Dear families,

Today I just want to pass on a few information and tips for you and your family to get ready for doing school work at home. Keeping a routine will be helpful for you and your children.

Replicating a school type schedule at home is not realistic. A home environment and the familiarity of family creates a new dimension when trying to institute learning at home. Instead, working to establish some commonsense and doable routines will be more effective and helpful for students. In this way, the learning times will be more effective and easier to implement. 

Below is an example of a schedule that can be implemented at home with some recommendations: This will look different in each family of course.

Daily Routines During School Shutdown
7:00 – 9:00	Wake up, wash up, breakfast
9:00 – 11:00	Academics with wiggle breaks
11:00 – 12:00	Free play/socialize/outdoor time
12:00 – 12:30	Lunch
12:30 – 1:00	Silent Reading/nap time
1:00 – 2:00	Academics
2:00 – 3:00	Free Play
3:00 – 3:30	socialize/outdoor time
3:30 – 4:30	Chores

Tips for you:

• enjoy breakfast time together. This is often a rushed meal for many and now having time and not being pulled out the door can make for some more peaceful mornings and will set the stage for your day. Take time to do a family devotion together, review bible memory verses as family, kids might want to share a dream they had in the night, pray together (popsicle stick prayer, spin a wheel prayer, roll a die prayer are just a few fun ideas to get everybody involved- ask me for more details if you want)
• Get a spot ready for school supplies. This can be a drawer, a bin, a shelf, a card board box, whatever you have available. So that you and your student have a specific spot to find the needed supplies. I am getting various supplies from school ready that will be available for pick up. A letter with more details will come from the office.
• make work area available– depending on your space, having a designated work area is helpful as well. This can be the kitchen table, island, desk or whatever you have available, so that the students know where to go.

I’m planning to check in with each of you by phone tomorrow just to touch base. Also I plan to set up a weekly schedule with each family for a 15 min. video conference starting on the coming Monday. Start thinking what time would work best for you. Monday- Wednesday between 10-12 am and 1-3pm.

Idea for you:

Here is a cute activity that I was going to do in the class leading up to easter. A resurrection garden.

Do not feel you have to make one, I’m just sharing a picture in case you are interested.

This picture is from the internet that inspired me and I have made it for several years with my kids. Fill a planter or plate with dirt, lay a flower pot in it and cover it with dirt as well. If you want to sow grass seeds, spray it with water, and watch it grow. A bigger rock can be used to cover the flower pot/ tomb and small pebbles can be used in the front. Small sticks can be made into crosses and stuck into the dirt. On Easter Sunday you can open the tomb to symbolize that Jesus is alive! If you do this step by step you can incorporate the easter story into it.

This is my version. We have so much moss in our yard, so I chose moss instead of planting grass (although grass is funner as kids can watch it grow :). The Vedder River provides so many nice rocks to use.

Hope to reach you all tomorrow

Dear Parents and students,

 

Welcome back. Usually, at this time, we would be welcoming you back into our classroom with sunny smiles, laughter and fun tales of holiday exploits filling the air. However, these are not usual times. Recent events have created lots of uncertainty and unknowns in our world.

 

One thing we do know is that God is great and powerful. He is someone who is always faithful. Even during this time, where plans seem uncertain and ever changing, we know He has a plan for us.

 

We have drawn a lot on our faith in God these past few days as we have begun to plan for what your child’s education will look like in the coming days and weeks ahead. Hopefully, this post will begin to provide you with some information on some of the things we are working on, providing you with some comfort and clarity. 

 

We want you to know that:

 

1. School will continue – Teachers are hard at work preparing materials and activities to students to work on at home. Recognizing that there are many things vying for your attention on the homefront, we are trying hard to not overwhelm you. However, we do not want to just send home busy work but rather activities that are still strongly connected with the BC curriculum. 
2. Establishing a routine is important – One of the best things for your child is establishing a routine that you can follow as much as possible. Therefore, a suggested daily schedule will be sent home to help with building those all important routines into your day. Children like knowing what is going to happen each day and what the expectations are.   
3. Connections with your child are important to us – We are thinking and praying for our students. We miss their smiles, their unique personalities and their energy. We have built relationships with your child during this year and want those relationships to continue even at this time. We want your child to know that we are still here thinking of them and knowing that they are still important to us. Throughout the week, we will be contacting you and your child – on a scheduled basis – using a variety of methods (phone, email, and video conferencing).
4. Technology can be a powerful tool for remote learning but may be difficult – Bringing a number of technology tools to work in delivering content, activities and materials to your child can make for a different kind of dynamic learning experience. However, we recognize that families have differing abilities in accessing technology at home. Over the next few days, you will be contacted and asked to complete a short survey which will help us to determine the needs and capabilities of families in accessing technology. At the Intermediate level, there are plans to send our Chromebooks home with each student so that they have equal access to a tool commonly used at school. 
5. Students may need items from school – Elementary students use a wide variety of tools to complete work. In order to facilitate learning at home, some of these items will need to be returned to you. The Office and Admin are developing plans to provide families time to collect supplies from classrooms. This will allow you to have access to some common materials including pencil crayons, markers, scissors, rulers, paper, some duotangs, etc. Cognizant of the virulent nature of the Covid-19 virus, we are working on a way for parents to pick these materials up while maintaining the social distancing guidelines put out by Public Health. A schedule will be released by the office of pick-up times for your child.
6. Primary content and activities will be distributed through your child’s classroom blog. Intermediate students will continue to use Google Classroom to get their materials, activities and content.
7. There are many things we don’t know yet – We are working hard to answer as many questions as possible as quickly as possible and will strive to keep you updated as soon as we know more information.

 

We want to thank you for your patience during this time. God proclaims, 

 

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. We look forward to continuing to work closely with you, even in the face of these challenges.  

 

Dear families,

I’m sure that you had some twists and turns in your spring break, like my family experienced, and not all things turned out quite as planned. One thing that didn’t change in all of this is that God is good! I pray that you are safe in these new circumstances we find ourselves in.

Usually my bag would be packed and waiting at the door with lunch boxes ready to be filled in the morning. All of this is now a bit different. Welcome to a new chapter of distance learning with Highroad Academy. New territory for all of us and we might have mixed feelings.

During this week I will send you more information as we go along. I want to be here for you and your kindergarten student and work together with you in this new way of learning.

My daughter enjoys making cards and sent me this scripture the other morning. I find it fitting to share and encourage you as well.

Have a great day, enjoy a more relaxed breakfast with your kids as you don’t have to make lunches and rush out the door.

You will hear from me soon

Mrs. Ellis

 

 

Dear parents,

we have arrived in Spring break. 🙂 It is a joy to see such growth in your kids over these passed months. Completing a task, staying focused and engaged. I hope you enjoy the pictures below with some fun and focused learners.

Grandparents Day- the invitation came home this week and since not all of us have grandparents close by, I do want to add that another close adult (aunt, uncle, neighbour, family friend) is welcome to attend in the grand parents place. Having said that, we will see how the restrictions are for social gatherings when we get closer to the date.

I also need to let you know that the personal invitation to the musical Naaman that I sent home is not current anymore, as I had to cancel the whole spring camp.

Now, have a safe spring break with your family!

 

Thank you for sending board games along for our eating popcorn, playing games morning (since we used the last batch of popcorn for art 🙂 )

Puzzles can be challenging and these kids showed perseverance!

so focused on the group activity!

Dear parents,

Even though the deer keep eating the tulip leaves in our front yard as soon they peak out of the ground, spring is approaching. We are 3 days away from spring break in the ptr class.

Last donations for the Guatemala team can be dropped off as the suitcases for this trip are being packed. Thank you for all the hair accessories that were already dropped off. I also invite you to join us in prayer for this team, as they leave on Friday morning (super early at 1 am) for the 10 day trip to Guatemala.

On Wednesday, March 11th is our last day of school before the break and to celebrate all the learning that went on in the classroom, I would like to play some games as a group and also possible board games. If your child has a fun game that they could explain to a small group of kids, you are welcome to send it along.

See you tomorrow