Post by breezy8407 on May 12, 2020 10:48:26 GMT -5
Re: hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes at least anecdotally, those were items we had to buy as part of the school supply list. And, a few years ago H had to remove sanitizer from the students because kids were drinking it. Ah the good ol days.
Oh also LOTS of parents considering redshirting instead of starting kindergarten this year.
I have a rising kindergartener and I'm already hearing talk of this from the other parents I know in my area with kids her age.
It's obviously a really privileged thing to be able to do, and I think there will probably end up being a huge discrepancy among this age group depending on what their parents were able to provide for their learning.
krystee I am also considering homeschooling kindergarten. I have done some homeschool preschool with my daughter (she did go somewhere 2 days a week as well) so it's not totally new and different, but I had never planned to actually homeschool. I also struggle to imagine homeschooling without using community classes, library events, etc. I'm waiting to see what they come up with before I think about it too much.
Also, can schools even access cleaning supplies? Until that happens I think everything about this is silly.
I'm not sure what the current status is, but in mid-March, right before we were shut down, I know our administration had told us they could not get their hands on any more hand sanitizer or wipes, so what we had was what we had. And that they wanted us to be sanitizing high touch areas in our room 5 times a day but also to ration supplies lol.
Things change dad's but my employer can now get plenty of hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies, from alternative sources (distilleries, etc). Bleach is also relatively available.
Also all of this :waves hands around wildly: planning is based on knowledge that is incomplete and totally uncertain. Everyone keeps talking about well high risk people need to be protected and accommodated BUT DO WE REALLY KNOW WHO IS HIGH RISK?
(Not to mention how grating I find it to other people who are high risk and act like they should just isolate so the rest of us can get back to normal)
Right?! At first it was asthma/allergies. Now those things and smoking are considered PROTECTION because up is down.
I believe diabetes, obesity, immunocompromised, and HBP are still considered the dangerous ones.
I am also tired of ableist bullshit, but that is nothing new.
Post by SusanBAnthony on May 12, 2020 10:59:39 GMT -5
For middle and high school, I wonder about doing blocks like they do 4 straight weeks of math, and just stay in one room with one class and 1 teacher. It wouldn't be great for retention (maybe?) But it might be way better than just not getting anything for poor kids who can't effectively access home learning. It also might better meet the needs of SN students because you could have an aide assigned full time to that room.
Post by pizzaandtulips on May 12, 2020 11:06:19 GMT -5
We are in the Netherlands. Primary schools opened up this week, with the option to keep your child home. We have so far kept our children home. I am very hesitant to send them to school, even with all the precautions (smaller groups, only leaving classroom for a recess with their class, shorter school day, staggered starts, handwashing, etc.)
Also all of this :waves hands around wildly: planning is based on knowledge that is incomplete and totally uncertain. Everyone keeps talking about well high risk people need to be protected and accommodated BUT DO WE REALLY KNOW WHO IS HIGH RISK?
(Not to mention how grating I find it to other people who are high risk and act like they should just isolate so the rest of us can get back to normal)
Right?! At first it was asthma/allergies. Now those things and smoking are considered PROTECTION because up is down.
I believe diabetes, obesity, immunocompromised, and HBP are still considered the dangerous ones.
I am also tired of ableist bullshit, but that is nothing new.
What? I didn't know that! Can you link to an article that explains it? Or do they have no idea why?
I think we're all going crazy for nothing because my mom tells me we will have a vaccine by September. (Obviously sarcasm!)
I live in Denmark and from the land of hotdishes and duck duck gray duck😊. We are moving to phase 2. (Retail, restaurants, outdoor sports, professional sports with no spectator).
The 2 meter distance requirement has been changed to 1 meter. Starting May 18 kids age 12 to 14 will return to school. The guidelines for the schools have not been published yet. Masks are not required here. A lot of temporary hand washing stations/hand sanitizer stations all around the school.
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My son's class (1st grade) has been split into two groups and spread across two different classrooms. Starting tomorrow they will all be back into one classroom. I'm not really sure how they will keep 1 m distance between all the kids because there just isn't enough space. They rotate which area they play on the playground and huge public park which is net to the school for recess.
trying to find childcare will be a nightmare for working parents.
And teachers (not excluding them from working parents, obviously). I can't imagine a staggered operations schedule for teachers with school-aged children.
For middle and high school, I wonder about doing blocks like they do 4 straight weeks of math, and just stay in one room with one class and 1 teacher. It wouldn't be great for retention (maybe?) But it might be way better than just not getting anything for poor kids who can't effectively access home learning. It also might better meet the needs of SN students because you could have an aide assigned full time to that room.
Block schedule is much more expensive than a traditional schedule. It also complicates things for AP classes and dual enrollment classes.
Oh also LOTS of parents considering redshirting instead of starting kindergarten this year.
I am not pro-redshirting AT ALL, but honestly, I understand this (and yes, I also understand the privilege required to even have that choice). I understand why people would not want this to be their child's first exposure to school.
My niece's bday is 3 days after the cutoff here, and my SIL/BIL were planning to send her early because she's 100% ready, academically and socially. They are now rethinking that decision, and I don't blame them.
I'm honestly really glad DD is 12 months and I'm not in the position of having to think about this. I really feel for parents facing this.
oh I totally agree, I really don't blame them, I just know having that large number being redshirted this year will have a lasting effect for years to come.
I am not pro-redshirting AT ALL, but honestly, I understand this (and yes, I also understand the privilege required to even have that choice). I understand why people would not want this to be their child's first exposure to school.
My niece's bday is 3 days after the cutoff here, and my SIL/BIL were planning to send her early because she's 100% ready, academically and socially. They are now rethinking that decision, and I don't blame them.
I'm honestly really glad DD is 12 months and I'm not in the position of having to think about this. I really feel for parents facing this.
oh I totally agree, I really don't blame them, I just know having that large number being redshirted this year will have a lasting effect for years to come.
@@ I was just thinking how much this will affect my 4 year old’s class. People who can will opt out of voluntary preschool next year, and when she starts K, it will be with an exceptionally large group of redshirted kids.
Oh also LOTS of parents considering redshirting instead of starting kindergarten this year.
I’m considering redshirting depending what schools are going to look like in the fall. My daughter has a summer birthday so she would only be about a month older than other kids if we held her. She is completely ready academically, but still acts very young. My husband wants to send her to K no matter what next year and I mostly want to send her. However, if they are required to wear masks, have no recess, etc. I would rather hold her a year and let her have a more normal kindergarten experience.
trying to find childcare will be a nightmare for working parents.
There was a school district by me growing up that did the staggered school year at the elementary level only. It started as there was tremendous growth and not enough buildings to hold them all at the same time-though the district kept mentioning academic benefits. My aunt was always like, if it is so beneficial do it at all levels so older kids could help younger ones. And there were times my cousins were on different schedules (one in elementary year round, one in middle school with traditional schedule). It made child care/vacation scheduling *awesome* (sarcasm). The district said it was too hard at the high school level because of things like sports. There were cycles and not all cycles were in the schools at the same time. This also meant that when kids came back from their three week breaks, they might be in a different classroom than before.
Anyway, the businesses around the district/daycares worked around it. There were cycle camps (day camps that occurred throughout the year, not just in the summer {gymnastics, ymca}). But that didn't happen in a vacuum or quickly, everyone could plan around it and since the schedule was staggered, they could hire employees for the year and not just students in the summer. I can't see a way for businesses to plan it last minute like this.
For middle and high school, I wonder about doing blocks like they do 4 straight weeks of math, and just stay in one room with one class and 1 teacher. It wouldn't be great for retention (maybe?) But it might be way better than just not getting anything for poor kids who can't effectively access home learning. It also might better meet the needs of SN students because you could have an aide assigned full time to that room.
Block schedule is much more expensive than a traditional schedule. It also complicates things for AP classes and dual enrollment classes.
Our high school is on a block schedule. All classes are a semester long I think. Like college. It was the biggest issue with the school cancelation because some kids weren’t in certain classes until spring so they basically got 9w of regular instruction.
Kawasakis is an immune system response to a virus. Kids can get it from a common cold. There are 1.5 million kids in NYC. If even 10% of them got Covid (and it’s probably higher) these numbers should not incite panic.
Block schedule is much more expensive than a traditional schedule. It also complicates things for AP classes and dual enrollment classes.
Why is it more expensive?
Because it requires more teachers. It could be that it costs more in the district I work in because of our union contract. Early this year our school site was considering scheduling options for our required shift to late start for next year and it was eliminated because of cost.
Post by jordancatalano4ever on May 12, 2020 14:49:30 GMT -5
Middle school teacher of a 100,000+ district checking in and I have to say the only option that I can see as remotely feasible for the middle school level is a complete restructuring of school assignments and teacher workloads. I think the best option is to have families opt for "in person" instruction for those who don't have the means/abilities to have effective instruction within the home. This would have to be determined on a grade level basis so that you could spread the children who make this choice throughout the district. Teachers will have to do both remote instruction and direct instruction...In our district we have curriculum specialists for elementary, middle, and high school who specialize in each content area. So I would see them being used as the developers of the online content and classroom teachers would just implement their plans which would allow for them to focus on the development of in person instruction. I also would imagine that in person instruction would be reduced in the # of hours spent in the building and teachers would rotate through classrooms and students would stay in place. I can't imagine you could have in person instruction in the fine arts or physical education so perhaps they would serve in the role of delivering online instruction....
I have no idea how high school would manage....I think districts would have to implement different plans at every level.Based on what our super has said in district address, I think they are all over the place in exploring options and there really needs to be some form of central leadership either at the State level or the National level so that we can get started planning. There are too many possibilities like shared in the article. We don't have time to "explore the options" or wait to see what summer brings.
@@@ If it ends up being an "option" to either send kids or not, maybe they could film the teachers "live" so the kids at home would be a bit more interactive with them? Logistically it's a nightmare, but I will tell you getting my kids (2nd/4th) to do more than 30 or so minutes of school a day is nearly impossible. They are so unmotivated, and my 4th grader is in the gifted program/teacher's pet type so it's not very typical for her. Though I do realize most of this is my fault...
Our local university announced they are going ahead with reopening dorms as planned in Mid-August and starting back up in-person classes as usual in mid-August. I haven't heard of any precautions being taken. In fact, their President said that because the university isn't huge, germs can't spread well. LOL what?
This university doesn't teach anything science related, right?
Post by DotAndBuzz on May 12, 2020 15:56:02 GMT -5
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I'm honestly considering homeschooling for my soon-to-be 4th grader. She hates the online stuff, has heard me talking about what school may look like next year, and flat out said she'd rather me homeschool her than to to go school like that, and "see" her friends, but not really, and not be able to play with them, etc. We talked about what homeschooling is (and how it's not hang with mom and play all day), and she still wants to do it. I SAH, and while I've never truly considered homeschooling until now, it's on my radar as a possibility.
My middle schooler will go to whatever school situation is happening. She's at a small private school, and has settled into a good routine with their online classes, so if they can't go back in person, that will still work for her. I can also see in-person schooling being possible/more safely attainable, as they have block scheduling already (only 4 classes a day), class size is about 15, and the grades are pretty separated spatially in the building (each grade has a little "forum" that their classrooms center around). It would still have a lot of restrictions, but I think it's more possible than if it was a larger school or a traditional layout. And truthfully, Hell would freeze over before I could successfully homeschool that child. Our personalities are not able to perform that task together, so I told her to get used to wearing her mask so she can go to school, and she legit wears it around the house "to practice."
I'm honestly considering homeschooling for my soon-to-be 4th grader. She hates the online stuff, has heard me talking about what school may look like next year, and flat out said she'd rather me homeschool her than to to go school like that, and "see" her friends, but not really, and not be able to play with them, etc. We talked about what homeschooling is (and how it's not hang with mom and play all day), and she still wants to do it. I SAH, and while I've never truly considered homeschooling until now, it's on my radar as a possibility.
My middle schooler will go to whatever school situation is happening. She's at a small private school, and has settled into a good routine with their online classes, so if they can't go back in person, that will still work for her. I can also see in-person schooling being possible/more safely attainable, as they have block scheduling already (only 4 classes a day), class size is about 15, and the grades are pretty separated spatially in the building (each grade has a little "forum" that their classrooms center around). It would still have a lot of restrictions, but I think it's more possible than if it was a larger school or a traditional layout. And truthfully, Hell would freeze over before I could successfully homeschool that child. Our personalities are not able to perform that task together, so I told her to get used to wearing her mask so she can go to school, and she legit wears it around the house "to practice."
@@@@@ Same re: my 4th grader. Except I’m the PTA president. Lol. And I desperately want her to have my rising 8th grader’s 4th grade teachers who were amazing. I don’t know what to do. She’s brilliant and our district isn’t currently offering anything so I’ve basically been homeschooling her and she’s begging me to keep her home in the fall to do it. She’s super social but she is bored at school even with GT and loves the freedom to pursue what interests her to some degree.
I can’t imagine homeschooling my rising 8th grader though. He’s starting high school classes in the fall. And it just feels harder to even consider.
I’m considering homeschooling my rising 4th grader as well. Never thought I’d say that but here we are.
We will see what school looks like come fall but I’m starting to make my own plan now. DD has no interest in computer based learning again or going to school but wearing a mask and not having recess. I’m not interested in that for her either. Ugh I hate all of this.
Post by dancingirl21 on May 12, 2020 16:23:15 GMT -5
This is all so hard. If schools go to optional in-person school, I can see that being an issue for some families/kids too. I’m a SAHM so doing e-learning for me isn’t really interrupting anything. However, DS1 will be in first grade next year and would certainly benefit from some in-person time with his teacher and classmates. At his age I still know everything he’s doing but I’m not a teacher so he’s definitely not getting as much from me as he would with a teacher. Ideally I’d like to see classes do some split days, if it makes sense.
Our local university announced they are going ahead with reopening dorms as planned in Mid-August and starting back up in-person classes as usual in mid-August. I haven't heard of any precautions being taken. In fact, their President said that because the university isn't huge, germs can't spread well. LOL what?
This university doesn't teach anything science related, right?
Re: hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes at least anecdotally, those were items we had to buy as part of the school supply list. And, a few years ago H had to remove sanitizer from the students because kids were drinking it. Ah the good ol days.
There is usually a bunch in our school’s supply room but I had the option to buy some from a local distillery since all this as started. I bought a gallon thinking it would be hard for school to come by when we go back. It totally smells like vodka though and is liquid so I will have to put it in a spray bottle. This problem crossed my mind once I used it and realized how it smells.