I wanted to welcome you all to the 21-22 school year! My name is Margaret Kellar and I will be one of the 5th grade teachers at Hillsboro Online Academy this year. This will be my ninth year teaching at HOA, and I am really excited to see all of the new, and familiar, faces in my roster. Due to a higher number of students than projected, we are hiring more elementary teachers. Your student will likely start the year with me in all subjects, and then we will let you know when changes will be made.
Speaking of starting the year...your student’s classes will be live and accessible in Canvas on Monday, September 13. If not, that’s okay, we will figure it out! My plan on Monday is to go through the Welcome and Getting Started Modules with all students in a Google Meets. Because we have so many students (right now there are 69 5th graders!), I do want to split that class up into 2 groups. A-K will meet at 9:00 and L-Z will meet at 11:00. I will also be recording the meetings and posting them for those who cannot make it, or want to refer back to them at a later time. That is all we do that day, there will not be any Guided Lessons, we will start that on Tuesday, the 14th.
All HOA students are enrolled in the Independent Track, but can choose to opt in to optional Guided Lessons in Math and Language Arts whenever they need to. A weekly schedule of Guided Lessons will be posted on Monday in our Homeroom in Canvas and discussed in our morning meeting every Monday at 8:30. I will open one week of assignments at a time. If you find that your student is finishing their work early, there will be a link in my Canvas Homeroom that offers extensions and supplementary websites.
Please make sure to go through the 3-6 HOA Family Resource Guide before you come to school tomorrow. In addition, here are some Grades 3-6th Canvas Links and Tutorials for Families that will help you once you get started. Our Back-to-School event is tomorrow from 12:00-3:00 here at school. You will be able to pick up a new Chromebook, get your picture taken, and meet me and other important staff members. Here is our Quarter 1 Pacing Guide for 5th grade. Can’t wait to see all of your smiling faces tomorrow!