Lockdown reflections after 7 weeks!

I have been teaching in an ILE for 3 years, so myself and three other teachers continued to plan collaboratively during the lockdown period. We redesigned our Google class site specifically so that it was less structured than the prescribed NZ Curriculum of Reading, Writing and Maths and included a more child -friendly, interactive approach. Our school value for this year is aptly named Hope, and the focus that has arisen out of the lockdown has been tremendous. The Inquiry focus for this term is Planet Earth. We chose to use the following areas to focus on; Literacy, Patterns and Shapes, The Living World and Creative Arts. Each teacher took the responsibility to plan and share a slideshow presentation that could be carried out over the course of one week. Each area had a range of activities and a Google Form to complete based on watching short videos, listening to visual storytelling, completing online tasks, test revision, science experiments and cooperative games. We also set up a daily journal with responses viewed by teachers to add to their individual blogs. As we already are a 1:1 digital based school, transferring the teaching and learning was easily adaptable to the 7 week timeframe. Children who were taking part in distance/home learning were using their own devices, or sharing siblings school Chromebooks that were distributed before the lockdown commenced. We also set up 2 Google Meets everyday for our children to participate in with their peers and teachers for half an hour duration. This has been a valuable opportunity to stay connected and ensure children's well being and emotional needs were met throughout this strange time in their young lives. The children delighted in sharing their home learning experiences, birthday celebrations, fitness and family activities such as cooking. I would say that approximately half of the children in our team have participated in online learning and have also completed their Home Learning packs from MoE. There are only 5 students from my class that I have not been able to account for their learning during the lockdown, despite numerous attempts to contact their parents and whanau throughout this extensive period. Three students from my class returned to "Bubble School" in Level 3 as their parents were deemed to be essential workers. One thing that I have observed overall is that children are far more capable of learning independently in their home environment. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they are less distracted by their peers? Some children have really thrived on the ideal to completing set tasks and gaining new knowledge in "unconventional" ways. It has been interesting to note the friendly competition and sense of comradeship amongst students, despite being separated for a significant time in their education. Finally, I would never have imagined this event to occur in my lifetime, the resilience that the students from our school have shown is incredible. The teaching staff are so proud of them and are so grateful to their parents for supporting them with Home Learning. This has been a huge learning curve for everyone involved, both mentally and emotionally and one that we will never forget.