Distance Learning Plan
PARA ESPAÑOL, HAGA CLIC AQUÍ
Dear Parents/Guardians:
This letter contains important information concerning the Distance Learning Plan for the students of the Harrison Public Schools.
In a collaborative effort among the district administrative team and instructional staff, we have created the following format for Distance Learning Plan instruction. The expectation is for students to complete the work for each subject as assigned by general education and special education teachers on a given school day.
Students will complete their lessons from home via teacher prepared learning packets, laptops, smartphones, or other internet-ready devices. We are seeking the help of parents or guardians to assist children in completing lessons.
Instruction will be provided in Special Content Areas for students, such as Music, Art, World Language, Physical Education, and ESL.
IEP driven related services, such as speech, OT, and PT, as well as general education guidance counseling, will be addressed by school personnel through direct communication with parents (i.e. emails, websites). Case managers will be in contact with parents directly to conduct IEP meetings, via teleconference, if necessary. Social workers and guidance counselors will be onsite and available for students via email and telephone.
During this process, parents should contact their principal's office as needed regarding technology, health, and other support services.
Food Service Program
The district will operate a Food Service Program offering a totally free breakfast and lunch from 8:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. from Monday through Friday (except holidays) to all children 18 years and under who can consume a meal. All meals must be consumed off-premises. Meals will be served at Washington Middle School and Harrison High School. Your child may go to either school to obtain meals.
Documented special needs and allergies will be accommodated on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the school’s main office for assistance.
Attendance
In order to monitor student engagement and track attendance for each of their classes, teachers will provide assignments for each class that meets on a particular day. Teachers (especially in the lower grades) may also use emails to students and parents, as well as, REMIND to confirm attendance. Teachers will enter attendance into PowerSchool. While the Distance Learning Plan outlined above provides structure, there will be students who will need flexibility for a variety of circumstances, including families sharing devices, to receive credit for the work they complete.
Teacher Availability
It will be important for teachers to be accessible should students need help with an assignment or concept; therefore, teachers will be available online during the scheduled hours each day to respond to student emails. In the lower grades, parents will be able to email teachers directly if questions arise about assignments. Teachers may provide longer-range assignments, and some may use emails, virtual meetings or online collaborative formats as deemed appropriate, for taking attendance, answering student questions, differentiating instruction, and maintaining student engagement, etc.
Students will have the flexibility to complete activities and assignments during the course of the day, since siblings may be sharing devices and younger children may need parental assistance and guidance for some of the learning activities.
Preschool Distance Learning Plan
General activities were developed within the framework of the Harrison’s Preschool Creative Curriculum. Learning goals and timelines have been established by the district’s Early Childhood Department Master Teachers for Harrison’s three and four year olds.
You will be provided with guided learning activities developed by your child’s preschool classroom teacher. Packets will be prepared for at home family interaction and completion. Checklists will be included to monitor this process.
Your child’s preschool teacher will be available during each day for guidance and discussion with you via the method of contact you have established between you and your child’s teacher.
Should the families of our Preschoolers have any questions or concerns, you can contact your child’s center or classroom teacher directly. You can also contact Harrison’s Office of Early Childhood Education at 973-268-5851 as needed.
Lincoln Elementary School Distance Learning Plan
Teachers will utilize both Google Classroom and supplemental hard copy materials to continue instruction.
Attendance will be taken daily. Students will log-in to Google Classroom by 10:00 A.M. To verify attendance, students will review the daily posts and respond to their teacher. Teachers will submit attendance into PowerSchool at 10:00 A.M. daily.
Students will be expected to complete assignments every day. Daily assignments will be posted by 9:30 A.M. and students should complete assignments by 4:00 P.M., unless otherwise specified by the teacher. These assignments will be graded by the teachers. Extended time will be provided for students that receive modifications or accommodations.
If students or parents have questions about an assignment, they should contact their teacher. Teachers will hold office hours, which will be a 2-hour window each day, to facilitate contact. During this time, teachers will use a variety of means to be available to students and parents (i.e. email, Google Meet, Google Classroom, phone, Remind, DoJo). Teachers will explain their schedule and preferred method to parents and students.
Students will have assignments for the special subjects (art, music, STEM, PE), which will be posted on their Google Classroom.
Hamilton Intermediate School Distance Learning Plan
Teachers will send students and/or parents a “Daily Agenda Email” each morning by 9:00 a.m. with the agenda for the day, including any links and/or attachments for assignments. (Teachers may use student email, remind 101, and or google classroom, for their daily agenda format.)
Students/Parents will be asked to respond to the Daily Agenda Email with the students’ name and the word “Present” by 10 A.M., as this will be considered confirmation of receipt of the “Daily Agenda Email” and, in turn, will facilitate student attendance.
(All teachers must have their attendance into POWERSCHOOL by 10:00 A.M., daily.)
Assignments will be provided through the Daily Agenda Email. Students and parents will be informed where and how to post assignments.
Students are expected to complete assignments as assigned and comply with all policies regarding technology usage in the classroom.
Students will be given a grade for all required assignments, daily.
Teachers will have virtual office hours, daily, for students and parents to check in with questions or concerns regarding school work (2 hours minimum). Teachers may use many formats to conduct office hours (i.e. Google Meet, email, Google Classroom chat, etc). If your child is experiencing difficulty with any of their work, please email their teacher(s) to schedule time during the office hours for conferencing.
Our social worker, nurse, and administration will be checking in on students and families.
Students are reminded to take home any essential learning materials.
Washington Middle School Distance Learning Plan
Each day at Washington Middle School will begin with an email from the principal to all students. This will be a general announcement such as A day, B Day, updates, insights, and other messages that will be of student value.
Students will be required to log-in to each of their 6 classes for the day via google classroom. Daily attendance will be gathered in this manner. Students who fail to log in with their individual classes for any given day will receive a call home by the school. We will then be able to troubleshoot any possible technology communication issues.
Students will be responsible for the daily assignments based on the individual timelines for each as directed by the teacher of that individual class.
Students and parents will be informed where and how to post completed assignments.
Students will be graded for all assignments on a daily basis. These grades will be posted on PowerSchool on a timely basis.
Teachers will have direct contact office hours available to all students who may have questions and/or comments regarding the online lessons and assignments. Teachers will be using a variety of formats to conduct these sessions including but not limited to GoogleMeet, email, Classroom, Google Docs, etc.
Our school Guidance Counselor and Social Workers will be available for student services. This will include students who receive services presently as well as any new issues that may arise. This department will also be creating a school wide google classroom through which we will be providing further proactive instruction on a variety of social/emotional issues, HIB, Media use, etc.
Flipped Classroom Model
Through the use of Google Meet, introduced during the 3/10/20 Professional Development session, teachers will have the capability of recording lessons and content to send to students directly. An introduction, teacher model, application, and reinforcement portion of any skills/content area would be able to be viewed by a student before beginning and independent tasks. Students have the ability to view the lesson multiple times. Google Meet also provides students and teachers the ability to ‘live’ chat if needed.
Teacher Time
Our school will develop a schedule of specific time periods throughout the day for students/parents to communicate directly to staff via google email, google classroom. This period would allow for students to get feedback on work, clarify any lesson difficulties they may have, and exchange content responses.
Harrison High School Distance Learning Plan
Teachers will deliver appropriate distance learning using G Suite for Education, Google Hangout, and Google Meet.
Student attendance will be taken to ensure a proper continuum of learning. Lessons will be assigned using Classroom, and students will submit work to demonstrate mastery also using Classroom. Classroom discussion boards will be utilized when appropriate to facilitate the exchange of ideas within the class, and student collaboration will be accomplished through the creation of synchronously edited documents.
To ensure that classes are able to “meet” at specified times for both direct instruction and student centered learning, students will follow a Rotating Block Schedule (A/B Day). Instruction will be provided each day according to the following schedule:
Pd 1/5 9-9:30
Pd 2/6 9:30-10
Pd 3/7 10-10:30
Pd 4/8 10:30-11
Periods 1 through 4 will meet on A day; periods 5 through 8 will meet on B day.
Attendance will be taken during the above class times only; therefore, we ask for parent’s assistance in structuring home expectations to reserve these two hours for structured learning. Together, we can help students to stay on task.
Additionally, teachers will hold “office hours” each day from 2:30 P.M. to 3:15 P.M. During this time, teachers will actively monitor their email accounts to answer student and parent questions. Some teachers may also opt to answer questions in a group format via Google Meet.
Teachers will provide students feedback in many tech-driven ways, including via email, classroom discussions, shared documents, and the teacher grade book.
Parents and students should continue to monitor PowerSchool to obtain feedback and assessment scores.
Of course, much of the work assigned within each lesson will be self-paced, and students will be encouraged to continue working outside of the scheduled class time — as they would if school were not closed.
Additional Information for All Students
This letter will be posted on the school district website (http://www.harrisonschools.org/) titled Distance Learning Plan, in case you need to reference it in the future.
Please monitor the district website for additional information and updates. Our administrators and teachers will do everything that they can to promote a positive learning experience during this challenging time for our students, parents, and families.
Distance Learning Plan Letter to Parents.pdf
Distance Learning Plan Letter to Parents -Spanish.pdf