Jamie's Update: Distance Learning & Well Being
April 27, 2020
Dear Friends,
I hope you are remaining healthy and enjoying the warmer weather. Yesterday provided a welcomed excuse to get outside and be active. The Nine Mile Falls area was beautiful and the views overlooking the river were breathtaking. Enjoy the four-day school week ahead and more importantly enjoy a little break on Friday, May 1 and the three-day weekend. Our next break is May 22 and that will provide for a four-day weekend over Memorial Day!
During the last two weeks we have focused on providing more structure and routine around the Distance Learning platform at SGS. Based on your feedback, this is working better for most of our students and there seems to be better coordination throughout the overall program. However, we will continue to refine our approach and make corrections if we feel it improves the student experience.
The other focus has been on community and student/teacher social and emotional wellbeing. Our team of teachers, counselor and staff have been intentional about augmenting the school experience with social outlets during the closure. We have had virtual lunch meetings, online group games, bed time stories, show & tell, etc. The social interaction is just as important as the content and learning at this point, as many of our students are drawn to the school social experience as much as anything else. This is where they practice and develop social skills, relationships, and teamwork. Over the next 6 weeks, I encourage students to participate in the social offerings being posted. They are low pressure and good fun for our school community!
SGS Virtual Fun Run
Speaking of fun social events, Rachel Hildie, Upper School teacher and Math Department Chair, has organized a free virtual 5K Fun Run the weekend of May 16 &17. This SGS Community event is open to our SGS students, alumni, teachers, parents, and friends from all over the country. The best part about this race is that it can occur anywhere and basically anytime over the weekend. Show your Dragon pride by wearing your SGS gear and capture the experience with pictures or video to post on our (and your) social media sites. One of our greatest traditions as a school is our community and this is a terrific way to celebrate our community.
Sign up at: https://runsignup.com/sgsfunrun, then go out on either May 16th or May 17th and complete a 3.1 mile race on any course of your choosing. You’ll record your time and upload your result directly to the race website on race weekend (on the honor system). All participants are entered into a raffle for free prizes and top male and female finishers get awards! You can run it and go for a PR or just treat it as a fun walk in the sunshine with family.
The goal of this event is to encourage health and wellness, provide a free event for everyone (especially those missing sports seasons or spring races), and to come together as a community. So I encourage everyone to sign up and complete this race, as well as share the event with friends and family on Facebook and with students you are teaching, submit photos of your race day experience or your time to the Facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/545477796107011/, and really just make it a fun and involved event.
Have a wonderful week and I hope to see you all out on the virtual race course in May!
Go Dragons! #WeAreSG!
Jamie Tender
Head of School