Teaching from a Distance

To say these are times are different is an understatement. Navigating through this new territory has been challenging and rewarding. There are many challenges: too much work, not enough work, are the children gaining the targeted skill, how are the children feeling, how are the parents, and the list goes on. The rewarding part of this experience has been seeing my students rise to the occasion and take on responsibilities that typically they would not have to consider. To say I am proud of my students is such an understatement. I can not find words to describe how impressed and proud of them I am of them through these atypical times. We have all been doing our best to continue on with teaching/learning the best we can. There have been paper packets and digital packets and the children and their parents have been amazing through it all.

Something I already had planned was the community building project. It is something first grade does every year. Each child picks a building in our community that is meaningful to them and they construct it. Usually this project is completed at school. The parents come up and the children work with their parent to build the chosen building. It is always fun and something the children look forward to doing. I didn’t want to take that away from them, so I adapted the assignment. The children built their buildings at home and uploaded the finished project to a shared folder so everyone could enjoy all of the buildings. I loved being able to watch the children present their projects. They all have done a fabulous job!

The thing I have enjoyed the most is being able to digitally meet with my class. So far, we have only met one time, but it will be a weekly meeting until the school year is over. The first meeting was great and it was wonderful to see and hear my sweet students. I know they loved seeing one another. This week we will have a digital show and tell and I know that will be a hit!

We are all trying our best and putting the children first. I pray that this will pass and be a memory we can look back on and learn from. I will never forget this experience of teaching my first graders from a distance.

Stay safe!

Claire