East Ridge Newsletter 3.5.20

East Ridge Newsletter 3.5.20

East Ridge Newsletter

Sarah White, principal

March 5, 2020

 

Dear East Ridge Family,

As you know, the Northshore School District has made a decision to close schools in our district for a period of time. Click here to read Dr. Reid’s letter. This newsletter has important information about our school’s plan to keep your child learning. Even though we can’t be together as a school community, we want our students to continue learning and growing each day! Our teachers and support staff are working hard to be ready for this, and I am proud of their creativity and their positive and eager approach to learning new things. I am impressed with how much they have been able to put together in a short time. We will continue to learn and refine our plan. As always, we want to do our very best for our students, and that means we continue to learn each day, too!

We recognize that families will have different arrangements for caring for their children during the day, and we want to reassure you that there will be flexibility with timing of student participation and work expected. Parents are not expected to be their child's teacher; students should be able to independently carry out the tasks assigned by teachers including access to the material. (Our youngest students may need some help from a parent, older sibling, or caregiver with daily attendance and with signing in). We encourage you to work directly with your child’s classroom teacher using email (or Zoom meetings set up by your child’s teacher) to ask questions, share information, and plan for how remote learning will work for your child and family. The best way to initially contact your child’s teacher will be via email. You can expect a response within 24 hours on school days. 

East Ridge classroom teachers, specialists (Music, PE, and Library) and special program teachers (ELL, LAP, Special Education) will be using a school Google site to communicate with students and families about the remote learning plan for our students. Here is the link to the site: https://sites.google.com/apps.nsd.org/eastridgekeepslearning/home. The site is public and does not require a sign in. This page is currently under construction, and will be live and ready to go on Monday. We appreciate your patience! Teachers and all of our special programs will have individual pages linked on this site. This is where teachers will post daily school day plans for students’ remote learning. Once you navigate to an individual teacher/program page, a sign in will be required. Families and students should use their student’s school Google account to sign in. 

Your child will need to check in on this “East Ridge Keeps Learning” site every day for attendance. On the home page, you will see a link that says, “Daily Attendance: click here to check in every day!” If your child will not be engaging in online learning for the day due to illness or other reasons, please call our attendance line at 425-408-4410 to excuse their absence. 

You will need your student’s ID number to access most of the online learning platforms used by your child’s teacher. Many students already know their student number (this is also their lunch number). You can find your child’s student number in Parent Vue under “student info” and “perm ID.” Please email your student’s teacher if your child does not know their student number.

Teachers will be using a variety of online platforms and tools for learning. Here is a link to a handout with directions for access: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UnTDVDBGYr6vPJB5WfEkCDnSI93-qRBDTVfTmdUZkGc/edit?usp=sharing. This resource is also still under construction. This document is also linked on our “East Ridge Keeps Learning” page. Northshore School District has also established a Student/Family Technical Support Hotline - 425.408.7669

If your child does not have a device to use at home for online learning, or if you do not have internet access, please complete this form. We will arrange to loan your student a computing device, and if necessary an accompanying internet hotspot.

We will miss seeing your children every day. We will be excited to see students continue learning and also grow their skills with technology during this time. We are embracing this as a new and creative way to learn and teach, and we appreciate your partnership. We are just a few clicks away to provide help and support for you and your child! 

Warmly,

Sarah White, Principal