Parents' Council 2020-2021 Information
 

 

The Agnes Irwin School Parents’ Council

Lower School Parent Information Coffee

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

 

The purpose of the Agnes Irwin Parents’ Council is to foster a positive spirit within the Agnes Irwin community, and to provide financial support for education facilities, opportunities, and enrichment.  The Agnes Irwin Parents’ Council communicates with the schools’ administration to ensure that all activities and financial contributions support the school’s mission and create the best possible environment for all Agnes Irwin students to grow and thrive.  

 

I. Welcome, Opening Remarks – Sally Keidel, Head of School

Thank you to parents for working together with the school to allow for a safe, in-person return for the Lower School.

 

Thank you to Elizabeth Elizardi, and the administrative team that worked and planned for a safe reopening.

 

Spent time in the Lower School this week, the girls are happy to be back in their spaces at school. 

 

II. Lower School Overveiw, Schedule, and What You Can Expect

 

Elizabeth Elizardi, Director of the Lower School

Thank you to Parents’ Council for gifting the school funds to purchase important things for remote and in-person learning.  Items we were able to purchase:

  • Chromebooks and charging Chromebook cart for the entire 2nd grade.  
  • Coding kits for the lower school.  They are also 1:1 for each girl, and they can work on their coding skills with these kits both in-person and virtually.  
  • New art tables for the art room.  Tables are to arrive in the next few weeks.  

 

Community is a value we cherish at Agnes Irwin, so it has been difficult to not be able to open the doors of the lower school to the parents this year.  

 

Procedures and protocols have changed:

·     The girls are using pool noodles and walking ropes with stationed spots to hold to help with social distancing while traveling the hallways at school

·     Girls are cooperatively wearing their masks

·     Desk shields

·     Utilizing a Block Schedule

·     To keep the girls safest in their cohorts, the girls will now remain in their room, and the teachers travel to the girls

·     Content teachers have been departmentalized, by Math, English/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies

·     Six blocks per day, each day looks the same, except for specials

·     Specials will rotate by week to keep the specials teachers safe.  They will work with one grade per week, then rotate to a new grade the following

·     Art, Music, Spanish, PE, iWonder, and Let’s Care

·     A social studies teacher and a science teacher have been added to the lower school faculty.  Now we have two teachers in those subjects, one dedicated for K-1, and the other for 2-4.  

 

Lessons learned after week 1:

  • The girls are good at wearing their masks.  This is up for five hours a day, which is a lot.  We provide safe breaks from the masks for them:
    •  at snack time and lunch time, where they are to only remove mask behind a desk shield, and not speak.  
    • Brief mask breaks during class time is allowed if they are behind their desk shield and don’t speak.  
    • Recess time is another time they are allowed a break from their mask if they are distanced from each other.  

 

Thank you to the parents for their patience, especially parents of remote learners.  

  • Parents of remote learners – please work with your girls to help them remain organized and prepared for their remote learning.  

 

Any questions, please reach out to Elizabeth, or Carol Hillman (chillman@agnesirwin.org).  

 

Kim Walker, Lower School Director of Technology Integration and Innovation

Innovation team is three individuals that work on: 

  • PreK-12 approach to Innovation and Curricular Design
  • LS & MS/US makerspaces
  • Faculty professional development → Designing for Online/hybrid Instruction 5Es 
    • Engage
    • Explore
    • Explain
    • Elaborate
    • Evaluate

 

Innovation team is different than IT.  For any issues or questions directly related to a school issued device, please reach out to the IT team, or Tom Weissert at TechHelp@agnesirwin.org

 

School issued devices for the lower school are:

  • Pre-K and Kindergarten- iPads
  • 1st through 4th – Chromebooks at a 1:1 ratio. 
  • If we go virtual, each child will have a school issued device to take home to continue learning with.

 

iWonder Lab moved in the lower school to upstairs. 

  • Even though the lab moved, Kim is visiting the classrooms.
  • Students visit the iWonder lab twice a week, every six weeks.  

 

Technology Curriculum:

  • Pre-K and Kindergarten curriculum is play based.  Foundational computer science concepts through games, stories, or teacher-facilitated lessons or demonstrations
  • 1st grade curriculum is a screen free approach with Kibo robots.  
    • These are 1:1, so if we go virtual, the girls will take these home to continue to learn to code and create with these robots.  
    • The girls learn to think of these robots as an object to think with.  
  • Grades 2nd through 4th have Ozobots.  
    • These are robots that can be coded either with a device, or with colored markers that the robot will follow.  
    • These afford opportunities for independent and shared exploration among students. 
    • These are 1:1 for the girls, so if we go virtual, they will be able to take them home 

 

Any questions, please reach out: kwalker@agnesirwin.org, or follow @walker_kimberly on Twitter.

 

Erica Shippen, Student Support Coordinator and Literacy Specialist

Student Support team: 

  • Erica Shippen
  • Lisa Dissinger – Lower School psychologist
  • Lorraine Lampe – Lower School nurse
  • Elizabeth Elizardi
  • Kim Beamon – Lower School counselor
  • Rebecca Harrison – Learning Specialist
  • Delaware County Intermediate Unit (DCIU)
    • Speech and Language Pathologist
    • Learning Specialist for Math for grades 1-4

 

We support the whole child – academically, emotionally, and socially.

 

First grade is the starting point for Academic Support, either with reading or math.  

 

Student support happens as 1:1, small group instruction, or support within the classrooms.  

  • Rebecca Harrison will go into classrooms to help with math and writing
  • Erica Shippen provides reading support

 

Support team has been working diligently with all the teachers to help develop learning plans, and best practices with Instruction. 

 

The Support team has also been in communication with the DCIU about how to best continue support virtually if it needs to be provided to a student at home.  

 

Kim Beamon, Lower School Counselor and Lower School Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator is a new role this year.  

For DEI, in grades 1-4 we are teaching the Anti Defamation League’s Anti-Bias Building Blocks

  • Creating a safe and comfortable classroom environment
  • Understanding my strengths, skills and identity
  • Understanding and appreciating differences
  • Understanding bias and discrimination
  • Confronting/Challenging bias and bullying

 

Working on a SeeSaw page to stay in touch with parents.  

 

Lower School Counselor role will look a little different this year for safety.  

 

Please reach out with any questions or concerns: kbeamon@agnesirwin.org

 

Lorraine Lampe, Lower School Nurse

Part of the COVID Task Force

 

Spent a lot of time and effort this summer researching and working on new protocols

  • Spoke with several experts and organizations regarding safe practices to employ
  • Lower threshold for symptoms at school
  • The AUXS App was the one chosen that best fit our school
    • Please take this seriously
    • If you medicated your daughter with acetaminophen or ibuprofen for something other than a fever, please still answer the question with a Yes.  You will get the No Go to campus, Lorraine will be alerted, she will reach out to you to discuss the medicine, and then if it is cleared to be okay, she can change your No to a Yes pass for campus.  

 

III.  A Closer Look at the AIS Parents’ Council and Events

 

Nissa O’Mara, Parents’ Council President

Welcome to Parents’ Council, if you are a parent at the school, you are automatically a part of Parents’ Council

 

Parents’ Council also has an 11-member Executive Committee

  • This committee oversees the class parents, and organizes Parents’ Council meetings 

 

Parents’ Council meetings typically happen on the second Thursday of the month.  

  • Full schedule is listed under the Parents’ Council tab on AIS-On.

 

We host several events throughout the year, both fundraisers and community builders

  • This year events will look different.  If you have any fun virtual events that you have participated in, please pass the idea along.  

 

We welcome anyone that would like to get involved.  Nominations occur every spring, and we are looking for volunteers for events and class parents.  

 

Allison Cocozza, Lower School Coordinator

Discussing the breakout sessions by grade

Please reach out with any questions or concerns