View a sample schedule for Pinewood students.
Dear Mohonasen Parents,
As Mr. Shine shared in his earlier communication, I hope this letter finds you and your family doing well. The sense of a typical day has changed for me much as it has for you, but even though it doesn’t look the same, I want to make sure that we remain connected as a Pinewood family. In an effort to do so, I will be recording a daily message and will be reading a chapter of a book that I hope students can listen to which will help us have a shared story and connection that we can all talk about upon our return to school. We certainly all understand the seriousness that COVID-19 has pressed upon our entire community and I hope that you are taking precautions to prevent the further spread. With that said, I just also wanted to echo Mr. Shine with how truly touching it is to have so many in our community offering support and resources to take care of our families.
We have created a “Grab and Go” breakfast and lunch option district-wide and through this have been able to meet one of our very basic needs for many of our families. We will also continue serving the families connected to the Backpack Program. In addition, if you are in need of resources, please contact the main office for assistance.
As of today (April 7th)l, many of our students (93%) are receiving and participating in instruction remotely in their teacher’s Google Classroom. I encourage each of our families to be actively engaged in the Google Classroom each day or weekly at a minimum (a sample schedule is provided below). Please note that this classroom is full of daily instructional videos, opportunities for students to practice, as well as the opportunity to meet with their teacher and/or peers in a “Google Meeting”. Your child’s teacher(s) will be providing feedback on learning activities if it applies. In order to make this happen, we continue to provide Chromebooks for those still in need by contacting the high school and scheduling an appointment time to pick it up. Inside the teacher’s classroom, they have also provided links to other classrooms for Special Area and Related Services teachers who are also providing instruction/support at this time. Access to the various classroom join codes for these teachers can be found here.
Additionally, there are currently 37 families who do not have access to the Google Classroom at this time and we are mailing/delivering packets to their homes. While this format is not ideal as students lack access to video lessons and the opportunity to meet with their teacher directly to ask questions, we want to make sure all students are able to continue to have access to learning during this difficult time.
With the governor’s order yesterday extending the school closure, I am unsure of when we will have the joy of your child walking the hallways of Pinewood again this year, but I hope my daily greeting and read-aloud helps to ensure a sense of normalcy as we proceed forward with each passing day. We have created a schedule listed below to outline what each day of home learning can look like, but individual teachers have been reaching out to give more specifics for their classroom and in discussion with the Pinewood staff, they are beginning to establish the “norms” for their classroom and each day have begun to see more active participation by students/families..
We appreciate your support and flexibility as we do our best to prepare home learning opportunities. I would encourage each parent to stay in contact with their child’s teacher(s) and reach out if you need anything. For continued updates, you can also visit our district’s website, mohonasen.org and follow on Twitter @MohonCSD. All business is being handled out of the highschool via appointment and office hours are, 8-3 daily.
Pinewood Proud,
Jason Thompson
Principal
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