Foundations & Frameworks in Remote Learning 

These Foundations & Frameworks remote learning standards were created by Holy Cross Christian Academy, Burleson TX. Critical aspects of Foundations & Frameworks and successful remote learning experiences of late Spring 2020 informed the development of this document. We are grateful for Holy Cross Christian Academy’s ongoing commitment to effective program implementation and for allowing us to share this with you. 

For all grades: 

  • F&F will need to meet every day. You will have a short group meeting and (on most days) small group meetings just as you would in class.
  • Students will receive assignments through Google Classroom.
  • Students will complete assignments in their SPECs Log. They will submit assignments through Google Classroom. You can create a video to take your students through the process of attaching a picture to their assignment and submitting it. They can take the picture with a smart phone or with their Chromebook.
  • It is best to have one way to assign work and one way to submit it. Parents and students expressed that desire in feedback from the spring.

 

Experience Strand

  • If it is interactive, consider putting a package together to send home. Then the students could open them in their live class together.
  • If it is something you can’t do in remote learning (e.g. the playground experience), you can try to adapt it or you can use a story in place of the experience. You’ll still sort it out together, guide conversations to the Pattern Statement, and discuss where else they may see this pattern.

 

Read Alouds & Modeling

  • Read alouds and modeling should be done live. If you complete the visual tool on a whiteboard, please also make a copy on paper.
  • Post the read aloud visual tool(s) in the Stream, so they will be available as a resource.
  • For second grade and up, consider modeling a second read aloud on video as an asynchronous resource for your students.

 

Book Selection

  • This will have to be done differently as you will need to include their first unit books in their initial pick up packets (with other text books, etc).
  • For third grade and up, consider emailing families descriptions of the three selections the week prior to picking up their text books in order to divide your class into reading groups. Small groups are critical to F&F success whether IRL or in remote learning.
  •  If you are concerned about reading levels, consider sending a PDF by email and Zoom conferencing with each student. They can read a little bit of a book for you. Ask them about what they are reading to gauge where they are comfortable.
  • Remember, F&F books should be easy for them to decode as the focus is learning the skill.
  • For first grade, the first two units are genre studies. You can pick free versions of the stories to supplement the assignments if you’d like. You’ll send home the Handbook for Reading and Tip Toe to your students (or other Abeka readers).

 

Pattern Statement, Process Questions, & Visual Tool

  • Post the Pattern Statement, Process Questions, Visual Tool, and Rubric in the Stream.
  • The first assignment should still be printing off the pieces and glueing them into the SPECs log.
  • Students will not take a Skill Knowledge Test in remote learning. Let’s focus on understanding the skill, using the questions to dissect the text, and what the Pattern Statement means.
  • We recognize the value of memorizing the  Pattern Statement and Process Questions and will continue the Skill Knowledge Test when we return full time to the classroom.
  • Because they will not have to memorize the Pattern Statement or Process Questions, they will not copy them in their SPECs log assignments.

 

Small Groups all Grades

  • Depending on your class size, you will break your class into two or three small groups just as you would in the classroom.
  • Each group will meet daily.

 

Small Groups – First (starting with Unit 3 & 4)  and Second Grade

  • Use small group time to read aloud and talk through visual tool just as you would in class.
  • Consider slowing the pace a bit to allow for more time to discuss visual tools in Zoom. Second grade may want to consider reading only one book per unit. Then one day could focus on the reading and the next day could focus on the visual tool for that section. Everyone can benefit from reading each section twice.
  • Small groups should be at least 20 minutes each.

 

Small Groups – Upper Elementary

  • SPECs Log assignments will be assigned one day and due the next morning, so students are ready to participate in small group discussions. The reading will be completed the night before the assignment.
  • For example: Tuesday, 9/1, read chapter 1 (as their 20 minutes of daily reading); Wednesday, 9/2, complete assignment using chapter 1 (with a separate assignment to read chapter 2 that night); Thursday, 9/3, complete assignment using chapter 2 (with a separate assignment to read chapter 3 that night). Then in small groups on each day: Tuesday – they have not read the book yet so you will review the Pattern Statement and Process Questions together and talk about how they work with the Visual Tool. Wednesday – they will be working on their first assignment, so you can talk them through it and discuss what they will be writing. Thursday – you will talk about the Wednesday’s SPECs Log assignment and create a small group visual tool just as you would in class.
  • Remember that SPECs Log assignments will take less time as they will be reading the night before and focusing on three parts: the Sequence of Events section on the left side of the layout (to be sure everyone understands the critical aspects of the story), the visual tool, and the summary (What did you learn about this section of the book when you created the visual tool? Not a summary of the assigned reading).
  • A completion grade should be given for each SPECs Log assignment. This is not based on whether it is done well…just if all of the parts are completed. The grades from this should not unduly influence their overall Language Arts grade but rather be a small percentage of their overall grade. It should fall within the teacher- selected 10% of their Language Arts grade (where we would put book reports).

 

Vocabulary

  • Consider teaching the word live.
  • Younger students could complete the Vocabulary Square, take the picture, and attach it to their assignment.
  • Older students could have a vocabulary sentence assigned through Google Classroom. Then the illustration could be optional. An assignment can be created with the definition, part of speech, and an example sentence provided. Then students would be asked to write a complete sentence using the word.
  • Vocabulary grades in remote learning will come from completed sentences. Third and above should include grammar as part of the grade (for concepts that should be mastered: ending punctuation, capitalization, etc).
  • A vocabulary test could be given in remote learning at the end of the unit.
  • All vocabulary grades together will be 7% of their overall Language Arts grade.

 

Coaching Sessions

  • Just as when we are in the classroom, two one on one coaching sessions need to be completed during the unit. You can complete these during the every two week touching base session.
  • Be sure to complete the coaching session cycle: discussion of their latest or best visual tool, comparing it to preset standards (the rubric – tell them the level and why), what they did well to achieve that level and what they can do to improve and reach the next level.

 

SPECs Log Grade (Skill Application Assessment)

  • You will still take a SPECs Log grade at the end of the unit.
  • Remember that this should reflect the highest level of performance achieved based upon the rubric. It should not be an average or the last visual tool (unless that is the best one they did).
  • This grade should still be 8% of their overall Language Arts grade.

 

Performance Task Analysis

  • This can be done quite easily in remote learning with a few adjustments.
  • This should be open notes (and emphasize the fact that they need to use their Process Questions, Visual Tool, and Rubric).
  • The majority of the grade will come from assigning a new text (the same one you would use for the IRL test). Post the text in their Stream the day of the assignment.
  • Allow the same amount of time to complete the assignment that you would for their daily work…the daily work was not timed and completed in class each day, so this should not be either.
  • A small part of the grade should be the completion of an additional assignment. Add a Google Classroom assignment to be completed after the completion of the visual tool. Ask them what level they achieved on the rubric and why. The grade will not be dependent on whether they were correct. But it should be dependent on: did they answer with an actual level on the rubric, did they answer the why portion, did they give a coherent answer. For example, a decent answer could be: I achieved the exemplary level because I have all of the pieces from all levels represented in my visual tool. Or…I achieved the Proficient Level because I did not include x in my visual tool.
  • Performance Task Analysis should account for 20% of their overall Language Arts grade.

 

Miscellaneous

  • The units should still take the same amount of days. The individual assignments will be shorter due to the slight shift in focus.
  • You won’t need the Intellectual Art day(s) and can use those to ensure students are understanding the concepts.
  • Because this will be their 20 minutes a night of reading, students should not be expected to complete a separate book report assignment. Instead, consider having them complete a small project over their reading group book for a book report grade.
  • Participation in small groups can be a very small daily grade that goes into the 10% teacher-selected portion of their Language Arts grade.

 

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