SIGSBEE SCOOP

respect, responsibility, (and an extra dose of...) resilience

PLEASE CHECK OUR HOME LEARNING PAGE FOR  INFORMATION

MONDAY, APRIL 6-9

Week 2 home learning- period attendance for grades 5-8
 (attendance will be taken in every live lesson throughout the day)
Graded assignments begin in grades 4-8
Middle School PE requirements added

Thursday- 

Wear Purple during your live lessons in honor of military kids

HOME LEARNING UPDATE

Wow!  What a week it's been.  Thank you families for supporting your children through this unprecedented time.  We are incredibly proud of our students' resilience and participation.  Our attendance this week had between 95-99% of students engaged in live lessons.  We are so impressed with how hard everyone is working: students, parents, teachers.

WEEK 2 NEWS

• Live lessons- it is very important that you engage in this part of the learning.  Teachers of young children understand that it may be difficult to maintain attention throughout the lesson.  Don't worry!  Do your best.  A student can always rejoin after taking a break or turn the microphone off and listen in.  We are all exercising flexibility and grace.
• Graded assignments are starting- we've given everyone a week to get acclimated and now teachers will be formally assessing work from students.  Grades 5-8 should start seeing graded assignments.  Teachers are ready to be generous and flexible but also want students to be accountable since this is our new mode of schooling for a while. See below for more information.
• Submit authentic student work.  It can be difficult to sit back while your child misspells a word or grapples with a concept you can clarify.  However, it is really important that the teachers have an accurate assessment of what the student understands independently.  Please don't do the work for the students.  Besides, we can tell it's not their work.
• Expanded free lunch distribution centers.  Free lunch is being brought to several different locations across the keys for any child, ages 0-18 (see locations below).  The District is no longer requiring the child to be present.  Please take advantage of this service if you have a need.
• Access to student/family counseling services. Our full staff is on duty. Please don't hesitate to contact a counselor should you want some support throughout this period.  Click HERE to access their information
• Remote work locations:  We have moved almost all of our staff to remote work locations in order to protect their health and safety.  The school is a no-contact facility, meaning parents/students should not drop by.  If you need to contact a staff member, please email.  If you have something at school that you need to access, you can email the principal.  (eli.jannes@sigsbee.org)
• Connectivity issues:  Now that the entire keys community is online throughout the day, we will surely be facing slow or no connectivity issues.  Be patient.  While internet may be running slowly, it usually comes back in a reasonable amount of time.  If you lose connectivity or power for an extended period, don't worry.  Your child will not be held responsible and can make up the work at a later time.  Take that opportunity to read, cook, walk, bike, or do a craft.

ZOOMBOMBING

Recently, there have been some articles in the news warning users of teleconferencing sessions being hijacked by outsiders who disrupt Zoom meetings to display pornographic and/or hate messages. The term "zoombombing" is used to describe these abominable acts.  We want to be sure that our families understand these episodes occur with individuals who have not researched and implemented safety precautions and/or those who are using a free account from Zoom.

SCS has purchased a much more secure version of Zoom which only allows access to our sigsbee.org users (staff and students).  We've followed the FBI guidelines for ensuring our meetings are secure.  These include:

• Making the meetings private, within our domain,  and using the waiting room to ensure that no one enters who doesn't belong.
• Requiring students to enter meetings only with the Sigsbee domain name
• Providing meeting links only in secure places (protected SeeSaw and Google Classroom accounts) 
• Restricting access to those with sigsbee.org domains, even if someone were to be enter a correct meeting ID
• Managing screen sharing options to “Host Only.”
• Centrally controlling key settings so that the accounts continue to be private and secure.
• Alerting parents that students should not download a free account of the software
• Testing external access to ensure that people outside the domain cannot enter.

We feel comfortable that these precautions are keeping your children safe and secure within a closed community.  However, if you are hesitant to allow your child to participate in live lesson meetings, you have some options:

• Keep the video off so that your child is not displayed on any screen
• Opt for alternate assignments that you can do with your child at home.

GRADING FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 5-8

Students will be graded on participation and completion of activities using the standard grading scale as percentages for completion. For instance, 80% completion*/participation* yields grade B. 

*Participation: The student is actively engaged and participating in online activities, such as lectures and discussions (live lessons). 

*Completion: The student completes the assigned task as instructed and receives feedback from the teacher which will lead to a numerical grade. 

Students that log into the online environment but do not participate/complete assignments (long idle times) will not receive credit. Additionally, information regarding individual course grading practices will be forthcoming from your child’s teacher.