The following is an update from all grade levels and subject teachers.
Grade 1
Mrs. Brown has been communicating with her students' families, and was able to hold their Parent Teacher Conferences over the phone. Prior to the conferences, Mrs. Brown sent out an assessment that the parents administered to gauge each student's achievement and progress in Grade One. She has sent circle activities, a sample daily rhythm for each family to adapt to fit their personal needs, and the arithmetic block plans, which is the current block the students are studying in their Main Lesson. She will continue to stay in touch and work in partnership with her classroom families.
Grade 2
Ms. Contento is continuing to send parents new worksheets to review the concepts learned in the most recent math block. She has started to create YouTube videos for her students to recite new poems, listen to new stories, and learn new concepts in language arts. She also is focusing on spelling rules, compound words, and types of sentences.
Second grade has started doing main lessons via Zoom. Ms. Contento is thankful to her parents for their patience.
Grade 3
Ms. Mullen has shared verses, games, math worksheets, writing prompts, spelling words, cursive practice, songs, and poems with families. Third grade had a Show-and-Tell that was very sweet. Ms. Mullen loved getting to see their faces and looks forward to more of it! Soon the class will begin its farming block, which should be a lot of fun considering the amount of time we have to devote to nurturing some plants!
Spanish
Students have been working on a skit, “Las hormigas y el grillo.” Students are encouraged to continue practicing their lines.
Grades 4-5
The students are asked to begin each day with daily work. This includes poem recitation, studying states and capitals, and a creative writing component.
Ms. Flores sent students informational readings that would have been presented in class. Students should read the information and write drafts. She will read and check the drafts before re-sending them to the students. Then students should complete the final writing on the main lesson paper. She will complete the drawings that would have been drawn in class and send them to the students to copy. Parents have been sent a list of suggested readings and other resources. Ms. Flores will begin weekly check-ins with her students next week.
English Specialty
The students in Grades 4-8 are asked to practice the art of letter writing each week. Grades 4-5 are studying the fable and practicing evidential writing. Grades 6-7 are studying “The Tao of Pooh” and the art of annotation. Grade 8 has worked through email and phone conversation. In addition to their letter writing, the students are practicing advanced annotation with the novel study for “Flowers for Algernon.” Google Classroom has been used for Grades 4-7, and recently launched for Grade 8.
Spanish
Students are working on creating picture dictionaries. Each week, they will receive a different theme of 10-12 words. They will write the Spanish word and draw a picture.
Grades 6-7
Students successfully completed a week of remote learning in their History of the Middle Ages Block using Zoom. The students have adapted to the new format extremely well. Each day, Ms. Nelson received a lot of great questions. The students are taking notes as requested, and they are intently listening to what she is presenting. They are in the process of writing their first paper on the topic of Religious Life in the Middle Ages. Ms. Nelson also has enjoyed checking in with each student one-on-one during the week. It was a great experience for her to have personal conversations with each of them using Zoom.
Grade 7 has resumed the Special Section work on their final main lesson of the year: Meteorology. The students also received their scores for their U.S. Constitution quiz, for which some are studying for a retake scheduled Friday. Quizzes will be emailed to parents for them to proctor and return by email. In addition, assignments have been given for all subjects through Google Classroom. All students are enrolled and directly communicating with the appropriate subject teacher about these assignments. Ms. Nelson is proud of the efforts the students have shown to keep moving forward in their studies. Thanks so much to all the wonderful Grade 6-7 parents who have been assisting the class in making this possible.
Grade 8
Mr. Pauzolis is conducting lectures each day through Zoom. He also is using Google Classroom to manage all handouts and assignments. He has created a basic “8th Grade Class” classroom for general announcements, to which all of their teachers have been invited. To avoid clutter and confusion, he has created separate classrooms for Main Lesson, Math, Language Arts, Spanish and Music.
The daily lecture component is an hour long (minimum) and consists of discussions and the presentation of new materials. Where notes are required, the students begin transcribing their notes from a Google Slides presentation. The slide show is then provided in the Google Classroom resources so that the students can complete the transcription on their own.
Assignments are given via Google Classroom. Written assignments are then turned in via Google Classroom. Art assignments can be scanned and sent through Classroom or physically mailed to Mr. Pauzolis.
Spanish For Grade 6-8
Students are working on a project in which they plan a trip to Spain. All criteria, information, and tips can be found in the Google Classroom. Students are encouraged to email Sra. Alicia with questions or to make an appointment for tutoring. Once the project is completed all students will be contacted to set up a time to go over the project with Sra. Alicia via Zoom.
Library
Mrs. Lesley set up an All-School Read! project to encourage students to read throughout the year. Explanation of the project and reading logs to keep track of reading were sent to the families of Grades 1-8. Mrs. Lesley will keep track of all hours read by our community to see if we can reach our top reading goal! Families in Grades 1-3 also received information about the read in the Unique Places Challenge. Families received a list of resources to access free ebooks and audio books as well as information about a few local book stores providing curbside services and shipping. Mrs. Lesley has worked with many families on giving book suggestions/reading lists to their children. Grades 4-8 Library classes will begin working with dictionaries and other resources. Mrs. Lesley will take a poll to see if families in Grades 1-3 are interested in story time with Mrs. Lesley via zoom. As requested the Book Clubs will resume next week.
Movement
Students in Grades 1-3 have been given the resources to complete lessons in movement at home in any space using any amount of equipment. These lessons include, but are not limited to, jumping rope, hand-clapping games, string games, and strength building tasks.
Students in Grades 4-8 have been assigned physical fitness logs. They are required to move a certain amount of times per week and record their movements with specific details. Goal setting and fitness tracking as well as use of the FITT principle are key components of this practice. Students are encouraged to be as creative as they can be in order to accomplish moving and reaching goals in such a usual setting! This is a great opportunity to explore the resources and opportunities for moving at home while learning skills for improving performance and enhancing physical fitness.
Math Grade 4th-8th
Math assignments will be given via Khan Academy. Each of the grades Google Classrooms have a link to join the corresponding class section on Khan Academy. Students were expected to earn 1,000 mastery points in their specified course by March 31.
Music
Mr. Bauman created an online class that will assist in making sure all WSNO students continue to be provided with weekly musical activities.
Students will use an online site called Quia. On this site, students will be provided with a login username and password that will give them access to music materials and activities. The activities will be just enough to keep students on par as they proceed in developing their musicianship.
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Jill Contento
Grade 2 Class Teacher & Grades Chair
Waldorf School of New Orleans
(504) 508-0760
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