Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all schools in Utah are transitioning to Distance Learning. This is a comprehensive guide for what this looks like at Mana Academy.
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Thank you so much for your patience as we make adjustments on our end to meet these challenging times. We ask that you please work together with us and especially with our teachers and as we navigate through this next month of our new distance learning education program.
Student Education Packets
Monday, March 30, 2020. Printed student education packets will be available for pick up at both Elementary and Secondary campus from 8:30am-11:30am. Due to the coronavirus - COVID19, we ask that you do not leave your vehicle, but instead remain in your car and drive up to the designated area on campus where our staff will be ready to hand you the packets depending on which grades your scholars are in.
Grades K-2
All scholars who are in grades K-2 will be receiving Student Education Packets weekly. We will print these packets and have them ready every Monday for parents to pick up (and drop off completed packets) between 8:30am-11:30am. If you would prefer that your scholars’ packet be sent via email, please let your scholar’s teacher know and she can send you a pdf file of the packet.
Grades 3-11
All scholars in grades 3-11 will receive a student education packet on Monday, March 30, 2020 for the week, but will fully transition to distance beginning April 06, 2020. This means that they will no longer receive packets, but will be working with their teachers online via our digital curriculum which is hosted in Google Classroom. There will be an exception for those who do not have access to the internet. You will be able to opt for paper packets to still be printed out for your scholar(s). You can work this out directly with your scholar’s teachers.
Google Classroom
All Mana Scholars in grades 3-11 have access to Google Classroom by logging in with their Mana email. All secondary campus scholars know exactly how to do this and are familiar with Google Classroom. Teachers in grades 3-6 will send instructions to all their scholars about how to get into Google Classroom. Google Classroom will host all assignments, projects, quizzes, exams, videos and all other tools that the teacher will assign for their class. The majority of the work assigned on Google Classroom will also be turned in via Google Classroom. It is critical that all 3-11 scholars login during the first week to ensure that they can access the materials. There is a smartphone app for Google Classroom that can be downloaded to your smartphone if you prefer to use your smartphone.
Scholar check-in via Zoom
All Mana teachers (K-11) are required to do a minimum of one scholar check-in per week. This student check-in will be done via Zoom. This is a video program that allows the teacher to host a video conference with scholars via laptop/Chromebook/smartphone etc. The video conference might be one on one or with a group of scholars or with a whole class. It depends on what the teacher feels is more effective to help each scholar. Teachers will schedule these meetings with the parents, so that you know exactly when they will be contacting the scholars. There is a smartphone app for Zoom (it is called: Zoom for cloud meetings) that can be downloaded to your smartphone if you prefer to use your smartphone.
Teacher Online Office Hours
All Mana teachers (K-11) will have specific online office hours, where parents and students can reach out to teachers and receive a quick response. This is an opportunity for you to call or email the teacher (or even request a zoom video meeting) to discuss things you might have questions about in regard to the assignments or projects. Your scholar’s teacher will let you know of their office hours.
Chromebooks
Chromebooks will be available for checkout on Tuesday, March 31st from 8:30am to 11:30am at both elementary and secondary campus. Due to the limited number of Chromebooks, they will only be checked out for scholars in grades 3-11. You are required to fill out the proper form and sign the policy agreement in order to qualify to check out a Chromebook. You will be informed via email this weekend if a Chromebook is available for you to checkout. Here is the link for the Chromebook checkout: https://form.jotform.com/200854942895063
Food Service
Since Mana Academy is not located in a neighborhood and therefore daily access is out of the way for many parents, we have decided to prepare food for our scholars that can be picked up every Monday between 8:30-11:30am. Our lunch ladies will prepare breakfast and lunch items that should last a week and can be picked up weekly. On Monday, March 30th, food can be picked up at both campuses, but starting Monday, April 06, all food pickup (for both elementary and secondary) can be picked up at the elementary campus.
3rd Term Report Cards
Our state Aspire system for teacher gradebooks have been down since the school closure. Once it is back up, you will be able to access 3rd term report cards online via Aspire.
Thank you again for your patience and understanding as we work through these challenging times. Please let our scholars know how much we miss them and love them. We think about them often and hope that they are staying healthy and are ready to engage via distance learning. We appreciate all of you and are here to help in any way that we can. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
With love and respect,
‘Anapesi, Silvia & Richard
Mana Administration Team