Week 5 e-learning letter

Week 5

Dear STrEaM Families,

We are now over halfway through 4th quarter, and somehow on Friday the calendar will turn from April to May. This last week we heard from several parents indicating they or their children had essentially "hit a wall" with online/distance learning from home.
I want to be very clear in our response to this:
We understand.
It is ok.
Parents have 100% choice in how much to engage in the content teachers are offering.
Dial it back as much as you need to, when you need to.
We provide, you decide.
We will continue striving to offer robust and engaging content. We will continue offering grace, choice, flexibility, and space. We are here to support you, whether it is engaging in lessons, projects and learning, or pulling back to focus on family and emotional wellness.
STrEaM family, we've got this. We're in this together.

Monday:  

Start the week strong by checking each Google Classroom for assignments, lessons and activities! Jump on Zoom sessions and office hours to check in with teachers. Let's start week 5 strong! Our staff meets on Zoom at 8 AM every Monday to set the tone, schedule, priorities and message for the week. How you start the week off really matters!

Tuesday:

If you were ever going to join us for Morning Coffee, today is the day! We have some amazing guests and the focus will be on outdoor education and learning. We will roll out a carefully curated list of outdoor activities for families during the closure, and discuss the incredible benefits of nature and getting outside.
Wear your STrEaM gear with us on Tuesdays!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/189887262?pwd=b0EzVGZYVjB6TEkxWHcrNTdsNmxRUT09

Meeting ID: 189 887 262
Password: COFFEE

Wednesday: 

Many of our advisories meet on Wednesdays. This is a great opportunity to engage without academic constraints: check in, visit, enjoy each others' company. This is so important, and this is why Advisory is the heart and soul of our program.
Join us for at 10 for some fitness fun:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/621861387?pwd=R01VYzdYdWpnWDJmVVYwcGo1U05TQT09

Meeting ID: 621 861 387
Password: pe

Thursday:

Join us for coffee! The focus is on online registration for 20-21. We are already planning for an incredible 5th year at STrEaM Academy and we can't wait to engage our students in projects, challenges, and outdoor adventures that lay ahead!
Highland Academy Principal Johnson will join us for those 8th graders headed to their awesome program.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/189887262?pwd=b0EzVGZYVjB6TEkxWHcrNTdsNmxRUT09

Meeting ID: 189 887 262
Password: COFFEE

Friday:

It's "FITNESS FRIDAY!" Join us for a ton of fitness fun at 10 AM:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/621861387?pwd=R01VYzdYdWpnWDJmVVYwcGo1U05TQT09

Meeting ID: 621 861 387

Password: pe

Finally,

Parents, you are doing an incredible job managing and balancing all of this. Our teachers appreciate the communication and engagement. I greatly appreciate the continual feedback from parents to me about how awesome our teachers are and how much they are appreciated. We will get through this challenging time.  Ernest Hemingway said, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger in the broken places." We will be stronger for this, as a school community. 

The last day of school is still Thursday May 21st, and we will hold a virtual assembly that day to celebrate together and send off our 8th graders. See you all then, if not sooner. 

Thank you

Adam Mokelke, principal

Week 4 of Distance Education

April 20th, 2020

Dear parents and families,

We are ready to kick off week 4 of distance learning at STrEam! We are approaching the halfway point of the fourth quarter. Teachers are working hard to provide quality instruction,  lessons and projects on Google Classroom and office hours to check in and provide support via Zoom.

Parent support is key to student engagement. Please continue to gently push your kids to stay engaged, log in, attend the zoom meetings and keep their learning going. Please check in with teachers if you have questions.

While we are not assigning 4th quarter grades, teachers are still tracking assignment completion, assessing student learning, and posting results to provide feedback. Information on assignment completion can be found on Google Classroom or Q. Check with individual teachers for information on where to view completed assignments!

Daily Activities:

Structure and routine are important in school, and perhaps even more important now for distance learning. Schedules and tasks help us to stay focused, to set goals and to keep making progress. Set a schedule for work time. Schedules can be found on our website. Keep to a schedule and keep learning:

• Check each Google Classroom for updates and assignments
• Plan to visit office hours with teachers to check in and stay up to date
• Work on math: In addition to what teachers post, continue daily with ALEKS, Math Whizz or V-Math lessons. Utilize Khan Academy
• Read! Always have a good book in progress
• Plan (safely) to get outdoors, get exercise and fresh air
• Learn something new! Cook, build, create. Use an app like Duolingo to practice a new language. Watch art lessons and draw, paint, create. Pick up an instrument

Students, complete the Week 4 Online Learning Survey! You can do the survey once per day and each entry gives you another chance at the weekly prize drawing!

Monday

Today is Chinese Language day, and we have a fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese on staff who is hosting a Chinese language Zoom session! Join us at 2:30 pm today. 

Tuesday

Have a cup of coffee with us! We have GREAT guest speakers and presenters this week. On Tuesday, Mr. Holsopple is presenting e-learning tips and tricks for parents, then at 9:30 the chair of the Anchorage Assembly Forrest Dunbar will be online with us to talk about the municipality's response to the COVID-19 crisis and take questions. Tune in, this will be a great line up!

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/189887262?pwd=b0EzVGZYVjB6TEkxWHcrNTdsNmxRUT09 
Meeting ID: 189 887 262
Password: COFFEE

Wednesday

This Wednesday @ 10:00 AM: "Pound Workout, a Drumming Exercise". led by UAA's health and fitness professor Ms. Laura Gabel.  

Thursday

Thursday's morning coffee guests are from East High School! They will be talking about 8th grade transition and programs available at East.

Do you have ideas or requests for guest speakers for our "morning coffee" meetings? We'd love to hear from you!

Friday

Fitness Friday@ 10:00 AM: Warm up, Exercise, Cool down with Coach Mozen and other Stream Staff. All exercise options can be joined at this link:https://asdk12.zoom.us/j/621861387?pwd=R01VYzdYdWpnWDJmVVYwcGo1U05TQT09

New Parents and Families:

Join us on Zoom on Wednesday, May 6th at 4:00 PM for a new family welcome and orientation! 

The second lottery is open, and we have seats for 6th grade girls open. Although we have a waiting list, things always change so we strongly encourage interested families to apply through the lottery for 20-21. 

As always, please let us know what is working and how we can support you. The school phone, 742-9000, is forwarded to us. Email the principal at mokelke_adam@asdk12.org or our Admin. Assistant at biondich_sylvia@asdk12.org

Thank you all, and have a great week!
Mr. Mokelke

Week 3 Distance Learning

April 13th, 2020

Dear parents and families,

We are beginning week 3 of distance learning at STrEaM Academy. Although working from home, social distancing and riding out this pandemic is certainly stressful and challenging, I am comforted by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents, students and staff. Teachers are providing great content, lessons, videos and zoom sessions. Students are engaging, working, learning, and eager to interact and share. Parents continually report that they are happy with the efforts and opportunities provided. Our school community is amazing, #STrEaMstrong! 

Please continue to encourage your child to engage. We understand limitations and do not want to overwhelm families. We also hope all of our students will continue learning. Have them log in to their Google Classrooms each day to check for updates and assignments. Encourage them to attend Zoom office hours: these are optional, but an opportunity to visit with their teachers and learn new things. Let’s keep our students learning! 

Morning Coffee with the Principal: 

Each Tuesday and Thursday from 8 to 9 AM, we are hosting Zoom sessions for parents.This is a chance to check in, visit, ask questions and get information from STrEaM.To add value to these sessions, we are lining up guest speakers to share on pertinent topics. TUESDAY our guest speakers are founders and APC members Whitney D’Atri and Andranel Brown. THURSDAY will feature Ms. Kotelman, ELA teacher, presenting on Supporting your Child’s Learning in Google Classroom. 

APC meeting:  

Our monthly Academic Policy Committee meeting is this Wednesday, 4/15 at 5:30 PM. This will be conducted via Zoom and streamed live over Youtube. The directions will be posted on the STrEaM website on the APC page. The agenda for the meeting is already posted there.  If you would like the opportunity to speak for 3 minutes during the public testimony time, please call Sylvia at 742-9000 to get on the list and leave us a telephone number where we can reach you during the meeting.

Week 3 survey: 

Survey for April 13 - 17  Students may enter once per day for up to five chances to win tickets to H2Oasis.  Winner announced 04/20/2020

Online Yearbook Orders: 

We are re-opening the link for ordering a yearbook.  There is a link on the website under STrEaM News - use school code 13049420.  The link will be open between April 15th - May 1st. Yearbooks will be mailed out to students as soon as LifeTouch makes delivery (after May 4th). 

As always, if you have questions, email Mr. Mokelke and Mrs. Biondich. You can still call the school phone, 742-9000.  For links, resources, contact information and more, our school website is a great resource: https://www.asdk12.org/stream

Thank you for being a part of our learning community. 

Sincerely,

Adam Mokelke, Principal 

Week 2 Digital Learning with STrEaM

April 4th, 2020 

STrEaM Parents and Families,

We completed our FIRST week of digital learning successfully! Students who responded to the online learning survey this week gave an average score of 3.8 on a scale of 1-5 rating their success with online learning. Parents and staff reported positive experiences, and a high level of communication. We started strong, showing that we can do this! #STrEaMstrong

This week:

Students should check their Google Classrooms for assignments and updates. Visit teachers on their scheduled office hours to check in, ask questions, get support as needed. Office hours schedule (link). Coming this week, Grade-Level schedules with office hours and meetings.

Tuesday and Thursday 8:00 AM: Parents and families invited to join Mr. Mokelke, Mrs. Biondich, Mrs. Gatlin and Ms. Bonertz on Zoom to have a cup of coffee, visit, ask questions and get support and information.

Parents, you cannot be added as students to Google Classrooms. They are not designed this way and will cause a lot of confusion. You CAN request to be added for Guardian Updates and receive daily or weekly summaries. We also recommend you ask students to log in and show you their Google Classrooms. This is the best way to see what they are seeing.

Zoom: 

We are aware of the concerns out there with zoom. Fortunately, our teachers and students had great zoom sessions the first week. We will continue taking steps to keep this platform safe: teachers have to admit each person from a waiting room to the meeting, and will only admit known students. Our staff has trained, practiced and mastered this platform, and we will keep it safe and secure. Please continue talking with students about appropriate online etiquette.

Lottery: 

The first lottery is complete, filling all our available seats and we have a wait list in all three grades. The Lottery is open for round 2. We are actively seeking female students for seats in the sixth grade! Initially we have 60 seats open. We accepted 30 boys and 21 girls.  If you know any interested families, please let them know we still have seats for female applicants. We still welcome boys, and the wait list is not too long!

Let’s have a great second week of e-learning. Contact us with any questions. Stay engaged, and engage at the level you and your family is comfortable with: don’t let things overwhelm you. We would rather put out more than enough material than too little, and let families decide how much to do and how much time to spend.

Hope to see you on Zoom this week!
Mr. Mokelke