Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Welcome to NOVA

Welcome!
TeacherEase is the online gradebook system that we use at NOVA.  All teachers list their assignments and grading with differing levels of written feedback as well.  This is a fantastic way to get information on what your child is doing and how well they are doing; it is also a quick way to send and receive communications with teachers.
TeacherEase is located at TeacherEase.com and each family has a parent portal as well as a student portal, depending upon the login that you use.   Please see that your child has an email address that they can use to participate in this part of our program. 
Questions can be sent directly to Mo at lmanning@novaschool.org.

Thank you!  Mo ;-)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Fall Schedules

In case you are wondering, I will be entering your schedule for the fall trimester over the next several days.  It takes quite awhile to get everything entered and double-checked for errors, so here is what you can look forward to:

1) I enter by individual class, not by person, so if (for example) you are in Biking on Tuesday 5th period, it is already in TeacherEase, but none of your other classes may be yet.  ALL of the closing crews are in though.  ;-)
2) Band and strings are also entered already, so please let me know if you are incorrectly scheduled in (or not in) either of those classes.
3) I work very hard to get you into your #1 class and then schedule from there, so please assume I have done my best to make you happy.
4) Some classes fill up, so if (for example) you were in cooking last year, you are most likely NOT in it again this year ... even if it was your #1 choice. Ms. Jen has said she will be offering cooking again in the spring though, so I do keep track of who has it when.
5) If you are a Roosevelt hopeful, I will not have that information until the bitter end.  Mr. Jeff has had trouble getting full commitment from all of the teachers, so although he has you "placed," if your teacher decides not to have an aide he won't have a placement for you.  In order to hold  your spot in your other Enrichment classes, I'm delaying final decisions until he hears from each teacher.  However, if he DOES hear from your teacher, I will eventually begin entering some of you into the program ... but keep your fingers crossed even if it isn't immediately entered ... there is hope!
6) You can find your schedule under "Schedule," (imagine that!) which is in the top left menu of your TeacherEase account.  You will want to have the "graphical" view so you can see your week at a glance.
7) Note that Monday and Friday do not include your activities for 8:00 - 8:30.  This is because it messes up the graphical view and who wants that?!?  Monday at 8:00 are assemblies and Fridays at 8:00 are seminars.
8) I plan to be done entering schedules by Wednesday evening, August 27.
9) And even with my extraordinary efforts there will probably be errors, so be alert to changes as I make corrections.

If you are a NEW student, I probably don't have your email address yet which means you cannot actually get into TeacherEase and see your schedule.  If you would like to see it before next Wednesday (parent night), then please send me the email address you will be using and I will hook you up!  You can email me your address at: lmanning@novaschool.org.  

That's it for now!  Have a great last week of summer vacation and we'll be seeing you at school soon;
Mo ;-)

Saturday, August 9, 2014

August notes

We're back!  Relaxed, well-read, happy, and tanner than when we left.

On the home front:
*Our baby bunnies are ready for new homes; does anyone want one?
*Most of our baby (no longer baby) chickens have gone on to new homes as well.  We're still not sure which ones we are keeping though as we are attached to more than we want to keep.  Quinn is a keeper, but from there it's a question mark.

For school:
*Note that the pre-algebra test is coming up soon!  Wednesday, August 20, and you need to contact Mr. Jeff or me letting us know if you will be there.
*I've been working on fall schedules for the past several weeks, but need the results from the math test to complete them.  Watch for them to begin appearing in TeacherEase on August 21; my goal is to have them all entered by August 25.  Just click on "schedule!"
*Volleyball is currently NOT on the list for fall sports at the YMCA.  Possibly it's an "early winter" sport, but I will ask downtown and find out.  But as it stands, that registration would not be until October so we've got time to spare.

The school has been abuzz with activity this summer; every time I go in I see current students and old alums ... I cannot express enough how great it is to see you all!
Loving my summer, but looking forward to the school year too,
Mo ;-)