Building community and staying connected as a school staff is important now more than ever. With our classes we work to build relationships in part through teamwork and games at the beginning of the school year. In August our staff started doing something similar. 

Mutual trust and team dynamics are often built through events like this and are important in building vibrant and resilient staff, especially when we are physically apart.

After researching a number of options, we were delighted to find teambuilding.com’s Online Office Games event. Our funny and energetic hosts, Jim and Kevin, helped us try to solve an ancient Egyptian murder myster. It not only helped us get to know each other better but also taught us about the meeting technology (Zoom) that has been vital to our connectedness in this work-from-home time. This event gave us the opportunity to become more familiar with aspects of Zoom that we will use with our classes; things like breakout rooms and renaming our display windows. My favorite part was getting a glimpse into each person’s home and personality. The host would occasionally ask us to bring a specific item to the screen to earn points for our teams or ask us various trivia questions. It is clear a trivia showdown is in our future!

Prior to the event, I know that some of my colleagues were not sure what to expect, and honestly I wasn’t either. Afterward, many were appreciative of the event and our fun time together. Most importantly, we learned about each other and worked together as a team. 

Dear PPS Middle School Families,

We apologize for the confusion many students and families are feeling with regard to middle school schedules and expectations for distance learning instruction. We have worked with educators and administrators throughout this week to come to a more clear understanding related to middle school learning experience, and want to make sure you know what to expect as well.

Dear PPS Parents and Guardians,

As we welcome students back to the new school year, an important step for teachers is to understand your student’s most essential learning needs. To collect this valuable information, students will take Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments. The MAP assessment is a low stakes test – this means that the results are not used for grading students or for school accountability purposes. 

Dear PPS Families,

As the 2020-21 school year gets under way, we are excited to share news about school meals. Through our partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture, we will be able to provide school meals for all students at no cost at this time. 

Dear PPS Families,

As we shift from the soft start into ongoing virtual learning, families have shared questions about the middle grades schedules. We know you are essential partners in student learning, and we want to ensure you have answers to these commonly asked questions in one place. In case you are interested in state guidance behind the PPS schedules, we have linked information below for your reference.