Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School Distance Learning Plan
Our entire staff came together to thoughtfully plan what is most necessary for students to be prepared to both end this school year strong and be ready for next school year. When we started on this remote learning journey, we were focused on what we thought was a few weeks and keeping students practicing the most important skills we had learned. However, once we learned that the remainder of our school year would be completed from homes it was important that we adjusted our approach. For this reason, we have prioritized the most important new learning for students at each grade level and have worked to break down that learning over the next few weeks of school. You will find the skills each grade level is prioritizing for students. Teachers have planned out lessons, practice, and assessments to ensure that students have opportunities to show their mastery of these skills. It is important to note that because these skills are new learning and we want to ensure students are ready for next year, all of the coming assignments will be required. At times, teachers may include additional opportunities for practice but they will note that those activities are optional. Our Specials Teachers will also continue to post lessons on certain days of the week. We encourage all students to take part in these lessons, but these are also optional as we know that all home situations and routines are different. We ask that all students make every effort to complete the required assignments on time so that teachers can provide feedback and ensure students are ready for the 2020-2021 school year.
The following guidelines for the total amount of time students should spend on work that we initially laid out. These guidelines may vary a bit by week and depend on individual students, but they are the general guidelines we are working with:
We also want to emphasize that we realize the home learning environment is different in each household. Our goal is to support our students to the best of our abilities by providing multiple opportunities for kids to engage in this learning. We will have live lessons, recorded lessons, assignments, and assessments. We are asking for students to complete all of the required assignments but we also want to encourage any family struggling to do this to reach out. It is clear that this is a time of crisis in our county and we are doing our best to keep things routine and normal for our students. However, there are going to be circumstances where this normalcy may not be possible for some and we want to adjust and adapt a plan if that becomes the case for your family. We are happy to work with any family to create an alternative plan for the required work, if that is necessary given your current situation. Please contact Mrs. Geden at [email protected] or 248-642-2616 ext. 333.
The Archdiocese of Detroit has put some grading guidelines in place that Our Lady Queen of Martyrs is following. Our grading policy for the 4th quarter will be as follows:
Knowing that we are moving to learning more new content, as opposed to reviewing and keeping our previously learned skills sharp, we will be including more live lessons or office hours through Zoom to ensure that students are getting the support they need with this new learning. At this point, we're sure everyone realizes that Zoom is popular and there are some security measures that we need to put in place in order to ensure safety while using this application. As a staff, we have outlined the following protocols and practiced how to use them:
If you have questions about any of this information, please feel free to reach out! Mrs. Geden will continue to have Zoom office hours on Mondays (8:00 - 8:30 am) and Wednesdays (8:00 - 8:30 pm). The call in details for those calls will be posted in Seesaw.
We will continue to pray for all of our OLQM community. We are here for you if you need anything! Hold strong in God’s plan!
Sincerely,
Your OLQM Staff
The following guidelines for the total amount of time students should spend on work that we initially laid out. These guidelines may vary a bit by week and depend on individual students, but they are the general guidelines we are working with:
- Preschool & Pre-K = 1 hour a day
- K-2 = 2 hours daily
- 3-5 = 3 hours daily
- 6-8 = 4 hours daily
We also want to emphasize that we realize the home learning environment is different in each household. Our goal is to support our students to the best of our abilities by providing multiple opportunities for kids to engage in this learning. We will have live lessons, recorded lessons, assignments, and assessments. We are asking for students to complete all of the required assignments but we also want to encourage any family struggling to do this to reach out. It is clear that this is a time of crisis in our county and we are doing our best to keep things routine and normal for our students. However, there are going to be circumstances where this normalcy may not be possible for some and we want to adjust and adapt a plan if that becomes the case for your family. We are happy to work with any family to create an alternative plan for the required work, if that is necessary given your current situation. Please contact Mrs. Geden at [email protected] or 248-642-2616 ext. 333.
The Archdiocese of Detroit has put some grading guidelines in place that Our Lady Queen of Martyrs is following. Our grading policy for the 4th quarter will be as follows:
- Preschool/Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten: All students will be given feedback on the skills teachers are prioritizing. You will recieve an email through SchoolSpeak. This feedback will be based on whether students are showing they are secure, developing, or beginning the skills. The purpose of this feedback is to keep track on how we can best meet the needs of our preschool/pre-k, and kindergarten students next year.
- 1st Grade - 5th Grade: Teachers will be keeping track of student work and assignments through their gradebook on SchoolSpeak as well as continuing to provide feedback on Seesaw. However, at the end of the quarter students will either receive a “P” for Passing or an “F” for Failing. We do not expect that any students will fail, but if this does become a concern we will, of course, reach out to families to come up with a plan for students. Our goal is not to fail any students, but we also want to be sure they are ready for the next grade and have the skills necessary to start strong. It would only be if students are not completing any assignments or are not putting any effort into the majority of assignments that we would reach out to families to talk about a concern of failing this quarter. Please know this is not a punishment for students, as know situations are different in each household, but rather a way to track student understanding and knowledge for teachers so they know more about where students may be starting next year. As a remainder, these “P” and “F” grades are for the 4th quarter only and students grades for Quarters 1, 2, and 3 will remain on the report card for this school year.
- 6th - 8th Grade: In middle school, students will receive letter grades for their classes based on their work. This policy has been set by the Archdiocese of Detroit for all middle school classes. Our OLQM policy is that students will receive grades of completion for practice on the prioritized skills and they will receive content grades for the assessments on the prioritized skills. These grades will be averaged together at the end of the quarter. Teachers will be updating the grade books on SchoolSpeak regularly so that both families and students will know how they are doing, in addition to providing feedback on Seesaw.
Knowing that we are moving to learning more new content, as opposed to reviewing and keeping our previously learned skills sharp, we will be including more live lessons or office hours through Zoom to ensure that students are getting the support they need with this new learning. At this point, we're sure everyone realizes that Zoom is popular and there are some security measures that we need to put in place in order to ensure safety while using this application. As a staff, we have outlined the following protocols and practiced how to use them:
- Everyone MUST use the waiting room feature. This allows the teacher to be sure that they have the opportunity to let people into the room.
- All students and parents should use their first and last names as the device name so that the teacher knows who is asking to enter the room.
- Select to have the bell feature on so that the teacher knows when someone enters or exits the room.
- Only allow the teacher to share their screen or content.
- Post the numbers for Zoom calls ONLY on Seesaw and require a passcode.
- Lock the meeting once it has started (2 min after) so that no one needs to worry about someone trying to get in after it has started.
- Mute everyone on arrival and ONLY unmute by the host.
If you have questions about any of this information, please feel free to reach out! Mrs. Geden will continue to have Zoom office hours on Mondays (8:00 - 8:30 am) and Wednesdays (8:00 - 8:30 pm). The call in details for those calls will be posted in Seesaw.
We will continue to pray for all of our OLQM community. We are here for you if you need anything! Hold strong in God’s plan!
Sincerely,
Your OLQM Staff