Thursday, November 19, 2020

November / December News

Due to the District's Closure, there will be limited access to the Main Office and will be open by appointment only. Please email the following individual with building/office specific questions:

Samantha Aversa, Principal - 10017@Kaneland.org

Courtney Ward, Assistant Principal - 11515@Kaneland.org

Karen Gage, Principal Secretary - 38763@Kaneland.org

Debbie Johnson, Building Secretary - 10242@Kaneland.org

Kaneland CUSD Phase 4 Full Remote Plan

Remote Schedule for “Hybrid” and Fully Remote Students-

Students will have live zoom sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesdays will be used for personalizing learning for students. Students may engage in:

Virtual one on one feedback sessions
Virtual small group sessions for reteaching
Virtual small group sessions for enhancement
Office hours with the teacher
Independent learning application time

Students with specific needs K-12 will be invited by their teacher or support staff member to attend small group virtual sessions on Wednesdays

Student Schedules-

Student schedules will be sent by their teachers and will mirror the in-person days for their class schedules for the most part. There will be live instruction via Zoom that will be in a variety of formats. On Wednesdays students will be learning asynchronously, meaning they will have work to do through Canvas and may not have a live Zoom session with a teacher. Our teachers are using this day to personalize learning for students and will contact specific students for small group Zoom meetings among a variety of other learning options. If you have specific questions about your child's schedule, please reach out to their classroom teacher.

Exploratory Expectations-

During our remote learning classroom, teachers will be following a schedule much like the students had during their in-person school day, this schedule includes a specific exploratory class each day. Exploratory groups will continue to follow the rotating schedule and students will have interactions via Canvas or Zoom lessons for the day. The exploratory teachers will be in regular communication with classroom teachers and with the classes that they are seeing each day. On Wednesday students may be encouraged by their exploratory teacher to attend a small group Zoom session or could have work to do asynchronously through Canvas.

Attendance Procedures-

Attendance will be taken daily by teachers. Please call the attendance line if your student will be absent from remote learning.

Student Announcements -

More information to come as we work out a schedule. I will reach out to families of students who have already expressed interest.

Lunch Pick up-

Free school lunches are available to all students. Students and/or parents may pick up school lunches on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. at Kaneland John Stewart Elementary School, Kaneland John Shields Elementary School, or Kaneland McDole Elementary School. Students will pick up lunches for multiple days on Mondays and Thursdays. Lunches will not be available the week of Thanksgiving or during winter break.

Dates Lunches are Available

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Monday, November 30, 2020

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Monday, December 7, 2020

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Material Pick-Up Dates-

If teachers have supplies for your learning at home they will be bringing them to the office and we will have a pick-up time frame on Wednesdays from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm. Please look for communication from your teacher to know if you have materials to be picked up from the building. This will be our pick up date for all learners, even if you have been in the remote setting prior to our announcement of full remote. This would begin on December 2nd.

Internet Service Providers -

Our Technology Department has put together a comprehensive list of Internet Service Providers that are available in the Kaneland School District. Please use these resources as needed, so that all students are able to successfully participate in remote learning. Thank you!

Did Your Student Have COVID or was Quarantined Prior to Full Remote Learning -

If your student had COVID or was quarantined prior to full remote learning, and has since been released, please email the student’s release letter from the Kane County Health Department to your student’s school nurse. A list of school nurses with their email addresses are below:

Kaneland John Stewart Elementary School - Ms. Modaff - 11600@kaneland.org

Kaneland Elementary Schools - Ms. Meuer - 10338@kaneland.org

Technology Issues -

Starting Monday, Nov. 30th there will be a help desk for students and parents in the KHMS Community room. Please enter door 20 to access the help desk.

It will be open Monday, Wednesday, Fridays 12-4pm and Tuesday, Thursday 7-11am.

You can also use the Student Helpdesk for support or make an appointment at https://www.kaneland.org/r/student-helpdesk

Cares Closet -

We are starting a care closet for our community and looking for donations to get it up and running. Please see the document for more information and how to donate. What to learn more about the Cares Closet, Click HERE.

Amazon Wish List

Important Dates

November 30th - All students begin remote learning

December 21st - January 3rd - Christmas Break / No School

Wishing families a safe and healthy holiday season from the staff at KST!

Monday, November 2, 2020

November News

REMINDER: Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, November 4th (4-8pm) and Thursday, November 5th (10am-8pm). All conferences will be held via Zoom or by Conference Call. If you have not yet signed up for parent-teacher conferences please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible. You can choose to meet via Zoom or conference call. Please remember that the teachers only have a limited time and may need to end the Zoom or phone call to stay on schedule. Likewise, please be patient if your child’s teacher is a minute or two behind calling or hosting a Zoom call.

REMOTE TO HYBRID LEARNERS

If your child was a remote learner during the first trimester and you have selected that they become a hybrid learner second trimester, you will receive an email on Monday, November 2 informing you of school procedures and teacher information. During the week of November 2 - we will be using that time to roll students into their correct hybrid class on Tyler so we wanted to clear that up in case you get an email that says one thing and Tyler hasn't been updated, please know we are in the process.

We look forward to welcoming our new hybrid learners back to school on November 9!

Halloween at KST

KST Halloween A Day Students

KST Halloween B Day Students

Student Announcements

We will begin student announcements on November 9th. If your child is interested in recording an announcement, parents please fill out this form: Click Here for the Student Google Form and we will be in touch with the student and/or parent to provide them with a date and script. Thank you!

Prepaid Milk

Just a reminder that it's time to order milk for the 2nd Semester. Milk purchased online at the Kaneland Webstore. All Orders are Due Thursday, December 17th, 2020. No late orders will be accepted.

Library News

Calling All 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Super Readers!!

Parking Lot Procedures - Reminders

As you drop off your child, please be aware and cautious of those parents who drop off their children near the yellow area to walk to the back doors. If you choose to drop off at the yellow star area, please pull as close as possible to that side. Remain patient as students exit their vehicles. Parents, please ensure that students exit their car on the RIGHT side. Our staff members continue to monitor the parking lot and communicate concerns as they arise.

COVID Information and Reminders

Updated COVID Guidelines (10/21/2020) - Please CLICK HERE to view the chart. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our Nurse - Ms. Modaff (630) 365-8170 ext 73103.

We would like to remind families that if anyone in the household exhibits COVID-19 symptoms, please keep all students in that household home from school until a negative COVID-19 test is received or an alternative diagnosis is identified. This will help to stop the spread of COVID-19 within the schools.

Dear Parents and Families,

Help build your student's classroom library!

Simply open the "Teacher Wish List" and find the tab for the grade you would like to look at. Then go to the Scholastic website to purchase.

John Stewart Scholastic Online Book Fair Homepage

When your book arrives at your home just send it with your child to school. Remote families can leave them on the blue LRC cart in the vestibule. Please label which classroom it is for and who it is from.

Thanks for your support!!

Important Dates

Saturday, 10/31 - Scholastic Book Online Store: John Stewart Book Fair Homepage

Tuesday, 11/3 - No School

Wednesday, 11/4 - Remote Students Asyconis Learning and Parent/Teacher Conferences 9 am-8 pm

- A Day Students attend school all day. Parent/Teacher Conferences 4 - 8 pm

Thursday, 11/5 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 10 am - 8 pm

Friday, 11/6 - No School

Friday, 11/13 - Book Fair Ends

Sunday, 11/15 - Trick or Treat for UNICEF Ends - KST's UNICEF Virtual Donation Box

Wednesday, 11/18 - A Day Student Attend

Monday, 11/23 - Friday, 11/27 Thanksgiving Break-No Student Attendance

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Mid-October News

Hello John Stewart Families -
Here are some friendly reminders mid-way through October! Thank you to all those who participated in Spirit Week last week and shared pictures with us. We had a fun week celebrating!

Halloween

We will still be allowing our students to dress for Halloween this year. Our A day students will come dressed in costume on Thursday, October 29 and B day students will come dressed in costume on Friday, October 30. We will not have any parent-planned parties or volunteers. Instead, teachers will celebrate with their students in class in a way that best fits the student's ages, curriculum, and classroom needs. We will share pictures of the day on our Facebook Page. There will not be a parade outside or throughout the school.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Hybrid Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held Wednesday, November 4th from 4:00 - 8:00 pm and Thursday, November 5th from 10:00 am - 8:00 pm.

This year, there will be two options for conferences for Hybrid Families: (1) Zoom or (2) conference call.
Conferences will be twenty minutes long. Sign-ups have already gone out, please look for an email from your child's classroom teacher to reserve your time slot and indicate your choice of the conference.

Remote Parent-Teacher Conferences
Conferences can be held starting at Wednesday, November 4th from 9:00 am - 8:00 pm and Thursday, November 5th from 10:00 am - 8:00 pm. This year, there will be two options for conferences for Remote Families: (1) Zoom or (2) conference call.

EC-3rd Grade: No live sessions will be held on Wednesday in order to provide more slots for parent/teacher conferences.

4th and 5th Grade: No live sessions will be held on Wednesday in order to provide more slots for parent conferences. 4th and 5th-grade students will write a self-reflection on their progress that the Teacher will approve and send to Parents. Families may use the reflection of progress in lieu of attending a scheduled conference time. Each 4th and 5th-grade teacher will have 40 spots open for conferences. Parents are asked to select only 1 of the 2 Teachers to conference with.

Conferences will be twenty minutes long. Sign-ups have already gone out, please look for an email from your child's classroom teacher to reserve your time slot and indicate your choice of the conference.

Hybrid Application Day Reminders

Our expectation for students on application days (at home learning) is that they are completing 4-5 hours of learning. This will obviously look different from an in-school learning experience for a student but we wanted to help prioritize how the at-home learning time is spent and clarify what exploratory options our students have.

The main priority of the learning day should be ELA and Math application assignments from the general education teachers. Students should then look to spend some time working on any Science or Social Studies activities, these activities will likely be explorations and will not need to be brought back to school or handed in unless explicitly stated by the teacher. The next priority for learning would be to spend some time on Physical Education as this is an exploratory area that is required by the State of Illinois. Finally, please spend time working in exploratory areas including Music, Art, Technology, and Critical Thinking. The Exploratory teachers have worked hard to provide students access to many opportunities for learning through Canvas pages but some requirements for returning work could differ and most of the application day activities will be geared towards further standard exploration, this means teachers can review to see work is completed but feedback may not be given to students. Thank you for the help!

COVID Information - Masks

Here is some helpful information from the IDPH regarding mask care -

Click here for the full document.

How do I care for my mask?

It is a good idea to wash your mask or face covering at least daily. Place your used masks in a bag or bin away from small children or pets until they can be laundered with detergent and dried on a hot cycle. If you need to remove and reuse your mask before washing, consider putting it in a plastic or paper bag (not your backpack or purse) and be mindful not to put the mask where others can touch it or where the mask will contaminate other shared surfaces. Wash your hands immediately after putting it back on and avoid touching your face. Paper-based masks, like surgical masks, should be discarded after each use.

SELF-CERTIFYING: Please continue to self-certify your child prior to 8am on their In-Person Learning Days. Ensuring that your child is certified helps to expedite their entrance into the building.

COVID Parent Link - www.kaneland.org/covid Student Link - www.kaneland.org/pass

Remote Families

Thank you to all those who have sent pictures of their Remote Student(s).  Please feel to email a picture of your child to Mrs. Aversa 10017@kaneland.org. 