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لترجمة هذه الرسالة من المدرسة ، اضغط عليها ثم استخدم الرابط الموجود على اليمين.

Այս տեղեկագիրը թարգմանելու համար կտտացրեք այն, ապա օգտագործեք աջ կողմում գտնվող հղումը:

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Greetings,

Thank you for making last week's return to school as smooth as possible. The kids were absolutely perfect! Everyone came back into the building, eager, and ready to learn. As I walked around the building on the first day of school for cohort A and B, I saw everyone jumping right into instruction. You'd never guess it was the first day of in-person learning in six months.

There are a couple of areas we will need to address quickly. I need to work with the staff to minimize the number of items being brought to and from school each day. Many of the backpack and other bags are too heavy for young children to carry. This week we will address this during our faculty meeting.

It may be that we need to discourage children from bringing in their Chromebooks. I'm not sure what the solution is yet. I need to work with teachers to figure out what is necessary for school and what items can stay home.

We are incredibly fortunate this year to provide lunch and breakfast to all students free of charge. We're seeing that the only issue is we're handing out shopping bags filled with lots of wonderful food. However, these bags are too heavy for little ones to carry, especially when added with the backpacks. I appreciate your patience while we address these issues.

I've had several calls concerning attendance. I want to address a few of them here. I know it's all a bit confusing.

As a reminder, daily attendance is mandatory. This includes extension days and daily at 2:10 for closing circle. Appointments should be scheduled outside of these times, if possible. However, please email your child's teacher if you have an appointment and let them know they won't be attending the closing circle.

We take formal attendance each day. There are several meeting times throughout the day where attendance is taken.

• morning meeting - 8:15 am

• 2 special classes (Art, Music, PE, Library)

• Spanish (grades K - 4 only)

• closing circle - 2:10 pm

Beginning Wednesday, we will be adjusting daily attendance based on the percentage of the day the child is present.

I've also been asked about children who miss school due to mild illness or mandatory quarantining. Please follow the guidelines below for (hybrid) attendance when a child is working from home remotely. We cannot have students join their class on core days over zoom when we are in the hybrid model.

However, you may do the following:

Hybrid students who are absent there on core days: Students who are ill but healthy enough to attend class virtually or quarantining may join morning meeting and closing circle; however, they are not allowed (at this time) to attend instruction virtually. They can, however, do assigned work in SeeSaw or Goggle Classroom. That means work needs to be assigned to those students in Google Classrooms or See Saw. If a student attends both meetings and completes their assigned work, they are mark RP.

How would you know who those kiddos are? The parent needs to notify you by email of their absence. If a child shows up during the morning meeting and the parent has not contacted you in advance, please mark them absent.

Hybrid students will not be marked absent on their extension day if they follow their extension day schedule—morning meeting, specials, Spanish (except grade 5), and closing circle. Attendance is taken throughout the day at each meeting to verify participation.

We appreciate your continued cooperation and support.

Stacy

We look forward to supporting you with your educational technology questions.

Please visit the WPS Family Ed-Tech for ALL website for updated resources. weekly 10/30 Family Ed-Tech for All Newsletter, Live support sessions, Resources, Tutorials & tips that are curated and created, just for you.

Please complete the WPS Ed-Tech Support Request Form if you need support with Ed-Tech. A member of the WPS Ed-Tech team will reach out to you asap.
Please visit our WPS STEM Week 2020 Website that hosts diverse STEM offerings for different grade levels. You can print your school-specific WPS STEM Week 2020 student certificates from the website.

Please visit WGBH WORLD Channel which is created to serve students at home with no or limited internet access, or to augment online learning. This At-Home Learning Resources document provides an overall schedule of the broadcasts for this fall. Link to Mathematics broadcast Schedule and MA Standards alignment.

Thank you and have a terrific day,

Rashmi Pimprikar (District Ed-Tech Coordinator), Digital Learning Team and IT Team

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Thanksgiving PIe Orders due THIS coming Wednesday, November 4!

Please help support the Lowell 5th Graders' end-of-year events like graduation by purchasing a pie or selling some to family and friends. The order form is attached, but orders can be emailed to lowellelementarypto@gmail.com too. Payment is due at the time of ordering. Pie pick-up will be Monday, November 23 from 4-6pm at the Lowell School. Thanks so much for your support!

Email: Stacy.Phelan@watertown.k12.ma.us
Website: https://lowell.watertown.k12.ma.us/
Location: 175 Orchard Street
Phone: (617) 926-7770