Susan Carpenter's 1st and 2nd Grade Classroom : Our First Week of Remote Learning

What a week it has been. Teachers all over the country have been scrambling to change the way we instruct, to learn new technology they've never had reason to use. Shy persons who could never imagine presenting at a workshop or being filmed at all, may now find themselves theatrically reading stories and doing lessons in their backyards, their cameras at the ready. They are spending more time than you can imagine learning and gathering information and materials.

But most of all, they are realizing what they can't do - which is the social-emotional piece of school. Teaching children how to play and work together, work out their differences, to share and to be kind, to be a thoughtful team member by cleaning up. To apologize when you are wrong. To forgive if possible. To love enthusiastically.

When people ask if this has been hard, I say YES. But I don't mean that it has been hard to do all of the learning, and getting over my shyness, and the hours spent gathering information and bugging my 25-year-old to help me with the technical stuff. It's been difficult to not physically connect and be there for my students. I miss sitting on our library couch in the morning and waiting until they tumble into my lap as they arrive, eager to tell me about loose teeth. I miss them sobbing into my shoulder because someone called them a booboo head, and me having the power to make it all better. I miss, I miss, I miss.

And parents have a nearly impossible task of juggling their own work, their child's (or children's) work, and a myriad worries. I don't know how you do it. I am officially in awe.

Here is a sampling of our first week of this different type of school. Again, awe.

I hoping each child still begins most mornings with meditation. One morning, I sent a recording of a rushing river - a little moment of one of my nature walks that I could share with them all:

Math books should be used every day, and we will be adding some additional suggested activities as well. Thinking games like chess and sudoku are also great for math.

Mira working with Papa in math

Routines like spelling and our chapter book read-aloud look different - but are actually a lot of fun since we get to see each other's faces! This is the time that we gathered in google meet, for storytime and discussion, and for our small-group spelling challenge. Students also continue work in their poetry anthologies. Memory books will continue next week!

Here's Livia's assignment for Matilda

Lawson adds a beautiful illustration to his anthology

Quiet reading - now that's something that is lovely pretty much anywhere there's books and pillows and coziness. But buddy reading is a bit harder. A couple of friends found a solution!

We do cooking and handicrafts at school, and I'm happy to see it is flourishing at home, too! I'm collecting good kid recipes, so if you have some to share with our group, send them along!

Specials have not been forgotten, which is wonderful to see. I've seen evidence of children getting plenty of exercise either through the activities Shan has sent or simply by going on bike rides and nature hikes, as well as music, languages, and art being taught in a virtual way.