WEEKLY MESSAGE 4.16.20 FACEBOOK LIVE WITH MS. DEPINTO
Facebook Live Transcript from Ms. DePinto 4.16.20
Good evening, Moore Square families. Mrs. DePinto here to share some updates and answer some ongoing questions we have received from you. I miss seeing your smiling faces and am so thankful to be able to connect with you here on Facebook Live! Tonight’s message will contain a variety of information and the transcript will also be sent by messenger and linked to our Website, complete with links to some of the topics discussed.
We have almost made it through week 2 of our remote learning and, while we know this has been different, we hope that you are beginning to get the hang of this style of learning and are reaching out to your teachers when you have questions. They are here for you! We have shared a little about grading, but I want to take just a minute to share again that our teachers will continue to provide valuable feedback on completed assignments, but will not be assigning standard grades at this time. We continue to await further direction from the state DPI on grading and are following their guidance to provide feedback as opposed to evaluation. Our teachers will continue to provide lessons that address the primary standards for their area that will support future content and mitigate learning loss during this time, so it is important to continue engaging in these lessons even though the grading is not the same as when we are able to work together face-to-face.
Speaking of grading, we are thankful that we were able to complete our 3rd quarter of the school year before trackout and the grades for 3rd quarter are now finalized in PowerSchool. We will not be sending paper copies of the report card at this time, but if you check PowerSchool you can see your “report card” grades for 3rd quarter. If you do not have access to PowerSchool, please email Ms. Harrington at gtolson-harrington@wcpss.net and she will get you set up!
We know some of you 7th graders have been waiting for an opportunity to be a part of the National Junior Honor Society, and the time is almost here. Eligible students are being calculated as we speak based on an average 3.5 GPA for the first 7 quarters of middle school. These eligible students will receive an online application in the coming weeks to their school email address. While we typically have an induction ceremony the last week of school, we will wait for this component until school resumes next fall. If you have questions, please email Mrs. DePinto at cdepinto@wcpss.net or Mrs. Sweeney at rwsweeney@wcpss.net.
Moving into 4th quarter. . . We understand that there may still be some confusion about which electives are being taught this quarter. If you were scheduled for an elective this quarter that is taught by an Encore teacher (a teacher who only teaches electives) you should complete this class. If you were supposed to be in a class taught by a Core teacher (a teacher who also teaches Core classes) you will not have this class. This means that many students may only have 1 or 2 electives this quarter instead of 3. This is ok! If you have all 3 electives and are feeling overwhelmed with the workload, please reach out to your teachers, counselors, or administrators about ways to manage this.
While we are on the topic of electives, please remember that this is the time to register for next year’s elective classes. This is completed through PowerSchool and there is a link to the information at the top of the Moore Square homepage to help you through the process. Current 8th Graders should complete their high school registration by this Friday, 4/17. After you have completed this, please email Mr. Wray at mwray@wcpss.net with your choices. Current 5th, 6th and 7th graders should complete their elective registration by next Friday, 4/24. You will select 12 primary choices and 5 alternates. You should make 17 selections even if some of them are semester or year-long classes. This gives us as many options as possible to make sure that you have a complete schedule for next school year. All 17 courses should be different. For example, if you choose a class as a primary choice you should not choose it again as an alternate. If you are unable to register on PowerSchool, please email your counselor with your choices and they can put them in PowerSchool for you!
Ms. Estes: jestes2@wcpss.net Mr. Wray: mwray@wcpss.net
6th Grade: Last Names A-L 6th Grade: Last Names M-Z
7th Grade: ALL 8th Grade: ALL
We were so thankful to be able to check out chromebooks to families who did not have a device at home to access remote learning resources last week. We recognize that there are other families that do not have a device or internet access. We are waiting for hotspots to be delivered to the schools. When those have been received, we will reach out to those families for hotspot and chromebook distribution so that all of our students will have access to remote learning.
We hope that you all have had contact with your teachers by phone, email, Remind, Google Classroom, etc, but if you have not heard from a teacher please reach out to them or an administrator to help make this connection and to make sure that we have current contact information for you. While we understand that it would be helpful for the “real” teacher to reach out to encourage your student to complete their work to help out the “substitute”, we also know that each family is in a unique situation and all are doing the best they can! We are trying to balance our contacts so that you know that we are here to support, but also understand when you just can’t get it all done. If you need more or less from us, please feel free to reach out and let us know how we can help you.
A couple of business items:
- Ms. Sundin is working on processing field trip refunds and these should be out in the next couple of weeks. If you have questions about this, please contact her at gsundin@wcpss.net.
- Yearbooks are in! We will work out a process for distribution when it is safe to do so.
And, I’ll leave you with a fun way to stay engaged in Moore Square student life: Virtual Spirit Week! Thanks to Mr. Anderson and the Student Council, the spirit week tradition will continue next week. It’s easy to participate. . . follow the theme, take a picture, and share it with your grade level teacher representatives, then we’ll post the pictures for you to see! We’ll start with My Animal/Pet Monday, followed by Talent Show Tuesday, Wacky Hair Wednesday, Sibling Showdown Thursday and Fort Friday. Send your pictures to Ms. Rice (brice2@wcpss.net), Ms. Langston (mlangston2@wcpss.net), Mr. Hunter (jhunter@wcpss.net), Mr. Anderson (randerson3@wcpss.net) or Ms. Price (kprice2@wcpss.net)! We know some of our students may be feeling a bit disconnected to their friends during this time, so this is a great way to get involved. We would also encourage you to check out some of the enrichment opportunities that teachers are providing or go to their daily office hours for more of a face-to-face connection. We know it is difficult to stay connected in this time and will continue to seek ways to provide these opportunities!
We hope that you all continue to remain healthy and safe and we look forward to when we can be together again. Take care, Mountain Lions!