Ms. B. in Class

Remember, in order to participate in morning meeting, the movie, and our shared visual lessons, you need to complete the Discord Rules and send it to Ms. Boelter. You can sign it on your phone. Many students have!

Here’s the link:

Here’s what I have planned for your students this week

• Wednesday: 1:00 – Story Time & Science, Discord
• Thursday: 12:15 Onward! Movie – Discord
• Friday: 10:30 – Morning Meeting, Google Classroom

The science lesson pdfs are assigned in Google Classroom. You can download and print, or students can write them on another piece of paper. I realize that a lot of you do not have printers. Your students can simply write this information on a blank piece of paper. Please do not feel pressure.

Mr. Higashi has started making art videos so you and your students can enjoy art class, even while at home. Please like his Facebook page and subscribe to his youtube videos.

House of Higashi

I’ve been asking my friends to read books and send me videos since we’ve all been stuck inside. On Wednesday around 1:00, I’d love for everyone to log into Discord so we can read one together. I’ve also scheduled our movie for 12:15 on Thursday.

I’ve posted additional assignments in reading and math. Next week, our grade level is going to a more collaborative learning environment. You may see questions which require students to pick their teacher. Know this is why. We’ve also had some feedback regarding the amount of email and contact we’re making, and some of this is overwhelming you all. So, for curriculum next week, I’ll likely send out one email with the schedule and assignment links. Any other communication will be follow up.

Finally, I’m trying to schedule a little one-on-one learning time with each of your students. As my routine gets better, I’ll be reaching out and asking you for available times when I work with your child remotely in 30 to 45 minute blocks. Thanks for all that you do. I see all of the kiddos working so hard, and I’m so proud of them!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I am thankful for my family and friends. I participated in a Google Hangout with my sisters this weekend and it sure lifted my spirits! Seeing their faces real time just put me more at ease.

Curriculum

Students are welcome to log into Discord and complete our morning meeting like we do in class. There is a chat entitled #morning meeting. They can share their good news and bad news there. I’ll also post occasional questions that all students can answer.

Please know that anything I assign at this point is not required. I’m doing my best to give you options. I’ve also heard from a few of you that too many options make it difficult. With that in mind, I made a schedule. You do not have to use the schedule. You’re more than welcome to, if you’d like to, though. I know I am running on Google Calendar appointments. It is the only way I get anything completed! In a remote learning day students should complete one reading comprehension article with questions, 20 minutes on Lexia, read a book for 20 minutes, write for 20 minutes, complete a math assignment, and spend 20 minutes on ST/Khan/Prodigy. We will work science and social studies in throughout the process.

I’ve also heard from some of you that using the computer for assignments isn’t as easy as paper and pencil. I will create a packet each week for a skill and place it in a Google Drive, which you can download. The skill for literal/non literal reading will require you to pick a passage and corresponding questions. It is a locked PDF and I can’t print and scan in like I used to be able to. If you have questions, reach out.

Math – This week we will work in Khan Academy and ST Math while learning about quadrilaterals. By the end of this unit, students should be able to recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces. They should demonstrate the ability to identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.

Reading – This week, we will work on literal and non literal language. By the end of the unit, students should be able to distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context. Students also have vocabulary words for the week, and a vocabulary lesson for each day. The Flocabulary lesson is on Google Classroom as well as on paper (in the drive share). Students love these videos, but cannot watch them without signing into their Google District Account.

If your student needs help getting signed in, we can do a discord/hangout/zoom meeting so that I can help them. PLEASE contact me and I’ll help you get logged in. I want students to have access to all of our activities.

Movie

It looks like the best day for us to watch Onward is Thursday afternoon. As soon as I verify a meeting, I’ll send a time so that you can all plan. Know it will be after noon and before 3 p.m.

Remote Learning Packet

Here’s the link to the remote learning packets I’ve put together. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iGykSy6zqSDXmQN1RGjj4HFsX8wiz_Qt?usp=sharing

There’s also a Google Slide Show for introduction to quadrilaterals. Note there are some answer keys in this directory. This is for you to access and print, not for students.

Specials

Our specialists will be creating lessons and posting them to our Stuckey website. As soon as we have more information, I’ll send an email/remind.

Spirit Days

Superhero Spirit Week for 3/23 – 3/27! Since we can’t be together, we can be together in spirit!

Monday – Backwards Day! Wear something backwards.
Tuesday – Be Kind Day! Wear your Be Kind shirt.
Wednesday – Sunshine Day! Wear yellow and spread a little sunshine.
Thursday – Crazy Sock Day!
Friday – Disney Day!

Also, if you would like to record your students saying the pledge or completing morning announcements, those videos are being shared on the Stuckey Facebook page. I’d love to see some Thunder Boelters in those videos!

CCSD Resources

The district has asked that we share this information with you:

If you or your students need access to food or anything else, please reach out to me. Also the district has these resources: https://sites.google.com/nv.ccsd.net/covid-19updates/food-distribution-information#h.609qrppo89og

The district’s remote learning information is located here: https://sites.google.com/nv.ccsd.net/covid-19updates/home#h.6bteld3lnvhd

Thanks for getting your students into Discord for our science lesson. We are going to do more of these! We will also have a zoom chat with our class soon. I want to make sure everyone understands expectations before we have our cameras on us, if students want to share video.

I cannot say “thank you” enough right now! I miss all of your students so very much.

Re – curriculum – I will post more lessons on Sunday night.

Finally, Onward is available on Disney Plus on April 3. I will host a discord watching party!! We will see this movie one way or another.

That is all I have for today. Love to all of you and your family!!

Tomorrow’s Science Live Stream

Hi, I wanted to remind you that we’ll be doing a live stream tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. I’ve been working out a few kinks, but there are likely going to be a few more. The first one will likely have some growing pains, simply by making sure everyone is logged in and can see me/my screen.

Reminder: Only students who have filled out and returned the rules may participate. One student took a picture or the chat rules and signed it with a phone. That is completely fine! We want to make sure that our learning environment is just like the classroom.

Those can be found in this post: https://msbinclass.com/2020/03/18/march-18-2020/

There is a download link by the discord rules. There is also a link to the science sheet, which students could even pull up in a phone or tablet and write down on a piece of paper if you don’t have a printer at home.

While in Discord, students can talk with a mic to friends or type to friends. I think we all miss each other, and it will be great for our classroom community.

Curriculum

I will post a week’s PDF with our spelling/vocabulary words, reading, writing, and math work on Monday of next week. I’ll also assign new articles on Freckle, NewsELA, Readworks, and Dreamscape for ELA. The NewsELA and Dreamscape articles can be the most challenging academically. If a student is struggling with any content, reach out, and I can help. We can even do a one on one discord session if needed.

If there is anything you need, I’m here to help. We’ve grown a lot this year. Each student learns differently. We have many options available. If all of the options are too overwhelming, email me, and I’ll help you make a daily schedule.

Kudos

We have kudos in Classcraft which allows students to cheer on other students. Students are more than welcome to send each other Kudos. Our kudos stream is really uplifting!

I’m also making sure to give students XP for working on classwork, no matter the type. If your student is also reading, etc, please send me a picture and I will give them more XP! We have some students who have really worked hard this week, and I am so proud of the hard work they are doing! If you are taking your students out for exercise, send me a picture of that, too. That’s our PE/Special for the day. Here is a picture of my dog Keebler and I finding a storm yesterday (while practicing social distancing):

Stuckey Spirit Days

The school is participating in virtual spirit days. Are you wearing your spirit clothes? I am. Here’s a picture of my shirt today.

• 

Captain’s Log – Day 3 of Isolation

I miss my students! It is time to get together virtually!

Discord

I have created a Discord channel for our class. You might be saying… “Another app, Ms. B.??” I know! It’s another one, but I can video cast from this one and students can chat with one another via voice and text. I have a set of rules below. If you and your student sign these rules, they can join me in a live Mystery Science lesson on Friday. I’ll be recording from my home, and they can even ask questions. They will need a headset and a mic of some sort if they would like to speak during the lesson. The headset helps with feedback. If I am talking and they are listening on speakers, it will feed right back into the computer and we’ll get the echo effect. If they are going to type questions and listen, they do not need a mic. This app is free and is available for android and iPhone. Students can use a phone headset to participate. You can participate too, if you’d like. I am hoping to do at least two live lessons a week. I will probably end up doing more, but I’d rather start small and build.

Friday’s Lesson – Clouds

6 Minute Podcasts

This has been a favorite in class and at home as well. My rule about the podcasts is that students can listen to one at a time in order as long as they write a summary or complete an activity about each. I’ll add some PDFs to a google drive file so you can access them. Students can always look at the PDF and then write it on another piece of paper.

Feedback

I will need your feedback on the science lesson for future lessons. What would you like me to teach when I do live lessons? Math, science, a reading skill, language? What things went well? What can we make better? I feel like I didn’t get all the time I could have with your students, and this will allow our classroom community to continue to grow.

Books, Music, Movies

Do you need more books at home? Check this out. The New York Times has opened up free ebook checkout. Their app is here: https://www.nypl.org/books-music-movies/ebookcentral/simplye

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I see all of the progress are making in our programs used in class. I am giving XP to all of the students who are working hard and making progress.

CCSD gave us some additional information about remote education. All of that information is here, COVID-19, the school closures, and more. That link is here: https://newsroom.ccsd.net/southern-nevada-health-district-recommendations/

Curriculum

The specific link to learning extension opportunities is here: https://sites.google.com/nv.ccsd.net/covid-19updates/home#h.6bteld3lnvhd

I planned on visiting geometry next in math. The Khan Academy link is above, as is also located on our sites used in class page and in Google Classroom. Khan provides videos for each lesson before students start working on specific skills. I would love for students to continue working on Khan Academy as it is completely adaptive for each student. It meets them where they are learning. If your student struggles with a concept, remind them that they can go back and watch the video again. Let them struggle a bit. They will get there!

For reading, science, social studies, writing, and grammar, I’ve assigned articles for the week on NewsELA, Readworks, and Freckle. NewsELA, Lexia, and Freckle are adaptive. Some students may feel challenged with the content. Please encourage them to keep trying and to take notes. We use a 4-corner note taking strategy. I’ve also assigned grammar in Khan Academy. Each section has a video. If you are at home with your student, you can watch the video together!

What’s New

I’ve created a classroom Discord channel and I am setting up Flipgrid as well which will allow students to converse with each other. I am working on creating rules and expectations before I release that content. I will require a virtual signature or a picture of a signature before providing the link for students to join.

Thank You!

Thanks for all that you are doing with your students. Know that their growth is my priority. If you or your family need anything, please reach out to me. I know that CCSD has set up a variety of resources, and I will do whatever I need to do to help you and your family during this time. We’re in uncharted territory, but we can accomplish great things together.

As soon as I receive guidelines from CCSD and if permitted, I will provide students with work/classwork via this website and Google Classroom.  In the interim, as we wait and see, I do have active objectives in ST Math, Prodigy, Lexia, Dreamscape, Freckle (Reading, Science, Social Studies articles), NewsELA (Current Events, Reading, Science, Social Studies), Classcraft (via learning quests), and Legends of Learning.  Your students can complete those objectives all week and they will be updated.  Students also have access to Code.org which really feeds those STEM skills.  Finally, Epic is free at home during this closure.  So, students have access to an endless library.

If you have any issue getting logged in, I’m happy to help.  Students have a card with all of their codes laminated in their GO Folder, and many have put them next to their chromebooks at home.  If they are unable to locate them, I’ll send a screenshot to you via email with those logins.

I know many of your households have two parents working.  For those who are scrambling to find child care right now, my thoughts are with you.  If you have one parent at home, I have seen many home schedules floating around via social media.  Our in class schedule is as follows.  I’ve put possible home act ivies in parenthesis if you’d like your student to work on similar assignments during that time:

• 9:10 – Unpack and write homework in your GO Folder
• 9:15 – Morning meeting
• 9:20 – Morning reading work and mini grammar lesson (Lexia)
• 9:40 – Whole group reading lesson  (NewsELA, Readworks, Dreamscape)
• 10:10 – Vocabulary, Lexia, tiered instruction (Vocabulary Quizlet, 6 Minute Podcasts with Summary, Freckle, Read on Epic)
• 11:05 – Specials
• 12:35 – Math warm up (XtraMath, Freckle)
• 1:00 – Whole Group Math (Khan Academy)
• 1:30 – Tiered math instruction, (ST Math)
• 2:00 – Science/Social Studies (Code.org or Science articles on NewsELA, Freckle, or Readworks)
• 2:25 – Writing (Notebook or Google Docs free write, prompts available on Google Classroom)

You can access the sites we use in class with their respective codes through your student’s Google Classroom Login here:  https://classroom.google.com/u/1/w/NDEwNzA2Mzc1OTJa/tc/NDEyOTI2MTYwNjZa

All of the sites we use in class are also here:  https://msbinclass.com/sites-used-in-class/

 

As many of you know, Governor Sisolak held a press conference stating that all schools in Nevada are closed until at least April 6.  As soon as we receive more information, I will update you.  Thank you for all of your support.  We will get through this like we do everything else, together.

More information here:  https://twitter.com/GovSisolak/status/1239316870223638528?s=20

I’ve had many of you reach out to me anxious about sending your students to school tomorrow.  I want you to know that I completely understand your apprehension.  Many of you have stated you will not send your students into school tomorrow.  I respect and understand that decision.

I have put tomorrow’s classwork in a PDF form so if you choose to keep your student home, they have curriculum with them.  Homework for the week will be digital only.  20 minutes of math and 20 minutes of reading.  The sites they can use are here:    https://msbinclass.com/sites-used-in-class/

Please reach out with any questions.  Know I get a lot of the information at the same time you do, but I’m happy to be an ear in a difficult and apprehensive time.

Here is tomorrow’s packet:  2020-03-16 CW