Thursday, April 30, 2020

Distance Learning, CARE Team, COTA Class and Friendship Bracelets


As art teachers, we don't like to re-invent the wheel and we do like to spiral and cross all of our task in bundles if at all possible. Hence, this post from Kim and Cathy! Cathy and I are both on the CARE Team and we do spiral our curriculum throughout the year. We like to collaborate in the 4th quarter to build excitement for the arts during the bridge of elementary school to middle school.

Below you will learn a little more about our CARE Team on campus. We have blogged on the COTA Class before. I will post a few links below for those of you that aren't familiar with this middle school service learning class.

Below are the friendship bracelets that are being mailed out as I type to all of Pre-k, lower school and middle school students!


Examples of COTA  Class Projects:





Just for fun... the above is a gluten free brownie pie for Mr. Left Brain's 52 birthday during this quarantine. I chose the Buzz Light Year theme for his pie =)

What is the Maclay CARE Team? Below will help you see how we have reached out to folks as a school unit. Yes, we have thought outside of the box and been really creative in our connections. Like our hand written snail mail letter below - "Let's turn Social Distancing into Creative Connecting!"


We hand wrote close to 30 letters to our CARE Team members. Ya know everyone likes snail mail!
Upper School student designed out CARE Logo using the Acorn to Oaks theme. There is a link to this concept below:


Main Idea:  Keep it Human – through Empathy and Caring 

We are trying to find our new cadence, people are stressed, let’s pick up the phone, ask “how are you doing?”  “We are worried about you”.  We don’t know what is going on in people’s families, the best things we can do is actually care about each other and reach out. 

The short and long term success of our students AND Maclay as an institution depends on us proactively combating isolation and promoting connection.  YOU are the conduit through which we need to do this.  Without you, there is NO SYSTEM IN PLACE to encourage and maintain the positive Maclay Culture during this time. 

Big Ideas:  
  • The Mission of the Maclay Family Care Team is to combat isolation and promote connection. 
  • Each Care Team member will have an average of 20 families assigned to them. 
  • Each Care Team member is responsible for staying in contact with their families continually with no break in connection for longer than 72 hours. 
  • Each Care Team member is responsible for knowing and assisting their families with school-related issues. 
  • The Care Team will be the main conduit of how information is documented, passed up the chain, passed back down, and problems are resolved. 
  • These connections are designed to be professional yet personal in nature.  Academics is the core of what we do, but the care and connections we provide are what make Maclay School special.  

So we have been working on many projects together and this is one of them.





We worked with guidance to create a Wellness Check list.


So, we are excited to see who all likes their snail mail CARE Package when it arrives. Would love to hear from you - comment, email or direct message us!

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