Distance Learning Update - Tuesday, March 31

Hello everyone!
Thank you to the many students and families who have reached out to ask questions and get help with distance learning work!

New assignments and lessons will be assigned starting the week of April 13th. This is in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the State of Vermont. You will be receiving a blog notification with the details the week before. Until the end of the school year, we will be assigning lessons in 2 week increments. In the mean time, please check Powerschool to see if there is anything that is missing. Send an email to the subject area teacher, if you need another copy of a certain assignment.

Thank you for keeping up with school while you're at home! We know it isn't easy.

Have a good night.

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

Distance Learning Update - Monday, March 30th

Hello everyone,
We are busy planning for instruction during the months to come. The school will be coming out with guidelines and expectations for each grade level, so we can tell you more as that work progresses. Please make sure you are working on the assignments we gave for this distance learning period.

In addition, we urge all students to check Powerschool for missing assignments that were assigned earlier in the semester. If you complete one or more of those assignments, please send pictures via email to Mr. Howrigan or Ms. Lanfear.

For those of you wondering about Brewer, here he is asleep in his dish. Having all his people home is quite tiring!

Take care of yourselves and please reach out with questions!

Mr. Howrigan & Ms. Lanfear

Distance Learning Update - Friday, March 27th

Hello everyone,

Please know that we are as shocked as you were about the announcement to continue distance learning through the end of the school year. 

We have fielded numerous questions in the past 24 hours about the details for the end of the school year - everything from yearbook to graduation to conferencing. Please understand that we do not have many answers for you at this time, as we are waiting to take direction from the administration and the state Department of Education. Some of these questions will have to wait. We understand how frustrating this is and want you to know that we will seek answers for you. Please be patient. We are working on assembling Frequently Asked Questions, and will send you this information in the next week.

Thank you & be well.

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

Distance Learning Update - Thursday, March 26th

Hello everyone,

We hope you are settling into a routine at home. Please make sure to keep emailing us with any questions or concerns.

LA - Ms. Lanfear is grading the 1800's Research Essays and should be done in the next day or two. Please check Powerschool for your scores. Four different standards were assessed. For the most part, you all did a great job! As we discussed in class, this is a large assignment and will weigh heavily in your final report card scores.

Thank you to the students who participated in today's literature circle meetings. All groups have met at this point. We missed the few students who weren't able to attend.

Thank you & stay healthy!

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

Distance Learning Update - Wednesday, March 25th

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much to the students who met online today to discuss their literature circle books! Tomorrow, City of Orphans will meet at 10:30 and A Bandit's Tale will meet at 11:00. You all should have your meeting invitations from Ms. Lanfear. If you didn't receive an email invite, let Ms. Lanfear know ASAP.

Many of your books are set in New York City and feature Italian immigrants. Watch this quick video to give you a sense of the people and places you're reading about!

We are still missing quite a few Super Short Surveys. I promise, it is really short! Please respond if you haven't yet.

Thank you for all the work you're doing at home!

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

Distance Learning Update - Tuesday, March 24th

Hello everyone!

We hope your learning-at-home is going well. Please reach out to us with any questions or concerns, or just to say hello!

Book Groups: We hope you were able to access the videos from yesterday. Today, please page through these 30 photos of NYC - they will help you visualize the places you are reading about. Today, you should be working on the fifth reading and Job #5. 

Tree Grows group: Listen to the 6 minute segment Inside The Black Hand from NPR. (The Black Hand is referenced in today’s reading). Other groups - listen if you are interested!

We have some people who never responded to yesterday's Super Short Survey. Please make sure that you do! It's very important for us to know how your reading is going.

Mrs. Lanfear will be hosting book discussion groups over the next few days, just to touch base. If you have internet access, you need to attend. Think of it as a literature circle meeting, but without the speaking/listening score! What's most important is that you are understanding what you read and that you have the opportunity to discuss your book with classmates. If you aren't able to connect, don't stress out. Think of this as a test run. It is possible that we will continue with distance education after April 6th, so we should practice coming together online before then.

You will be receiving individual email invitations to connect via Google Meets. All you need to do is click the link at the right time. Here is the schedule for tomorrow (Wednesday):

10:00 Uprising
11:00 Tree Grows
12:00 The King of Mulberry Street

The remaining books, (City of Orphans and A Bandit's Tale) will meet on online on Thursday. Be watching for your meeting invitation in your school email.

Please reach out to Mr. Howrigan with any questions about math or science! He would love to hear from you.

Thank you & be well.

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

Distance Learning Update - Monday, March 23rd

Hello everyone,

We hope you're healthy and that your learning-at-home is going well. Please reach out to us if you need help!

All students: Please fill out this very short survey for your literature circle book ASAP. In addition, please watch Coming to America - NY’s immigrants (5 mins) and tenement housing. These videos will give you some visuals for the settings you are reading about in your book groups. You should be working on the fourth reading and job #4 today. Please continue to check the shared questions in Google Classroom and share a discussion question that your peers can respond to! We appreciate you adding your voice to our online discussions.

Have a good week!

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

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A message from Ms. Montagne:

I hope you all had a good week and are adjusting well to this disruption in your normal schedule. Please remember that the faculty and staff at SATEC are here to support you and your family in any way we can, so do not hesitate to reach out to us if you are in need.

Regarding your academics, I have decided the most beneficial and supportive thing for me to do to support you and my fellow math teachers is to monitor all grade 5-8 use of our i.Ready online math program. When reviewing the data for this week, I noticed that some students have yet to log the minimally required 60 minutes for the week (kudos to the dozen or so of you who have already met or exceeded your weekly goal). If you haven't completed this task because you do not have access to a device and/or the internet, please email me so I can help remedy that problem for you asap. If you did not work on your instructional path yet this week because it indicated that you had no assignments when you logged on, it means that your path was shut off. That happens automatically if you do not pass two quizzes in a row to prompt you to reach out for instruction/guidance on the concept you are having difficulty with (I am in the process of turning them back on now so that you will have access to your path over the weekend). In the future, please email me if this occurs. This way I can reactivate your path, and more importantly, offer you the instruction that you need in order to be successful as you move forward on your individualized learning path. This can be done through email, on the phone or via one of the virtual meeting platforms.

My email is jmontagne@maplerun.org. I look forward to hearing from you! Stay safe and healthy, and enjoy this beautiful day!

Ms. Montagne
Math Content and Intervention Specialist

Friday, March 20th

We hope you are all well into your School Closure assignments. Thank you to those of you who have reached out to us with questions! Email is a great way to get a hold of us, and we appreciate all of the students who have reached out to us directly with questions.

A special thanks to the Tree Grows in Brooklyn reading group. We did a test run of a virtual meeting today. There were some pro’s and con’s, and we shared those with the administration.

Parents - Please have your student sign up for this blog directly, if they haven’t done so already. The blog spot is: https://howriganlanfear.blogspot.com/

Thank you & stay healthy!

Ms. Lanfear & Mr. Howrigan

Distance Learning Update for Thursday, March 19

Book Check-In:
Today you should be working on your second reading and Job #2. Please remember to check your email daily to ask us questions as they come up! Also, please check Ms. Lanfear's Google Classroom to see if anyone had questions about their reading. Maybe you could help someone! 

Tree Grows in Brooklyn Literature Circle:
We have been busy learning about online teaching platforms, and Ms. Lanfear would like to do a test run of a group meeting tomorrow at 11:00. Tree Grows readers, please check your email for more information. We will most likely be testing other platforms next week, with other groups of students. Our goal is to decide on one platform, to make it easier for all of us to navigate online.

Have a good day, and make sure to email us with questions!

Mr. Howrigan & Ms. Lanfear

Daily Communication during school closure - Wednesday, March 18th

Hello everyone, 

Please check your email everyday, as you will receive emails (via our blog) quite often!

Language Arts

Today was your first day of reading for our Turn of the Century literature circle. Remember, sometimes when you start a book it can be challenging to keep people and places organized in your thoughts. It will help if you add information to your character page as you read. 

Do you have questions about your literature circle book? You usually do, and I give you time and space to discuss what you’re reading in our literature circle meetings. Those will look a little different in the coming weeks. I created a question in the Google Classroom - one for each book. Reply to my question if you need clarification about something. I invite you all to respond to each other’s questions. Remember, we can all read what you write. 

Social Studies

The Mapping Skills packet is in black and white, which is difficult to read. Please use the color maps on the Google Classroom while you work on this. Email me if you have questions! I was able to help a few kids during the school day Monday and Tuesday, and I fully anticipate that more of you will have questions. 

Email is the best way to get a hold of us, so please don’t hesitate to send us a message. 

School Closure & Learning Plan through April 6th

Hello everyone,

For students who have been absent yesterday and today, your folders of assignments, books, and other reading materials are in the front office with Lorna. Please stop in today or tomorrow to pick it up. If it is not picked up by Thursday, the school bus will be delivering student work. Please note, all social studies mapping assignments are in color on the Google Classroom. The photocopies are black and white, which are difficult to read.

It is important for students to remember that this is not a vacation and we are expected to maintain student learning and teaching to the best of our abilities. Student work completion will be tracked and scored on PowerSchool. We will be updating this blog on a regular basis, as a way to communicate with all students. If your child hasn't subscribed with their school email address, please have them do so asap. 

Parents may pick up student Chromebooks this week! We just need an email from you letting us know that your child needs the device at home. The Chromebook and charger will be in the front office for pick-up, once we hear from you. An automated phone survey went out with this information, but we have no way of knowing if all of our students received it. 

Students are encouraged to email us with any questions, concerns, or just to keep in touch. We will be checking our school email and working with students on a daily basis.

Thank you for your support at home, and stay healthy.

Abby Lanfear & Will Howrigan 

Important Information: Academic Expectations During School Closure

Please read this important communication about 8th grade academic expectations during the school closure. For students who were absent this week, we have folders of assignments and reading materials here at school for you to pick up. If it is not picked up before Wednesday, it will be delivered to your house. Please note that some of the assignments are required, and some of the assignments are enrichment/extension in nature. These enrichment/extension assignments are not required.

If a student misplaces their handouts for LA or SS, please check the Google Classroom for extra copies.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to the subject area teacher. 

Thank you & stay healthy!

Abby Lanfear & Will Howrigan