September 11, 2020
Hello BVVA Families,
Thank you for your support during Week 1 of school. It was an exciting week! Our teachers were excited to meet all of the students and to start building the team and community that is becoming BVVA. There were some bumps in the road, of course, and we thank you for your patience as we work with technology and staffing to smooth these out. Our words for the year are Flexibility, Grace and Support. We hope that you will continue to be flexible as we continue to learn about our students' individual needs and make the necessary adjustments to serve them. We ask for your grace for those bumps in the road. We hope to continue to provide you and your students with the support they need as we move forward. Please see below a few updates for the week.
Best Regards,
Carrie Bisgard
Carrie Bisgard
Director, BVVA
Patriot Day Today
Today we observe Patriot Day in honor of the victims of September 11, 2001. As you take time to reflect on the events of that day, we invite you and your family to watch this VIDEO prepared by PYLUSD staff and students.
Growth
We are very excited and grateful for all the students who have enrolled over the past month. We have had almost three hundred new students enroll over the past four weeks. This means our classes have grown very quickly and some of them are quite large. In order to help our students learn, we have broken the grades down into two smaller A and B groups and teachers have been meeting with those groups separately. We have also hired additional teachers. In most cases, we are able to keep the grade as one “class” and have added co-teachers who are working with smaller subgroups of students. This arrangement allows us to offer maximum in consistency and student support. It also allows us to avoid forming combination classes. Students will not be required to move to a “new” teacher or class but they will have support from the additional teacher who will push in to teach specific lessons or topics. Instead of one teacher, students will have the support of two. This addition of staff may result in the shifting of some students' schedules. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you in advance for your flexibility as we make these shifts. We truly believe that this will result in the best possible instruction for our students.
First Grade
We now have almost 70 first-grade students (wow!) and in order to serve our students, we will need to break the first-grade class into two separate classes. These groups will then be broken down into smaller groups to zoom. Mrs. Brianna Pearson will continue with one class, while Mrs. Lee will have a class of her own. All first-grade students will be familiar with Mrs. Lee as she has been partnering with Mrs. Brianna Pearson to teach lessons and host first-grade Zooms. The teachers will plan and collaborate together in order to ensure continuity of instruction for our students. First-grade teachers will be contacting students and families individually via email and will share their assigned teacher at that time.
Updated BVVA K-8 Staff List Available HERE
Picture Day
Picture days are coming next week! These days are an opportunity to have your student’s school picture taken by Lifetouch. Pictures will be available for purchase, utilized in our AERIES student information system, and will be featured in a yearbook later in the year. It is not mandatory for students to have their pictures taken. If you or your student is not comfortable coming to Picture Day, that is absolutely acceptable. Picture Day(s) schedule and more information available HERE.
Materials Pick Up for K- 6 Students
The elementary teachers have prepared materials for student pick up next week. Items can be picked up when your student comes to get their picture taken. If you and your student are not planning to attend picture day, you can pick up the materials in our BVVA office any time on Thursday, September 17, 2020, or Friday, September 18, 2020, between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. If you cannot make it to pick up your materials on either of those days, just stop by the office during the following week between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. In the future, we are planning to have one “pick-up week” per month. Right now it looks like that would be the third week of the month. Of course, we will be flexible with those of you who have conflicts that week and will have the materials available for later pick-up when needed.
Time Commitment
Our goal over the past week has been to ease into the school year, build community and familiarize students with the tools, classroom norms, and procedures used at BVVA. Over the next few weeks, teachers will increase the amount of academics covered. That may involve increasing the amount of time your students are spending on schoolwork. We are frequently asked “How much time is enough?” and “How much time is too much?”. It is very difficult to answer those questions as each student is unique. Some will complete all the activities and assignments quickly, while others may need more time to master grade-level topics and standards. Part of the beauty of online schooling is that it frees students from completing everything at the same pace as all the others in their class. See below a guideline for the amount of time students should spend on schoolwork per day in an online setting. Please keep in mind that this is a guideline and in no way should be viewed as a minimum or maximum.
- K: 3 Hours
- 1-3: 3 to 4 Hours
- 4-6: 4 Hours
- 6-8: 4-5 Hours
- 9-12: 5 Hours
High School PE
If you are a high school student who needs to take an independent Physical Education class, you can find more information HERE. In previous years it has been necessary for a coach or trainer to sign off on high school student’s exercise logs. This year, we are going to practice flexibility and will accept parents/guardians to sign these logs. If you are not sure whether you need to take PE, please consult your Supervising Teacher. Information about Middle School PE will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.