Transitioning From In Person Learning to Remote Learning

Hello Friends,

Once again, I begin my post with.... "It has been a long time since I have written..." I cannot say enough how hard teaching has been in 2020. I am cautiously optimistic for a calmer, healthier 2021. 

In my previous post written many months ago, I shared how we started our school year with in-person learning. A few things had to be tweaked with how we began, but for the most part, we had a very successful mid-August through mid-November. 

In mid-November, we went to full remote learning for many reasons with the strongest being the health of our staff and students. With the holidays looming, our Diocese feared that traveling and visiting might cause transmission of the Covid-19 virus, so we were told on Friday, November 20 that we would transition to remote learning until mid-January. It is now the end of December and we are looking at another week of remote learning with the hope to start in-person learning the week of January 11. 

This is a photo of what my classroom presently looks like.... Still socially distanced... as we will be until the end of the year, I am sure.... It's definitely missing my kinders....

This round of remote learning was totally different from our last round in the spring of 2020. One BIG change was that we (teachers) have been allowed to teach from our classrooms. This has made a huge difference in how I teach. First of all, everything that I need is there with me. I do not have to improvise or create a classroom in my home. I can leave my house, do my job, and come home without seeing all my teaching supplies scattered throughout my home. We are also VERY safe in our classrooms. There have been many days when I enter my classroom through my fire door, teach/record my lessons, and leave at the end of the day through the same fire door. Obviously, this is not possible for every school. I am simply sharing what is working for me... :) 

We use Seesaw for our remote learning platform. In the spring, when I really had no idea how to teach remotely, I posted mostly pre-made interactive activities for my students to complete at home. The activities were based on choice which made it difficult for parents/students to know what they should do and for me to figure out how to see academic growth.  So, when we were told that we would be doing remote teaching for 5-6 weeks, I knew that I had to make a big change. These are the changes I made....

1.  I still use Seesaw, but instead of a choice board filled with various types of activities, I record myself teaching several lessons and post them on Seesaw. I use the paid version of Screencastify to record. I chose the paid subscription because my lessons are often longer than 5 minutes. (The free version only allows 5 minute recordings.) I then post the Screencastify link onto Seesaw. 

These photos are different views of my teaching "studio." I place my laptop upon the small black table desk. This is actually a fancy lap desk. :) 

Here is a screenshot from one of my recorded videos. Everything that I need to teach the lesson is under or next to the little black table so that I have the items available when I am recording. 

I also use my Ipad storage cabinet to place my laptop upon so that I can teach from my Smart board. It takes a little maneuvering of my laptop to keep away the glare of the Smart board. This is a downside, but one that I am willing to take because of how amazing it is to be able to use my board!

Here is a screenshot of a recording from the Smart board. I LOVE that I am able to "show and tell" as I do when my classroom is full of students. 

2.  We create "at-home learning" packets for our parents to pick up once a week. My TA (who is amazing by the way) works all week printing, cutting, and organizing everything the kids will need for the week. The activities in the learning packets follow along with my recorded videos. We organize them by day and we even add the pieces that they will need to create a craft or other hands-on activity. In our very first packet, we included 20 Unifix cubes, a dice, ten 2 sided counters, markers, crayons, a glue stick, scissors, a ten frame, watercolor paints, white glue, a pack of different colors of construction paper..... 

The papers are organized by days of the week and attached together with a paper clip. We put the daily papers inside a gallon plastic bag. We insert this gallon bag inside a two-gallon plastic bag. 

Then we add them to a large plastic tub. Each child's name is labeled on the outside of the tubs. Parents find the tub with their child's name and take out their packet. Here is a photo of the boxes BUT..... on pick-up day, they are placed outside our fire doors. Parents are not allowed inside the school. 

We have another tub available for parents to return their child's plastic bags to be reused for the next week.

We ask that our parents (or students) take a photo of their finished work and post on Seesaw. Our kids can show us everything in one post, in separate posts, or in a video. We are not picky about how they show us their work. 

3. I have a "live" Zoom morning meeting with all my students on Monday - Thursday. These last between 30 and 45 minutes. I meet in small groups with my students once a week on Zoom for about 30 minutes. The papers that they need for their small group is sent home in their weekly packet. We do morning meeting and writer's workshop during our morning Zoom meeting. I also use this time to talk to the kids about their required activities.  I  include the reading group activities that the kids will need when they see me on Zoom. I have found that differentiating during remote learning is difficult, so I send the same general activities home. Then when they come to me for reading group, I can differentiate how they do their reading papers. 

4.  I do not post any "have-to" activities on Fridays. Instead, I post a recorded check-in activity on Seesaw and tell parents/students to use Friday to catch up and/or complete activities that they could not finish during the week. My parents love, love, love having Friday as a "catch-up" day. 

5.  I use pre-made Seesaw games/activities as "centers." I post 3 or 4 of them a week. They are not required. By the way, I use Babbling Abbey's Seesaw/Google Slides packet on TPT as well as the free community based activities. Also, I should add that our school purchased the paid version of Seesaw, so we are able to use the awesome extra features found on the platform. :) 

6.  Another change I made was to give parents a weekly schedule of required activities. I include a copy of this in their child's at-home learning packet. I also post it on my class web page. I schedule my recorded Seesaw activities daily rather than weekly so that parents/students are not overwhelmed. My parents love being able to clearly see what is required and what is optional. 

Here is an example of one of my weekly schedules for students. To create the schedule, I simply inserted a rectangle shape and text boxes into a Keynote slide and saved the template. 

I had to REALLY scale down what I wanted my kids to complete during remote learning. Parents just do not have six hours to help their kids do their schoolwork and I had to adjust my expectations. Basically, I schedule four daily required Seesaw activities and 3 weekly centers. 

So that's it..... I am looking forward to seeing my students again in-person, but after this recent stint with remote learning, I feel much more confident teaching my students remotely. And.... perhaps..... something that I am doing might inspire you, too!

Until next time,

We Are Doing In-Person Learning - It Has Been a Month and We Are Still Here...... Gulp......

 

Hello Friends,

That's right... We started in person learning a little over a month ago and we are still at school. I am almost afraid to write that for fear of jinxing our good start..... We started full time on August 20 - no hybrid EXCEPT our families were given the option to do full-time virtual learning if they did not feel comfortable sending their child in-person. We had a few parents take us on that offer. I have been reading so many Facebook posts and blogs about all the ways that teachers are working to teach in this pandemic. Teachers have always gone above and beyond to bring learning to their students, but it is more than above and beyond this year. It doesn't matter if you are teaching in-person, 100% virtual, or a hybrid, this is uncharted territory and I am proud to be part of a group of professionals who do not give up, who change to suit the needs of their students, and still manage to smile. 

I thought that I would share with you what we I have been doing to TRY to make learning fun and educational for my kindergarten students. I am going to preface this, though, with the fact that we have no national standard as to how our schools should look. Because of that, schools all over the country have different standards and procedures. This is how we are doing things in MY school. Some of my ideas might work for you, but some might not......

Okay... here is my classroom from the door. I have 9 tables. There are two kids sitting at each table. Placed on each table is an acrylic barrier. The kids have their own supply caddy and their own seat sack. Above each table are paper lanterns to designate table colors. We are allowed to have bulletin boards and my beach umbrella is also allowed. 

I took painter's tape and marked off areas on the floor that are 4 feet x 4 feet. This space is allowable in my school. The kids are allowed to use these spaces for free play OR if they just want a break from a chair. 

Here is one of my students during free play. My students are allowed to pick out their own free play toy. Before picking it out, they MUST sanitize (or wash) their hands. Then they take their toy to a "zone." 

Notice that the Duplos are labeled and in a large plastic bag. I purchased  2 gallon sized bags on Amazon. I separated all my toys into large plastic bags. The toys are in bins. The bins are labeled with a number. Those numbers show the kids upon what shelf their toy belongs. By the way, I did not "pretty up" these photos. This is pretty much the way my shelves look most days. :) 

Each child plays with a bagged toy by himself/herself BUT they are allowed to play next to other in their own grid zone that is marked on the floor. In this photo, they look close together, but they are actually within their grid spaces and within the specified "safe area." 

They are only allowed one toy per free play time which means they must be happy with their choice because they cannot change their mind. When free play is over, they place their toys back in the plastic bag and bring it to me (or my TA). We spray the toys with a hydrogen peroxide solution. The toys are returned to their proper shelf and not brought out again for that day. When free play is over and their toy has been sanitized, my students MUST sanitize their hands. 

Presently, the kitchen is a free play for one child. A few kids have tried to play here, but it has not been a popular choice. I think it is because dramatic play is more fun with a friend. I am pondering how to make this fun for one child, but so far, no ideas are coming...

I have a few hula hoops in the classroom that kids can get if they choose to go somewhere on the floor that is not marked with tape.

I have 18 students this year. I created 18 individual centers. The kids are assigned a number center. 

Here you can see that I have 18 three-drawer storage containers. I purchased the drawers from Target and was able to afford them because I was given a Target gift card. Each drawer is numbered. 

Here is an example of what is inside the drawers.... You can see that I have markers in the bottom box. It is my understanding that as long as they are sanitized when literacy centers are over, I could add "special" markers to the center. It is also my understanding that paper things do not have to be sanitized because paper is not a big spreader of viruses. 

I  have these cubby bins that are labeled with corresponding numbers. Inside these cubbies are larger items that might not fit in the 3-drawer unit or simply something extra to do. I have found that when kids do their centers individually, they do them quickly, so it has been work to keep them focused on their centers. When center time is over, we sanitize each bin. 

I purchased mini easels on Amazon to place in an art center. This one has both a chalkboard and whiteboard with a clip on the other side to add a paper for painting. 

I  kept the listening center. Only one child is assigned this center. Each child brought their own set of headphones to school and they use them at this center. The headphones are stored in a plastic bag labeled with their name.

One child is assigned a pocket chart center that is placed against a wall away from other kids. They get their pocket chart supplies in their center boxes.

One center that I have not introduced yet is iPads. My class will soon go one-to-one with our iPads, so I have not made a decision yet as to how I am going to use them during center time... Stay tuned... :) 

Each child has their own math box. Inside the box are two-sided counters, a five/ten frame, cute counters, a foam dice, shape pieces, and buttons. I will be adding/taking away supplies as needed throughout the year. We store the boxes in baskets on the shelves. 

We asked maintenance to place tables in the hallway for us. It is here that we sanitize toys and other items. We use these tables for our science projects i.e. seed planting and Monarch butterfly observation. We have skylights in our hallway, so this is perfect place to grow our seeds. 

The kids pick out 3 books a week that are placed on this table and on the hall benches. Two kids at a time come into the hall to pick out their books. The books are kept in their seat sacks from Monday - Friday. Before picking out new books, the kids place their old books in the orange tub. The books are quarantined in that tub for 4 days (or until we find the time to return them to our classroom library). Our kids are not allowed to browse in the classroom library. They can only pick out books from the hallway table. The plastic baskets you see on the table are from the Dollar Tree. There are 18 baskets of each color. When doing classroom activities that require items such as construction paper, ribbon, stickers, etc., we add those items in the baskets. Each child has their own individual basket with the supplies needed for the activity. The baskets are sanitized when the activity is completed. 

Our students bring their own snack and water bottle to school. Each child has been assigned two of these totes. They are kept on the floor next to their tables. They place their snack and water bottle in one tote. In the other tote, they keep extra school supplies and their own bottle of hand sanitizer. 

I gave up my desk this year to allow for more space. So, this is my reading table. I use labeled drawers, baskets, and paper storage shelves for my supplies.

We cannot share paint shirts this year and it took me forever to figure a way to store individual paint shirts. Finally, I brought in an old clothing stand that I had at home. In this picture, you can see that we attached the shirts with clothespins onto D-rings.... nope... that took a CRAZY long time to return to the stand. Presently, they are draped over the bars... Not sure if this is safe, though, so I continue to ponder on a better way....

So, my friends, this is what is presently happening in my classroom. As with all things that are happening with this pandemic, things change quickly. We are all doing the best we can with no precedence to learn from, so if we all give each other grace and understand that none of us really know what we are doing, then we will get through these times and smile at the end of the tunnel...

Until next time (hopefully sooner than the last time!)

Blessings,