I hope you have been doing well.  Our staff has been busy planning and preparing for this ‘new adventure.’  This is new for ALL of us and I know that we are all feeling various levels of stress and apprehension about what is to come.  Please be gracious with yourself…this is new! Life has taken an unexpected turn and we are all doing the best that we can in our current situation.  I will do my very best to make things clear and easy to follow.

I thought it would be helpful to write out a plan for the coming week so you have an idea of what is to come.

Tuesday (today):  Your students supplies will be gathered up and ready to go home.  If your child wants any specific book from our classroom library than please email me today at pgoosen@highroadacademy.com.  Chromebooks will be packaged up and be ready to go home as well. Please note that gloves will be work when handling all of your child’s supplies. Pickup will be on Thursday (see below)

Wednesday:  I will be giving each family a call to check in and see how you are doing.  I will also ask about setting up a scheduled weekly time to connect with your child via Google Hangouts (this is on your child’s Chromebook already – more instructions on how to do this will come).

Please consider which day and time will work best for your child to chat with either Mrs. Goosen or Mrs. Riley.  They will be scheduled for 15 minute blocks.

Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 10:00 – 11:30

Tuesday, Thursday between 1:00 – 2:30

Thursday:  Families will come to the school and pick up their student’s supplies. More information will be coming from the office today.

Google Classroom is the platform that we will be doing all of our work from.  Students are familiar with Google Classroom as we have been using it this year.  I will send out a slideshow that Mr. Hancock made that shows parents how to navigate Google Classroom and give some specifics on how we will be using it while we are learning from home.

Friday:  I will be sending out information for getting onto Google Meet (video meeting) and emailing out a link for students and parents to test it out. Check for an email with the link on Friday morning (by 9:30)  I will be on Google Meet from 10:00 – 2:00 and students/parents can pop on and test it out.  It will be lovely to see you all!!  If your child isn’t available during that time slot but would like to test it out please send me an email with a couple of times you are available and we will ‘meet’ before Monday.

Monday:  This is our first day of school.  We will have videos and assignments set up for each day as well as a schedule outlining the week.  More information on what this will look like is to come.

A Few Other Notes…

Setting Up A Routine:  Children do best with a routine and it will be important for them to have a school routine during this time.  As all family situations are different, all schedules will look different.  We have provided a sample schedule that you can look over.  This is not meant to be something that ‘has to’ be followed, but rather a schedule for you to look at and take bits and pieces of, if it works for you.  For my family (Pam) we will likely be doing the core school subjects in the morning (Math and Language Arts) and then move into the Art, Socials, Science type activities in the afternoon.  Please do what works best for your family!

Communicating with Us:

Mrs. Riley and I want to be there for you and your child during this time.  This is brand new for us too, and we have been working hard to ensure this goes as smoothly as possible for both you and your child.  It will be a lot of ‘try and assess’ as we are learning how to do many things right alongside you.  If something is not working for you or your child, please reach out to us and we will do our best to help you out.

Both of us will also be at home with our own children during this time.  Like many of you, we will be juggling work and teaching our own children. Email will be the best way to get ahold of us.  Pam – pgoosen@highroadacademy.com and Leah – lriley@highroadacademy.com .  If you have questions during your child’s Google Meet with us, please feel free to pop on and ask questions as well.  In addition, if you would like to do a video conference with us separately we would be happy to set that up.

Lastly, please know that we have been praying for your families.  We love your children dearly and look forward to connecting with them and teaching them in this new way.

Mrs. Goosen