Building Connections: Back to School Socials for a Stronger Community

In this episode of Sage Studio, Tiffiny Webster welcomes Stephanie Gomarko and Taylore Coulombe, from the Personalized Learning Academy to discuss the Back to School Socials. Stephanie and Taylore are Regional Mentors at Sage Oak. Stephanie primarily works with middle school students while Taylore focuses on kindergarten through fifth grade.

The Back to School Socials are events where families can meet teachers, interact with other students, and learn about the services offered by approved community providers. There will also be a curriculum swap where families can acquire additional resources for their curriculum. The socials are casual and interactive, allowing parents and children to participate in crafts, activities, and field games. The events will take place at parks, with three socials scheduled on September 8th and three on September 15th, divided across various locations in Southern California.

Parents are encouraged to attend and make the most of this opportunity to network with other families, meet teachers in a more informal setting, and explore available services. The socials aim to foster connections and relationships that can be invaluable in the independent study environment. It's a chance for students to meet new friends and for parents to connect with both new and experienced families who can provide support and resources.

The Back to School Socials also offer an exciting opportunity for students to have their school pictures taken, as this has been a challenge in recent years. Parents are advised to sign up for school pictures in advance by visiting the provided link and uploading their child's photo for accurate matching. Overall, the Back to School Socials are a fantastic way to kickstart the school year, build connections, and create a positive learning environment for students.

To learn more about the Back to School Socials, check the Sage News email or visit the website for dates and locations. Don't miss out on this chance to connect with your community and enhance your child's educational experience. Visit www.sageoak.education for more information and to stay updated on upcoming events and resources.

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:14

Well, welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I am Tiffiny Webster, and today we are getting ready to go back to school and I have two guests with me, Stephanie Gomarko and Taylore Coulombe. They are both from the Personalized Learning Academy and today we're going to be talking all about socials, Back to School Socials. So welcome both of you. Thank you. It's great to be here. so let's start off, for those of our family members who don't know who you are or your role here in Sage Oak, I'm going to let you both introduce yourself and tell us what you are up to with Sage Oak for this next school year. So Taylore, let's start with you. Tell us about your role this year. Yeah, so I am a Regional Mentor in the Fullerton area, so I oversee about 20 teachers in that area. I'm just there to support them and make sure that I'm helping them with. Any issues they might have. And I also have a roster of my own students as well. So busy getting them all, going up and running for the school year, so I love that. And what grade levels do you primarily work with? I work with kindergarten through fifth grade, okay. And Stephanie, what are you working on this year? So I am also Regional Mentor for the Rancho Cucamonga area. So I have about 28, almost 30 teachers in my region. We're very excited. We service students in Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Upland High Desert area. So that is my role. And again, like Taylore, I support the teachers and it helps them have a successful school year. Awesome. So good. And what are the grade levels that you mostly support? And I have a small roster of middle school students this year. I love that they have divided that up a little bit because I know that it really does take some expertise to really support those families at those different levels. So good to know that our families, whether they're in elementary or in middle school, are in good hands with you. So I'm so excited to introduce this social to our families if they are new to Sage Oak and are not familiar with it. But also too for our families that really love the Back to School social, I know they're going to be excited to hear all of the details. So, Stephanie, let me start with you. Give us a little bit of background on the back to school, social. What is it and what can our families and our students expect? Yeah, the back to school socials are a great time for families to come out, get to meet their teachers, get to meet other students. We've invited some of our approved community providers to come out and market their services that they offer our students, and we also will be doing like a curriculum swap day so families can come out and grab any extra curriculum, books, supplemental resources that they might want to add onto their regular curriculum. It's just a really fun, exciting day for students to come out, be with their teachers, get to know them a little bit better in like a more informal setting. And enjoy what all the activities that we have planned for the day. So much fun. So tell me, Taylore, about where are these social events happening? Are they taking place just at one location? Are they at multiple locations? Where, where are those happening this year? I. Yeah, so this year we ended up dividing the dates in two, so we're doing three socials on September 8th, and then three socials on September 15th. On the eighth, we're going to have our Redlands region, Simi Valley, Calabasas Region, and then a South coastal Buena Park region. And then on the 15th we're going to have Fontana, Fullerton, and Temecula. So we decided to divide them up into two different dates this year, just to make it so that families want to go to multiple ones or just to make it so that more staff can attend and just, there also is a way that we can have more curriculum swaps at each one as well if we divided and conquered. So we're doing it that way this year. And typically, in the past, these gatherings have been like at a park or community center, is that the same for this year? Yes. They're all at parks. Yeah. Okay. Awesome I know from the ones that I've had a chance to attend they really are kind of these casual, interactive days, right? Are parents able to just kind of plan on coming and letting their kids play and letting them participate in some of these crafts and activities, or is there a set agenda to the day? There's no set agenda. It's just like you. Explained it, they're welcome to come. Just have they have time to explore. We also have some field games that we'll be setting up out on the field. And yeah, they can come at their own time. Whatever works well for them, we will be there for two hours, from 10 to 12 o'clock. We will also have a school photographer there. So we're really excited to offer our families this opportunity to come and have their students' school picture taken.'cause we haven't been able to do that the last couple of years. So we are asking that parents, give themselves enough opportunity to participate in the games, the activities, the curriculum, swap, and have the students photo taken if they would like. We sent last week in our Sage News, email a link to sign up for that. And so if someone's interested in school pictures, you want to make sure you go to that link and sign up. And then you also need to upload a picture of your student.'cause that's the way that we're matching to be able to send you the pictures once they're taken. So make sure if you are interested in coming, that you take care of that step before you come. Oh, that's so important. So our families know that they're going to be able to attend at different regions across Southern California. There's a couple different dates this year. Again, you'll be able to check those dates in the Sage News or on the website, and I will be sure to add a link in the show notes to our website so that you can find the date and the location for the social near you. Parents should really expect to just. Come and enjoy, enjoy time playing some games, enjoy time meeting with some of our community providers and learning more about the services that they offer. I know a lot of our community providers, they are offering both in person and virtual services, which I think is a real plus 'cause parents can really choose the type of lessons that they might want for their kids. I know that these opportunities are also so fun for students to just meet other families. I mean, have you experienced that before that, that the kids just love getting together and playing with other kids and meeting with other kids? I don't know. Taylore, do you find that your students kind of make friends at these socials? Yes, I think it's a really great way to start the school year, just building connections with other families. Parents can connect, students can connect. I think sometimes it can feel isolating if you're just at home and not connecting. And so it's really important to have those connections. And I think too, like even new can connect with families who've been doing it for a long time. And so they, that's like, they can become a really great resource to each other in that way. That's a huge focus for us is getting people to connect and even students to come meet their teacher for the first time in person perhaps, and start that connection and build that relationship as well. It's such a good point because in this world of being in the independent study, there's only a few times that students really do get a chance to meet with their teachers. And often that's around the learning period meetings, right? So that's a time where you're getting together, but it's. You know, a little more business oriented. You're talking about how school's going and you know, what adjustments you can make where this is just more of a social setting. So, Stephanie, how do you feel like that plays a role in the relationship that you're able to make with your students and your families? Do you think it's, it's meaningful to just have this time where you can just get together socially? Yes. Absolutely. That was a perfect way to explain it, Tiffiny yes. It's so nice for the students to be able to come out in a more relaxed setting mm-hmm. And get to see their teacher, like participate in a craft with them or a game with them. And definitely just build that relationship with the teacher. Absolutely. 100%. I agree with you and like Taylore said, they meet friends and I love seeing them exchange emails or phone numbers or having their parents exchange numbers. That's really special to see , our students building a a community within our program. I think so too. And when I host a lot of the webinars to welcome new families into the program, often the question is about community. Like in this independent study program, how am I going to meet other families that are doing this? Who else in my community is in this program and how can I connect with them? And so I I always encourage them once they are part of the school to take advantage of these socials because they can start to meet people that are right there. In their own backyard, and then they can continue to meet throughout the year and get their kids together to do these fun things. So, I, I think that's a really great way to meet other families. Now, Stephanie, I wanted to follow up on something else that you said, which was about the curriculum swap. Tell me a little bit about that and what can parents expect with a curriculum swap? Yeah, so over the year, throughout the school year, teachers collect many items from families who are moving on or have moved on to the high school higher level. So families return a lot of their valuables and books and all kinds of different resources, especially like great supplements to your core curriculum. So our teachers will bring them that day to the park and we'll spread 'em out and , it'll be very nice and organized. We divide 'em up by subject and parents, it's on a first come, first serve basis, but they will come line up and they are free to take whatever they would like to supplement and add to their student's curriculum plan. That is great. I mean, that's a perfect way to scoop up a microscope or some extra readers or some musical instruments sometimes. I mean, I've seen some pretty good things at those swaps, so good to know that those will be going on this year as well. I love that idea. Okay, so we have the fun and games. We have an opportunity for our students and families to meet up with one another, make some friends, parents can meet other parents. Students can meet other students. There's going to be some crafts going on. There's going to be a chance to connect with our community providers, school pictures. I think there's so many things that we are offering our families that are going to make them feel that they are part of a community, and that is something that I know we all work very hard to make happen here at Sage Oak is that although our families are working independently, we want them to feel tethered. We want them to feel connected, and feel like they know who is supporting them along the way. Whether that's. Teachers, or whether that is community providers or just other families that can be a support system too. You know, just having that person to call sometimes when you're like do you have any ideas for this? Or do you, are you going on that field trip? Like, it all starts with these relationships that you build. And sometimes that can happen right here at the get go with the socials, which is so awesome. I love that idea. Alright, well just as a reminder, I will go ahead and add into the show notes, a link to our website where you can grab some more information on the socials, where they're going to be located, the different dates that they are being offered. There'll be some information too, as far as what's happening in each of the socials. And then I'll also link to the Sage News with the information regarding school photos, so that if any of our families want to take our school photos, that they'll be able to add that as well as we start to think about the start of the school year. I'll start with you, Stephanie. What are you most excited about going into this school year? What are you thinking about right now? Getting the year started? I think it's just every year is always exciting and every year at Sage Oak we're trying to add in new fun activities and opportunities for students to come together. We've added talent shows. We've added our Living History and STEAM days. Also just getting to work with your students and see their growth from year to year. Right now we're planning. with parents. We're setting up LPs, we're setting up their educational plans and making sure they're all set with their curriculum and just really look forward to another successful year with each of our students. How about for you, Taylore? As you know, you get some of the fun ones that are just, maybe this is like the first few years of school for them. I know when they're in kindergarten, they're so excited about coming. What are you looking forward to this year working with your elementary students? Yeah, so just as a K-5 teacher, it's really exciting when I get brand new kindergartners on my roster and getting to really come alongside these parents who have never been in the independent study model before and getting to support them. And it's so fun as a K-5 teacher to get to watch them grow from all the way kindergarten to fifth grade. So that's definitely really exciting. And then even with my fifth graders, they'll be moving on to a sixth grade teacher next year. So really just that's my final year with them to impact them, support them, and build into them as much as I can. So that's a really, exciting time, and it's going to be a great school year. We have so much, so many fun things planned in ahead for us that we're all really looking forward to. I'm sure they are looking forward to it just as much as you are. You are right. It is a really exciting time and one of the things that I think is so great about Sage Oak is that you continue year after year to meet students and families where they are. So if they are brand new to school because they're a kindergartner, you've got them covered and you'll be able to support them in just getting used to doing school in this model. But if they are a returning family, and this is just a new school year, you're going to be able to just pick up with that relationship that you had with them before and, and continue to grow from there. And for students that are just transferring in from maybe a different model, and this is their first year in an independent study model. I know that all of the teachers do a really good job in supporting students with that transition and just getting them comfortable to the whole model. So, you know, this is, this is what makes this year so exciting is everybody's coming in with all their own unique stories and their own direction. But it's about merging all of that together and getting everybody on the the same path towards success. Right. And helping them to find their own little personalized footing in this program so that they can move forward and have the kind of education that they're really hoping to have. If you could give one last piece of advice to parents on how they can have a successful year, what's one of the the key things that you feel parents can do to make sure that they have a successful year in this model? Stephanie, I'll start with you. I think for the parents, they just have to breathe and they have to know that there's going to be some times where it's going to be a little bit stressful. But what an opportunity to have your kids home and be learning with 'em and have all this extra time with them. My biggest piece of advice is use your teacher as your support. Your teacher is there to help you and guide you along the way when you're. Student is struggling or the parent is struggling, like, reach out. Your teacher has so many amazing resources to come along and support your student with learning. Love that. So good. And how about you, Taylore? Any, any piece of advice that you have for parents? Oh, yes. I also school my children through Sage Oak and independent study model. And mine is about to go off to college next week, so, oh, wow., it's very sad time but also very exciting to see that she's already at this place. So I just think even as a former parent in the school, I would just say to just, to be present with your kids. Take advantage of each of those moments. Read the books, sign up for the activities, plug in with your community and just, make it the best year that you can one year at a time and just really embrace the experience 'cause it goes so fast. Really good piece of advice. Really appreciate that. All right, you too. Thanks so much for being here today. Always great to have you on the podcast. Have a great time at the Back to School Social and a great school year. Good to see you. Thank you. Bye-bye.