Tips for Getting Started/Organized
and Creating a Daily Schedule
Here are some great
suggestions for getting started- especially if you’re new to eSchool! You may
already have a tried and true organization system- just find something that
works for you!
Please also view the "School at Home Tips" link under the Categories on the right side of the screen for even more resources and ideas!
Learning Coach Tips for Getting
Started in a Virtual School
1. Clear goals:
-What
brought me to this particular school? What do I hope to accomplish from this?
-It’s a good idea to write down
your answers and to keep it handy for a tough day and refer back to it.
2. Understanding OLS navigation –
spend some time on this while waiting for materials to arrive
-Landing
page is a quick jump
-Tabs (Plan,
Lesson Lists, Progress, Attendance)
-Help section
3. Understanding use of materials
– look through materials when they arrive; check to be sure everything is there
-Online
portion / Offline portion
-Student
guides and Teacher guides
-Novels – need to find these in
the library/bookstore; lessons need to be accessed online and may be printed;
list of choices is available in Help section or through “lesson list” tab
-Assessments - some online, some
offline
4. Record keeping – think of a
system that works for you, decide on a time of day for planning, grading and
progress
-Marking completed lessons – try
to stay on top of grading assessments, so this stays accurate each day
-Printing out “Week View” each
Monday – very helpful to know what was intended to be accomplished for the
week. Unfinished assignments will move to the next day and push everything back
by one day- they will not “pile up”, instead everything is moved back by
however many days are missed.
5. Creating a daily schedule that
works
-There may
be some trial and error to this
-Simultaneous
learning by all of your students
-“WIP” (work in progress) folder
– put in pages kids didn’t get to that they can work on independently
-Minimize interruptions during
school time; that will leave time for home tasks
6. Organizing the space for
materials storage and learning activities.
-No single
way to do this
-One child
or several makes a difference
-Dedicated
school room or shared space? This will affect how you store materials.
-Keeping
materials out of reach of a toddler, while keeping toddler “school” materials
handy.
-Some
organize shelves by subject and others by student.
-Keep your
shipping boxes- you’ll need to return some materials at the end of the year
-Keep learning styles of children
in mind. The easily distracted child shouldn’t do math in the room with a
preschooler watching a video. Keep in mind that not all subjects need to be
done in the same place. For example, a student may wander off to his room to
read a story for Literature, but need to be next to Mom to do GUM.
-You can create pocket or file
folders by day. Put all the worksheets or assignments for the day inside. Some
parents organize a full week’s worth of assignments over the weekend.
-You can leave the pages inside
the books, and pull all the books needed into a crate each day for easy access.
-Look at what science materials
will be needed for the whole unit. Put materials for each lesson in large
zipper bag so you are ready for the lab on the day of the lesson
Student/Learning Coach
Scheduling ideas:
Scheduling:
-Make
it a weekly habit to print off your weekly school schedule using the printer
friendly version in the OLS. You may want to print off the “materials list”
too.
-Some
students enjoy having their own schedule to work from. Let them use
highlighters, pens, and stickers to personalize their schedule and use it
organize their day.
-Always
do Language Arts, Phonics, and Math daily! The ideal schedule has already been
created for you by K12 but if you need to make changes please talk to your
teacher and seek support to do this.
-Make
your 4-5 hours of school a day count. If you finish LA in 20 minutes, do more
reading, writing, or another lesson to spend 60 minutes in the course. Same
thing goes for Math and Phonics. These classes we like to call the “daily hour”
load.
Time
Management with multiple children:
-Organize
each student’s worksheets and materials separately.
-For
families with one child as an “early riser” have lessons that require
one-on-one time with that child before others awaken.
-Listen
to a child read while feeding the baby or preparing a meal.
-Have
an older child give a younger child a Spelling test.
-Have
an “Art Workshop” where everyone is doing an Art project simultaneously, even
if the projects are different. Saves clean up time to do it all at once.
-Daily
Household Tasks can be combined with K12 lessons in the day. For example, take
textbooks or worksheets to the doctor or dentist to complete in the waiting
room, read Language Arts stories as bedtime stories, and listen to your K12
music CD’s as you drive doing errands. Every moment in the day is a teachable
moment. Make it count!
Workspace:
-Create
a “school room” or general workspace where everyone is expected to work.
-Create
learning centers to keep students engaged to allow for 1:1 time with individual
students.
-Position
the computer so that students can congregate around the screen to read lessons,
view artwork, and play interactive games. Remember to position the screen away
from students who are not working on the computer.
-Create
space for independent work.
-Store
all the materials for the learning coach in one place, rather than with each
child’s materials.
-Have
a clearly indicated place where each student can turn in work to be checked
without interrupting.
-Always
have an area of your school space with writing materials, crayons, paper,
stickers, and any other fun supplies for students to get creative with in a
daily writing journal. This is perfect for when you need 15 minutes with
another child.
Ideal Daily Routine for a Learning Coach/Student
1. Parent logs into the OLS www.k12.com using their parent username and
password to plan for the school day. [School day is 4-6 hours not
including
homework.]
a. Clicking on the weekly plan and the advanced preparation are
very helpful
tools for the Learning Coach. Please check your email.
2. After preparing for the day the parent/Learning Coach logs out
of the OLS.
3. Student logs into their account using their username and
password. Please contact
your teacher if you do not have an account for your student.
4. Click on the Weekly Plan (see below) or the Lesson Shortcut
5. Click on the first lesson for the day or whatever lesson the
Learning Coach/parent
will be teaching first that day.
6. As a team the Learning Coach/Parent and student work together
to move through
the OLS lesson screens.
7. Student completes work assigned via the materials button on the
screen as well as
what is assigned in the Teacher Guide or Student Guide.
8. When prompted the parent/Learning Coach will enter their
password into the OLS
so the student may take the Lesson or Unit Assessment. When the
student has
completed an assessment, a screen with a star that says
“Congratulations the
lesson is complete” will mark the lesson onto the OLS for that day.
9. Parent/Learning Coach grades student’s handwritten work and/or
answers adult
questions to the student’s assessment.
10. Repeat the steps 4 through 9 for every subject each day on the
OLS.
11. Parent logs back into their account and enters any learning-coach
graded assessments.
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