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Disclaimer: This video is a tutorial on How To Access Your Student's Class Invitation for their Google Classroom in your student's CPS email account. The work you will see is in this video is for First grade. The work will differ for each grade.
Dear CPS Parents, Families, and Staff,
This past month has been an unprecedented challenge for all of us. As difficult as it has been to see our normal lives put on pause, we are incredibly proud of our CPS family and how you have moved to protect the health of our city. Today, Governor Pritzker announced that the state-wide mandated school closures will be extended through April 30.
As hard as this is, it is what we need to do in order to keep our city safe, and we promise that we are working diligently to support our students, families, and staff members through these closures.
Important Reminders
Healthy meals are available to our students.
Since our schools closed, over 2.1 million free grab-and-go meals have been provided to CPS families. Families can continue to pick up grab-and-go meals at their neighborhood CPS school from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Remote learning will begin on April 13, 2020.
Earlier this week, we announced our Pre-K–12 remote learning plan to keep our students engaged, learning, and connected to their school community during the closure.
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Remote learning assignments and activities will only improve student grades. Our aim is to increase learning, not to negatively impact our students during school closures.
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The district will be distributing more than 100,000 devices to help narrow the digital divide during this period.
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Please visit cps.edu/remotelearning to learn more.
You can take crucial actions every day to help protect yourself and your community.
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If you’re sick, stay home.
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Practice social distancing.
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Wash your hands often.
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Support one another by resisting stigma.
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Stay informed by visiting chicago.gov/coronavirus and cps.edu/coronavirus.
If you need help locating medical care, please reach out to the CPS Office of Student Health and Wellness at oshw@cps.edu or by calling the CPS Command Center at 773-553-KIDS (5437).
We will get through this together.
Sincerely,
Janice K. Jackson, EdD LaTanya D. McDade
Chief Executive Officer Chief Education Officer
Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools
CPS schools will be closed from March 17,
to April 30, 2020; or until further notice.
For all CPS updates on COVID-19 and school closures please visit www.cps.edu. In addition to work packets sent home Monday, March 16, 2020 here are some additional enrichment activities for your children to use at home.
Thank you, McDowell Administration and Staff
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UbaobL2ymO4_MW4N0eVvdBEfMPLyGaH7KipH27Onmg0/mobilebasic
Remote Learning Begins April 13, 2020
Dear CPS Families and Supporters,
Today, the district is announcing a Pre-K–12 remote learning plan as part of our response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. While this plan will not replace the classroom learning experience or completely bridge the digital divide that exists in our city, it is a full-throttle effort from the district to empower our educators and provide them with the resources they need to engage students in high-quality learning opportunities while schools are closed.
This plan is not a one-size-fits-all approach—every school community is different, and each school will be notifying families of their plans by April 6, and in alignment with new guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education, remote learning plans will begin April 13, following our scheduled spring break. A “Remote Learning for Parents” document will be available later today at www.cps.edu/remotelearning.
Remote learning will only improve a student’s academic standing.
Students will be offered both digital and non-digital learning options, as well as dedicated “office hours,” where students and families can receive support from teachers via Google Meet, phone, or email. While students are expected to complete assignments and schools are able to grade work, grades will be counted only if they improve a student’s grade and will not negatively impact any student’s academic standing. Students who do not engage in academic work can be issued an incomplete and will be expected to make up incomplete assignments following the remote learning period.
The district will be distributing more than 100,000 devices to narrow the digital divide.
We recognize that a significant digital divide exists in our city and throughout the country, and schools will ensure that families who lack access to technology can utilize printed materials that will be created by the district. And while we are taking steps to help ensure instructional resources exist in a variety of formats, we are also taking seriously our responsibility to help narrow that digital divide. Utilizing socioeconomic data and hardship indicators, and working in close collaboration with our school principals, the district will be distributing 65,000 school-based Chromebooks, laptops and iPads; 37,000 new devices; and additional devices through potential philanthropic contributions. In total, we will distribute more than 100,000 devices to families in the weeks ahead to ensure our students have significantly more access to electronic learning resources.
Remote learning will begin Monday, April 13 and remain in place until schools reopen—which is currently scheduled for Tuesday, April 21. However, should the need arise, we designed our remote learning plan to support our students’ academic progress if the closure is extended further.
The road ahead is uncharted territory for all of us, but we could not ask for a more dedicated and talented group of educators to stand beside as we blaze this new trail. We are fully prepared to support our principals and educators as they make plans to educate our students remotely, and we are confident our remote learning plan provides the framework and tools for our teachers to succeed.
Schools will share detailed information about their remote learning plans with families prior to the start of spring break on Monday, April 6. In the meantime, enrichment resources for students are available at www.cps.edu/remotelearning. CPS will update these resources every two weeks.
We want to thank everyone for their patience as we flesh out our response to this public health emergency, and we promise to continue updating all CPS stakeholders as decisions are made and new resources become available. There are many outstanding questions left to be addressed including graduation, college entry, grade promotion, and admission to selective-enrollment schools. Our commitment to you is that we will be transparent and continue providing regular updates.
We thank you for your continued support during this challenging time and hope all in our CPS community remain healthy and safe. Please remember to stay at home and practice social distancing whenever you are out. This is how we will achieve what we all want, which is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and see our students and staff return to school as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
Janice K. Jackson, EdD LaTanya D. McDade
Chief Executive Officer Chief Education Officer
Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools
Welcome Back To A Positively Amazing Year
Dr. Jodi Easterling-Hood, Principal
Reaching Academic Excellence
By All “Equitable” Means
Every Child Gets What Every Child Needs 2019-2020
Welcome back! CPS has rolled out its 5 Year Vision Plan and it is nothing short of amazing. Our CEO and CEDO’s vision is in direct alignment with McDowell’s vision and we will commit to full implementation. We have been on the academic journey to excellence for a long time. It hasn’t been easy but it has been rewarding. District-wide data has indicated that McDowell is making remarkable strides and the Dept. Of Literacy wants to take a look at what we’ve done and how it’s been done. The main focus of CPS is providing equity to children of color. Great! This is what we do. For the past few years we have worked on alignment, coherence, rigor, common core and last year “Putting the pieces together” and we continue to do well. We will continue our work with TREP and the digital curriculum.
As we work together to inform other schools of our practice we will share how we use the correlates of effective schools as our foundation of success. Our school bus graphic says it all. The wheels of the bus are moving us down the road of excellence meeting the needs of all children in a holistic way. How? With a vision, goals, a way to assess the goals, effective teachers, a conducive environment, and involved parents. ALL effectively operating by the leadership of a facilitative principal. We are on the right bus, with the right people in the right seats, and with the right set of tires. We are ready!
Let’s go McDowell!
Think Positive!
African American History
It's Everyone's History
mcdowell safety patrol
Don't Worry . . .
we've got your back!
DECK THE HALLS
Congratulations to Mrs. Grossett and her Polar Express themed door!
DECK THE HALLS
McDowell Science Fair 2019/2020
Congratulations To All Our Participants...
and our Winners!
Intermediate
1st Place-Mateo Wilson
2nd Place-Michael Young
3rd Place McKenzi Wilson
Primary
1st Place-Daniel Southern
2nd Place-Tashon Toney
3rd Place-Isaiah Fountain
Photos Credit: Tsureyah N. McKee
