An Elementary School’s Transition To Online Learning Due To COVID-19
Beginning the week of March 9, schools across the country closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Students did online school while their school campuses were closed. It was unknown how long schools would stay closed due to the novelty of the infectious disease. As time passed, COVID-19 continued to infect thousands of Americans. Most states eventually made the decision to close their schools for the rest of the school year as there was no end to the pandemic in sight.
I am one of the millions of students who have been affected by the school closures in the US. I went home for spring break thinking that I would be returning to my college in Colo. a week later. Instead, I have been at home in Calif. for the past six weeks doing online school. My mom, Mary Reed, has also been affected by the school closures because she is a kindergarten teacher. I have been watching her transition to online learning over the past month. It has been difficult for her and the rest of the teachers at her school since their students are so young and the way they teach is hands on. Online learning is not ideal for elementary school students, but the teachers have been working hard to deliver their curriculum virtually.
California is one of the states that has closed it’s schools for the rest of the academic year. My mom teaches at Burton Valley Elementary School in Lafayette, Calif., which is one of the 5,580 public elementary schools that have been forced to close in the state due to COVID-19. The school’s original plan was to do online school that consisted of review activities for the two weeks prior to spring break. They hoped to return to campus after spring break, but had to extend online school for the rest of the school year.
The abrupt transition to online school caused a problem for some Burton Valley families. Not every student had access to a computer to do their school work. Burton Valley Elementary School principal, Meredith Dolley, personally delivered Chromebook laptop computers to students who did not have access to a computer.
The news that Burton Valley Elementary School would be remaining online for the rest of the academic year was disappointing for many of the students and teachers. In elementary school, students stay in one classroom for the whole day, with the same students and the same teacher every day. Students and teachers build strong connections with their class. This has made moving to online school hard for both students and teachers.
When my mom found out she would not get to teach her students in her classroom again, she cried. Not only was she sad about not getting to see her students anymore, she was stressed about having to teach five and six year olds online.
“I was overwhelmingly heartbroken at the thought of never being in my classroom with my students again,” Reed explains, “I was also concerned about teaching kindergarten online because I knew how difficult it would be.”
The Burton Valley staff has made an effort to make online school fun for their students. At the beginning of the transition, Principal Dolley announced there would be spirit days throughout the week such as crazy hat day. Many teachers hosted Zoom meetings with their class and everyone was dressed up according to the theme that day. Every week, the staff sends in videos of themselves dancing. These videos are compiled into one big dance video that is sent out to students on Fridays.
Not only are the Burton Valley teachers and staff working to make this difficult time fun for the students, they are trying to make it fun for each other as well. The teachers have put on two birthday parades over the past month, one for Principal Dolley and one for the vice principal, Angie Seto. They have decorated their cars and driven past the principal and vice principal’s houses to send them birthday wishes. The Burton Valley staff has also put on a few happy hours via Zoom to check in with each other and virtually hang out with the people they used to see every day.
My mom and her kindergarten team have been working together to provide curriculum for the four kindergarten classes at Burton Valley. They have meetings on Zoom and frequently email and text each other about school. The teachers have each taken on one subject that they create weekly lessons for. For example, my mom is creating the reading lessons that are sent to all four kindergarten classes each week.
The kindergarten teachers have been using the app Seesaw to deliver the lessons to their students. Every morning, my mom sends a video to her class through Seesaw to explain what activities the students have to do that day. Throughout the day, her students send her videos of them doing the reading, writing and math activities. She leaves a positive comment on each video she receives. My mom recently discovered she could leave voice comments on her students videos. Her students as well as their parents love receiving voice comments from her.
One of the parents said to Reed, “We REALLY loved hearing your audio feedback on Michaela’s work! What a great idea to give her another connection point.”
The kindergarten teachers have also been using Zoom to have virtual meetings with their students. My mom hosts small group meetings with around five of her students in order to really connect with each of her students. She also hosts Zoom meetings with her entire class for student of the week and student’s birthdays. This has been a great way for her to connect with her students and for the students to connect with each other.
Burton Valley teachers and staff are doing their best to educate their students virtually for the final weeks of school. Like many other schools in the US, it is still unknown if Burton Valley Elementary School will be able to go back to normal school in August. Burton Valley staff and families are doing their part to fight COVID-19 by staying home with hopes that the curve will have flattened enough to return to school the next academic year.