Good afternoon IACS families,
In light of the current situation, I felt it was important to reach out to you and let you and your family know what to expect in the coming weeks as we switch to an online format for education.
Our teachers have been preparing for weeks making sure students had some time to get familiar with the online extensions of the curriculum we already use. Hopefully, it will make this transition a little easier. All assignments will be delivered online and turned in online, there will be no need to collect any items or text books from lockers. Please do not come to the school and request to do so, there will be no entry.
Middle School students should expect: 3 lessons a week per class (no more than 60 min per lesson), and all assignments should be able to be done with little parent help.
Elementary School students should expect: 3 lessons of literacy and 3 of math per week (30 min maximum each lesson per week a weekly average of 3 hours) and weekly assignments from specials to help keep students busy and engaged. Students should be able to do most assignments on their own (maybe with a little bit of help from parents with technology). As elementary students may need more guidance we wanted to make sure this amount was doable around working schedules.
Our focus is to offer our families flexibility and support as we change the way we deliver instruction. All teachers will have office hours to be able to contact them for help, and all instruction will be accessible at any time (in the form of a video or written directions) so that you and your child can watch them at your convenience. Please reach out to your classroom teacher for any assistance and let them know what your constraints may be (if you will be doing all school work on a Saturday, for instance) so they can maintain grading. There should be no need for any resources beyond basic school supplies (no printers required) to complete online assignments, as most will be web based resources and turning the finished product in on the online classroom.
A technology survey has been sent out to assess the needs of our students. Please fill it out so we know how to best serve you.
As this is new to everyone, the expectation is to simply do the best you can, communicate with the classroom teacher regularly and let us know how it’s going. We are here to support you. I am hoping this situation will not last past April 10, and we will be getting back to classroom instruction soon!
I hope this helps. Again I want to stress we are here to support you and we will do what we can to make the best out of this situation. Together we rise, together we soar.
Thank you,
Lisa Gonsalves
Executive Director