5th Grade Team - 2020 Texts Part 1

TEACHING DURING PLAGUE MONTHS

(This is a record of our; B, R, and myself attempts to teach 5th grade at CC Elementary during this spring's shelter In place. As is often the case in text threads, there is usually more than one topic being discussed.)

(The three 5th grade teachers have been preparing all year for the grade's trip to Camp Colman, slated for the end of the month. Concerns about Covid-19 are starting to crop up.

B: teaching a 4th/5th class, is referenced throughout; an experienced colleague but not team teaching with R, B and Brian.)

 Tuesday, Mar 3 3:27 PM

(R-Science/Social Studies Focus): M and J are staying home because of the Coronavirus... Today J told me they are also talking about homeschooling.

(B-ELA Focus): Oh boy

(Brian-Math Focus): Noooooo!!

Tue. Mar 4 9:10 AM

R: Take away from meeting:

-Kids need to wash hands before going to lunch {20 seconds)

-district is buying spray bottles for each pod or class or something (they don't know specifics or when)

-direct parents to district statements about virus, if they have extra questions don't ask direct them to office who has talking points

-if school is canceled, we still have to work...more to come

Fri. Mar 6 10:35 AM

B: We just had two chaperones back out!!

R: For camp?! Male or female?!

B: One of each

S's parents. It makes sense since his dad died.

I think we have backups, and we didn't really need her anyway. It means three chaperones in two groups and four chaperones in two groups.

Wed. March 11 3:52

R: Can we even try to reschedule camp?

B: I can ask J but I don't know if the district will let us

Brian: I think if school is still in session, we're going.

If not, we don't then we worry about rescheduling.

R: Toby said at the meeting no camp.

Brian : What meeting?

B: The five minute stand up meeting at the end of the day today

Brian: #%€£¥ing ,!;&,@I/ PA system!! What did he say?

R: Everything's canceled until alter spring break when they'll reevaluate. No fundraiser camp or anything

Brian: I am so terribly glad to have yet one more thing to ponder.....

R: Might have borderline cried  on the phone lo my mother. So much wasted time and energy. The kids are going to riot.

Brian: How are parents and children going to be told?

B: He said he would inform everyone and that I didn't need to worry about posting anything. I believe he'll do that tonight.

Brian: Rule Learned Day I of Bootcamp:

shit rolls downhill.

Folks ain't gonna feel free to share their great disappointment: how DEVASTATED Lil' Johnny is, with either the superintendent or T.

But us teachers? We are just hankering to hear it all.

Maybe I'm just too much of a Negative Nelly...

B: I'd rather have them find out tonight and cry in front of their parents then find out tomorrow from us

R: Agreed

Brian: Well, there goes your trip to Europe.

B: Maybe. I'm hoping I can still go.

R: What happened?

B: The coronavirus. I think it's crazy here because Seattle has the most deaths in the US. Spain doesn't have the deaths we do, I am keeping close tabs on what's being said over there though,

Brian: Trump just gave a speech saying he was cutting off all travel between ug and Europe. The ban starts in a week.

B: Shut up!

Seriously?

R: Also Brian, can you keep up to date on Mexico too?

B: Sigh. No European travel for me.

Brian: You could go to the International House of Pancakes 'Cause it's INTERNATIONAL.

B: Yeah. Sounds the same.

I wanna cry right now with my first world problems.

R: This is a hard day for you, maybe take a mental health day. You earned it.

B: Ugh. I should but I won't.

Brian: I'll be monitoring the Mexico situation around the clock!

Slightly hesitant to plan one big hootenanny for those now free days since there's a good chance none of us will be at school that week.

Again, Mr. Glass Half Empty

B: I appreciate your optimism. JN did just remind me that I can still go to the U.K...

Thu.Mar 12, 7:25 AM.

Brian: Sad Becky,

Our Beloved Leader wasn't completely clear in his remarks last night. (Shock!)

 Looks like you could still to travel TO Europe.

Getting back though....

Hmmmm … sounds like the set up for a Lifetime movie of the week:

A young American traveler finds herself forced to remain in romantic Spain for an extended stay.

No demanding family.

No humdrum job.

Big slobbering dog 3,000 mile& away.

What shall she do?!?

The Hallmark Channel and "Ultrathins: The Bathroom Tissue That Will Last Twice As Long" is proud to present the following!

“Trapped in Barcelona” “Catalonia Confinement” “Iberian Love Prison”

(Okay, that last one might be less Lifetime and more uh, "other" premium cable channels)

Should probably get to work.

P.S. R, still monitoring the Mexican Beach Situation. So far, your Vaca looks a go!

R: I sent Becky a news article about travel and you send a movie proposal  Brian, when will I be able to achieve this level of commitment and sarcasm?!

B: You two make my dad days so much better. Thank you team Sad days. Not dad days.

Brian: Trust me. Some of my Dad Days are pretty bad.

R: I can't speak for Dad Days, but sometimes I come close to dad jokes.

Thursday, March 12, 3:52 PM

Brian: Holy %#€>ing! %#€£!!! SBA’s been cancelled!!! (Just heard from B.)

R: No...

Brian: Idea! Let's not tell the kid8...

R: Do you  know how much straight test prep I've been doing and we can't even measure if it meant anything

Brian: Again. Let's not tell anybody and just give them a fake one. A Fake Smarter Balance Assessment.

A FSBA....

R: Let's do some art

Brian: May is Ceramics Month!!

R: All month.

Fri, Mar 13, 12:40 PM.

(At about noon this day, Principal T informs the staff and students that school will be closed until at least mid-April. this is not shocking and the 5th grade team goes on the assumption that students will not be returning till next year. They attempt to send as much work home as possible, along with coats, lunch boxes and musical instruments.)

Brian: SS. asked for a REALLY big reading log. Can we swing it?

R: Yep

I'll get on it now.

Sun, Mar 15, 2:17 PM.

(The District has mandated/not mandated District Staff come into work the following week. Or not. Clearly, District upper management is waiting for guidance from OSPI on how to handle this situation.)

B: Soooooo

Since we don't HAVE to go into work Monday, do we want to meet up and establish a game plan?

Brian: Last I heard, we were supposed to go in M-W.  Did we just get a T call?

R: I thought we had to report normal hours

B:  Nope. Email.

We can work remotely.

Brian: Well, I'm pretty remote in the best of times

Regardless, I'm going in. I want to put all of Chapter II onto the website. Plus, I want  to figure out what else to do for our quarantined kids

B: I plan to go in too. Should we coordinate times? We need to definitely figure out what to communicate to

families and by what means we are going to communicate it to them.

Brian: Uh..8:30ish?

R: Tomorrow is the only day I'm going in, Tuesday and Wednesday I'm going to do remote. Are we even allowed to do all digital?

Brian: Sure

B: I think so. Tomorrow I'll meet you all there. Are we aiming for 8:30 to coordinate?

R: I'll be there.

I need to upload that packet I sent home because S’s dad wants it and I can imagine other parents will want one too, even if I did send them home.

Brian: 8:30!

Got it I'm gonna use Google Classroom and the website mostly. Who doesn't have internet access?

R: I don't know actually...we're not even privy to that information

Mon, Mar 16th, 8:17 AM.

B: I'm here. Whenever you wanna meet.

R: Pulling in

Mon, Mar 16th, 10:00 AM.

R: E wants us to bring report card envelopes up to her

B: I already left. Mine are on the shelf next to my table

R: Got them!

B: Thank you

Brian: Hey, T just renewed Mobymax for another year.

It's not as pinpoint as Redbird but it's an option. Not sure if you want any particular subject. Right now it's

-Fact Fluency

-Fluency Board games

-Mathematics

-Language Fluency Board Games

-Reading stories

-Vocabulary

-Sight Words

-Social studies

-Science

No clue on the board games.

Mon, Mar 16th 7:25 PM.

Brian: Did you read Dr. P's update for the week?

"…teachers should not be assigning work that will be a continuation of the classroom lesson. At this time, do not create packets or expect parents to pick up work or continue classes electronically/virtually. We are still waiting for guidance from the OSPI."

What the hell did we do then?

B: Exactly what they told us not to, Now I don't know what to do,

R: Sounds like don't do anything until they give us guidance

B: I'll make a post tomorrow that states that all work is optional.

R: But it might change...

B: True. I'll just write that at this point the work is optional.

Tue. March 17th. 6:20 AM.

R: "Please know that we can only provide families with enrichment support, (per OSPI guidelines). It is not equitable to require specific

assignments."

Obviously, I've been up like all night being an anxiety ridden teacher. I wish they would have said this from the get go. Well, I find measuring items by weight, length, or capacity VERY enriching.

Brian: Well, I find measuring items by weight, length, or capacity VERY enriching.

Don't worry about is. Our parents and maybe even our students appreciate what we did; which was make the best of a terrible situation. Equitable shmequitable.

B can do the CYA thing with a quick Bloomz text.

R: Do we keep giving them possible things until we get more direction Thursday or no?

Brian: Kids have plenty to do for this week. Let's let everything sit a few days in the hopes that the fine folks at OSPI can successfully remove their collective heads from their collective asses.

T mentioned this issue yesterday; didn't seem that big a deal. We Just don't officially require the work done nor grade whatever comes back. Bob's your uncle.

Of more import: the Hardy Family lawn is looking quite good now. All the fruit trees are fertilized. And my garage weight room is ready for business!

Xander's pretzels? Still not great.

I have a planned a test run of Quiplash today; trying to decide which Jackbox games work best remotely. Stay tuned.

R: You're right, I need to check these emotions right at the door.

Not that it's a competition but I am taping and painting a bathroom today... impressive I know

Perfect hopefully I can win this time!

B: So I think today my kiddos finally have a schedule they stick with. It starts at a mind numbingly early 10:00 am. Poor kids. I'll just quote what Brian said up above about OSPI and our suggestions for work. I think what we gave is enrichment. It seems fair enough.

I'm glad I'm not making any big decisions. I hope those people don't mess up too badly. What's the Moby Max school code? I should have it memorized but...

Brian: Password: fusput

Okay, I found that amusing when I set MM up: 6 years ago. STOP Judging me!!!

B: That's hilarious. I just put the school code into the post for Bloomz so they have other suggested resources.

Because I didn't have your sage advice when I posted, I hope it's ok. I did use what you texted earlier. Let me know if I

should change anything.

R: I like that. I think parents will appreciate the options

Brian: That's right. suggest, suggest, suggest. That's all we do.

B: I think we're doing well considering the world has turned upside down. Bay Area is in shelter in place status like Italy and Spain

Brian: I can see myself going a bit bonkers by 4/24. Must. Assess. Something...!

Not Howard Hugh's saving nail clippings and urine bonkers but I can see putting an unhealthy amount of the next month into doing battle with the raccoons.

R: I saw that! I also saw they aren't sure how strictly that'll be enforced which is scary to think what enforcing will look like!

Brian: "Local Teachers Fired For Risking Health By Providing School Work For Sheltering In Place Military Families During Pandemic"

said

no

newspaper

headline

EVER..

B: Right R?

We're going to walk a 5k today. The kids hate me but it's sunny and I hate staying at home all the time. J thinks I'm gonna have six pack abs by April 24. He's wrong. I fake it during the workouts.

Not a word Brian...

Fri, Mar 20, 4:58 PM

(Team 5th starts the process of putting their lessons online; a process new to them.)

B: Looks like we need to put some things on our google classroom starting next week.

R: Interesting. I hope they mean us, and  not like... all of 5th  grade in the  distinct

B: I believe they mean us. She sent us an email.

JZ sent another one. We form a new google classroom through which all of our communication goes to all of fifth grade. I think we are all admin on it. We should formulate subject areas (topics) within it for us to be in charge of. They're gonna distribute CB's to kids...

Brian: About time they listened to me.

Not completely sure what the math is going to look like.

If we do google classroom for everything... Well, my plan had been to start posting previous math chapters to the  website.

I'm not completely sure I can do all that from home. However, I am completely  sure I can do it with great ease if I'm in my

classroom.

With "The Closedown" next Tuesday, I guess I'll have to sneak in over the weekend.

Uh...we already have a g-classroom. (On which I have done diddly squat. You think J is talking something further?

What are you all thinking this Review, Refresh, and Practice looks like?

B: We have to have ONE classroom for all three of us. This means we need to create a new one. No worries though, I can invite all the kids to it. Super simple, All they have to do is click join when they open up classroom.

I only know about reading. I imagine it'll be me creating templates for them to fill out while they read online articles I  post.

Sat, Mar 21, 5:21 PM.

Brian: https://stories.audible.com/ This sure looks enriching.

The selection looks insane. And it's all streaming; no log in or payment required.

B: I posted it to Bloomz as an option for families today. It seems really cool.

Sat, Mar 21, 7:13 PM.

B: Finally got the backyard all cleaned up (almost). Too bad we're the only ones to enjoy it.

R: Those pavers look so good!

B: Thanks. I paid for them myself.

I wish they weren't so gray though.

R: I like the grey, hopefully they won't get dirty easily though

B: Ha haaa!! They're filthy right now. One of the things we have to do is pressure wash the patio and stain/treat the deck.

That's this summer's investment.

Sun, Mar 22, 11:40 AM.

Brian: Cool. Best get on that patio.

Okay, finally fired up the ChromeBook. No new email since Friday. That's downright eerie. But I did do some actual school work from home.

I know, right?!?

-The COVID-19 google doc is mathematically updated through the end of Week 4 (April 10th). I also goofed around with· the document's layout. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and so on.

-As I understand it, this document will be used to update Bloomz..? Or, our google classroom? Maybe both.

-Speaking of G-classroom, I found my old ones but they're all from last year. Of no use

You guys have your own classrooms. Do you think I should do a math one?

-But on the subject of enrichment, I made another page on our site. it's called "April Math Enrichment" and it has pretty much EVERYTHING Chapter l: Place Value-related I could post.

sadly, any Word documents, like say all the tests, come out as goobly-gook and go are not posted. When I open said quizzes and test while on the desktop, it's not a problem, not so on the ChromeBook.

-Later on today; I'll find/post the answer keys to our current chapter. That is all for now.

B: Ok. We have to start a new google classroom that's grade level. I can do that tonight and add all the kids in. All they have to do is login and accept the invite. I'll past on Bloomz tomorrow morning that the classroom is live. What I understand is that the classroom doesn't have to be put into effect until afer spring break, but I just happened to know that CC's 2nd grade team is already up and running

I will make a topic area for each of us so we can each post what we want in there. Update the Covid 19 doc with what you put in the classroom and I can post it to Bloomz.

If your work will be posted on the website, just add a link in classroom on the math topic area to the website for them to complete.

Does this all make sense?

Brian: Sort of.

It's been a long while since I have done anything with classroom. But hey, I'm a white guy and so have a completely undeserved confidence I'll be able figure it out.

An example might help. How would I take a look at 2nd grade's handiwork?

Also, I really don't want Mrs S to feel left out. Any ideas?

Also can we do by teacher instead of subject, or at least can science and social studies be one instead of two?

B: Absolutely. That's kinda what I was thinking. We would have three sections, one for each of us.