Five weeks into the new school year and we are still in person. Fingers crossed.....it’s going well. The kids are adjusting amazingly to all the new procedures and rules. Teaching with these new protocols is challenging to say the least. However, I’d like to focus on the positives I’ve experienced the last five weeks.
1. Class Environment- My class and I are together literally all day long. To avoid exposure, the children eat breakfast and lunch in the room. We have specials in our room and are outside for one twenty minute recess in which our class is the only class on the playground at that time. All these factors have resulted in a close feeling of classroom community. I’ve seen the children develop sense of belonging a lot sooner than in previous years. There is a heart warming feeling of a classroom family.
2. Quiet Hallways-This may seem like a little thing, but it has made a difference. Since traveling through the building is limited, the hallways are so quiet. I can leave my door open without the learning being disrupted. The children can hear me teaching even behind my mask. My microphone helps too. ☺
3. Morning Welcome Slides-My children used to choose lunch on our Clever Touch Screen. I would have my morning work listed on the white board. Since I couldn’t have the children all crowd to the screen and touch it, I flipped my routine. I made welcome slides for the morning work with my word of the day and joke of the day to display. Each child has an emoji with their name and magnet on the back to put on the white board under their lunch choice. I like it this way so much that I’ll keep doing my morning slides from here on out.
4. Small Class Size-With Social distancing I can fit 18 desks in my classroom and as a result I have a smaller class than normal. One of our team members volunteered to move into our Art Room since it is bigger and take more students. She is an ultimate team player. I can’t thank her enough. With my smaller class size, I can give feedback faster to my students and do more quick checks on skills.
5. Creative Teaching-Best practices of education emphasis collaboration among students and interaction during lessons. This is a challenge with the restrictions of not sharing materials and social distancing. I’ve really had to think outside the box on how to structure my lessons so the children are engaged in the lessons in addition to the normal asking and answering questions. In Part 2 of my series Teaching During a Pandemic, I will share some of things I’ve done to keep my students engaged.
Editable versions of my morning welcome slides are available in my TPT store if you want to check out the preview.
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