10.05.2020
Dear Ard Rí Community,
I hope everyone is safe and well. My letters to you are beginning to feel like I am a soldier at war or I am stranded on a desert island. When we closed our doors on 12th March we did not foresee a closure lasting until September. This is the new reality which we must all face. I think the cancellation of the Leaving Certificate this week is a sign that normality is a good way off yet. We must pace ourselves.
The responses being posted to Seesaw are fantastic. I hope teacher feedback is helping the children to stay motivated and focused while working at home. Teachers will now begin to broaden courses of work to include resources like IXL, Top-Marks, Oxford-Owls, Kahoot and Read Theory. Our lessons will focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Wellness. I encourage you to incorporate play, reading and movement into every day. Set up a station with paper, pencils and some crayons and scissors so children have opportunities to express their imaginations and be creative. The length of time we have to practice the remote learning program is long. The amount of work we are assigning is designed to be sustainable for both teachers and parents. You may wish to assign additional academic work yourself.
At this point children will be missing their friends most of all. I encourage you to reach out and connect with each other to set up short supervised calls or pen-palling for your child so children can feel connected while apart. Webwise.ie have some excellent videos to help teach your child skills required to safely and effectively communicate online: HTML Heroes
On May 18th, Phase 1 of the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions, school buildings will be opened for access by teachers for organisation and distribution of remote learning. The team at Ard Rí have already begun planning how we can begin to distribute school books. We are also in the process of making some laptops available to support families who have limited access to technology and digital devices. Navan Rugby Club is a COVID-19 Test Centre. We must be sure we can distribute resources in a safe and organised manner. We will issue the plan once it has been finalised.
As we begin to move through the phases for reopening society please continue to follow government guidelines and stay positive. Don’t ease off when the end is in sight. Parents look after yourselves. Don’t be hard on yourself. Just do the best you can with what you have.
Be safe,
Darragh
26.04.2020
Dear Ard Rí Community,
Every teacher from Junior Infants up to 6th Class would like to praise and thank our wonderful pupils and their parents for the hard work and dedication shown during Week 1 on Seesaw.
So far we have linked in with 233 out of 260 pupils. If you have not signed up for Seesaw please email Debi on [email protected] and we will support you.
To allow parents time to prepare for home based lessons we will now drop work for Monday and Tuesday on Sunday night at 7pm and work for Wednesday and Thursday on Tuesday at 7pm. On Friday teacher will share messages of positivity and highlights from the week. Friday can also be used to finish and share any work not completed during the week.
I must assure you we have not forgotten our 6th Class pupils’ Graduation. We will wait and see what new restriction guidelines are released and plan from there.
As we enter another week of restrictions please continue to follow guidelines, stay positive and focus on how far we have come in the battle against COVID-19.
Be Safe,
Darragh
18.04.2020
Dear Ard Rí Community,
I hope you and your family are safe and well.
Term 3 has always been my favorite time of year. A term of football on the pitches, school tours, fun days and fresh air. A time when everyone was rewarded for their hard work in term one and two. Challenging times. Here goes the start of a very different term 3…
We have had a great response to our launching Seesaw home learning. Thank you. If you haven’t signed up yet please see the post below.
Seesaw is an online portfolio app. I must clarify there will be no live face to face teaching time. To start, we will drop work, equivalent to homework, on Monday and Wednesday morning. The children can do it whenever it suits the family schedule. Some tasks will be self-correcting, some tasks they will write in a copy and other tasks they can input to Seesaw and receive feedback from teacher directly. We are all learning so over time teachers will figure out what works well and what doesn’t and develop on the strengths of the relationship. We will begin slowly and grow from there. Some tasks will be closed and take a set time, others like projects and challenges will be open and the child can spend as long as their imagination allows. Like any app there is an element of figuring out how it all works. Unfortunately logging on two pupils to the one device at the one time seems to be tricky. You must log out one to log in another so you’ll need the Home Learning Code to hand.
Children thrive on routine. Work together as a family to create a simple schedule which meets the needs of all family members. I hope through lots of outdoor play and exercise, Ard Rí on Seesaw, some reading, plus daily services like #PEwithJoe at 9am and RTE Home School Hub at 11am will help you to make the most of every day.
Be safe,
Darragh
02.04.2020
Dear Ard Rí Community,
I hope everyone is well and taking good care during these unprecedented times.
Schools are to remain closed until 19th April. However a return to school after Easter break is uncertain. After Easter our engagement with families will adopt a different format. Teachers will be in contact with the pupils in their classes directly via an app called Seesaw. Seesaw is an online education platform which allows a connection between pupils and teachers. We will still be suggesting wellness and inquiry based learning activities however we will also be revising academic work through Folens e-books and resources and another really useful tool called IXL.com. Initially we will use the app a lot like a homework notebook where your child gets some maths and English work to complete a few times a week. I advise you to pick up a copy book on your next trip to town for your child to write down their answers.
We require steroids and alcohol your consent. Complete the following steps today:
- Read the Seesaw parental consent document: Seesaw consent form
In order to progress we need to ensure we have one up to date parent email for each family (not child’s own email). If you agree to taking part in our Home Based Learning Program via Seesaw proceed to…
- Send an email to us at [email protected] with the following details:
I …………………………… (parent name) consent to Ard Rí CNS setting up a Seesaw account for my child/children
- _____________________(child name)
- _____________________(child name)
- _____________________(child name)
- _____________________(child name)
I consent to Ard Rí Community NS adding this email address to the Ard Rí CNS Aladdin school database for school correspondence.
You don’t need to do anything else this minute. When everything is set up we will send you an email with all the details how to link your child with their teacher.
Regards and thanks,
Darragh
