Intermediate School Schedule Information
Good Morning Families of the Intermediate School,
This past week with the return of our amazing staff, a great deal of progress has been made towards being ready for our first day of instruction. As an administrator, and as a parent, I feel incredibly fortunate to have such committed and talented people working with our children.
As a staff, we are also fortunate to have you, the families of our students, as our partners. As partners, we have received questions that continue to guide our work of preparing to educate in a remote setting. I thought it might be a good idea to send an email to the Intermediate School families answering some of the frequent questions that we have received.
Materials Distribution (Wednesday, September 2nd)
As a reminder, we will be distributing materials on Wednesday, September 2nd. These materials include an NCS Chromebook that we will be issued to your child. The Chromebook can only be issued once all family expectations have been met. These expectations are found by visiting https://www.newarkcharterschool.org/news/chromebook-distribution-details-4-12.
The distribution of materials will be broken up by grade level (4th: 8:00a - 10:00a, 5th: 10:00a - 12:00p and 6th: 12:00p - 2:00p). If your family has two students in the Intermediate School, but in different grades, you only need to make one trip. Simply select one of the two grade level time windows.
I must admit that the distribution of materials has become more complex on our end then I initially anticipated. It remains my hope that this is completed quickly and efficiently, however depending on how many people come at one time, you may have a small wait. I will be in the parking lot and may have to put cars in a holding area to keep the flow of traffic moving. Please be alert and come onto campus slowly.
School Supplies
In the summer bulletin, we communicated that the school supply list for Intermediate students can be found on the NCS website. You can find the grade specific school supply list by going to https://www.newarkcharterschool.org/intermediate-school/home. The teaching faculty of the Intermediate School are making every effort to ensure that the same practices that would take place in school will continue to take place at home. As such, the materials that were requested for in person learning still should be purchased for remote learning.
I recognize that teachers may ask for minor modifications to accommodate remote learning. If they have such requests, I am going to ask that they communicate those requests to you no later than the end of day Monday. If you do not hear from your child’s teacher, you can assume that the original school supply list is what they would like the students to have.
You do not have to purchase materials for 2nd Semester Specials at this time. Which leads me into my next section….
Schedules
Earlier this week, you should have received your child’s schedule from one of your child’s teachers. This would have come as an attachment, if you did not receive this schedule, please contact your child’s Guidance Counselor and they will make sure you receive a schedule. For 6th grade our Guidance Counselor is: Mrs. Darlene D’Aulerio (darlene.daulerio@ncs.k12.de.us), 5th grade Guidance Counselor is: Mrs. Michelle Donohue (michelle.donohue@ncs.k12.de.us) and (while in remote learning) our 4th grade is split between Mrs. Donohue and Mrs. D’Aulerio. For this purpose, please feel free to email either Mrs. Donohue or Mrs. D’Aulerio.
This schedule will be utilized only in a remote setting. During the remote setting, we will not be using homerooms in any capacity. We look forward to returning to in person learning where homerooms will once again be utilized.
Specials (Phys. Education, Music, Art, Spanish, Technology/Keyboarding)
While “Specials” are not unique to a remote setting, how students are going to receive their Specials lessons will look different from how they are accessing the Core curriculum. All Specials classes are recorded, not live. By 8:30a of each A Day (this typically will fall on Mondays and Thursdays) your child’s Specials teachers will upload a lesson. This lesson will include a video of them delivering instruction along with an assignment. The video will be approximately 20 minutes long. Assignments will vary between actual work products or an assurance that the video was carefully watched. The assurances need to be completed for attendance purposes. These assurances can be submitted by the student. It is not necessary for parents to do so. Assignments need to be completed and submitted for academic grades and for attendance purposes.
Your child’s schedule indicates three Specials that your child will have in the first semester. It is the expectation that your child will complete one lesson from each Specials class for each A/B cycle. For example: My child has PE, Music and Technology as her first semester Specials. For the first week of school, Tuesday is an A Day, Wednesday is a B Day. By the end of Wednesday, she is expected to have watched one PE lesson, one Music lesson and one Technology lesson. She also needs to complete and submit an assignment or assurance in Schoology for each of those three classes. On Thursday and Friday (the next A/B cycle) she is expected to do another three.
On your child’s schedule, “Specials” is indicated. While there are no live lessons and your child does not need to “report” to any particular class, it is the expectation that your child selects and completes one (or maybe even two) Specials lesson(s) and this time. If your child needs a break from the computer, this time could be an excellent opportunity to take that break, however please keep in mind that time outside of the instructional day will be needed to complete the Specials expectations.
Office Hours / Specials
On every A and B Day from 10:30 - 12:00, your child’s schedule reads “Specials / Teachers’ Office Hours.” During this time, students do not have a class to attend. For the staff, this time is dedicated to Office Hours. They will be utilizing this time to assist students who need remediation and/or to complete various tasks. Individual teachers will be communicating to families how they will be working with students during this time period once school has started.
If your child is not working with a teacher at this time, they are expected to complete Specials lessons. If students have completed Specials lessons, they can complete and submit homework that has already been assigned. Or better yet, consider encouraging your child to use this time to unplug from all technology, read for enjoyment, take a break, get up, walk around / play (outside if possible). While it is important that all assignments are completed, we recognize that taking a break in the middle of the day has tremendous benefits. Please keep in mind that Specials lessons and homework assignments can be completed in the evening hours. We encourage families to develop a structure that works best for them and their child.
Support Class
Support Class is new to the Intermediate School program. This is the only class that can only be accessed live. There are also no assignments nor academic grades that accompany this class. That being said, we strongly encourage you to insist upon your child to attend this class (even more so if your child receives Special Education services).
Teachers will be dividing the time for this class in half. The first half is designed to promote Social Emotional Learning. Activities and discussions will be held for this purpose. Mrs. Donohue and Mrs. D’Aulerio will also be attending these classes from time to time. We hope that your child enjoys these activities and discussions. It is important to us that we continue to duplicate the social interactions that your child experiences during in person learning.
The second half will be dedicated to academic support. This largely will be an opportunity for students to complete homework assignments with an NCS staff member present to assist them. As students receiving Special Education services will be working with their teacher, this is also an opportunity for teachers to work towards mastering IEP goals.
In closing, I apologize for the length of this email. It is much larger than I would like it to be. However, I recognize the need for our partners (our families) to have as much information as possible. I hope that this email provides answers to questions that you might have had.
I would ask you to please keep in mind that we are embarking on a process that is unknown to us as well. We anticipate that we will have problems. I can promise you that we will work tirelessly to ensure that those problems get solved as quickly as possible.
As always, you have my deepest thanks for your continued partnership.
Be well.
Jesse Wakeman
Principal, Intermediate Building
Newark Charter School