Page Updated: 7 March, 2022

ES MONTHLY UPDATES: NOVEMBER

Dear Elementary Parents,

This is a reminder, to prevent major disruption from grade level quarantines, Dalat is requiring each student to test on Sunday evening or Monday morning before 8:00 am. Please note the form requires a photo of the negative home test.

Please note the following:

  • Please submit your child’s test results using the appropriate form by 8 am Monday (Feb. 28th).
  • Your child will not be able to attend school on Monday until we have received their results.

  • If your child tests negative on Sunday/Monday morning but has Covid/Flu-like symptoms, please keep them home. They may return to school when they are symptom-free and have a negative test.

  • Throughout the rest of the semester, continue to keep your children at home when they have Covid/Flu symptoms. Sending sick children to school may result in quarantining your child’s respective grade. We need to do everything we can to limit the amount of disruption the quarantines are causing for students and parents.

  • The school’s Covid Response Guide can be found here for your reference.

Thank you for your diligence and cooperation as we seek to ensure the well-being and safety of all of our children.

elementary school principal

Technology Platforms

Loom

Preschool families will be given links to Loom videos to view at their discretion. The preschool teachers will provide recorded lessons and activities for students to complete at home along with their learning packets. Daily emails will be sent with the links to prerecorded lessons and a weekly Zoom meeting.

Zoom

We will use Zoom as our classroom meeting space. Scheduled classes will all start with a Zoom meeting. Your child’s teacher will share their schedule with you. Please carefully note your child’s Zoom sessions and corresponding links. Please remind your child to treat these meetings as though they are attending class face-to-face. Attendance to all sessions is compulsory.

Online Meeting Etiquette:

  1. Students need a quiet space without distractions.
  2. Video is required to be on during Zoom calls.
    • Your video should be on when you are attending Zoom meetings. This is a courtesy to your classmates and teachers who want to see faces looking back rather than black screens.
  3. Dress appropriately.
    • Your clothing does not have to be uniform or fancy.
    • Do not wear what you were sleeping in.
  4. Your Zoom video should be high quality.
    • Be clearly visible with good lighting.
    • Sit close enough to the camera to fill most of the frame.
    • Position the camera so that it is close to eye level (no-one wants to spend the whole class looking up your nose).
      • Avoid distracting backgrounds
      • Be seated with the camera on a solid platform.
      • If possible, do not use a handheld phone/pad.

SeeSaw

Your child’s teacher will post announcements, links, and assignments in SeeSaw, so check SeeSaw daily. Please note that Wednesday, in general, will be a day for students to work on independent assignments, catch up on unfinished work, or have a scheduled Zoom with a teacher or counselor. For the most part, it will be a ZOOM free day. For more information on how to login into SeeSaw, refer to the following PDF.

Schedule

Please note that slight changes have been made to this year’s schedule. These changes include daily reading and math lessons (except for Wednesday), live Chapels, and a later finish time- 2:10 pm. The class schedule will require students to be online at particular times each day to interact with classmates and teachers. 

We hope that students will be able to complete much of their work during their scheduled Zoom block to limit the amount of homework.  

Your child’s schedule will include 6 daily (except for Wednesday) learning blocks in English language arts, math, science, social studies, Bible, technology, music, art, P.E., and Bahasa Malaysia or EAL.

Office Hours & Emails

OFFICE HOURS

Teachers will provide set office hours to answer any questions about assignments. Outside of office hours, please allow 24 hours for teachers to respond to your emails. Your child’s homeroom teacher will send out an email on Friday, July 30th,  introducing themselves and sharing more information about your child’s schedule.  

EMAILS

For the upper primary students (Grades 3-4), they will be required to use their Dalat emails for assignments. Please remind your child to be a good digital citizen and to use their emails appropriately. School emails should not be used to spam classmates, or share inappropriate messages or images. All student emails are monitored from campus. If misuse is detected, a student may lose access to their email account.

Though we wish we could be face to face, we are excited about the platforms available to continue your child’s education. Please do not hesitate to email me (Shantel Seevaratnam, Elementary Principal) or your child’s respective teacher if you need assistance.

Zoom Etiquette Reminder / Library Hours

Now that we have completed several week of online learning, please remind your child of the following Zoom Etiquette rules:

  • Make sure the student has entered in their correct name when they join a zoom call. This is how teachers are able to mark attendance.
  • Help your child learn how to mute and unmute themselves. Students should mute themselves when the teacher is teaching. This helps minimize background noise.
  • Remind your child to conduct their zoom lessons in a quiet place.
  • During this time, zoom has become our digital classroom. We expect each child to follow their classroom rules even though they are online.
  • Your child’s camera needs to be on the whole time they are on the zoom call. Backgrounds are not allowed.

LIBRARY NOTES

Library Hours: Under our current MCO the library is closed until further notice. For free digital books, explore https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/.

elementary school principal

Important Skills for Online Learning

New situations help us “reset” – to evaluate what we’re doing and make some adjustments. Online learning does exactly that. Instead of feeling frazzled and stressed and pressured to sit next to your child all day on the computer, consider some of this advice from experts on how to help your child gain confidence and grow as an independent learner.

Independent Learner

One of the most important skills your child(ren) will gain from online learning is becoming a more independent learner. Teachers have created age-appropriate tools to help your child know the schedule for the day and transition from class to class (e.g. colored clocks, timers, virtual classrooms, etc.). Your children are growing in their ability to follow their teacher’s instructions for the day. (Here are a couple examples – one from Mrs. Ronning’s grade 1 and one from Mrs. Ronzheimer’s and Mrs. Brewster’s grade 2.)

Student Autonomy

Teachers work on the development of student autonomy, or self-sufficiency through opportunities of independence, confidence and interdependence. Children with strong autonomy skills are able to make choices for themselves, are sure of themselves as individuals, and feel comfortable letting their preferences be known. In a kindergarten classroom, for example, a child with autonomy might know where pencils are kept, how to sharpen them, and when it is a good time to do so.

Self-confidence grows when a child gains a sense of independence – a feeling they can rely on themselves. This helps them feel more empowered and instills a growing sense of confidence. For example, if a student breaks a pencil during math, her sense of independence allows her to solve the problem without the teacher’s help.

Responsibility

Help your students develop a sense of responsibility by trusting and allowing them to complete tasks by themselves. Try to avoid sitting next to your child or hovering by his/her workspace all morning long. Be available nearby in another room, ready to help if your child needs help with technology or needs equipment for a project. But give them space to be themselves. The more you hover, the more you communicate “I don’t think you can do this on your own.”

Ownership

Increase your student’s sense of ownership by allowing them to work independently on schoolwork. There will be a great degree of accomplishment and pride if they complete it on their own, even if it’s not perfect. If you help too much, you rob them of that ownership and accomplishment.

Self-discipline

Help your children establish self-discipline. For example, children in kindergarten are old enough to use an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. With your guidance and suggestions, help them develop routines that help them be prepared for school and complete schoolwork.

Ask questions such as “what time do you think you need to eat breakfast so that you’re ready to get on Zoom with your class?” or “What clothes do you want to set out to wear tomorrow?”

Let Them Ask

Let your children speak up for themselves. If they need help from the teacher, let them ask. If they have a problem, let them try to figure it out themselves first. If you’re always stepping in, they’ll feel they’re not capable or trustworthy to solve their own problems.

don't be afraid of mistakes

Finally, don’t be afraid of mistakes. There will be “hiccups” with technology and glitches with internet connection. Your child might forget something or miss an instruction or accidentally study the wrong spelling list. Don’t worry. Teachers are not seeking perfection.

This is all about learning. If you always rescue your child from mistakes or failure by answering teacher’s questions yourself, doing their homework for them, making all their decisions for them, you’ll take away the opportunity for them to learn resiliency and grit – two of the best indicators of success in adulthood.

So, sit back a bit and relax a little. Let your kids do online school. They’re capable, smart, responsible students who love their teachers and classmates. If they need your help, they’ll ask for it. Grab your cup of coffee, read a book, and let them do school.

elementary counselor / guidance coordinator