April 29th, 2021

Dear families:

We’ve had a few questions about what “At Home Learning” should look like.  This is a difficult question because it will look different in every class, and at every grade level.

But here are a few guidelines from Nova Scotia’s Provincial Plan:

• Under this scenario, Learning from Home, students in all grades learn from home while teachers teach from a school/home work site.
   
• All students will receive real-time online instruction (synchronous learning) from teachers in addition to work to be completed on their own (asynchronous learning) or in groups.
   
• The duration of real-time online instruction daily depends on the grade level of the student.
   
• Primary–12 teachers will deliver classes online and through the use of other approved tools and methods so that all students are able to participate in a combination of real-time instruction and self-directed learning.
   
• Students will have opportunities to engage virtually with their peers, teacher, and a variety of specialists and supports.
   
• Pre-primary Children will remain at home. Children in pre-primary and their families will receive a package of play-based learning materials, including a take-home bag that contains a journal, pencils, crayons, glue stick, scissors, and the Let’s Play Together booklets.
   
• For students in primary to grade 3, there will be 2 hours of school work daily, with one hour of that time online. Students will be provided with a detailed schedule indicating when they will be online, and when they will be working independently.
   
• For students in grades 4 to 5, there will be about 3 hours of school work daily, with up to 1.5 hours of that time online either individually, in small groups or as a class, Students will be provided with a detailed schedule.
   
• Some students may have additional time with learning support teachers and other support personnel depending on supports required and Individual Program Plans (IPPs).

The intention is not for students to be spending the entire day online.  Please encourage your kids to get outside and play, to do some physical activity, to read books, and to be creative. Maybe they can even help clean the house…

We would love to see what they are up to.  Please feel free to send us some pics / stories, or share them with us @WMESchool on twitter. 

For those families who have borrowed chromebooks.  The chromebooks are signed out to the student through the library catalogue system.  We did have a few mix-ups with the wrong power cords going home, so just let us know if there are any issues and we’ll try to get things straightened out asap.

Thanks for your patience as we worked through our first day of online learning today.  This is a big learning curve for all of us, but I think everyone did a great job for our first day.

Caregivers / at-home teachers, if your “student” needs to visit the “office” for any reason, a virtual meeting can be set up. ;) 

We’ll see you all tomorrow.
Please reach out if you have any questions/ concerns.

Stay Safe everyone!
Mrs. Wolfe