April 23, 2020
Dear APHS Students, Parents and Guardians,
Mother nature has finally given us a beautiful day today! I hope you take some time to get outside and get some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine. Below are some new resources for you. We encourage you to take advantage of some of these free opportunities. As the days roll on thorugh our closure, which is currently through May 15th, we will continue to work collaboratively as a school, regional, and global community to get through this together. If there is anything we can do on the school end, please feel free to let us know.
Sincerely yours,
Mr. Quiles, Mrs. Mein and Mrs. Leach
Some Fun Activities
- Check out these free virtual zoo tours: Atlanta Zoo’s PandaCam, Check in on your favorite animals at the Bronx Zoo, Travel to a different safari each day on the Cincinnati Zoo’s website– Past safaris can be viewed on the Zoo’s website or YouTube channel, Enjoy a live look at animals that call the Houston Zoom home on the Zoo’s Webcams, Featuring the most live cam options, the San Diego Zoo offers viewers the chance to switch between koalas, polar bears and tigers on one screen. For more “wild” content, visit the Association of Zoos and Aquariums calendar with links to hundreds of events.
- Click here for more than 1000 online events and activities for kids, teens, and families
- The Franklin Institute has Digital Fun and Science ready at your fingertips!
Try this Brain Teaser: Start your own neural network by connecting one neuron’s axon terminal to another neuron’s dendrites. Add more neurons to build your network and watch how the signals travel as they light up!
Seven other enticingly delightful brain interactives are also available for your entertainment.
- Belmont Library in Massachussets has some free activities for teens. Click on the link to check them out…https://belmontpubliclibrary.net/2020/03/18/free-online-activities-for-teens/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=free-online-activities-for-teens
- The Smithsonian is also providing free resources and activities for kids and teens https://www.si.edu/kids
Contacting Us
Even though the APHS Main Office is physically closed, we are checking the main office voicemail (Please call 518-674-7002). If you need assistance please leave a message with a good contact phone number and someone will return your call. Thank you.
News for Students
Attention Seniors-Please check your email for a message from Mrs. Leach. She has a fun challenge activity planned for you to do as a group! Look at your emails from 4/16/2020.
YEARBOOK ORDERS ARE STILL BEING TAKEN: Your yearbook link is: http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A05290700
We encourage you to continue to remain connected. There are several ways that you can accomplish this:
- Students, please check your APCSD email daily. Your teachers, counselors and administrators will be using this as the primary means for communicating with you! Teachers have all established daily “office hours” that they are available to you. These hours are located within their folders on the Online Resources page: https://sites.google.com/apcsd.org/onlinelearning/home. Take advantage of this time with your teachers to stay connected.
- Speaking of staying connected, students, to stay connected with us, the APHS Leadership Team, by joining our Google Classroom “Averill Park High School Administration Connections”. All you need to join is the following code: whh5oj2 Many of you have already joined, our goal is to have ALL of you join to stay connected with us. We have received some questions from parents about being able to join as well. Please note due to privacy regulations, this Google Classroom is only open to students. Parents, we encourage you to review the Google Classroom with your student(s) to see what Mr. Quiles, Mrs. Mein and Mrs. Leach have posted.
- One way to not feel overwhelmed and to keep on a routine is to follow your regular schedule. To help you with this, here’s the A/B day line up for next week: Monday, 4/27=B-day; Tuesday, 4/28=A-day; Wednesday 4/29=B-day; Thursday, 4/30=A-day; Friday, 5/1=B-day (Yes, we have finally made it to May!)
- For students looking to get some SAT, ACT & AP Prep in, Kaplan is offering free SAT, ACT and AP Prep online resources. Just click Free Kaplan resources to find out more.
News for Parents & Guardians
- Ed Week has Education Week is partnering with Angela Duckworth, renowned University of Pennsylvania psychologist and researcher, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, MacArthur fellow, and founder of Character Lab, to offer actionable and accessible psychological insight for educators and families to help support our young people during this current crisis. Her blog is located here. Feel free to take advantage of this free resource.
- From our counseling team, they have a free resource from Samaritan Counseling Center. Click on the link for this resource on parenting your way through the quarantine.
- Please help support your child(ren) with their virtual learning by monitoring if they have connected with each of their teachers. All teachers have set ‘office hours’ that they are available for students. The Student Support Team (SST) is working collaboratively to monitor student connectivity and continue to be in touch with folks that the SST team determines to be needed.
- You can also work with your child(ren) to set up a daily schedule, following the A/B day schedule. Next week’s schedule is as follows: Monday, 4/27=B-day; Tuesday, 4/28=A-day; Wednesday 4/29=B-day; Thursday, 4/30=A-day; Friday, 5/1=B-day (Yes, we have finally made it to May!)
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if there is anything you need. This can be done via email, or by calling the high school at 674-7002. This line will be monitored daily, and you will receive a call back within one business day.
Our emails are as follows:
Mr. Quiles (High School Principal)- quilesh@apcsd.org
Mrs. Mein (Assistant Principal, Grades 9 and 11)- meinc@apcsd.org
Mrs. Leach (Assistant Principal Grades 10 and 12)- leachr@apcsd.org
Stay safe and stay well!
Mr. Quiles, Mrs. Mein & Mrs. Leach