Teacher Appreciation
Nothing means more than your words of thanks and affirmation as they tend to give 110% each day.
Ideas:
- drawings or handmade cards from students - take a picture and email
- fill out the parent "shout out" - newsletter link below
- send them a personalized thank you in an email
- if you insist on sending gifts, a virtual gift card to their email should work
- buy an item off of their amazon wish list for their class/teaching
- make a donation to the Teacher Appreciation Fund through MySchoolBucks.com site for Southside
- have your student record a video message or a picture message to send to teachers
We will be finding ways to spoil the teachers next week too!
Again, these are trying times and just like many of you, we have teachers who are overwhelmed, lonely, bored, concerned about loved ones, dealing with unemployment of spouse, etc. A positive message and thank you can go a long way in brightening their week.
Thank you for being such wonderful, supportive and positive partners with Duval Charter School at Southside!
Recognizing Excellence at DCSS
Every year we like to take the time to acknowledge the greatness within our schools. Through the CSUSA School Awards Program, we will recognize the Award of Excellence for the non-instructional staff member of the year, the New Educator of the Year Award, and the New American Hero Award which honors a veteran teacher who embodies great teaching as well as school and community involvement.
Our school awards provide an opportunity for recognizing exceptional educators and team members across the network that truly exemplify our values and have an invaluable impact on our students. The following three awards will be recognized per school:
· AWARD OF EXCELLENCE – Given to a non-instructional team member that has an exceptional impact on the school community and the lives of students.
· NEW EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR – Given to an outstanding educator who is in his/her first full year of teaching. (Conti, Rojas, Warner, Swilling)
· NEW AMERICAN HERO – Given to an outstanding educator who is in at least his/her second full year of teaching. (everyone else -see above)
Your school’s New American Hero winner will move forward to the next round in the process
We ask that you please take a few moments to nominate someone from our school in either one or all of the categories listed.
You can submit your nominations at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JSX7LM5 .
The deadline to submit nominations will be May 1.
Last Year at this time we honored:
New American Hero: Cherlye Ferlita
New Educator of the Year: Donna Webster
Award of Excellence: Yazmin Lopez (Lead Custodian
Parent/Guardian Survey! We need to hear from YOU!
It is time for our annual spring survey! Normally we would be handing you QR codes in the car line, etc. but we hope you are getting this virtually via your newsletter and will take a few minutes to share your valuable feedback!
New Stingray Shout out!
Entries will be used to lift up staff members, pass along a kind word, brag about our teachers, etc.
New Stingray Staff Member!
Meet Duval Charter at Southside’s new assistant principal: Brian Gifford. Mr. Gifford has enjoyed 22 years of service as a primary and intermediate teacher, dean of students, instructional literacy coach, curriculum resource coordinator and assistant principal. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from the University of West Florida in 1997. In 2003, Mr. Gifford was awarded his Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of North Florida. Mr. Gifford has a wealth of knowledge and experience and has a strong background in standards-based instruction, standards-based assessment, and research-based teaching strategies.
Mr. Gifford is passionate about creating a positive and safe learning environment for all students and recognizing and rewarding students for their outstanding character, behavior, and academic success. He believes every child can be challenged and successful through targeted differentiation and the proper instructional support. He values authentic, hands-on learning with connections to the real world. Mr. Gifford is eager to serve the children at DCSS and to get to know the wonderful Stingray families of the community.
The Stringray Family is very excited to have such a skilled assistant principal on board!
Below is a video from Mr. Gifford introducing himself and stingray students or families can feel free to record a video response back!
MySchoolBucks
If you do not have a MySchoolBucks account, set one up now!
https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/login/getmain?requestAction=home
Phase 2: Recommit Part II Begins on May 4th
Phase 1: in January, we completed phase 1 of the recommit process. 97% of our students are returning for 2020-21 school year
Phase 2: New this year in CSUSA, for the second step in the process, parents/guardians will complete an online Re-Enrollment Packet for returning students. This allows us to collect updated student demographic data, receive parent/guardian consent, and emergency contact information closer to the start of the school year. By completing this step, we will have fewer updates needed for emergency contact information in August/September.
More information to come in the May 4th newsletter!
Spring Pictures & Yearbooks
Yearbooks: Order Form Attached or use the online code shown below
Reminders for Remote Learning
- Log in Daily to Edmodo - 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 for the day by 8a.m. 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.
- Attendance: When your child submits a daily assignment, or attends a live zoom class, to show they are "at school" and working, the teacher amends the attendance to show "present" - For middle school, just like at the physical school, attendance is taken each period. If a child is only doing their math assignments as that might be their favorite subject, then they will only be shown as "present" for math class.
*Teachers will amend attendance up to one week to accommodate families sharing devices, working in the evenings or weekends to complete assignments because they are with a caregiver without internet during the day.
- Grading: Check Powerschool grades weekly be ensure that your child is submitting their work to their teacher. There will be practice grades, and mastery assessments grades. It is important to allow your child to complete assigned work independently. This will allow us to truly assess your student’s level of mastery of each standard.
- Instruction: Teachers have been conducting whole class lessons and pre-recorded lessons in which students can self pace. Some students may have small group zoom sessions for remediation as well as differentiating the assignments to meet your child academically where they are and ensure they continue to grow.
- Communication: Let’s continue to ensure that we are all on the same page as advocates for your child’s academic success by keeping communication strong and positive. Please reach out if your child needs any extra support. Your child’s teacher(s) will have daily office hours for student questions/assistance and parent conferencing on Zoom. Office hours should be posted in Edmodo. If you are unable to reach a teacher, or have not received a response within the expected 24 hour turnaround, please call the help desk and we will get the teacher to reach back out to you.
Help Desk
Science Movie Theater Fun
Dinos Alive!
Mummies
Wild Ocean
National Parks Adventure
Origami
LEARN how to make a Japanese Origami Crane. Hang them from your ceiling!
https://mathigon.org/course/euclidean-geometry/origami
See how to video on the website link above - mid page
Hardship Resources
We have moved the long list of resources over to a separate link: https://www.smore.com/71a3z
Educational Apps/Software utilized at DCSS
We have moved our comprehensive list of programs, apps and softwared used at D.C.S.S. to a seperate page - https://www.smore.com/dxqct
Click to learn more about powerschool, clever, edmodo, school mint, Lexia, and more!
Need Volunteer Hours?
Log your volunteer hours on a computer in your Powerschool account (option does not appear on the App)
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!
1 hr: Choose one of our enrollment/marketing social media posts and share it! That's it... help spread the word using the "share" button
Coke Rewards
Boxtops
SchoolStore.com
Duval Charter School at Southside
Website: https://www.southsidecharter.org/
Location: 8680 A C Skinner Parkway, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Phone: 904-4235348
Facebook: facebook.com/DuvalSouthside
Twitter: @DCSSouthside