All Saints Catholic School Communicator
Friday, March 20, 2020

Good morning All Saints Families!  Our first week of distance learning has been a tremendous success! Many thanks to our dedicated teachers, our supportive parents and to our students, most of whom have risen to this new challenge.

Please expect this Communicator to arrive every Friday.  As this situation unfolds, I may add a second school-wide email as well.  You will be able to find copies of these communications on our website. This weekend, in addition to finalizing report cards, I will be reorganizing some of our website to give families a central location for information and links.

Bishop DaCunha has invited everyone to a virtual prayer service at 10am today (Friday, March 20). Please feel free to join in at that time.  Student sessions scheduled for 10am will be delayed until 10:20 am so that all may participate. Here is the link: https://catholicschoolsalliance.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=159ee8511cab2ee7d7ff7609e&id=36ce8f1847&e=dad1eb3abe 

As you know, we are no longer able to attend Mass publically.  I encourage you to attend virtually!  On the home page of our website, the feed from Bishop Barron is now hosting daily Mass.  Other options are widely available.  Please check our diocesan website, https://www.fallriverdiocese.org/ for virtual Masses hosted locally.

Please note: Mrs. Camara is only available by phone on Tuesdays & Wednesdays.  Email is the best way to contact the school.

Due to the volume of emails received,  Mrs. Camara, myself and the teachers are often able to respond less frequently or personally to parents.  We will make every effort to address your concerns in a timely manner. We appreciate your patience!  

Google Meet and Google Classroom

• Within the next week all classes will be transitioning from conference calls to Google Meet. Parents are asked to assist us by assuring that your student is only using this app when a teacher is present.
• All students will have credentials for Google Apps for Education which will allow them to use Google Classroom. P3, P4 & K will be getting credentials early next week.
• Both Google Classroom and Google Meet are accessible through the “Apps dots” (nine dots on the top right of Google search screen.  Students will need to sign into Google Classroom in order to access the Google Meet session for their grade. If you are having trouble accessing these Google products, you may need to download the Google Chrome browser. These do work on other browsers, but we have run into a few people who have had difficulties.
• Please note accessing Google meet using the class code is only possible when the student is signed in with their school provided Google Apps for Education credentials . This prevents non-class members from logging in from outside our domain.While some teachers are using links at present so that families can get their younger students up and running with their credentials, everyone will be shifting to a class code in the future..
• Your student’s Google Classroom(s) will be the primary location(s) for all assignments and lesson plans (not FACTS SIS), which will substantially cut down on the number of emails for parents & staff. Google Classroom will allow students to complete some assignments directly on-line, find links and everything they need in one place, except for physical textbooks.
• While this week’s class conferencing has been a way to keep everyone connected, uplifted and to answer questions, we expect that delivering lessons and working with students who are struggling will increase into the future.  
• This week, March 23-27, teachers will conference with classes Monday - Thursday only. On Friday,  March 27,  students are expected to continue working and submitting work, however teachers will be  responding to emails on a very limited basis so that they are able to participate in conferencing as professionals.

IXL

• IXL is a good learning, practice and review tool for Math and Language Arts. The focus of this requirement is now on specific skills assigned each day by the teacher and not on a specific amount of time.  Students should work to 80-100% mastery unless they have been provided a different accomodation by the teacher.  Each skill completed counts toward a  weekly daily work grade (usually a total of 10 points). Students may choose to complete skills on the day assigned or anytime during that week, by Sunday 6 pm.

Report Cards and Progress Reports

• Trimester 2 Report Cards will be emailed out on Tuesday.  An acknowledgement link will be provided to parents so that we know you have received the report card.
• Trimester 3 Progress Reports will be emailed on Monday for Grades 3 - 8.  These reflect only the assignments from this past week.  Progress reports will be sent each Monday so that parents are aware of what their student has and has not completed. It is important for your student to keep up with daily assignments and submitting work as required, even if they are not online during the day. 

Important Links:

• ASCS Coronavirus Updates (emails sent to our families viewable here) https://ascsnb.org/ascs-coronavirus-updates 
• ASCS website: ascsnb.org.
• ASCS Calendar - http://ascsnb.org/calendar-1 
• Parent & Student Handbook 2019-2020 and ASCS Policies http://ascsnb.org/resources-1
• Parentweb (Renweb) Login https://ascs-ma.client.renweb.com/pw/
• ASCS Prayer Line - Submit prayer requests http://ascsnb.org/prayer-requests
• ASCS Parents Group on Facebook - search ASCS Parent Group and ask to join!
• Parent Tip Sheets for Eureka Math (Gr K- 5) - https://greatminds.org/math/parents

Reminders & Announcements  

Financial Responsibilities

A few parents have contacted the school about tuition during this time of physical school closure. As you are aware, All Saints Catholic School as well as all of the Catholic schools throughout our diocese have continued our mission and are providing educational service for our students, therefore there is no change in tuition payment.  Please make every effort to remain current. To postpone your April payment until May, or your May payment until June 5,  please contact Mrs. Camara by email at least 5 days before your payment is due to be withdrawn. 

FACE Scholarships for 2020-2021  The application deadline (February 28)  has passed! Families filing an application after this date will only receive assistance if funding is available.

Sea Lab

We do have applications at school, which will be scanned and sent to you next week, assuming we aren’t sheltering in place at that time. Please know that all deadlines have been extended and we will send that information as well.

When you shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/90-0748611, AmazonSmile donates to All Saints Catholic School! Please support our school as you shop!

Please pray for our school, our students, and our families.  

 

Peace in Jesus and Mary,

Mrs. Susan Massoud

Principal, All Saints Catholic School

 

All Saints Catholic School provides quality Catholic education in a safe environment where Jesus Christ is the model for the spiritual, academic, and personal growth of each unique student.

We Are One + We Are All Saints

Academically focused, Spiritually alive Community of Saints in training