Cougar News
Week 27 for Families and Community March 8-12, 2021
Hybrid Simultaneous Instruction
Dear Cougar Families,
As many of you may already know, our PUSD Board of Education voted last Thursday to reopen schools according to the suggested timeline.
Students in PreK-2nd grades will begin returning the week of March 29 (March 30 for pre-kindergarten through kindergarten; April 1 for first and second grade); students in grades 3-5 will return April 13.
We as a staff continue to work with our COVID Compliance Team and use the PUSD COVID Handbook to plan for our students' return.
In the coming weeks, I will be recording a reopening school video that will be shared with all parents so you know exactly what to expect, whether your child is learning from home or on campus or both.
We are also working on creating a one stop information portal on our website so parents and community members can see the status of questions that are still pending.
No more than 16 people can be in any classroom including teacher and instructional aides. Your survey results are instrumental in our planning to ensure we can accommodate all who want to come back. Thank you to everyone who responded already. March 12 is the absolute cutoff for responding to the survey. Results will be locked in on that date.
Sample Scenario: Ms. Penelope Perfect teaches 2nd grade. She has 2 instructional aides in her classroom to serve students with special needs. She has 25 students enrolled in her class. 12 have responded they will continue learning remotely while the other 13 have indicated they will be coming back in person. 13 students, plus 3 adults will meet the guidelines. Therefore all 13 students will come to school in person T-Fri.
But what if 14 students want to return in person? In this case, the class will be split into two groups of 7. Group A will come in person on Tuesday and Wednesday and Group B will come in person on Thursday and Friday.
What happens for students who are staying remote? These students will be tuning into class Tuesday - Friday. With the new Logitech 360 cameras, students at home will be able to see and participate in live, whole class instruction via their Chromebooks. Sometimes teachers will take brain breaks or recess outside with students who are in person. At those times, students at home will be encouraged to go take a brain break at their own homes.
Next week we will put all the class cohorts together and parents will be notified of the in person schedule for their child. Reminder: All students are learning from home on Mondays with one hour of synchronous instruction and 3 hours of asynchronous instruction via Canvas (just like it is now). This will give custodians an opportunity to deep clean the campus on Mondays.
LEARNs: We are still waiting to hear on the final decision regarding LEARNs on campus. It is my hope they will be offering after school program from 1-5pm. I will keep parents informed as I hear more.
Altadena's Got Talent!
If you sent in an audition video, thank you very much! You are in the show!!! We decided to move the show date to Thursday, April 1st. So what happens now? Please record your final performance in horizontal, not vertical mode and send your finished video to Mr. Courtney Linsey via We Transfer to sunwhoalove@gmail.com no later than March 17. Any questions, please email Dr. Scheckel or Mr. Linsey at the email address above. Congratulations to all our performers!
Have you got some great, high quality footage from past AAM performances? If so, please forward those to Mr. Linsey as well. We want to intersperse our talent show with footage from past performances. Thank you!!!
Don't miss Cougars Get Active Together! See the flyer below for all the details and let's get moving next weekend!!!
It's a great week to be an Altadena Cougar!
Yours in Service,
Dr. Scheckel
Read Across America Week was GREAT!
PTA Presents: Cougars Get Active Together!
In lieu of our annual Wacky Fun Run, PTA is sponsoring a different kind of fundraising event where we can all get active together. Please read the flyer below and click on the link to register! That's it! Get your family, friends and neighbors to donate and let's get moving on March 10th - 13th from 10am -12pm!
Mobile Dental Clinic!
Yes, we are making a yearbook!
Tutoring Opportunities for Students in Grades 3-5
We are happy to share that Paper, digital tutoring service, is now available for your 3rd-5th graders! The service has already been a big support to PUSD 6th-12th grade students and teachers.
Here are Paper slides (English & Spanish) made earlier when we launched at secondary.
AAM ELAC Meetings
Upcoming Events
March
● 3/1 Reopening School Parent and Community Meeting @ 5pm via Google Meet:
http://meet.google.com/uvi-scct-hyx
● 3/4 ELAC Meeting pre-recorded and emailed to families
● 3/4 Family Reading Night @5-6:15pm (See above for information on how to join)
● 3/9 School Site Council @ 3pm via Google Meet http://meet.google.com/sxb-rcwz-vau and PTA @ 6pm via Google Meet http://meet.google.com/tho-pvdc-trj
● 3/10 Cougar Values Awards Assembly @8am via live class morning meeting
● 3/10 AAPC Meeting at 5:30pm
● 3/11 School Tour at 9am via Google Meet http://meet.google.com/iyt-zpxj-woh
● 3/23 Bedtime Story with the Principal @7pm via FB live and Google Meet:
http://meet.google.com/aig-sgdc-auq
● 3/30 PreK and Kinder students return to campus
and Cafe con Scheckel @9am via Google Meet http://meet.google.com/fop-zovd-zef
● 3/31 Cesar Chavez Day - NO SCHOOL
April
● 4/1 First and Second graders return to campus
● 4/2 Shortened Day, school ends at 11:45am
● 4/5-4/9 Spring Break!
● 4/13 Third - Fifth graders return to campus
About Us
Email: scheckel.benita@pusd.us
Website: https://www.pusd.us/Page/9
Location: 743 East Calaveras Street, Altadena, CA 91001, United States
Phone: 626-396-5650
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/altadenacougars/
Twitter: @altadenaES