear your comfiest jammies all day long! Wear your PJs to our Zoom meeting this morning at 9:30. You can find the link to the Zoom Meeting on classdojo.
Please email photos of your Spirit-Week costumes to your teachers school email:
Ms. Jennifer’s Homeroom: jromero@skyview.k12.az.us
Be sure to check out Trinity ad Liam as our local Skyview Meterologists on classdojo! This week we will have new items posted on our Primary Padlet. We are launching into our new science until on Simple Machines. This is a fun, hands-on unit where children are able to discover how inventors have used the idea of simple machines to make work and life easier throughout history.
Both 1st and 2nd grade students will have new math packets for this week, as well as new phonics activities. There is also an opinion writing project for Primary students and a character study for reading.
Please continue to carve out at least 15 minutes each day for your child to practice reading aloud. You can read books that you have in your home, or log-in to our classroom Epic account and have your child choose ‘good-fit’ books that they can read independently. A good-fit book is one that your child can read fluently and accurately. Fluency means they read it like they talk, without sounding like a robot. Accuracy is knowing about 99% of the words, without needing to stop and stretch them out. Once your child has read their book aloud, please help them with their comprehension (understanding) of the concepts and main ideas. I’ve attached a document with questions that can help your child to become a better reader when reading fiction and non-fictions texts.
See you at 9:30,
Ms Jen
4/27~ Welcome to Mascot Monday!! This week we will have a Zoom meeting only on Tuesday at 9:30. The Zoom meeting on Thursday has been cancelled because of the reverse parade. We hope to see you at the reverse parade at 3:00 :). We are working to gather your child's personal belongings along with some amazing schoolwork and artwork that we have collected over the year. When we get closer to completion on this I will let you know and we will have a pick up day to collect these items. Have a fantastic day!!
Monday-Mascot Monday
Tuesday- Pajama Day
Wednesday- Wacky Wednesday
Thursday- Tie-dye, Tutus Thursday
REVERSE PARADE #2 Thursday at 3 in the Skyview parking lot
4/24~ Welcome to the end of the week!! I don't know about you but I am looking forward to a beautiful weekend! Next week is going to be exciting we are having a virtual Spirit Week. Here are the themes for the days:
Monday-Mascot Monday
Tuesday- Pajama Day
Wednesday- Wacky Wednesday
Thursday- Tie-dye, Tutus Thursday
REVERSE PARADE #2 Thursday at 3 in the Skyview parking lot
Please take pictures/videos of your spirit and email them to me. I will post the fun on classdojo. Also, a lot of you are liking SeeSaw as a way for your child to complete and submit work. One helpful hint for students to be able to write in an activity is to increase the size of the virtual paper. The size the children see is often too small for them to write on neatly. By clicking on the + sign-in the magnifying glass in the upper lefthand corner of the screen the page will increase in size. Also, if your child has not completes the whole assignment they can click the draft button on the upper right corner and the assignment will be saved to be completed later. I hope this is helpful. Have a fun filled weekend!
Gratefully,
Ms. Jen
4/23~ I hope everybody enjoyed a beautiful day yesterday! Today we have our Zoom meeting at 3:00. everybody come with your party clothes on. We will be celebrating Sadie H's birthday. To get the meeting ID go to classdojo. Sadly we do not have a class meteorologist today. I will be sending home an email and the necessary paperwork for 4 lucky kiddos today to be next week's weather people. A few helpful tips for SeeSaw; I have had some zoom meetings with a few families this week and all of them were very pleased with the ease of SeeSaw, however I need to let you know a couple of helpful hints. In order to use SeeSaw you have to download the app. There are two apps. One is for the parents to check in on their child, this is the family app. In order for the children to see and complete their activities the SeeSaw classapp needs to be downloaded. Please see the icons above, they look very similar. It is completely up to you whether you use Class dojo or SeeSaw. SeeSaw is help for families that don't have access to a printer. See you later this afternoon!
4/22~ Happy Earth Day!! Happy Birthday Sadie H!!! We will be celebrating Sadie's B-day tomorrow at our 3:00 Zoom meeting. The meeting ID can be found on our classdojo page. It's going to be a beautiful day according to our local adorable meteorologist Amelie. Be sure to check out her weather forecast on Classdojo. Rumor has it that Presley and Cole are famous and were on 12 News yesterday with his weather forecast and joke. Click here to see the link. We are still in need of a weather forecaster for tomorrow. If you are interested email Ms. Jen before noon today. Go out and celebrate Earth day doing something fun in nature. Share some pictures and we'll post them on our Classdojo page!!
4/21~ Today Cole Flood is our jokester meteorologist. Check out his video on classdojo! We have some birthdays to celebrate this week. If you could make a short video wishing Emmalyn a happy birthday and another video for Sadie H that would be fantastic. I will combine the videos and send them to the girls. Yesterday was Emmalyn's birthday so we will be celebrating her in our 9:30 Zoom meeting today. The login for the Zoom meeting can be found on the parent classdojo page. I have set up a Sign up genius for Zoom chats with Ms. Jen. These chats are for either students that want to say hi and check in or need some help with their activities or it could be for parents that want to checkin or need some help navigating homeschool learning. Please click here to sign up
This week I am still in need of someone to volunteer to be our class meteorologist for Thursday, If you are interested email me before tomorrow. For this activity a student would dress up as a meteorologist and create a video weather forecast for the day. I will post the videos on Classdojo. I will upload some sheets with information that the kiddos can use to gather the data they will present in their video. Have a beautiful day!!
4/20~
Spring is in full swing and we hope you all are getting outside and enjoying this wonderful weather! Don't forget to check out our Class meteorologist daily on classdojo. Today it is Presley Fann :).
This week, our ‘Mini-Meteorologists’ will be learning about wind and the different types of clouds during their Science activities. Next week we will be launching into our final Science unit about Simple Machines! If you haven’t already, please log in to our Classroom Epic account (this is an account that has already been created for your child at school - you do not need to sign up individually).
- Go to https://www.getepic.com/
- Click on STUDENTS
- Enter your Child’s Class Code:
If you are in Ms. Anna’s Homeroom, the code is: wxp5241
- When your child’s teacher assigns a book for your child to read in Epic, a pop-up window will appear when they first log-in. They can either choose to read the book right then, but if they close the pop-up window, they can access the assigned book in their Epic mail-box at a different time.
Coming up this week - Both homeroom classes will be hosting our weekly class zoom meetings:
Ms. Jen’s class meeting @ 9:30AM on Tuesdays & 3:00pm on Thursdays.
Ms. Anna’s class meeting @ 10:00AM on Wednesdays & (Additional meeting
time TBA *please see survey that was just emailed to you about a day/time for
a second meeting).
Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day! Attached is a fun Earth-Day activity for all ages, sponsored by Prescott College. Feel free to participate at your discretion and submit a project to the coordinator (contact info included on the attached poster.)
Also, just a quick note about the Primary Padlet: The Primary Team works diligently to get everything uploaded for the week on Monday mornings. However, please always check back throughout the week, in case we’ve added something new! We are also strongly encouraging families to create a schedule that works for their unique circumstances, so assignments will not be due until the following Monday. Please be sure to take some down-time for you and your children and build in breaks from school work! (Your teachers are going to be taking breaks on Saturdays and Sundays in order to do our other jobs as spouses and parents).
Feel free to reach out to us with questions, and let us know if you need support with anything. Remember for our class that instead of printed packets you can also access worksheets etc on the Seesaw app. These do not need to be printed out and can be completed right in the app.
If you would like printed copies PLEASE BE SURE TO LET YOUR CHILD’S HOMEROOM TEACHER KNOW ASAP IF YOU NEED PRINTED MATERIALS. We are printing packets on Mondays and will have them available for pickup at Skyview between 11am-Noon. Thank you!
Big (virtual) Hugs!
The Primary Team
Ms. Jen &~Ms. Anna
4/16 ~ Good morning everyone! As of today I have 4 pieces of art for Good Samaritan from children. I know we can get at least 20 pieces from the children. Please before anything else today if your child hasn't completed this task have them make a piece of art and email it to me this afternoon. The directions for this activity are on the far right of the padlet under Family Fun activities. I would really like to brighten the halls of this community.
Today at 3:00 there will be a class zoom meeting. Please find the code on the parent classdojo page.
A lot of you have expressed a need for paper copies of the work that is on the padlet. I would like to try something in place of this. Earlier in the week I shared with you about the app Seesaw. On this app students will be able to access the worksheets and virtually write on the assignments and submit them without having to take pictures
and uploading. Later today I will be sending the directions for the student sign-in for Seesaw. Please have your child sign in and start looking at the activities that have been posted. These activities are not required. This is just another option for families to be supported in homeschooling. If you are comfortable with downloading the assignments off of the padlet and uploading onto classdojo please continue to do so.
Next week I thought it would be fun to reintroduce the Daily Guide segment into our morning meeting. For this activity a student would dress up as a meteorologist and create a video weather forecast for the day. I will post the videos on Classdojo. I will upload some sheets with information that the kiddos can use to gather the data they will present in their video. For next week I will take 4 volunteers. If you are interested send me an email by Thursday at 3:00 to let me know that your child would like to participate. I will get the information and day out to the families by the end of the day Friday so there is enough time to prepare.
4/15 ~ Today I would like to send the child made art to Good Samaritan Prescott Hospice in Prescott, AZ. If your child has not completed this activity please have them work on it during the day. The directions are under "Family Fun " activities on the padlet. I would like to send at least 20.
Next week I thought it would be fun to reintroduce the Daily Guide segment into our morning meeting. For this activity a student would dress up as a meteorologist and create a video weather forecast for the day. I will post the videos on Classdojo. I will upload some sheets with information that the kiddos can use to gather the data they will present in their video. For next week I will take 4 volunteers. If you are interested send me an email by Thursday at 3:00 to let me know that your child would like to participate. I will get the information and day out to the families by the end of the day Friday so there is enough time to prepare.
4/14~ It was so fun to see so many of you at our Reverse-Parade on Friday. We miss and love all of your families dearly! If you weren’t able to make it over to school this time, we will definitely be doing it again sometime before the end of the school year!
I just wanted to touch base with families about a few things this week, and as always please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may be having. Check out the slideshow above. New pictures of the parade, from Ms. Gwen, were added
Coming up this week…
We have our class Zoom meeting at 9:30am on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing all of your kiddos on that day! We would love to hear about/see something they have made; a skill they have learned; a project they have done; or anything else they would like to share with their class this week. We’ll try to keep the shares to about 1 minute each so that everyone has time to share if they want to! We will also have a parent Zoom after our student meeting. This is a time to ask questions, share ideas on what’s working (and what’s not,) and connect with each other.
Yesterday I sent out, via email, the login information for SeeSaw. If you haven't already signed up please do so. This week will be a time to explore and get used to the format. Seesaw is an app that allows students to interact with their assignments by recording their voices, responding to assignments by typing and drawing directly in the app. Another key feature is that students have the option to work right on an attached worksheet rather than having to print out the page. If you have any questions please reach out so that I can assist you.
Until we get everyone up and running on SeeSaw, many of you have questions (and might be feeling frustrated) about how and what to upload into the Class Dojo. I just want to let you know that whatever you have done so far is great. I’m getting lots of great school work “turned in” and responding to assignments as quickly as possible! The Class-Dojo is the platform that was chosen to use schoolwide, and even though it doesn’t fit every need (like not being able to upload more than one photo at a time) we’ll try to make it work through the end of the school year. Here are a few suggestions and tips for uploading into Class-Dojo that might be helpful:
- Be sure that you are logged in to our Class-dojo as a student (NOT as a parent) when you are trying to upload an assignment. However, if you want to comment or post in the Class Story you do need to be logged in as a parent… confusing, right!?!?)
- When you are logged in as your student, at the top of your screen you should see a menu bar with icons (video, photo, drawing, file or journal).
- The video icon allows you to take a video with whichever device you are using and submit the video into your child’s digital portfolio.
- The photo icon allows you to take a photo with your device and submit that photo to the portfolio.
- The file icon allows you to either upload a photo or a document from your computer/desk-top and submit it to the portfolio.
- The journal and draw icons allow you to write/draw something and/or submit a response (this is useful if you have questions, comments, want to share what your child has been doing at home.)
- Since our Primary kiddos are young (and may not be as tech-savvy as some of the older students at Skyview), we do understand that uploading and turning in school work, may feel like another full-time job for you:-) Please feel free to take a picture of just the first page of something (like the math packets) and submit that, instead of uploading every single page. As teachers we are trusting that you know if your child has completed it all, to the best of their ability.
- When you upload work for your child into their portfolio, there is a place where you can also include a comment. It’s always helpful when you add a comment and tell us which assignment you’re uploading, so that we can be sure the correct teacher sees it. Ms. Anna and I share access to each other’s class dojos so that we can see what the students in each of our subject areas are turning in. We also love seeing and hearing about what our students have been up to so keep sharing those pictures and uploads!
- We haven’t found a way for parents to ‘share’ or upload directly into the Class-Dojo yet, and the portfolios are private (only a child’s parents and teachers can see what’s posted in them). If your child has something they would like for EVERYONE to see, just send me a message and I can post it in our class story for everyone to enjoy!
- And last, but certainly not least; we never want you to feel overwhelmed by the amount of work that is being offered to your children. If your child receives additional services at school (such as speech or Title I reading, and therefore you have another padlet/teacher that you are working with), please feel free to modify the amount of reading/phonics assignments that your child is doing at home. During the regular school year, we do not typically assign homework to those students who also receive additional assignments from the other specialists at Skyview.
Ms. Jen
4/13~Happy Monday families. Today is Max Phillip's birthday. If you would be able to video your child saying Happy Birthday to Max and sharing a birthday compliment. That would be fantastic. Email these videos to me by 12 today and I will make a movie to send to Max. I am currently working on adding activities to the padlet for this week. This week's activities are in yellow. Also, I have test piloted a new and much easier platform to access activities and upload student created materials. On this platform children are able to upload more than 1 paper at a time, have more interaction with assignments by recording themselves, drawing, and creating videos. Documents can be written on directly from the app and don't need to be printed out. This platform is called SeeSaw. I will be sending out needed information to access this app later today. As always if you have any questions please reach out from 8:30-10:30 and then also from 1-3 pm. Make it a great day!!
4/8-9~ Good Morning families. My morning got away from me with my "mom" duties and my letter is a little late. I wanted to let you know that I am posting an activity on the Padlet (Under Fun Family activities) to help a local retirement home. My hope is the children can participate to bring a little sunshine to our elderly community during this isolating time. Please check it out and email me a picture of your child's project. Tomorrow we will have our Zoom meeting at 3. There have been some problems with connecting on Zoom so I am asking that you connect through the parent login on classdojo instead of the students page. I hope you have a wonderful day...stay warm. Might be a great day to fly a kite.
4/7~It's Zoom meeting day!! Please see the link on classdojo to join. Our meeting will begin at 9:30. Parents, right after the class meeting at 9:45 I will have a quick forum for questions you may have about online learning etc. Today is the last day to request weekly paper packets for your child. Please email me and let me know if you would like to receive these. The paper packets will be available for pick up only on Mondays in the late morning. Time to be determined before Friday. Paper packets will still need to be uploaded on classdojo to be turned in. Go out and make it a great day and enjoy the sunny weather before the rain comes tomorrow.
4/6 ~
Thank you all for what each of you are doing to help your child be a successful learner at home! It’s not easy to work from home, teach your child, and navigate the ups and downs of daily life right now. We know you are all doing the very best you can under these unique circumstances, and we appreciate your continued support!
We wanted to share a few things and reminders as we move into the next few weeks of distance-learning together:
Class-dojo: There are two ways to access the Class Dojo -
- The first way is through a parent login. Parents will log in with their email and password. Parents, when you are logged in to our Class-dojo, you will be able to see our Class-Story (which is like our news feed and where we are posting updates, links to our class meetings, and announcements about our class). You can comment on posts and you can see your individual child’s portfolio (NOTE* - you cannot upload things into your child’s portfolio when you are logged in as a parent!)
- The second way to access the Class-dojo is to log in as a student. You need the student’s unique QR code to do this (the QR codes were emailed to each parent last week). When you are logged in as a student, you have access to your child’s portfolio. You can see which assignments are due, and which ones they have already turned in. You can also add additional items to your child’s portfolio in the form of an attached file, take a photo, you can make a video, or you can write/draw something and post it to the portfolio for review. Once you’ve turned in something to the portfolio, your child’s teacher gets a notification that you’ve turned something in. Your teacher will review it, and either ‘approve’ it (and it will be added to the portfolio), or return it to your child as a ‘draft’ with comments so that they can add/fix/change things before turning it back in. Please use the student log-in to Class-Dojo when turning in completed assignments to your child’s teacher - it makes is so much easier for us to find and record what your child is turning in each week!
is where Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Anna will be posting student assignments at the beginning of each week. New assignments will be uploaded on Monday mornings (and will be a new color from the week before). Students are encouraged to work through these weekly assignments at their own pace. Help your child create a choice schedule which allows them to choose the order in which they would like to work through the weekly assignment. NOTE* Encourage your child to make at least one harder choice first - before doing the thing they naturally gravitate towards which is likely the easiest one for them (i.e. making sure they are eating their vegetables BEFORE they have dessert!)
Zoom: We are really enjoying seeing all of our students at our weekly Zoom meetings. This week, we will also be hosting a special ‘Parent-Meeting’ AFTER our student-Zoom call. Parents, if you would like to join us for the parent portion of our meeting (to ask/answer question, share what’s working/what not, and connect with other parents who are in working through similar challenges at home), this meeting will take place directly following your child’s class-meeting:
- Ms. Jennifer’s Class Meeting - Tuesday @ 9:30am
Daily Schedule: We highly recommend making a daily schedule that works for YOUR family! I’ve attached a sample schedule that I am using for my own family to help us keep up with daily school work as well as daily life: Feel free to use this, create your own, and/or modify it to work for you and your child. Here are some helpful time guidelines, recommended by the Arizona Department for Education, for doing school-work at home: (NOTE* Even though our child attends school from 8:00am-3:00pm, they are not expected to sit and do schoolwork for 7 hours every day:)
- Elementary Students (K-4th grade): 1-2 hours a day, broken into smaller chunks of time.
- Middle School Students (5th-8th grade): 2-3 hours a day at home
- High School Students (9th-12th grade): 3-4 hours a day at home
We hope you all have a wonderful week, and feel free to reach out to your child’s homeroom teacher with any questions, ideas and/or suggestions you have! Remember, we’re all in this together!
Gratefully,
~The Primary Team
4/2~Don't forget we have a Zoom Meeting today at 3:00. Please bring a game that you like to play with your family to share with everybody. Also, here is the schedule that you might use to help guide your family for the day. This is just a suggestion. In our family we sit down with our children in the morning and look at their Padlet. We discuss which activities they would like to accomplish or that are a priority and then write them down in the corresponding box. You'll notice that when the times are added up it is more than the recommended 1-2 hrs a day. Most of the time your child will get the task done before the time is up. The boxes are to write in the activity that will be accomplished for the day. You can either print the schedule out and write on it or type into the actual document.
CLICK HERE FOR SCHEDULE
As we go into the weekend remember games are a fantastic way for families to connect and for children to learn executive function otherwise known as EF. Executive function is a group of skills that help manage tasks and goals. These mental tools begin to develop early in a child's life. Games help the mind stay focused, practice self control and allow for flexibility solving problems to be able to manage and complete tasks. Pop some popcorn, gather around the table and get ready to have some family fun!
4/1~ Happy April Fool's day!! It was great to have the dance party yesterday with the kiddos!! Those are the part of my day I look forward too. A lot of people have been asking how long the children should be focusing on schoolwork while at home. A good guideline for our age students in Primary is no more that 1-2 hours a day spread out in short increments. Please just do what's best for your child. With the weather being better this week try to encourage your child to be outside and or doing recreational activities for at least an hour. Everybody is finding out what is best for their family and this is a good thing. Some families are working well with the structure of a schedule for the day and others are keeping more of a unstructured day. You know your child and family best. Some families have asked for a template for a schedule, so later this morning I will be posting an example on our Padlet. With the decision to not come back for the school year there are a lot of questions about how Skyview is going to proceed with meeting the end of the year standards so that children come back next year ready to go. I want to let you know that the Skyview staff will be meeting on Friday to discuss this and as soon as there is a plan I will reach out to all of you with the information. Finally, if you haven't logged on to classdojo as a parent yet please do so because some of the items I am posting aren't making it to the student's page. ( I'm not sure why). Make it a great day everybody!!!
3/31~ Last day of March! We will be having a Zoom classroom meeting this morning at 9:30. Go to classdojo to get the link to this meeting. If you signed up for a parent Zoom with me on Signup Genius I will be emailing you the link the day of our meeting. It breaks my heart that we will not be able to join together for the remainder of the year. We will make the most of it through Zoom. This is all new to us so we will move on with understanding, love and kindness and we will succeed! Please know that I am here for all of you! Different ways are going to work for different families so we will get creative and do what is necessary to make a positive impact during this difficult time. I'm glad to be going through this with such an incredible group of children and parents!
Carpe Diem, Ms, Jen
3/30~ Thanks for visiting the website to check in. I hope your family had a restful weekend and was able to enjoy the great spring weather. I will be sending out progress reports today along with a sign up genius for a Zoom check in. This Zoom check in is not required. It is just a way for me to check in, make connections and see how online learning is working with each family. Click here for Signup Genius
On padlet you will notice that we are starting to color code each lesson. This is to help differentiate activities weekly. Purple activities were from last week and blue activities are for the current week. You are able to work at your own pace and also skip around to choices that are a good fit for your child. Thank you for all that you are doing!!
3/28~ Although the way we are communicating is through the computer and we are including assignments that are online please don't forget that free exploration and self guided play and learning are also very important. The Primary Team is really going to try to give everybody many different options and ideas during this time. Ms. Dena shared this article with the staff that does a wonderful job of speaking to this point. Many of you might have seen it on the Skyview Facebook page.
Click here for article
It is great seeing all of the posts from the students on class dojo. Please keep them coming!
If you haven't had your child log into Padlet and or Prodigy please do so. These are important websites that will help guide your child's learning during these times. You can click on the links above to get started. As of today 13/24 families have completed the Zoom survey. If you have not completed it please do so before Monday. Here is the link Zoom Survey. My hope is that from the survey I can find times that fit most families schedules so that the students can stay connected.
Our next Zoom Meeting will be Tuesday at 9:30 am
Attached are the directions for how to use Zoom
zoom_instructions.pdf