The Stingray Sentinel

Dear Parents,

Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday 3/16/2020, your child will be expected to begin remote/distance learning. The first day is more of an orientation, and connecting with teachers. Students need to login to Edmodo through the Clever portal to find out about daily expectations and assignments. Your child’s teacher(s) will be posting assignments and your child will be expected to complete daily assignments. Some of these assignments will be physical assignments that they do with paper/pencil, and some will be virtual with online assignments.

Many of the students know how to access Clever from home, but younger grades especially, are more dependent on their "Clever QR Badge" they use here at school. We have those ready for pick up to help your child get on their way with remote/digital learning.

Tuesday as an orientation day has a few goals:

1: Pick up materials needed, & log passwords from school (see below for more information),

2: Communicate with teachers/access Edmodo through Clever

3: Spend some time in your traditional blended learning platforms for DCSS (Lexia/Reading Plus, Imagine Math, etc.) Your teacher will give you more information.

Wednesday will begin a series of additional assignments, lessons, virtual class meetings with your teacher, etc.

If your family does not have access to internet, we have a supplementary packet of work for them, to be picked up at school, and then we will work with the families to try and get free internet resources connected in case this ends up being longer than just a week or two.

If you need device(s) for students to access work at home, we have iPads ready for pick up/check out.

Directions for picking up learning tools and materials:

We will run pick up through the front car line servicing families near the front door. You will be asked to remain in your cars. To mange numbers, we are asking that you come during the scheduled time periods for your grade level. That being said, we can certainly work with individuals for other pick up dates/times. If needed, I will have one evening pick up session.

Some teachers have additional materials like novels, packets, workbooks that students are picking up, some it is more just log in information if needed. If this remote/distance learning time frame is to be extended, we will have additional material pick up dates, etc.

Tuesday:

8am-10am K-2 families

10am-12pm 3rd-5th grades (device or non-internet families only)

1:00pm-3:00pm 6th-8th grades

Clarification on who/what:

• We have K-2 log in information ready for both clever and your technology programs from Ms. Weyer, as well as some instructional materials for 2nd graders & non-internet family packets
• 3rd -5th grade - only come if device pick up, log in info needed or non internet family
• Middle School - device pick up, non-internet packets, Ms. Webster's math students' material pick up, Ms. Klein's students' workbook pick up., Cella workbook pick up if needed.
  

Wednesday 7:30-8:30am pick up for those that could not come Tuesday

*You do not need to come multiple times for siblings, just make one trip!

If you need an IPad, you will need to sign an IPad user agreement so we may loan an IPad to use during this remote learning period.

We know that this is new territory and this current situation is not ideal and comes with additional stressors. Our goal is to keep your child's individualized instruction and learning going. We understand that some children's learning time may be flexed and may not be when all of their classmates are also working. We are just asking for you to partner with us in helping to keep your child's education going officially through blended learning until we are cleared to re-open the physical classroom location.

Your child’s teacher(s) will have daily office hours for meetings, and conferencing with students and/or parents on Zoom. The front office phones will be a technology and a curriculum help desk for you from 8am-3pm.

You have an amazing team of educators here at Southside that are "all in" to making this a valuable and growth learning experience for your children. Thank you for partnering with us for this educational solution to a difficult health crisis.

We hope that everyone stays safe and healthy.

Thank you,

Amanda Sauer

Principal

asauer@southsidecharter.org

Please answer the following survey questions using this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NBNVY2G to help us gauge the readiness of households to go online. Rest assured that your answers will be kept strictly confidential.

Monday 3/16:

Building CLOSED - Virtual Teacher Workday to develop distance/remote learning plans

No extra-curricular events or activities

Tuesday:

8-10am K-2 families device or material pick up

10am-12pm 3rd-5th grades device or material pick up

1:00pm-3:00pm 6th-8th grades device or material pick up

Clarification on who/what:

• We have K-2 log in information ready for both clever and your technology programs from Ms. Weyer, as well as some instructional materials for 2nd graders & non-internet family packets
• 3rd -5th grade - only come if device pick up, log in info needed or non internet family
• Middle School - device pick up, non-internet packets, Ms. Webster's math students' material pick up, Ms. Klien's students workbook pick up., Cella workbook pick up if needed.
  

Wednesday 7:30-8:30am 2nd chance pick up

*You do not need to come multiple times for siblings, just make one trip!

Tuesday 3/17-Friday 3/30

Four days of remote learning/distance learning

No extra-curricular events or activities

Wed 3/18-Friday 3/30

IT Help Desk and Curriculum Help Desk 8-3 (904) 423-5348

Teachers will also have daily office hours through Edmodo and Zoom

3/24 End of 3rd Quarter - teachers will be in communication 3/17-3/20 about what missing assignments need to be completed and how. Parents are also encouraged to review 3rd quarter in powerschool.

Cancelled

• Granola with Grownups - refunds to be issued
• 3/21 Saturday Tutoring
• 3/24 Soccer Game at Mandarin 5:30/6:30
• 3/25 Early Release K-5th 12:45 p.m/Middle 1 p.m
• 3/28 Saturday Tutoring grades 2-8
• 3/30 Home Soccer Game 5:30/6:30

To be rescheduled

• Elementary PBS 3rd Quarter Parties - new date TBD
• Middle School Social - new date TBD
• 3rd Grade Reading FSA (was first week of April)
• 4-8th Writing FSA, (was first week of April)
  
• Elementary Art Show - new date TBD

To be determined - on hold

• 3/31 Soccer Game at Flagler 5:30/6:30
• 4/2 Home Soccer Games vs. Somerset
• 4/7 Home Soccer Games vs. Clay
  
• 4/8 & 4/9 1st grade field trips to Celestial Farms
• 4/9 Home Soccer Games vs. Mandarin

Parents and guardians, please inform the school by telephone, or email Principal Sauer if people in your household have traveled internationally including cruises, and your return to the US date was after March 8th, as the CDC has deemed international and cruise travel to be high-risk for widespread sustained transmission of the virus.

If the 14 day quarantine from your date of return exceeds when school will resume on site learning at DCSS, we will then work to determine an appropriate home learning plan for the remainder of the quarantine period until re-entry of the children into the school.

We are currently not holding class meetings on site or holding any gathering or extracurricular activities. We are continuing to communicate with local health officials, the Duval County School District and FL Department of Education, to follow CDC guidelines for social distancing.

For school re-opening (date TBD) We have revised the clinic area for a sick/well separate areas, and our building was deep cleaned over break, including use of the Clorox air ionization system.

Staff will be monitoring absence rates, and also communicating with families on the second day of sequential absence.

As employees work/pay may be impacted as well as not having the free/reduced lunch program impacting families, we hope to be able to list some resources/information for you.

JEA - has suspended disconnections of electric/water at this time: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200313/coronavirus-during-pandemic-jea-wonrsquot-shut-off-water-due-to-late-payment

Internet:

Comcast Internet Essentials program, now free for two months for low income families

Xfinity hotspot access free to everyone: https://wifi.xfinity.com/?CMP=SOC

At&t waves overages: https://www.wrdw.com/content/news/Comcast-offers-free-internet-services-to-low-income-families-during-outbreak-ATT-waives-overage-fees-568775451.html?fbclid=IwAR2TTi_0ZeCxPi5QdUZ9xGUvrfhiy04aVli4E1ogZ15fNlkxeDpX0CvF8VE

Food for children/Food pantry resources:

Families needing assistance during school closures with feeding children - see link https://www.feedingnefl.org/feeding-assistance/ for a detailed list of food distribution places for Duval.

Also beginning Tuesday, March 17, a “grab and go” school lunch and snack will be available for students, with pick up curbside at Duval County elementary schools from 11am - 1 p.m. *Note DCSS is NOT a distribution site* these would be neighborhood Duval locations, but all Duval chidren will be served. Students must be present to pick up the lunch.

Need Help?: Please call and leave a message for Mr. Davis, to call you back, and we will forward your contact information to him to reach out and see how we can connect you with resources and family services during this stressful time - or email jdavis@southsidecharter.og

Often described as blended learning, or online platforms, these are educational software programs that teachers utilize to help personalize and differentiate learning. They often have an individualized student log in that then tracks and adjust the students' progress through the lessons. If a student is needing a high level of support from a parent when completing a lesson, then please contact the teacher, as their may need to be some re-teaching or adjustment to the online path. These programs are meant to be activities, lessons and assessments that the student can do independently.

*Note - these are our core programs for 2019-20. With Covid-19 closures, many software companies have opened up their software and teachers may integrate other learning tools, but these remain our core digital programs.

Clever:

Clever is not educational software but a single sign on provider that helps students not to have to learn multiple log ins/passwords and provides efficiency when students are moving from one program to another. Students often have a QR badge that they can use to scan/utilize the camera function of a laptop or ipad to access the programs even faster. Need your child's clever log-in? Contact your child's teacher. clever.com/badges. *For school closure, we have these ready to go/pick up if needed*

READING

Lexia: Used at DCSS for primarily Grades K-2 depending on your child's reading level. Students who are struggling readers in grades 3-5 may still be utilizing Lexia to build basic reading skills. - (available through the clever portal)

Reading Plus: At DCSS is it utliized as the main reading software program for grades 3-8 to increase fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. (available through the clever portal)

Lexia Power Up: For learners in grades 6-8 that are struggling in reading, they may be assigned lessons in Lexia Power UP (available through the clever portal)

Imagine Learning Language & Literacy: Reading/Speaking/Listening Software designed for our English Language Learners who need to build the basics of English reading, speaking and listening. This is not for all of our ELL students, but for those still at the basic levels of learning English. It may be used in place of their Lexia/Reading Plus program. (available through the clever portal)

MATH

Imagine Math

Is our main math software for grades 3-8 at Southside, taking students on a path of individualized lessons (available through the clever portal)

DreamBox: This is our K-2 math software to deliver individualized math lesson and progress checks along the way. (available through the clever portal)

SCIENCE

Study Island: We currently have student accounts for Study Island in 5th and 8th grade science as a review tool taking the students through the main topics as both of these grade levels are tested in Florida and cover multiple years of content. (available through the clever portal) https://app.studyisland.com/cfw/login/

Other:

USA Test Prep: Just at the name implies, this software is for test preparation, and not necessarily lessons and an individual path. This is used currently in 3-8 grades ELA, Biology, Civics, Algebra and Geometry. It gives students practice in applying what they have learned to test questions in the content areas. https://www.usatestprep.com/member-login

(available through the clever portal)

Typtastic:

In the computer lab, students K-2 work on their keyboarding skills with https://typetastic.com/

Typing.com

Students K-8 utilize typing.com to work on their keyboarding skills https://www.typing.com/student/login

Code.org

Students in K-8 are familiar with Code.org and have log-ins to work with coding as part of computer science. Have them log in and show you what they have learned! https://code.org/

Teachyourmonstertoread.com

Students are familiar with this website and have log-ins from the computer science lab where they practice phonics and reading through a technology based website. https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

New - We have four string bags with 2 MP3 player kits in them each. These are designed for families to walk and then talk about what they learned! You could even walk the 15 min on your lunch hour, and then your child walk afterschool listening to the same lesson, and then talk at the dinner table about what you learned! They are designed for 4th-6th graders (level of the content) but we will allow check out of 3rd-8th grade.

If you would like to check one out for 3-7 days, just let Jill Morales at the front desk know via email and we can send one home with your child. If they are all checked out, then we will have you on a list for when they come in!

**COVID-School Closing** let us know if you would like one of these family sets via email still and we will have it at packet/device pick up.

Summer check out will be for 2 weeks at a time and you would drop it back to the front desk.

As probably the largest employer close to us, we would like to reach out to the HR office at Johnson & Johnson Vision to possibly partner to offer benefits such as a free uniform, etc. to employees that enroll children at DCSS.

Are you a current employee at Johnson & Johnson Vision on Centurion Parkway across Southside Blvd? If you could perhaps reach out the HR office personnel to obtain a contact name/number and send that to CeCe Zamora, we would love to credit you a volunteer hour for getting us the information!

Are you crafty or a handyman? Do you enjoy doing a hands on project with your child? We could always use "whisper phones" for K-2 classrooms to practice reading. It allows them to have them really hear themselves and do read aloud.

Feel free to prepare a set to donate - calculate your time and efforts and cost for volunteer hours!

https://blog.maketaketeach.com/how-to-make-a-phonics-phone/

We are joining several of our other CSUSA schools in the area such as Flager in adding schoolstore.com to our "free money" efforts. Your PTC will get proceeds if families start at the schoolstore.com website when shopping online. That is all. We are not selling anything. Your child will be bringing home an envelope/sheet this week on how to sign up!

If students share the information on how to use the website with grandparents, etc. via email then they also get free prizes. The prizes have been already sent and are ready here at school. Prizes will be given for the initial envelope code through Wednesday 3/18/2020.

Sign up your family, share with three other people who support your child (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) and credit your family with ONE VOLUNTEER HOUR just for doing that!

When your school's families and friends shop at their favorite online stores through SchoolStore.com everybody wins! Online retail sales are approaching $300 billion this year, and 92% of all Americans are online. Now is the time to get your school signed up and earning money.

SchoolStore.com is an online shopping mall where over 350 nationally-known merchants have agreed to give a percentage of sales to K-12 schools.

People help your school by making everyday purchases from the nation's top online merchants

As an arts and science school, we are looking for ways to increase science academic performance. We have worked this year to make science more hands on and enjoyable for your students.

For performance, the State of Florida assesses science in 5th and 8th grade. This means that the 5th grade science test includes K-5 content and is not just a test of 5th grade science. As you can imagine, there is a large body of knowledge in all of elementary science!

In middle school, some advanced students may be able to tackle High School Biology and next year we will also be offering a High School environmental science! Students in 8th grade, not in a high school course, will take the 8th grade general science FSA which covers 6-8 science

Attached is the 8th grade science vocabulary. These are words that students need to know in order to be successful on the 8th grade science test. We would love for parents of 6th, 7th and 8th graders to actively build these words into their homework and home lives and learning! Thank you for any vocabulary support you can provide!

We wanted to take a minute to let parents know that middle school will be learning about school safety topics in health class: specifically "See Something, Say Something" highlighting Fortify Florida the online reporting tool, helpful for after hours especially if a student needs to report something they heard or saw on social media. https://getfortifyfl.com/

They will also be covering "It's not a joke" campaign from Florida law enforcement that explains the severe consequences of making a school threat. http://www.djj.state.fl.us/news/awareness-campaigns/school-threats

If you have any concerns or questions, please reach out to Mr. Davis or Mrs. Sauer.

We are proud to announce we will be an official business partner/supporter of the Cupcake 5K in Southside/St. John's Town Center (new date TBD ) We will have a booth, stop in and see us as well as wave to the staff team participating in the run!

This is not the closed event for the girls that happens later in the spring, but this is a public, community 5k and all proceeds from this race benefit the Girls on the Run of Northeast Florida Scholarship Program!

We are grateful to be able to help empower girls to discover their limitless potential. Consider joining us for a morning run or walk: https://www.gotrnefl.org/Cupcake-Run - New date still TBD

Log your volunteer hours on a computer in your Powerschool account (option does not appear on the App)

IF you need to log more volunteer time and have been busy this fall, there are some off-site opportunities that can be done from home...

1 hr: Leave a positive review on Facebook, Yelp, or Great Schools - let shopping families know what you LOVE about Duval Charter at Southside. This helps our marketing team!

https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/2856450/true#/invitation: Teacher Appreciation Week

* Please keep in mind you will have to complete the 3 step process in order to volunteer here at DCSS.

Please attend a quick mandatory school based volunteer training meeting. We will go over all requirements, building expectations for volunteers and safety protocol. We will be offering more sessions but you need to complete the training before volunteering or eating lunch with your child in our cafeteria.

Next Training: TBD

Teacher Appreciation Collection begins March 2nd! We are asking for your help in making 'Teacher Appreciation Week' the best EVER! Our teachers work so very hard and we wan't to spoil them a bit. Please consider sending a donation in an envelope with your child's name and their teachers name.

Teacher Appreciation Week starts the week of May 4th.

Thank you in advance.

Special "Thank You" to our buisness partner "Your Pie" for going above and beyond just catering the food for the Loved One and Me Dance. They decorated their stations, provided servers and really got into our enchanted forest theme. We look forward to scheduling a family night soon at Your Pie! We love partnering with our Southside community partners!

If you have visited, check out their Southside location:

Your Pie: 4828 Deer Lake Dr W. Jacksonville, FL 32246
904-337-0155 https://yourpie.com/stores/jacksonville-southside/

From their website:

Your Pie, our community.

The world doesn’t need another pizza place—the world needs passionate people driven to improve the communities they serve. At Your Pie, our mission is simple: to improve the lives of the Your Pie Family. (That’s you!) We’re happiest when providing a uniquely awesome experience to guests while also creating a positive impact beyond our walls.

Communication/School Management:

Powerschool: (All students K-8)

• PowerSchool: Check student attendance, grades (iPhone/Android App and website) and log Volunteer Time (desktop site only). Create an account and then use your student's individual credentials to link your student to your account. Contact front desk if you need help accessing your account.

School Mint: (Replacing ACE - All students K-8)

• https://csusa.schoolmint.net/: Re-enroll, apply for new students

Live School: (All students K-8)

• https://www.whyliveschool.com/how-to/get-started-as-a-parent: Our classroom teachers use LiveSCHOOL to track positive behavior and share behavior feedback with you and your child. Students will receive positive points in LiveSchool for hard work and good behavior. We will also give feedback on the negative choices your child may make. You can access all of this information from your computer or phone. The classroom teacher can give you the access code that you need. We also want to reward students for doing the right thing! As part of our use of LiveSchool, your child will be able to spend his or her points on various classroom and school-wide rewards. We are going to be focusing on positive reinforcement and encouragement and hope that your child earns lots of exciting rewards! To learn more, please visit the following web address for a short video introduction to the service: https://youtu.be/bB9CYHH4dc4

Edmodo: (All students K-8)

• Edmodo is an educational technology company offering a communication, collaboration, and coaching platform to K-12 schools and teachers. The Edmodo network enables teachers to share content, distribute quizzes, assignments, and manage communication with students, colleagues, and parents. Middle School students also participate in an "All Middle School" communication group in which they can get information about school events, or ask questions. Students can email their teacher directly through Edmodo.

Focus:

• Student Management System used by Duval County Public Schools - for which we are part. For 2020-21, charter school parents will also have Focus account access. Students do have Focus/DCPS student numbers which makes them able to access the public library, computer sales, school choice lotteries, etc.

Raptor Technologies: Visitor Management System

• Once you have entered the lobby, if you are needing to go anywhere beyond the lobby, you will be required to provide your driver’s license. Your license will be scanned and processed through an FBI database looking for items that may pose an issue of safety for the students of the school. Once you have been cleared the system will print a pass with your name/photo on it that you will be required to wear. You will sign out from the front office when you are ready to exit the building.

As you may be aware CSUSA has implemented a new online payment system called, My School Bucks. MySchoolBucks.com

The process is complete and is LIVE!

My School Bucks - then LOOK under Renaissance Charter - (which is our school board group)

https://www.smore.com/0pxy3

Website: https://www.southsidecharter.org/
Location: 8680 A C Skinner Parkway, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Phone: 904-4235348
Facebook: facebook.com/DuvalSouthside
Twitter: @DCSSouthside