Thursday, March 26, 2020
Conway Elementary Families,
I know the last couple of weeks has put an immense strain on our social norms as we navigate through unprecedented times. We miss seeing your children at school and cannot wait for our lives to return to normalcy.
Next week, Orange County Public Schools will be mailing a packet of work for each of our students. In order to receive these, your address must be updated in our files, as they will use our student information system in Skyward to populate the address labels. Much of the work contained in the packets is a review of what has already been taught to your child this year. Additionally, included in your packet is a postage-paid return envelope for you to send your child’s work back to our school.
The learning in these packets contains grade-level material, but it will be at the most basic level for your child to complete independently and find success. In addition to the packet, we encourage all students to log onto I-Ready daily for reading and math lessons for 30 minutes each. I would also like your children to read for 30 minutes a day. That would mean sitting with a parent to read a story for our kindergarten and first graders, or more independent reading for our second through fifth graders. Our district has also opened Accelerated Reader so that students can take those tests at home.
The practice work contained in the packets the first week and beyond does little to promote new learning for our children. While we want our students to continue to be pushed, we do not expect that the parents and guardians take the place of the teacher at home. Our instructional team has devised several options to interact with you and your children throughout each week that will allow us to help motivate, encourage, and assist you and your children with completing the work. All student work in the upcoming weeks will also be available to view or download on your computer or smartphone at https://conwayes.ocps.net/cms/One.aspx?portalId=61388&pageId=1406042. Please utilize this resource often to help keep your children engaged in learning activities designed by their teachers.
Due to the Mayor’s Stay at Home Order going into effect at 11:00 tonight, schools are operating with one or two staff members per building, by appointment only, between 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. daily. The best way to get questions answered is to contact your child's teacher through email or one of a variety of platforms being used for distance learning (Class Dojo, Zoom, Big Blue Button, Google Classroom). Mrs. Zambrano and I plan on video conferencing with each teacher weekly to share and address questions and concerns.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Most importantly, take care of yourself and your families.
Stay healthy,
Mr. Maguire