Hello Harmony / IHLA Families,
Happy Fall! Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year! We are excited for this new school year and are happy to partner with you and your families in educating your students. I hope you have a great start to the school year.
Our touchpoint emails are full of important information including dates, links and other information. We do only send them out once per quarter so please watch for them so you don’t miss out! Also, adding this email to your contacts will help ensure you receive them.
In this Touchpoint:
- Calendars
- Sora – New Library Reading App
- Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) Testing
- ISAT Practice Test
- Harmony Field Trip
- Options Day
- New 4th Grade Math Class
- Portfolio Information
- Canvas Logins
- Odyssey
- Resource and Curriculum Orders
- Parent Dashboard
- 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 to view the IHLA Calendar (the official Oneida School District/Idaho Home Learning Academy (IHLA) calendar) for the 2022-23 school year.
Upcoming School Date
- Thanksgiving Break November 21-25
- Christmas Break December 17-30
- School Resumes January 2
NEW Sora- Library Link for IHLA Students
Sora offers the ability for students to explore age‐appropriate digital books from IDEA by ICfL
SORA – The Student Reading App
Setting Up Oneida/IHLA Google Account (Needed for SORA Account)
Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) Testing
There has been a change to this test, and the state now requires that we proctor this test in person. All students in grades K-3 will be doing a reading assessment called the IRI (Idaho Reading Indicator) two times per year. The first assessment period begins May 1 to May 19. You will be sent an email on the time and the date of this test in your area.
ISAT Practice Test
Below is a link for your students to practice and become familiar with the ISAT year-end test. Please be aware that this test has become very important to the school and the continuation of this amazing program. We strongly encourage your students to do their best and, as parents, please prepare them accordingly.
http://sampleitems.smarterbalanced.org/
Harmony Fall Field Trip
We are excited to announce a field trip in Twin Falls for any students across the state of Idaho who would like to attend. We are going to Laser Mania, 1201 Filer Ave E in Twin Falls. Please come in clothing that is comfortable and be ready to have some fun meeting other students enrolled in Harmony from across the state! Laser Mania Directions
Date: Wednesday, November 9th
Time: 10:00am-12:30pm
Lunch will be served!
Options Day
We hold Options Day in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesdays from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. We hold Options Day for students in the Meridian area 10:00 am to 2:30 pm If you’re interested in Options Day and have not signed up, please contact your mentor.
Coeur d’Alene Options Day Schedule
Coeur d’Alene Options Day Calendar
Location: Alpha Jiujitsu & Fitness, 414 West Seltice Way, Post Falls, ID 83854
Meridian Options Day Schedule
Meridian Options Day Calendar
Location: Urban Air, 3876 East Lanark Street, Meridian, ID 83462
NEW 4th Grade Math Class
This year we are offering a new 4th grade math class that covers all requirements for your students for the school year! This is a free class to students who want to attend.
This course, taught by a certified elementary teacher, will meet for one hour weekly via Zoom to learn and practice 4th grade core math concepts. Students will have opportunities to practice skills, share their thinking, listen to peers, ask questions, and take turns. Students will turn in one classwork assignment and one homework assignment each week. Review videos, teacher help, and additional optional assignments will be available for homework as needed. The teacher will adapt the class to meet the needs of students throughout the year.
Math concepts covered will include:
- Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
- Gain familiarity with factors and multiples.
- Generate and analyze patterns.
- Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers.
- Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic.
- Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering.
- Build fractions from unit fractions.
- Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions.
- Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements.
- Represent and interpret data.
- Geometric measurement: understand concepts of angle and measure angles.
- Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles
Please contact Robin Sanderson for details on this class rsanderson@harmonyed.com
Portfolio Information
We appreciate your time and work with our new Portfolio program! As with anything new, there are always adjustments and a learning period. In an effort to help you fine tune your submissions, we would like to briefly review what learning logs and portfolio submissions should look like and what we are looking for.
Learning logs are the first submissions due each month and are always due on the first Friday. Learning logs should be based off of your Semester Learning Plan. Learning logs should be 3-5 sentences letting us know your plan for the entire month.
Portfolio submissions are due once a month on the third Friday of each month. Portfolio submissions should essentially be evidence showing us how your child is doing with their work for the month. Ideally, there would be multiple artifacts reflecting this. Always refer to your monthly Learning Log to help keep you on track. Portfolio submissions can consist of:
- Assessments from your curriculum (unit quizzes, chapter tests, etc.), projects, essays, videos, photos with written log (by your student 3rd grade and up), or sufficient examples from daily work to show a strong understanding of the goals. OR
- Monthly IRIs for grades K-3, OR
- Monthly Interim ISAT tests (blocks or comprehensive – grades 3-8)
We do ask for the work to be completed by your child and for you to please grade their work if possible. (Videos or photos with logs from your kids might be hard to grade.)
When our teachers grade submissions, they are looking for quality work. Does the work show your child’s understanding of the concept? Is there enough work to see that understanding? Were they able to complete it independently with few mistakes, or did they need to redo a number of problems and have more guidance? If you ever wonder, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your mentor teacher! If your child is struggling with a concept, please reach out. Your mentor teachers are here to help you and your children succeed!
Canvas Logins
If your child has a Portfolio, Flex Direct, or Flex Independent, you should have a login to Canvas, a learning management system for these courses. Please be sure to log in and make sure you can access your child’s account. This is where you will submit Flex worksheets or take the Flex Quiz in Canvas. Instructions for submissions will be included in the parent handbooks for these courses. You can also access the submission instructions in the Curriculum Orientation in the “Working with…” section for each of those courses.
Odyssey
Odyssey course is organized into learning paths that align with state standards. Math courses are sequential, and students follow the organized outline to complete lessons and assignments. Other subjects (Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies) are organized so that students can do any assignment whenever they want, but the course is outlined in the suggested order. All course material is provided online, so there is no textbook. Parents may choose to order learning resources that supplement the Odyssey course content. On average, students spend 30 minutes a day working on assignments for each subject.
*Odyssey Social Studies or Science for 6th, 7th and 8th grades is not offered in Idaho.
If you are interested in Odyssey, please refer to the Curriculum Orientation for more information or contact your Teacher of Record.
Resource and Curriculum Orders
Orders are placed within 2 weeks of when they are received. We started ordering on July 15 for IHLA students. Just a reminder that parents can place each type of resource order 1 time per semester per student.
Parent Dashboard
The Parent Dashboard in the Family Resource Center is a place where all the information about your children, course selections, resource orders, and available funding is included there! Also, refer back to the Orientations throughout the school year.
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/harmonyedidaho/
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harmonyed_/
Sincerely,
Stacey Snow (ssnow@harmonyed.com)
ID Account Manager
801-310-7520
Cheryse Hooste (chooste@harmoneyed.com)
208-200-6245
Melanie Hodgkin (mhodgkin@harmonyed.com)
208-851-1166
Josie Alder (jalder@harmonyed.com)
208-220-1893
Erin Jones (erinjones@harmonyed.com)
208-244-8733
Paula Thorpe (pthorpe@harmonyed.com)
208-540-2646
Melanie Coleman (mcoleman@harmonyed.com)
208-757-7501
Anneleise Atkinson (aatkinson@harmonyed.com)
208-251-9309
Marla Dredge (mdredge@harmonyed.com)
208-766-3357
Deneka Beck (dbeck@harmonyed.com)
832-381-4234
Lauren Ellis (lellis@harmonyed.com)
208-304-7745
Carly Gonzalez (cgonzalez@harmonyed.com)
435-979-0136
Brittany Goodwin (bgoodwin@harmonyed.com)
208-419-5993
Meaghan Rockwood (mrockwood@harmonyed.com)
208-680-0857
Emily Wengert (ewengert@harmonyed.com)
520-560-3306
Jacquelyn Covey (jcovey@harmonyed.com)
208-620-8792
Robin Sanderson (rsanderson@harmonyed.com)
425-223-0586
Alexis Jean (ajean@harmonyed.com)
503-592-740
Marty Ellis (mellis@harmonyed.com)
559-679-5424