Happy Mother’s Day to all you amazing moms who I am so lucky to know! I hope you had an awesome day today!

Below is the schedule for this week. I will be at the school this Thursday, from 1-3 pm, passing out supplies I packed up from their lockers and desks:( It was a sad and numbing task to complete, in which I never imagined having to do in my teaching career. Everything is packed up and ready for you to take home. I also have something else to give my students when you come, so I’m hoping you can all make it so I can say goodbye 🙁 It will be a pick up in front of the school, no need to get out of car. More details to come from Mr. Short and I’ll send out a reminder as it nears.

For this week, we are learning about past and present tense verbs for Spelling, moving on to Lesson 13 for Reading-Author’s Purpose, and we are doing another week of Opinion Writing. This week, the blueprint will be the final draft. Please make sure to watch the video posted on Monday under “Writing”, this shows what is expected for this week. Also, each day for Reading, there is a mini-lesson video posted by me, this is the part where your child can follow along with me and their Common Core Ready books. For Math, we are moving forward to Lessons 11 and 12. For Science, there are 2 fun Mystery Science videos posted. No work needs to be done for this, simply watch the videos, and have your child think about the questions I posted on the schedule.

If you are looking for more work, take a look at the “Additional Learning Opportunities” at the bottom of the schedule.

Have a great week and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing all of you on Thursday at the school.

Mrs. Izbicki

Schedule Week 8:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vmenaSV_NmM7MipfhBVpZt-eFM-yMXP0rTNZTWCStf0/edit?usp=sharing

Hi parents,

Here we are starting week 7 of distance learning. Makes me so sad to think it’s been that long since I’ve last been in the classroom with your children 🙁 Below is the schedule for this week. Many of you came to pick up the Math and Reading books last week and I’m so thankful for that, it should be a little easier from here on our having those books and not having to print resources.

This week, we are studying suffixes for Spelling, looking at nonfiction text features for Reading, working on Opinion writing, and continuing with Module 6, lessons 9 and 10.

For Spelling, all of the activities are linked to Seesaw. Please remember that you can access the links and view them through this schedule as well, but most are attached to Seesaw as well. I put two Mother’s Day activities for Thursday/Friday into the schedule on Seesaw for your child to complete (hopefully independently so you can be surprised)! Celebrating Mother’s Day will look a little different this year and doing cute, little crafts with ym students to surprise and gift you mothers with is one of my favorite things to do. I’m so sad we can’t do that this year, but I didn’t want it to go unnoticed.

For Writing, I made a video showing and explaining what is required this week. It is posted under Monday writing. Everything that is required should be done through Google Classroom, they can type directly on those docs there, not through the schedule links. The final draft is a Google Doc that they will have to create through GC. There should be 3 attachments in total when it’s time to submit.

For Reading, we are using out Common Core Ready books. I have posted mini-lesson videos for each day, as I would like your child to have their book out and ready while watching my video lesson (tried to set up as we used to do in class). Once they complete the independent practice, a simple picture and upload to Seesaw will do. The passages your child will read are Science & Social Studies themed, so I made the Readworks articles optional for this week, if you wanted the extra work.

For Math, we will move forward to Lessons 9 & 10. Please remember to have your child be prepared with a paper and pencil while watching the video to work through any problems and the application problem. You can submit these assignments through Google Classroom by taking a picture ad uploading as an attachment, or upload a picture to Seesaw.

These assignments can be turned in through Sunday. I fill out a log with how often your child participated and completed that week’s assignments Sunday evening.

Office Hours- I am available though class Dojo every day from 9-3. If there is a time you would like to facetime or chat about something specific, we can set that up. It was a rough week last week not being able to see all my students’ smiling faces with the cancellation of Zoom and Google Meet in the district. There is only one way of doing a video chat and that is something called BBB, but it’s through a learning platform that we are not a part of yet as a class. With only 5 more weeks left of school, we have decided as a grade-level not to put that burden on you as parents. Please know that any time your child would like to talk to me or FaceTime me, I would be more than happy to do so. Just let me know and we can arrange it.

Have a great week ahead and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all you amazing moms out there-parenting, working, and homeschooling! I hope you are spoiled this weekend 🙂

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dhm85UT3hLIrlDgk8Sdl2568vLctyz0dQZP2uz60bq4/edit?usp=sharing

Hi Parents!

Thank you for working hard last week and for the participation I had. Below is the schedule for Week 6. For this week, I will be adding assignments on Seesaw as the day it’s due approaches. I’m doing this because I don’t want all the assignments done in one day, then the other 4 days we aren’t working on ELA. It’s important to pace out the lessons so that our students are only working for about 15 minutes each day in each subject area. The suggested pacing for each lesson is on the schedule and it’s important to try to follow this as best as we can. I know there may be some days we can’t do anything so then we may complete 2 activities in one day, that’s fine. I just don’t want all the work being completed by Tuesday then having the rest of the week doing nothing. For Writing, it’s important that we try to follow the suggested pacing as well. When we complete writing in school, it takes us weeks to go through the writing process to get to our final draft.

Our writing assignment this week should be done on Google Classroom- if you have not joined our class yet the code is: hvrvwzg.

I have also put the codes on the schedule to join the special Google Classrooms (if they have one) so your child can make sure they are keeping up with those classes as well.

Unfortunately, as many of you have heard, we are not allowed to use Google Meet or Zoom anymore, due to the inappropriate behavior of some students in the district. I was heartbroken to hear this, as those 2 meetings a week are what brought me a sense of community and normal during this unprecedented time and online teaching. Your child can facetime me any time they want and I encourage them to keep in contact with their friends, Facebook messenger for kids is a GREAT way to see and talk to each other.

I sent out a Dojo message this morning about chrome book pick up as well as math and reading books from me. Other teachers will be passing out resources on Friday, but since I will be there for chrome books I have permission to do this. If you aren’t able to come tomorrow between 1-3:30, you can come Friday. We will be outside in front of the school, so no need to get out of cars, it will be a pull up- hand out system.

Thanks for your support and cooperation during online learning.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dSLM3NKOuNBy1nC351AJl7AhGhrq1UcD_xDmv08o6qs/edit?usp=sharing

I changed the time to later to accomodate for the start of Ramadan. This is not mandatory, if your child can make it on, please have them bring their hand craft to show.

Izbicki 2nd Grade MeetFriday, April 24⋅2:00 – 2:30pm

Join with Google Meetmeet.google.com/mjv-wqnt-gua

Izbicki Google MeetWednesday, April 22⋅1:00 – 1:30pm

Join Hangouts Meet meet.google.com/xgj-yywg-psy
Join by phone‪+1 570-634-5993‬ PIN: ‪955 668 538‬#

**See below for the letter Mr. Short sent out to the community. Please note there will be one more day for a chrome book pick up, next Monday, the 27th. Please make sure to fill the survey out beforehand so we know you’re coming to get one. **

Afternoon Haigh Community, 

  Last week Dearborn’s Remote Learning Plan was approved by the state of Michigan. This plan asks for students to continue to practice their content and special’s work during these next 7 weeks. Students, parents, and  staff have worked very hard this school year and we want to continue to work together to ensure that every student is ready for the next grade level. We know that remote learning has its challenges and that the balance between work responsibilities, sharing technology, student work, and other family obligations can make each day difficult. We ask that you look at the assignments each week and do your best to have your students practice these activities (suggested content practice minutes are listed below). Our classroom teachers will be providing recorded/live lessons, have office hours to answer questions, and will provide the essential skills that your student(s) need to practice during this time. Please continue to check your classroom and specials teachers’ blog, dojo, seesaw, remind, or google classroom each week for updated materials. Please also do not hesitate to reach out for help with content, social and emotional needs, or if your family may need help with food. We are here to help our Haigh Community!

For the 4th card marking your students will receive a report card. This report will look different than the traditional report cards that had a 1-2-3-4 scale. The updated report card will have the following marks aligned to the Dearborn Remote Learning Plan: Meeting, Progressing, and Limited Participation. Each week classroom and specials’ teachers will be looking at each students’ practice and accuracy with the shared activities. At the end of the term they will then be given an overall grade of “Meeting, Progressing, or Limited Participation”. 

To help with technology, we will have additional chromebook pick up days. The first day is scheduled for Monday, April 27th from 1:00-3:30pm. Any family that is interested needs to complete the survey below in order to receive a Chromebook . This survey provides us with the number of Chromebooks that our volunteers will need to clean and prep. We are very pleased to be able to offer this technology for your families! CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TECHNOLOGY SURVEY. Future chromebook pick up days will be shared on our school and classroom blogs. (teachers may also have content packet pick up days to coincide with these chromebook days)

Overall, the most important thing is for our families to stay safe and healthy during this time away from Haigh. Please have your students practice their content activities with the schedule that works best for your family each week. Thank you for all that you do for your children! Please let us know if we can help in any way 🙂 

Sincerely,

 Mr. Short

Principal-Haigh School 

Click here for Haigh’s Website

• Any updates from Haigh are found by clicking on the “school news” button ( these are announcements from Mr. Short)
• Specific classroom updates and specials’ classes are found by clicking on the “staff button” and  then by clicking on the teacher’s website. Some of our staff also use “class dojo” for assignments and updates.  

Hi Parents!

Here is the schedule for this week. The only changes you’ll see for this week as opposed to previous weeks is less work. For each day, I have given short, simple assignments for Spelling on Seesaw, one Writing topic per week, with a final draft due on Friday, Reading assignments, whether it’s just i-Ready for 15 minutes or short Seesaw activity, 2 Math lessons per week, 3 Science or Social Studies activities (short passage, video, craft). I have also added the Special teachers’ blogs to my schedule as they may have weekly assignments for your child to complete as well. Your child is required to complete these assignments to the best of their ability, as I will be checking on Fridays to give grades (complete or incomplete). I am available through Dojo or email from 9am-3pm for any questions each day M-F.

You’ll also notice that I would like Math and Writing assignments turned in through Google Classroom. Please see my previous blog posts to join our Google Classroom. The recommended time a child in 2nd grade should spend working at home is 45-90 minutes a day (min/max.) If you would like your child to do extra work, I have added the links and an extra website with fun activities at the bottom of the schedule.

We will be meeting 1-2 times a week using Google Meet. Please note I have listed these times into the schedule in place of Reading and Science for 2 meetings. We will meet on Wednesday at 1pm, and Friday at 11am this week. I will post the invitation for Google Meet on Tuesday.

As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate. I know it may seem overwhelming and stressful, I feel those things too. I will be teaching my kindergartener and 1st grader at home, on top of my 23-second graders. I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I know I’ll get it done, just like I know all of you will. We will try our best and that’s all that matters. If you’re unable to complete work on days please just message me, we will work something out 🙂

Schedule Week 5:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1InbqUg6JUvChZIMdcxhbljQand2RE8J3SjLWVLLZ17g/edit?usp=sharing

In order to access our class, Izbicki 2nd grade, you will be prompted to enter this class code:

hvrvwzg

Google Classroom Help For Parents

If some are interested in holding a parent tutorial on the use google classroom, here is a good resource.

Parent and Guardian Intro to Google Classroom (English)

Our Special Teachers have been using Google Classroom as well, so if you have already signed onto their class, then all you’ll need to do is enter my class code.

Here is an informative video to watch if you’re having trouble logging in or using Google Classroom.

Good afternoon parents!

We had a great Zoom meeting today and the kids did a great job finding and even writing their own poems to share out today! I shared the poems I read and one that our classmate, Rayanna, wrote on Dojo if you haven’t yet seen them. We’ve had a very productive 4 weeks! I’m so very proud of all the work, student participation, learning, and teaching taking place at home! THANK YOU, parents, for being my partner in education.

Beginning next week, students will be held accountable for completing weekly assignments. I won’t share out what the grading looks like just yet, but it’s something along the lines of meeting/not meeting. It’s really just about completing the work and making sure they are continuing to learn at home so our students don’t experience a “slide”.

There will be some slight changes as we move forward, one being as I mentioned above, grading based on the completion of weekly assignments. Because of this, one new tool I am going to add is the use of Google Classroom. Submitting some assignments through Google Classroom makes it easier for me to read, check, and give grades back. We will mostly be utilizing this to turn in writing and math assignments. Google Classroom is awesome because it lets the kids create docs and slides right through it. Before we left on break, the students created their first doc where they typed a 5 paragraph compare and contrast on frogs and toads and inserted pictures. So, they are familiar with the use of Google Docs a bit. Not everything will be done here, some still on Seesaw, but some now using GC.

Also, there will be a lighter workload. It is recommended that students in Grade 2 spend a minimum of 45 minutes on school work a day, with a max of 90 minutes. You will see only 1 writing assignment a week, that I will pace out daily for them. I want them to spend time brainstorming, organizing, writing a rough draft, editing, revising, and publishing. You’ll now only see 2 Math lessons a week, with watching the video lesson one day, to completing the Problem Set/Homework the next day, with Zearn as optional enrichment time on these days. The lessons are lengthy therefore I’m breaking it up.

Lastly, I will be switching over to Google Hangouts instead of Zoom beginning next week. I love Zoom, but the district prefers us to use Google instead. When I create the next meeting I will give instructions on how to access and use.

So, these are some of the changes, I hope for the better! I will try to add in as much fun as I possibly can throughout these next weeks and schedule Google Hangouts so we get a chance to see each other’s faces and have group discussions. I am going to send you the code on Dojo to join Google Classroom, if you could join sometime before Monday would be great! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to message me on Dojo or send me an email.

Thanks again for your partnership, I know this isn’t easy, I too have 2 boys to teach at home and it’s been a struggle. It’s hard to find the balance and we are all learning this new way of life. It will never be the same as being in school and it’s a hard adjustment on our kiddos. I appreciate you all and if there’s anything I can do to help, I will always try my best.

Stay Healthy and Take Care,

Mrs. Izbicki

Erika Izbicki is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Izbicki 2nd Grade Chat
Time: Apr 17, 2020 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/98726813966?pwd=UzJTYlRwRTgxa1VvOTBrTldiRDZwQT09

Meeting ID: 987 2681 3966
Password: 7cNEWD