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Snapshots of a successful start to Distance Learning in the Elementary School

  • Learning stories
  • Safety & Belonging

Although all of us in the Elementary School are disappointed not to be at school together, we are delighted everyone has successfully transitioned to Distance Learning. 

Here a few snapshots of the learning happening online from the first couple of days. We want to give a HUGE thank you to the teachers for all their expert facilitation of learning, the children for their active engagement and focus, and to all of you parents who are supporting your children at home.

Grade 5 Morning Meeting

Children meet each day with their teachers for Morning Meetings, a special time to connect with each other. During this time they greet one another, go over the schedule for the day, and children ask questions so they’re prepared for learning. In Ms. Sharon’s class on Thursday, Morning Meeting was also an opportunity to share the Happy Birthday videos and virtual cards the children had created for one of their classmates. 

Grade 2 Math Lesson

On Thursday, Grade 2 students learned to play a place value math game with Ms. Sandra. In the photo above a small group plays the game together entering their answers in zoom chat.  

Then Ms. Sandra guides them in comparing the digits in each place using an online tool to highlight the digits in the hundreds place. The goal of the game is to get the largest number. 

Finally, the children moved into zoom breakout rooms where they played the game in pairs, applying their understanding of place value in 3-digit numbers. 

Grade 5 Art Lesson

In art class, Grade 5 students are working on ‘fantasy scape’ pictures. For example, they create landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, mountainscapes.  In order to make their compositions more dynamic, they are encouraged to try an off-center and/or diagonal composition. 

Mr. Chip begins the synchronous lessons with a short introduction to the learning target and then models the art skills to the students. Students then spend 30 minutes engaged with their own art pieces while on Zoom.  During this time, Mr. Chip provides feedback to individual students.   At the end of the lesson, students share their art work with their classmates.    The photos above demonstrate students in grade 5 showing their art work to each other at the end of the lesson. 

Grade 4 Music Lesson

In Grades 4 and 5 children had a lot of fun dancing to Shakira’s “Try Everything” Body Percussion! They moved to the music following the body percussion images and then created their own body percussion routines in Seesaw. They enjoyed it so much that Mrs. Wormann is planning to add this to the next Virtual Gathering!