Information Update: March 18 @11:50am
Good afternoon,
Yesterday, all of our staff had time to sit down and process all of this ever-changing information. We had a great day of brainstorming and sharing the wealth of knowledge we have within our staff. As you may have seen in our video we sent out, we are excited, motivated and looking forward to meeting the new challenges we have ahead of us. Our outlook is very positive. We see this as an opportunity to be creative, bold, and take education to a place where we all have not necessarily been. We are life-long learners by nature, and we want you to know that we are here for every new step that you will take. Learning will look and feel different. In this case different will be good! Yesterday we had teachers making videos, building creative lessons, I even have Mrs. Kabi and Leusink creating P.E. assignments for you to keep your fitness on! You will be receiving communication from a staff member in the next few days just to let you know how excited we are, and making sure you are ok.
We will continue to work and develop content this week. As you know, you have the opportunity to pick up your belongings and get ready yourself, because Monday IT BEGINS! We will begin our journey together to educate Baker students in our new reality! Parents will need to play a big role in following their child in this journey and promoting accountability. This education is important for the current year and years to come.
So how will this look? R.I. Baker students are all familiar with Google Classroom. This is an online classroom where students, teachers and Educational Assistants can communicate through chat and video, and email. Teachers can post assignments, links, videos, assessments and feedback. This will be the main platform we will be using until we are back in the building. We will be making technology available to those who may not have it. Please watch for updates in this area.
Once parents sign on to receive notifications from Google Classroom, you will receive daily or weekly updates to your personal email. You will be able to see what assignments or tasks your child has and dates they are to be submitted. This will be important for you as a parent to hold your child accountable, be involved in their learning, and celebrate their accomplishments. This will be easily accessible for parents, understanding we are not all comfortable with technology. Teachers will email and call parents as they normally would to celebrate or communicate concerns. PowerSchool Parent Portal will also be a place to view their grades and assessments.
You can learn more about Google Classroom by visiting this link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YQy0VuF-paz6BTNTx1LKO3VCg9IIN0uTK7dHWQPSGwk/edit?usp=sharing
Now... there will need to be a small amount of administrative work to get this going and to link parents to the classrooms. It is actually really simple...as simple as accepting an invite. We will be giving those instructions when the time comes. Students will not need their textbooks at this time. Please return all textbooks and library books to the school when you pick up your belongings. We will handle the rest! We are fired up to make this experience engaging with as much variety as possible.
Our glasses are half full, and we are excited for this opportunity! We did not see this coming and we were not prepared for this, but we are now! This road may be on unchartered territory, and sometime we may hit a bump or two...but the "drivers" of your buses are dedicated experts that are excited to travel with you.
For updated information please visit our school website at www.ribms.ca
or our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ribms/?rf=185666314799352
Stay healthy,
Mr. Preb