What is At Home?

At Home is a virtual learning experience selected on an annual basis. At Home, originally [email protected], was created in response to the diverse needs of our students  and is available to any Mehlville student, or student in a partner district, who prefers to learn in a virtual setting. The program represents an additional way we are expanding choice for students and families. Any child entering kindergarten through 12th grade who is eligible to attend within the Mehlville School District, or our partner districts, can enroll in the At Home program. Information on these pages is specifically for students entering grades K-8. For information about At Home for high school students, please contact your counselor. 

The At Home program will provide a comparable learning experience to our in-classroom learning. Teachers will provide lessons that are highly engaging. Students will be learning the same curriculum that their peers in the classroom will learn. Our At Home students will also be taking the same common assessments that are administered district wide.  

Our goal is to have all of our courses taught by Mehlville School District employees. In the event that this is not possible, some courses may be taught by other virtual teachers through our partner organizations. Students will have a mix of live Google Meets for instruction and classroom discussion and learning activities that they can complete on their own time. Students can expect to be engaged in learning the comparable amount of time as their peers attending school in the physical classroom.

Communication and Content Delivery

Google Meet will function as a virtual classroom for teachers and students daily. Just as in a physical classroom, the teacher will be present in the Google Meet classroom during class time and will provide a variety of instructional activities, including small and large group direct instruction, guided activities, short videos and practice exercises, feedback and assessments, etc.  

• Instruction will be based on the district-written curriculum which can be found on our district website linked here: Elementary Curriculum and Middle School Curriculum.
• Teachers may assign work outside of class time as well - this work may include watching posted videos, completing practice of skills learned in class, and other independent work that can be completed without additional assistance.
• Students with IEPs or other services required will continue to be provided based upon the goals of their IEPs and/or other service documents. Services at the K-12 level are provided by the Special School District, in partnership with the Mehlville School District.
• Teachers will utilize the district provided resources platform for digital communication to students and parents.
• Teachers will communicate frequently with parents using their district email account. They may also use other tools including Google Voice / Text and Remind. 
• Teachers will communicate via phone when needed and will utilize interpreters for families that need them.
• With the exception of select dates, lessons will be taught synchronously. Asynchronous days will occur on those dates marked on the district calendar with yellow/green highlighting. On several of these dates, in-person activities will be scheduled including material pickups and bookmobile access. More specific activity information will be provided at a later time.  

Asynchronous days per the 2021-2022 Mehlville School District Calendar

• September 29, 2021

• October 20, 2021

• November 17, 2021

• December 15, 2021

• January 26, 2022

• February 23, 2022

• March 30, 2022

• April 27, 2022

• May, 2022 TBD

Student expectations:

• Attend class daily. 
• Engage in daily lessons over Google Meet with your camera on. 
• Communicate with teachers and post work as directed by the teacher.
• Complete virtual and digital assignments, projects, presentations, and assessments.

At home learning tips include:

• Create a learning space, including a hard surface (desk or table) for students to place their Chromebook and other necessary items on. 
• Remove distractions. 
• Use the blur background tool or a teacher-approved background in Google Meet to eliminate background for privacy and to lessen distractions.
• Set timers or create a calendar with class start / end times and Google Meet codes or links.

Daily Student Schedule

For the 2021-2022 school year, At Home will have dedicated staff and will have our own schedule for grades K-8; our schedule will not flex based on a specific building. Students in grades 9-12 will follow the building schedule. 

At Home will follow the district-approved calendar including the same holidays, early release days, start and end days, and even snow days as applicable.

All students will have a 6 hour and 50 minute school day which includes instructional time, lunch, and age-appropriate breaks. For grades K-8, school will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 2:50 p.m. 

Grades K-5

All students will participate in the traditional grade-appropriate curriculum of Reading, Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Outside of class time, students will be expected to complete independent reading and iReady Math. Grade-based goals are listed below: 

• Independent reading (students may need to work their way up to these expectations):
  • Kindergarten and First Grade:  goal of 60 minutes/week 
  • Second and Third Grade:  goal of 80 minutes/week  
  • Fourth and Fifth Grade:  goal of 100 minutes/week 
• iReady Math (students may need to work their way up to these expectations):
  • Grades K-5:  goal of 40-50 minutes/week

Mehlville School District teachers will provide a rotation of Art, Music, and PE throughout the week for our students in grades K-5. Library services will be provided by one or more of our site-based librarians. 

Grades 6-8

All students will participate in the traditional core offerings of ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies as well as PE and Health and other encore classes. For course descriptions, please view the middle school course offerings.