WMS Wolverines

Respect-Dedication-Integrity

WMS Parents/Guardians & Students,

As communicated on Friday, we are embarking on an expedition into a remote delivery of instruction and learning at Wayne Middle School, and across the district! Initially this period of "soft" dismissal for students is scheduled to run effective immediately through Friday, March 27th. During this phase of the process teachers will be present at schools. They will be creating content, facilitating learning, and supporting students and parents as we continue to provide meaningful and high quality educational opportunities. After this initial time frame, state education, and public health leaders will determine our next course of action. It is possible that this remote educational experience could extend well past these first weeks. We will continue to do all we can to keep your children, and our community safe. This has always been of paramount importance to us. We are simply working toward this goal in a different way now than we ever imagined we would be. Jennifer will still be available in the office ready to assist you and help answer any questions that you may have. I have outlined some key information of note below. Please review this information in order to best support your student during our dismissal period. Reach out if you begin to feel frustrated. Don't wait! I would ask you to be patient with us as we work daily to refine, and improve our practices in the new reality we all face. We will all be learning and growing!

Scheduled Times to Come to School to Pick Up Materials:
We would ask that initially you come to school on the following schedule to get any materials and or resources you might need to continue your learning from home. While you are here, check in with each teacher to identify specific resources that they would like you to have available at home. If you can’t make it during the time scheduled for your student, please come in at another time that is most convenient for you. If you have students in multiple grades, they may come at any of the times.

Staggered Schedule:
8th Grade: Tuesday or Wednesday March 17th.18th from 10:00-11:00
7th Grade: Tuesday or Wednesday March 17th.18th from 11:00-12:00
6th Grade: Tuesday or Wednesday March 17th.18th from 12:00-1:00

At any point during our "soft" dismissal period that you need to come to gather supplies or any necessary items that are at school, please come during these same hours. If you are in need of speaking directly with a teacher please contact them and make specific arrangements before coming to the school. We would prefer to have all interactions happen over Google Hangouts if we can. This will help ensure that teachers are available and do not have any conflicts.

Coursework
Coursework and instruction will be delivered to students through our Canvas LMS. This instructional period will begin on Thursday, March 19th and extend throughout the time we are dismissed. Students will be assigned work on a daily basis in each of their core classes. These lessons will be designed to focus on essential standards and skills that students need to know, based on State Core Standards. These lessons will be built with a reduced workload and time requirement in mind. Each day's lesson should be able to be completed in 20-30 minutes. 

Each teacher's Canvas Course/Class will be organized in a consistent manner across our school. When students login to Canvas and enter a Course/Class they will click on the Modules tab. Each day's work, instruction, and formative assessment will be in a module with that day's date. Inside the module each teacher will have a link to assignment instruction, a video with instruction, and a formative assessment. The formative assessments will be brief and serve two purposes. First, to check for learning and understanding of those essential elements, and second to ensure a daily engagement with each student. Teachers will be monitoring student progress and participation closely. If students do not submit the assessment for two consecutive days the teacher will make a contact to the home. It should look similar to the image below.

Elective classes will be scaled back even further. Look for more guidance on this from your teacher. We do not want this remote learning online opportunity to become overwhelming to you as parents, or for your student. We are doing our very best to create lessons that are manageable and focus only on essential learning.

Communication
During the dismissal period we want to maintain open lines of communication and interaction with you and your students. Beyond interactions through class work and assessments, we will be using Google Hangouts to facilitate digital face to face contact. Teachers will be available via Hangouts at the office hours listed below. If you or your student has a question about assigned work or classroom practices please reach out. Andrea Peterson has pushed the Hangouts app out to all student iPads. You can also access Hangouts through any computer by logging in to your google account. 

Jenny Peterson------1:00-3:00
Lori Chappell---------1:00-3:00
Lance Peterson------1:00-3:00
Trent Larsen----------1:00-3:00

Wolverine T.R.A.C.K.S. Course Daily Check In
I will be sending a daily check-in to all students in our school. That will begin on Monday March 23rd. I want to do all I can to make sure that students maintain a daily connection to school. I don't want any students to fall behind. These check-ins from me will be brief, and only require a short response. If I do not see a response in consecutive days, I will reach out to you through Google Hangouts or by telephone.

Wi-Fi Access Options
If students do not have access to the internet at home, the following options are available:
-Students can come to the school parking lot and receive a Wi-Fi signal.
-LDS church parking lots. (Talk to local wards for access if you don’t have it)
-Town Hall parking lots. (Talk to your town officials for access)
-I heard today that South Central is offering free internet. Contact them for clarification.
-Royal’s Market Parking Lot (Talk to Julia or Joe for details)

Home Suggestion:
-Develop a Schedule
- Require Your Students to be Active Participants
-Limit "Hanging Out” Outside of Family Groups as Much as Possible
-Create Family Time Opportunities
-Connect in More Meaningful Ways
-GO OUTSIDE! Work Hard, but Have Fun Too!

8th Graders, remember that high school eligibility for Fall Semester (2020) activities is based on this year’s 4th quarter grade!

As we move forward into this uncharted territory, our goal is to build structures that will make this disruption to the norm as seamless as we possibly can. There will most certainly be bumps in the road! Hopefully they will be limited and manageable. Over time we will refine and improve our processes. We will miss your students in our building! We truly love interacting with them in the halls each day. It will be exciting to see them walk back through the doors, whenever that is. We value you as parents and all that you do! If you have questions, please reach out to us. We will do our very best to answer all of the questions that you will have. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Lance Peterson
WMS Principal
(435) 425-3421
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