Frequently Asked Questions

Clever:

The first page a student should log-into each day. It will allow access to many of the apps and websites that we use for our program. It should work as a single sign on so students don’t have to enter log-in information each time they visit one of our school sites.

https://clever.com/in/northshore/student

Schoology:

One website that students will access every day from Clever is Schoology. Schoology is where students can view their weekly schedule with links. They will use Schoology to view lessons and complete assignments from their Weekly Folder. Students can send messages on Schoology if they have any questions and will automatically send an email to their teacher.

Daily School Schedule:

We will be posting the week’s worth of lessons and assignments Sunday evening/Monday morning in Schoology. Families have the flexibility to plan the student’s day and the order they work on their subjects. 

Everyday with the exception of Wednesday’s students will meet with Mr. Toth, Mr. Nitta, or Mrs. Moore for a grade level Zoom meeting. Mrs. Moore teaches first and second grades, Mr. Toth teaches third and fourth grades, and Mr. Nitta teaches fifth and sixth grades. The meetings are from 9:00-10:00 am.

Below is a sample Elementary Schedule:

Again, this can differ based on your learning needs, but as we have learned from most families a typical day generally looks like this:

9 am: The day begins! Live time until 10 am with the general ed teacher and whole class.
10 am: Whew! Time for a break after all that socializing!
11 am: Okay, time to start work. Which folder to open first? How about ELA!  
12 am: Reading and writing wasn’t so bad. A story from the textbook called “Judy Moody” and a brainstorm for this week’s writing topic. Time for lunch!
1 pm: Okay time for the next folder, let’s do math.
2 pm: Almost done with math…but the area formula makes no sense! Better talk to the teacher.
2 pm – 2:30pm: That was a good check in. At least Mr. Noah was able to explain things in a way that made sense. I’ll email him later if I’m still having trouble.
3 pm: Done with math! And I see that Mr. Noah commented that I did a good job on the story brainstorm. Time to finally relax!

Office Hours:

Every day, except Wednesdays, we will hold office hours once a day.  

In the afternoon we will have our office hours meetings from 2:00-3:30. These office hours will be for one-on-one help. If a student has a question on a strategy or is struggling with an assignment, they can send a Schoology Message to Mr. Toth or Mr. Nitta to set-up a meeting on Zoom. This will allow for individual one-on-one attention. These meetings may also be set-up by the teacher if a student is noticeably falling behind on assignments or having misunderstandings in the work they’ve turned in.

For students who are enrolled in HiCap math above fourth grade, a separate Edgenuity course (not in addition, but replacing) their standard math instruction is provided. For grades one through three, recorded instructor lessons will still be used. The Edgenuity course is supported by separate instruction with weekly live sessions, in addition to the whole class daily live session. These separate sessions are also one hour in length.

            For students who are enrolled in HiCap ELA, extensions to the general ELA curriculum (advanced reading material, prompts and topics) are provided by the general education instructor. There is not a separate Edgenuity course for HiCap ELA.

SPED support is provided by specialist staff who meet separately in live one on one or small group sessions with students on their caseload. Specific support is dependent on the student’s IEP, but push ins, support with work, and daily check ins are all provided.

            Only supply pickups require an in-person presence. NOA is an online, asynchronous program, which means you will never be required to do any in-person extensions. Supplies being physical (such as textbooks, workbooks, prizes, reading books, whiteboards, etc.) must be picked up at the home campus of the program (The Bear Creek Campus). This is the only in person task that must be done. Supply pickups are set up and provided by the instructor and can be done any time the campus is open (not on a specific date or time).

            NOA does provide optional in person extensions for those who wish to have them. These optional opportunities include field trips, seasonal events (hosted at Bear Creek Campus) and information nights.

Elementary students do not use Edgenuity. NOA middle school and high school use the program, but elementary NOA uses district curriculum, taught by district teachers, in a classroom environment with daily (one hour) live sessions.

You may have heard that NOA elementary is asynchronous AND there are live sessions…and both are true! NOA elementary starts each day with a live one hour meeting with students and their instructor to build community, develop emotional learning, go over the day, share work, listen to read alouds and make art.

            The rest of the day is yours! Lessons are conducted just like they would be in person, with the instructors thinking out loud, demonstrating problems, conducting experiments, using whiteboards, manipulatives, and examples. These videos are pre-recorded and accessed on the Schoology platform, where students watch the video and then complete attached assignments.

So…it’s just like Edgenuity! Right?

             Not exactly. Just because students work asynchronously does not mean they are not “at school”. While students are doing their work, the instructors are online as they prepare future lessons and grade incoming work. Students and instructors reach out to each other to schedule one on one check ins about specific work, provide feedback via comments and email and submit grades all throughout the asynchronous day (9am – 3:30).

The exact same curriculum that can be found in Northshore School District physical classrooms are what the NOA elementary instructors use.

The beauty of NOA is that it can look different from home to home, to suit your learning needs. Some students like to get their work done early in the day to free up their afternoons for sports or other activities. Some like to ease into their day and work later into the evening. Some like to mimic the traditional school day and finish their work between 2 and 3pm.

            A universal aspect of NOA at home is that your student should have a quiet learning space, a stable internet connection, and a table for completing work. Even though the lessons are online, work is done with traditional methods (paper, pencil and books!)

NOA is taught by instructors who are Northshore School District teachers. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it means that these are teachers who know the area, the culture, towns and cities that you know too. These are not folks who are tuning in from another state or region. If the weather in your backyard is rainy, they’re having a rainy day too.

NOA, or the Northshore Online Academy, is NSD’s fully remote K-12 school housed at the Bear Creek Campus, in the Northshore Learning Options School (NLO).

NOA Secondary follows a mentorship model, where students complete their work asynchronously and attend a Mentor Meeting on Zoom at the beginning of every week with a certificated NSD teacher. Courses are completed using Imagine Learning’s Edgenuity program, where subject-specific teachers have created materials for students to engage with, connect with students frequently about their progress, and grade most student work by hand. Other Zoom meetings, such as synchronous study halls and extracurricular club meetings, are available depending on the Mentor Teacher’s schedule.

Edgenuity is an online education platform used by many school districts throughout the country. Its parent company, Imagine Learning, employs certificated teachers for all subject areas who help to guide students through their courses. While Edgenuity teachers do not hold regular class meetings each day, they are available to meet with when needed. In Edgenuity, students complete their work on their own time, but there are regularly due assignments and activities that keep students progressing forward with their learning.

Students must attend their weekly Mentor Meeting and complete a Weekly Goal Sheet to help keep them on track, but broadly for Washington State ALE requirements students are required to make 2-way contact each week with their Mentor Teacher or another certificated Northshore teacher, such as a Case Manager. Students must also be passing at least ½ of their classes with a 60% or higher at the end of each month to make Satisfactory Monthly progress, and to avoid being placed on an Intervention Plan.

Students interact with each other in Mentor Meetings, Study Hall meetings, and extracurricular club meetings such as Art Club or Chess Club. Students are also welcome and encouraged to attend all campus-wide events.