Our second week of school had staggered groups for the first four days and then we had our first day of the full class for the odd day group on Friday. I was so impressed with how much students remembered from their first day of school. Students showed up on their second day of school remembering our rules and other routines that we learned. It was great because the second day had a few more new things to learn so we could build off of the foundation from the first day. Students also go to meet more friends from their class that they didn't meet on their first day. We also added in our morning meeting time and math time on our schedule. In math we have started exploring colours, sorting rules, and patterns. Some students are already 'pattern crazy' making and find patterns everywhere they go! Overall, I feel the second week went very well and sense that students and staff are settling into the our school routines nicely.
Although there were some nervous moments, and a couple of tears by some, overall there were many, many smiles this past week. It was a nice feeling to be back with students in the building and to finally get to meet our new kinder-cougars and their families.
We spent the week learning about Covid-19 and the policies and routines that will help keep us healthy and safe at school this year. We learned two important rules: 1. Keep your paws to yourself and 2. Stay in your zone. The first rule reminds us not to touch other people or their belongings. The second rule helps us remember to stay with our colour group in the classroom and to stay in our spot when working at the tables. We also practiced when we need to sanitize and wash our hands throughout the day. There was a lot to remember but several students were catching on already! To balance out all of the information we were learning, we incorporated a lot of playtime this week. This not only provided a balance, but helped students have fun, feel relaxed, get to know one another, and offered a good opportunity for teachers to get to know students and vice versa. It was a fun week and I felt it set the tone to have a great year ahead! I write this on Labour Day Monday; the eve of back to school. I decided to stay at home today in order to take a little break from the school building as I have been there a lot lately and to ensure that I take the time to get a few things done around the house before the bustle of school sets in. I've been doing a lot of reflecting today of the past couple of weeks and some thinking about the week ahead. I started working back in the building on August 18th, although we didn't have our formal school plan until the 27th. Despite not having all the answers, I had an idea of potential policies based on what I had heard from other provinces and countries. So I came up with our colour pod idea and got to work on setting the room up. Since then, I've learned of our school plan and had to make some adjustments, and I've been able to do some more planning. Our class roster has also changed a lot in the past couple of weeks with some people moving out or in, or utilizing alternative learning options. It's been the most unusual start-up I've ever experienced and I like to think that I'm ready, but with how often things are changing, I'm not so sure! I do know that I am VERY ready to meet our newest Cougars in person, and to put all of the plans that we've been working on into action. Here are a few additional photos of the classroom.
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Mrs. McLeodKindergarten teacher sharing updates from our learning adventures! Archives
December 2020
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