Day 29 of full remote-instruction.
Dear Diary,
My children’s district planned a Flexible Instruction Day today in preparation for a Nor’easter expected to bring anywhere from 9”-18” of snow for our area. This FID is a relatively new establishment in public education, giving districts the opportunity to continue to provide a counted school day instead of completely canceling school for inclement weather. Both of our children were on top of their schoolwork before I even logged on to my first morning class.
Oscar had a difficult time wrapping his head around the novel schedule that he could work on his snow day packets when he wanted to do so, rather than sticking to his normal school day schedule. He was adamant at first that he had to do his math when kindergarten would normally do math, his reading would have to be done after lunch, and he had no idea when he was allowed to take his snack break. Finally we got him started on his packet and he got his work done in record time. He then had plenty of time to make guest appearances in my Google Meets, which were both entertaining and mysterious for my artists.
Estella took the entire day to complete her schoolwork. She was a self-directed busybody.
During this cycle of lessons, I introduced Google’s Jamboard app to the intermediate classes, so that as we continue some sort of remote learning, they always have something to use for creation. My 4th grade class blew me away – not only did they easily take to the program, but they discovered how to use the app to collaborate with each other. This was the best! Because of all of the strict physical distancing measures, we have not had much collaboration at all. Go figure that the best collaboration occurred over the screen and from a greater distance. I love it when my artists become the teachers, too. They explained how to collaborate with the rest of us, so that we could all enjoy creating together.
My 2nd and 3rd grade classes were a little challenging for me this morning. I had some interruptions from my lovely children at home needing assistance, while my lovely artists also needed assistance and attention. My brain felt like mush afterward.
Poop monster. Never in my life would I have thought that I would have witnessed the creation of a play-doh poop monster during art class. Never in my life would I have thought that I would have laughed out loud hysterically. The artist who created it is normally reserved and shy about artmaking. Play-doh was an option for a sculpture material for the littlest artists today, so this artist took advantage and revealed his Play-doh Poop Troop Set, yes that’s it’s actual name, I looked it up.
Before the end of the day, our children’s school district notified parents that they would have a remote-instruction day tomorrow instead of the FID…thank goodness. I feel like my household has much more success during at-home school when structure and routine are involved. The FID threw a wrench into the mix.