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Wedgwood Coop Plans for Fall 2020
FALL 2020 PRESCHOOL UPDATE EMAIL FROM WEDGWOOD ALL-SCHOOL CHAIR:
Hello and welcome to the 2020-2021 school year at Wedgwood Co-op!
We are so excited to share our plans with you for fall. I am thankful for everyone’s patience in awaiting this news.
WEDGWOOD CO-OP FALL PLANS
Preschool won’t look exactly the same as it has in the past, but it is looking to be a year full of fun, learning, and much-needed community thanks to the hard work of our teachers and co-op board. It is going to be a great year!
For Fall Quarter, our school will be providing an updated distance curriculum that will include virtual classes while King County remains in Phase 2. Your teachers are working hard to provide a robust virtual curriculum that will look different from Spring, when our teachers had little time to plan in advance. In addition, please keep in mind that the Board is leaving open the possibility of revisiting hybrid outdoor classes in Phase 2 in Winter Quarter, depending on (a) key indicators of COVID-19 activity in King County, and (b) feedback from families.
Based on our decision to focus on virtual curriculum for now, we are also offering a 20% discount on tuition for the fall quarter to all families.
We understand that the news of starting the school year with distance learning may come as a disappointment to some, but I hope by the end of this email you will see why we are so excited about what the year has in store.
In making this decision, the personnel committee, which includes some members of the Board, your Parent Educators Beth Goss and Betty Williams, as well as your teachers met and discussed the current situation with COVID-19, NSC guidelines and requirements for returning to school, and input from families via surveys and emails. This information was then considered again by your All-School Board who voted as a group. Although the risk of transmitting COVID-19 outdoors is believed to be reduced, the current delay in King County advancing to Phase 3, coupled with concerns about how to protect the safety of our teachers, families, and the greater community led us to believe this was the best decision for now. Additional factors that were considered by your Board in reaching this decision are as follows:
With all that said, I want to be clear that our goal is to make virtual classes exciting. Even I have a child who has trouble engaging on a computer. But our goal this quarter is to Bring Preschool to You. Teachers Beth and Katie are busy building a curriculum that will engage both children and families with online activities and take-home activity kits. They will also be starting the school year with a socially distant Home Visit for willing families. This will be an excellent way for your child(ren) to meet their teacher! Our teachers are committed to using this time to get all of our students engaged in learning and prepared for the potential of in-person classes. We will advance to in-person time outdoors in Phase 3, or possibly in Phase 2 on a limited basis depending on health data and parent feedback during Fall quarter. More information about scheduling and tentative plans for entering Phase 3 are listed at the end of this email.
We realize that this increased engagement might not (yet) be your cup of tea, and we encourage you to lean on the support of Beth Goss and Betty Williams for parent education. One of the beautiful things about Co-op is that we have highly trained people who can teach us how to grow as parents! We are all on uncharted ground right now, and the wisdom and community of the parent education program are great resources to help you find support in a potentially isolating time.
TODDLERS & PRE-3S
Our toddler class is still enrolling, and we welcome new families. For now, the class is too small to justify a separate class. As a result, the Board has also decided to combine toddlers and pre-3s. The toddler class will come one day, and pre-3s will come both days. Beth Goss will do parent education for everyone, just like in a toddler class during the day. This will be an added benefit to our Pre-3s families and an excellent way to keep our community together virtually!
OUR PLAYSPACE IS MOVING (CLOSER)
As if we do not have enough bases to cover...there is one more thing. Faith Lutheran, the church we lease space from, has decided not to renew our lease on the existing play space. However, they have provided us with a new location on-site and closer to the classroom. Although this year is not the best timing, we are excited about building a custom new space for the children closer to our classroom. Eric Wardisko, our Facilities Chair, will be sending an email shortly with information about upcoming (limited attendance, socially distanced) work parties to move and create the new space. This may feel like a lot at once, but there is a lot of potential and space for growth in the new space. We hope to have it ready by the beginning of the school year so that we can meet the shifting needs of this highly flexible year. In other words, if we enter Phase 3 tomorrow, our outdoor space will be ready for us. We plan to send pictures out to our community once things are set up.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
VIRTUAL CLASS TIMING
Please look for information from your class leadership and teachers regarding timing. In the meantime, here is the general information on timing for FALL quarter:
Phase 2:
Phase 3: Hybrid classes will be offered with both remote and in-person instruction. In-person instruction will likely be focused on holding class outside. Classes may need to be broken into pods and alternate time spent with teachers to reduce germ pool sizes. Class may be slightly shorter than our normal schedule to also allow for virtual classes for families that prefer that option.
Thank you for taking the time to review this email. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your Class Chairs, your All School Board members or myself with questions or comments. We welcome hearing from you and can’t wait to start the new school year together.
Very truly yours,
Alia Ahmed (and your Wedgwood Coop All-School Board)
Hello and welcome to the 2020-2021 school year at Wedgwood Co-op!
We are so excited to share our plans with you for fall. I am thankful for everyone’s patience in awaiting this news.
WEDGWOOD CO-OP FALL PLANS
Preschool won’t look exactly the same as it has in the past, but it is looking to be a year full of fun, learning, and much-needed community thanks to the hard work of our teachers and co-op board. It is going to be a great year!
For Fall Quarter, our school will be providing an updated distance curriculum that will include virtual classes while King County remains in Phase 2. Your teachers are working hard to provide a robust virtual curriculum that will look different from Spring, when our teachers had little time to plan in advance. In addition, please keep in mind that the Board is leaving open the possibility of revisiting hybrid outdoor classes in Phase 2 in Winter Quarter, depending on (a) key indicators of COVID-19 activity in King County, and (b) feedback from families.
Based on our decision to focus on virtual curriculum for now, we are also offering a 20% discount on tuition for the fall quarter to all families.
We understand that the news of starting the school year with distance learning may come as a disappointment to some, but I hope by the end of this email you will see why we are so excited about what the year has in store.
In making this decision, the personnel committee, which includes some members of the Board, your Parent Educators Beth Goss and Betty Williams, as well as your teachers met and discussed the current situation with COVID-19, NSC guidelines and requirements for returning to school, and input from families via surveys and emails. This information was then considered again by your All-School Board who voted as a group. Although the risk of transmitting COVID-19 outdoors is believed to be reduced, the current delay in King County advancing to Phase 3, coupled with concerns about how to protect the safety of our teachers, families, and the greater community led us to believe this was the best decision for now. Additional factors that were considered by your Board in reaching this decision are as follows:
- We want to support our teachers in building a robust virtual curriculum. We also wanted to reduce the burden to our teachers, who also have children in Seattle Public Schools.
- By developing a robust virtual curriculum in the fall, it will be easier to return to in-person classes with additional time. In contrast, it would be burdensome to our teachers to start offering in-person classes immediately with the risk of returning to virtual should a family who visited the school become sick or if Governor Inslee issued a directive that required us to close down in-person offerings.
- The Board also took into consideration the age of our students. Many of our students have never been in a classroom, let alone group settings with masks. These issues would be added to the typical anxieties children may face starting a new school year. Instead, we thought it would be better to help parents create peaceful spaces to play at home and in their own safe circles. A remote learning quarter will also give students the opportunity to meet their Wedgwood coop community virtually from the comfort of their homes before returning to in-person classes.
- We wanted to reduce the burden on our families. Drop-off availability would be significantly reduced due to the smaller number of families interested in in-person activities and need to ensure there are enough parents present to ensure the proper child-parent ratio during outdoor play.
- The great thing about our school is that we can adapt. We will welcome input from our families throughout Fall quarter. Your Board may consider hybrid classes in Phase 2 in the future. However, we wanted our teachers and families to be able to plan for a more extended period for now. A fluctuating plan month-to-month was not sustainable. As a result, we set this plan in place for the Fall Quarter.
With all that said, I want to be clear that our goal is to make virtual classes exciting. Even I have a child who has trouble engaging on a computer. But our goal this quarter is to Bring Preschool to You. Teachers Beth and Katie are busy building a curriculum that will engage both children and families with online activities and take-home activity kits. They will also be starting the school year with a socially distant Home Visit for willing families. This will be an excellent way for your child(ren) to meet their teacher! Our teachers are committed to using this time to get all of our students engaged in learning and prepared for the potential of in-person classes. We will advance to in-person time outdoors in Phase 3, or possibly in Phase 2 on a limited basis depending on health data and parent feedback during Fall quarter. More information about scheduling and tentative plans for entering Phase 3 are listed at the end of this email.
We realize that this increased engagement might not (yet) be your cup of tea, and we encourage you to lean on the support of Beth Goss and Betty Williams for parent education. One of the beautiful things about Co-op is that we have highly trained people who can teach us how to grow as parents! We are all on uncharted ground right now, and the wisdom and community of the parent education program are great resources to help you find support in a potentially isolating time.
TODDLERS & PRE-3S
Our toddler class is still enrolling, and we welcome new families. For now, the class is too small to justify a separate class. As a result, the Board has also decided to combine toddlers and pre-3s. The toddler class will come one day, and pre-3s will come both days. Beth Goss will do parent education for everyone, just like in a toddler class during the day. This will be an added benefit to our Pre-3s families and an excellent way to keep our community together virtually!
OUR PLAYSPACE IS MOVING (CLOSER)
As if we do not have enough bases to cover...there is one more thing. Faith Lutheran, the church we lease space from, has decided not to renew our lease on the existing play space. However, they have provided us with a new location on-site and closer to the classroom. Although this year is not the best timing, we are excited about building a custom new space for the children closer to our classroom. Eric Wardisko, our Facilities Chair, will be sending an email shortly with information about upcoming (limited attendance, socially distanced) work parties to move and create the new space. This may feel like a lot at once, but there is a lot of potential and space for growth in the new space. We hope to have it ready by the beginning of the school year so that we can meet the shifting needs of this highly flexible year. In other words, if we enter Phase 3 tomorrow, our outdoor space will be ready for us. We plan to send pictures out to our community once things are set up.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
- Look out for emails from your Teachers about a Socially Distant home visit and timelines for delivery of your family’s activity kits.
- Wedgwood Coop tuition will be reduced by 20% for Fall Quarter. If you pay tuition in advance, we kindly ask that you consider paying for a period no longer than the quarter, for now, to reduce the workload for our Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer.
- In light of starting Fall with virtual classes, our Fall All-School Cleaning is cancelled.
- We kindly ask our families to look out for the email from Facilities to sign up for work-parties to move out of our current playspace and set up the new space.
- The All-School Sing-A-Long will proceed on September 12. This shall be virtual, pending updates on the Phases at that time.
- The Fall Festival on October 24 will proceed on October 24. This shall be virtual, pending updates on the Phases at that time.
VIRTUAL CLASS TIMING
Please look for information from your class leadership and teachers regarding timing. In the meantime, here is the general information on timing for FALL quarter:
Phase 2:
- Toddlers:
- Fri: 30-40 minute zoom circle combined with pre-3s.
- Also, see “other offerings” under pre-3s, below.
- Pre-3s:
- 30-40 minute zoom circle TWICE per week and regular activity kits tied to themes.
- Mon: 30-40 minute zoom circle
- Fri: 30-40 minute zoom circle combined with toddlers
- Other offerings
- Circle-time kits
- Activity kits tied to themes
- Read-aloud and circle time videos accessible to families on-demand
- Art and sensory ideas and items accessible to families
- Additional efforts and plans to keep families connected throughout the school year as needed, per Teacher Beth.
- Parent education will be provided weekly during the day to the toddler families by Beth Goss, this will also be open to the Pre-3s families.
- Other offerings
- 3-5s:
- M 1 pm (4-day kids only): 40 minutes with teacher Katie plus 30 minutes with small group leader starting at 1:40 pm
- T/W/Th 10 am: 30 minutes with teacher Katie plus 15-30 minutes with their small group leader starting at 10:30 am
- Activity kits, art ideas, and supplies will be provided, as well as videos of read-alouds for access whenever families wish.
- Additional parent ed weekly check-in times beyond the normal monthly meeting will be offered by Betty, based on interest.
Phase 3: Hybrid classes will be offered with both remote and in-person instruction. In-person instruction will likely be focused on holding class outside. Classes may need to be broken into pods and alternate time spent with teachers to reduce germ pool sizes. Class may be slightly shorter than our normal schedule to also allow for virtual classes for families that prefer that option.
Thank you for taking the time to review this email. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your Class Chairs, your All School Board members or myself with questions or comments. We welcome hearing from you and can’t wait to start the new school year together.
Very truly yours,
Alia Ahmed (and your Wedgwood Coop All-School Board)
COVID-19 and Co-op CommunityWhile our physical preschool doors remain closed, our preschool community remains open and connected!
The Wedgwood Coop Board, in partnership with leaders at North Seattle College is working hard to put plans in place to ensure the classes we offer in the fall provide the safest option for children and adults. We are planning to use Health Department guidelines for the early learning programs, that currently include:
In the meantime, we have enjoyed...
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Art supplies, from teacher Katie
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Toddler class story time (siblings welcome!)
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Thank you parade for teacher Katie
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