Hello Harmony / Garfield County Families,
How is it November already? We hope you are looking forward to spending time with family and friends as Thanksgiving and other holidays draw near. Something to note is the ordering window for 1st semester is now closed. We invite you to start getting your lists ready for the 2nd semester resource ordering window which runs from Dec. 1-Jan. 31. We are so excited to keep serving you and your students. For any questions or clarification, please reach out to your mentor.
In this Touchpoint:
- Calendars
- Garfield’s Student Growth
- Teacher vs. Mentors
- Important: Garfield Homeroom / Attendance
- Flex Submission Dates
- Portfolio Submissions for 1st Quarter
- Spotlight: Reading Eggs
- Ordering
- Garfield County Contact Information
- Get Social
Calendars
A great place to stay up-to-date on important dates is the calendar found on the parent dashboard. Here you’ll find information such as Flex submission dates, testing dates, school dates, etc.
Click here for the official Garfield County School District calendar for the 2023-24 school year.
Upcoming School Dates:
Nov 3: Parent/Teacher Conf (No School)
Nov 22-24: Thanksgiving Break (No School)
Dec 20-Jan 2: Christmas Break (No School)
Jan 12: Last day to submit work
Garfield’s Student Growth
We are aware of the concerns about the announcement concerning measuring student growth. We wanted to help clarify what this change means because it can seem overwhelming. The goal is to see that students are learning and improving even if they have fallen behind. One option is to test for student growth and this can be as simple as providing the same diagnostic (or placement) test four times during the school year.
Garfield Online has offered IXL’s assessment for free, but using it is not a requirement. Other online programs also have ways to track student growth as well, for example Prodigy and Reading Eggs are great ways to report. If none of these options work, check to see if your curriculum offers a placement test. Students can take that same test each quarter as a way to demonstrate and document their progress through the school year. Another option includes making your own diagnostic assessment by listing one question from each state standard.
Teachers vs. Mentors
Why are Garfield Online teachers reaching out?
Garfield Online has been working hard to find a balance between state requirements and distance learning students. They recently hired more teachers to help facilitate academic help and monitor student progress.
Mentors: Your go-to for all Harmony questions and needs. Any questions you have about the program, and getting set up. They will still be your main point of contact.
Teachers: Are where you go for academic questions. Tutoring, progress monitoring, and helping your students get caught up.
Important: Garfield Online Homeroom / Attendance
Be sure to have your child respond to the weekly questions in the Canvas Homeroom class. The questions are posted each Friday, and you have until the following Friday to answer both questions. Responding each week provides Garfield County School District with a weekly “attendance log” and helps them have a connection with students. This is an important part of your child’s attendance with Garfield County.
If you have any questions about the weekly Homeroom question, please contact your mentor.
Flex Submission Dates
Here are the Flex Direct and Flex Independent submission dates for the 1st semester. Be sure to submit your student’s worksheets on time as this tracks attendance and progress.
November 3 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies)
November 17 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math)
December 8 – (Kindergarten – Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies)
January 5 – (No Kindergarten Submission)
To find helpful information about Flex Direct or Flex Independent courses, log into the Family Resource Center and go to the Curriculum Orientation. From the sidebar menu in the Flex Direct and Flex Independent sections, you will find FAQs, which include submission instructions and a submission video.
Portfolio Submissions for 2nd Quarter
All portfolios need to be submitted no later than January 12 to give the teachers time to review and grade them.
The guidelines for portfolios are as follows:
- 5-8 portfolio items per subject.
- Items need to show student work, and examples could include worksheets, reports, tests/quizzes, science projects, etc. Remember that portfolio Items need to be the student’s actual work, not a learning log or description of what the student has been doing.
- Portfolio items need to be grade-level work.
- Portfolio items need to demonstrate student work over the course of 2 months.
Spotlight: Reading Eggs
Did you know that Harmony provides Reading Eggs accounts to all students? Reading Eggs is an online reading and phonics program, including 4 programs.
- Reading Eggs begins at the emergent level, helping pre-K through 2nd grade learners develop foundational skills as they learn letters and sounds, spelling, sight words, and basic sentences.
- Reading Eggspress includes exciting learning tasks that encourage proficient reading for 2nd/3rd through 6th grade students, helping them to develop reading, spelling, and vocabulary skills through engaging, age-appropriate activities and games.
- Fast Phonics is designed to teach, reinforce, and assess core phonics skills with 400 quick and fun lessons entirely focused on synthetic phonics instruction.
- The extensive online Library is packed with a collection of over 2,500 fiction and nonfiction ebooks. Students can select stories according to Lexile level, reading age, or genre, and they can even listen to books read aloud.
You are encouraged to use this program with your children as best meets their needs. There are no expected number of activities, and students are not required to use this program.
A new Reading Eggs section has been added to Harmony’s Curriculum Orientation, and you can find it here.
Resource Orders
Ordering is now closed for 1st semester but will open again on December 1st. It is a perfect time to get lists ready for anything you need to get to help your student’s education. Orders will start being processed on December 1st on an FCFS basis and will be processed within 14 business days, but we can’t guarantee any items will arrive by Christmas. For all the ordering types except reimbursement, you can submit one order per semester per student.
Second semester ordering period is Dec 1 – Jan 31.
Garfield County Contact Information
Here is the contact information for Garfield County Online.
Sarah Oyler, Admin & 5th-6th Grade Teacher
Email: sarah.oyler@garfk12.org
Phone: 435-633-3365
Danette Verde, Administrative Assistant
Email: danette.verde@garfk12.org
Phone: 435-676-1307
Brittney Dodds, Kindergarten Teacher
Email: brittney.dodds@garfk12.org
Taylor Steed, 1st-2nd Grade Teacher
Email: taylor.steed@garfk12.org
Kimberly Blood, 3rd Grade Teacher
Email: kimberly.blood@garfk12.org
Diona Jones, 4th Grade Teacher
Email: diona.jones@garfk12.org
Get Social
Are you part of our growing community of Harmony parents? If not, please join us and get social. It’s a great place to share what is working with your family, ask questions of other parents, and receive updates on Harmony activities.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/harmonyedutah/
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harmonyed_/
We wish you a wonderful school year!
Brianna Webster, Garfield Account Manager (bwebster@harmonyed.com)
Denise Glines, Paraeducator (dglines@harmonyed.com)
Andrea Medler, Mentor (amedler@harmonyed.com)
Erica Finneman, Mentor (efinneman@harmonyed.com)
Hope Dalsing, Mentor (hdalsing@harmonyed.com)
Tegan Sides, Mentor (tsides@harmonyed.com)