Dear HM Families,
Happy New Year! I hope you all emerged from the break healthy as we embark on a new path to start 2021. The Nardelli family did very little during the break, although we did manage to see extended family by hosting outdoor campfires and enjoying some hot chocolate while exchanging gifts.
Thankfully, our first week of longer days for K-2 students has gone smoothly and we are glad to have the children in the building for more time. A lot of planning went into the changes and the hard work paid off. A huge thank you to all of the staff who have been so patient and flexible this week.
ESSENTIAL INFO: In the interest of making things more accessible, I’ve highlighted key info here:
SCHEDULE CHANGES FOR K-2 -
The morning Zoom time, which has been optional up to this point, will now be required for all students. We are now calling these Guided Learning Times.
Some teachers will be adding Zoom time on Wednesdays.
We will be adding a 2:00pm Zoom time (either a special or a guided learning time) for the REMOTE COHORT to take the place of the end of day meeting with the teacher.
SCHEDULE CHANGES for Grades 3-5 -
The morning Zoom time, which has been optional up to this point, will now be required for all students. We are now calling these Guided Learning Times.
Some teachers will be adding Zoom time on Wednesdays.
We will be adding a 2:30pm Zoom time starting the week of January 19th for the group that was IN-PERSON that day. I am talking to DAD about how to manage this for children who stay (see below).
DETAILED UPDATES: If you would like more detail about what’s been happening at school, feel free to read the rest of the updates below:
Student and Family Support: A number of families have reached out to me, both prior to the break and since our return, about concerns for their child. What I have heard from you is that we have children who are not sleeping well, are having meltdowns at home, are anxious, and are unmotivated and uninspired by the work. I share this with all of you because I want you to know that if you thought you were alone, you are not..we are all going through some version of this. My own daughter Alora has had a lot of trouble sleeping over the past three weeks and I have no doubt it is a product of the times. Please reach out to me if you have a question or concern; I’m happy to set up a time to talk.
Schedule Changes - Jeff Riley, the MA Commissioner of Education recently released new guidelines for learning that all Massachusetts schools are expected to adopt during the month of January. Below is a detailed explanation of the changes...
Key Points:
All schools must average 35 hours (over two week) of live access to adults (either remotely or in person). This equates to 2100 minutes. This mandate does NOT include Kindergarten...the state does not have a time mandate for K.
Live access includes classroom lessons, small group interventions, music lessons, morning meetings, facilitated work times, and more.
Steps and Findings:
As a district, we began an audit of our live time in both the hybrid and DLA models. At each of the 16 elementary schools , we looked at our in-person schedules, remote schedules, specialist time, grade level check-ins, Wednesdays, etc.
For HM, I looked at every schedule in our school and talked to teachers about what is happening throughout the week. Here’s what I found:
In all but 4 classrooms, we greatly exceeded the live access time requirements for Wednesdays. Many of our teachers are doing 180-210 minutes of live time, where the mandate is only 150 minutes.
Our optional check-ins do not count towards the state mandated requirement of 35 hours.
We need to add additional time in a few areas to meet the state requirements.
Solutions:
In Grades K-2
The additional in-school hours help us to meet the mandates.
We will be changing our optional morning check-in to a required guided learning time.
We will be adding a new afternoon special once for each remote cohort at 2:00pm.
We will be adding a new guided learning time for each remote cohort at 2:00pm (on the other day).
Most classrooms will continue their Wednesday schedules as currently planned. Two classrooms will need to add some time to their Wednesday schedule. The teachers will make more time available on Zoom to support students while they are working. This is similar to what happens in the classroom when children are working independently.
In Grades 3-5
We will be changing our optional morning check-in to a required guided learning time.
We will be adding a new guided learning time for each in-person cohort at 2:30pm. I will be talking to DAD about the idea of doing some “in-person” support during the afternoons instead of doing the Zooms.
Most classrooms will continue their Wednesday schedules as currently planned. Two classrooms will need to add some time to their Wednesday schedule. The teachers will make more time available on Zoom to support students while they are working. This is similar to what happens in the classroom when children are working independently.
Split Classrooms: Grade 2/3 and Grade 1 Hybrid/DLA - I worked with Ms. Thorne and Ms. Sandison to tally their current minutes and we needed to make only a few adjustments to their schedules to meet the time requirements. In our Grade 2/3- we had already added two math sessions during the week with our math coach.
Guided Learning Times - They will be led by a dedicated and thoughtful group of paraprofessionals, some of whom have teaching experience, and some who are learning on the job.
We have a list of ideas about what this time will look like:
Students may complete work while logged into Zoom. They can work independently and/or get help from an adult when needed.
An adult may work on common grade level skills like phonics or current events like Scholastic News.
An adult may read a story and talk about the book.
We may try to set up some peer reading buddies, where older children are reading to a younger child and vice versa.
We may review how the day went or offer kids a time to be social.
It may take us a couple of weeks to determine what is best for these time slots. If you have feedback or ideas, please email me at nardellimv@newton.k12.ma.us
Implications:
The new requirements that came from the state were not something that we asked for, nor were we consulted about the impact.
The mandate does not take into account what is developmentally appropriate for children. The guidelines do not differ by age or grade level, and we all know it is much harder for younger children to have more screen time.
As a parent, you know your child best. You will need to ultimately be the one who decides when a particular activity, assignment, or Zoom is too much.
Thanks again for your support and encouragement. Take care and be safe.
Mark Nardelli
Principal
