August  26, 2022

Dear East Farms Families,

Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year! We are excited to be welcoming back our students! We will be having a Family Fun event on Monday August 29th from 4:00-5:30 where students will have the opportunity to meet their teacher and participate in a school scavenger hunt that will involve games and prizes!  Pizza will be available for purchase as well from our AMAZING PTA. The first day of school for first-sixth grade will be Tuesday, August 30th. The first day of school for Kindergarten will be Friday, September 2nd. 

For our families who are new to East Farms, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all! My name is Rachel Schuerman, and I am so grateful to be the principal at East Farms. This is my third year at East Farms and I could not be more proud to be part of such a loving learning community. I am excited for this new school year and all the possibilities that a new year brings!

The partnership between school and home is very important to us at East Farms as we share the responsibilities of educating our sweet children. Your active involvement and participation is a key component of your child’s social emotional and academic achievement. We are looking forward to inviting you all to attend, visit, and participate in various events that will take place throughout the year at East Farms. Information about these events will be shared using several communication mediums including our website, Skyward messenger, Class Dojo, Seesaw, and Google Classroom. Both Seesaw and Google Classroom will be used for on-site (synchronous) learning and for home (asynchronous) learning. In addition, each student will have their own assigned iPad that will travel from school to home on a daily basis. 

A CHANGE for arrival this year: 

• ALL East Farms students who will be transported by parents and guardians will be dropped off at the WEST ENTRANCE this year. Arrival time for parents dropping off is 8:45 am. 

End of day pick-up:

• This will be the same as last year. ALL students will be picked up at the WEST ENTRANCE. Dismissal time is 3:30.

Technology Updates! 

Why 1 to 1 Devices need to go home on a daily basis - East Valley School District is committed to educational equity. By providing technology for all students, we increase equitable opportunities by ensuring that every student has access to learning materials, both inside and outside of the classroom.

One-to-one computing offers many benefits to our modern day classroom and learner. By providing each student a device, we increase their engagement by providing access to learning materials 24/7. Learning software has evolved to a point that students can track their own learning and have confidence in their progress. District-issued iPads also support problem-based learning by allowing students to research, collaborate, and produce a final product to share with peers, teachers and parents. 

EVSD is removing barriers to learning by encouraging students to take the ipad home to review learning materials, independently practice skills, read e-books and online articles, share their learning with families, research topics of interest, create digital products, and ultimately engage in personalized learning experiences. Providing every student with the same device is a key step in how EVSD is working to make technology accessible and learning opportunities equitable. This approach ensures that students have access to the same tools that are aligned with teaching and designed to best support their learning. 

The East Farms staff will be working closely with families to establish routines and expectations for day-to-day use of the devices at school and at home. Safe and responsible use of technology is a skill acquired through frequent and consistent participation in meaningful technology-enhanced activities each day at school, where students can learn and practice the skills that lead to respectful, responsible, college and career ready digital citizens Our teachers at East Farms will be utilizing Seesaw or Google Classroom as their homebase to share learning resources with students.

Below is the link to our device handbook:
https://ef.evsd.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=59892973

A few important “Nuts and Bolts” to start off the year:

• If your child is in need of transportation, please be sure to fill out the needed paperwork with our transportation department. They will be providing each student with a bus card that will be scanned as they board the school bus. 

• The East Valley School District will be providing free breakfast and lunch to ALL students. Please be sure to turn in your free and reduced lunch paperwork to the office.  If you choose to send your child with a cold lunch this is always an option as well. 

• We will continue to have LATE START ON MONDAYS. School start time is 10:30. Dismissal is 3:30.

• Supervision and doors open at 8:45 am Tuesday through Friday and 10:15 on our Monday late start days. For the safety of your child, please be sure to honor this dropoff time as we do not have staffing for supervision until then. 

• Teachers will be communicating with parents/guardians via Class Dojo, Seesaw, and Google Classroom. 

• Attendance in school is extremely important and attendance will be taken everyday. If your child is absent for illness, appointments, ect, please reach out to the office so we can ensure correct documentation. Thank you so much for partnering with us on this. 

• We are continuing to enroll new students in the main office. You must bring proof of residence, such as a utility bill, property taxes, rental/lease agreement or official government mail. 

Just a loving reminder that there will be NO SCHOOL on MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH in observance of Labor Day. 

This is going to be the best year yet! Thank you so much for partnering with us at East Farms! Have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing all your smiling faces next week! 

Most Sincerely,

Mrs. Rachel Schuerman
Principal, East Farms STEAM Magnet Elementary