A Week Like No Other

 Wow, I can say that I've never had a first week like this one! It was mind-bogglingly exhausting! Tuesday morning was the first day, and in some ways it was normal: the kids come into school with feelings of excitement, but they are still shockingly quiet as they sit in their seats. We talk about what we did during summer, get to know one another, and discuss procedures and expectations. However, in many other ways, it was clearly not normal: classes of masked students, plexiglass dividers on tables, and many (MANY) squirts of sanitizer. We talked about and practiced procedures that are put in place to keep everyone safe. Probably the biggest change of all is the combination of in-class and virtual teaching that was going on.

I have a cohort (class) of 24 students in my room. We are with each other all day, so in many ways, it feels like my old experiences at the elementary school. This is my core group of students--the ones I am going to end up connecting with the most. However, I also have 4 other classrooms of students (and 18 virtual students at home) that I teach science to all at the same time. The 5th-grade team has five teachers-two language arts, one math, one social studies, and one science (me). Five times a day, the 5 classrooms plus the at-home students meet on a Google Meet for the different classes. It is definitely an interesting experience and one that I am still getting used to. 

Did everything run perfectly this week? No, of course not, it never does. But was it a complete disaster? Not at all. Is it ideal? Not by a longshot. But we will make it work. We will make tweaks along the way as we experience bumps in the road. Buckle up--we are in for a ride!

Mindfulness thought for the week: Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.  --Carl Sagan

Comments

  1. KatrinaSeptember 7, 2020 at 6:05 AM

    Yesterday, Child #1 was getting silly at the table and was told to take some deep breaths and pull it back together. It lead to a great conversation about your focus on mindfulness. He shared some of the exercises you've taught and we talked about how many times/places this will be helpful outside of school. It was beautiful to see him connecting with this concept. Thanks for all you do "beyond the basics!!:"

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