April 9th Message

April 9^th, 2020

Dear Keeler Families, 

By now, you have received news that we will be using Google Classroom as our virtual learning space for students.  Some of you have already joined the classroom and explored.  Initial learning opportunities will be posted on Monday April 13^th by 10am for your children to begin getting used to working this way. We encourage your child to check into their google email accounts each day. Allow them to log into their accounts and explore the classroom so that they establish as much independence as possible.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MEG5SPVXZU&feature=youtu.be

Encourage your child to send their teachers emails if they don’t understand a concept or need clarification.  We want the tasks children do to be as independent as possible, and where you do need to support, we will make every effort for it to be as easy as possible. Regular communication is vital during the weeks ahead for your child to be successful, so don’t hesitate to ask questions and reach out to teachers.  This is an important part of our role and we are here to support!  Here are a few hints for you as you navigate learning at home: 

• Learning tasks, as per Alberta Learning directive, will emphasize literacy and numeracy.   Grade 4 and 5 teachers will give opportunities to incorporate science and social studies outcomes through cross-curricular learning. 
• If your child is keen to work beyond an hour each day that is fine, but it is not required.   
• If your child is struggling with a task that is taking a significant amount of time, please communicate with your child’s teacher so he/she can make modifications to the task.  This is what they would normally do when at school, but we need parents to help by giving teachers feedback.    
• It may take a few weeks for teachers, parents and children to better understand what an hour may look like for each child or what will work for your family.  If the work turns out to be more than an hour per day, please let the teacher know so they can adjust.  Please be patient with this process.  We are here to support you and make this work the best we can for you.  Flexibility will be key to our current situation. We will try to be as responsive as possible as we work through this new system.  
• If your child is frustrated please take breaks when needed.  Come back to the work later.  
• If the online format is not working for your child, you always have the option of paper copy assignments.  Please let your child’s teacher know if the technology is not working for your family.  Hard copy assignment pickup will always be on Monday from 10am-3pm.  If you are picking up other than Monday please make arrangements with the office or your teacher to ensure we have the package ready.  You can drop the finished work off at the school thru the drop box slot located on the front middle door (North doors).
• When you or your child are having trouble logging in, please contact the teacher and we will try to fix the issue.   
• Office hours are from 8:30am – 11:30am and 12:30pm – 3:09pm. Please contact the office if your contact information needs to be changed or updated.

With information changing so quickly, I will be changing my weekly communication to Friday.  Please note that you may be receiving school messengers from teachers and the school more often as our situation changes, and as we launch our google classrooms.  This can be overwhelming however we, as a school, do want you to have the most recent information as it is made available to share.  We will do our best to minimize our messages or save them as a weekly update.  

I want to thank every Keeler family for your support in this new way of learning. I know this is a stressful time and some have experienced job loss, some work from home while attending to family while others still work full time and have your children in care.  

To our front-line workers experiencing high levels of stress, thank you for all you do to keep everyone safe during this difficult time.  All our hearts are with you!   

For everyone in our Keeler learning community and the community at large, please remember that the well-being of you and your family must come first.  Please take care of you and your family.    

This is not easy, but I know we will get through this as we support one another.  Please know we are here for you! 

Thank you,

Kenny Yeung

Principal