Reviving the school thread

[sdlaura]

TL;DR version - any ideas to help our pod teacher occupy 3 rambunctious first grade boys on fully asynchronous school days?

Full version - We started school fully virtual in mid-August, and it was that way for the first 5 weeks, and there were 1-2 hours of zoom instruction everyday. Then our schools opened in a hybrid model 3 weeks ago. Now the kids are in school two days a week, but the other three days are fully asynchronous aside from one brief class meeting. We have a pod that includes 5 kids total - 3 first grade boys, a second grade girl, and a third grade girl. Our pod teacher was the boys' long-term sub when their kindergarten teacher went on maternity leave last year. She's sweet and a licensed teacher but also pretty young and inexperienced, and she's having trouble managing the boys on the asynchronous days. She's with them 8 am - noon, and we set up a classroom in one family's garage. 

The kids are fighting and the boys are jumping on furniture and being unruly. I feel terrible for the hosting family (their son is probably the most unruly - likely why they offered to host, followed by my son, and then the third boy). Besides working on behavior modification, I think a big issue is that they're bored. I was thinking maybe if we add an Outschool class or something similar, it would help to occupy them? I'm also considering having the girls at my house, since they need less help, and just having the teacher focus on the boys, but we don't know if that will help, and plus we're paying the teacher for all five.

For context, apparently they all behave fine in school. They're become overly comfortable with the pod set-up.

Thanks for any ideas!

[phdmomma]

What about some active learning activities? Like building something out of legos and then writing a story about it, and showing it to everyone? Where each kid has a project that they are working on. Or something other hands on-ish, like a science experiment (mentos and diet coke were a big hit here). Obviously not an elementary school teacher, but that is some stuff that I would do.

I had a different question, how well do your kids do with the directions for their asynchronous stuff? DD is in K and obviously needs help, but can listen to the teacher's reading the directions if she remembers to. DS is in 3rd, and just doesn't listen to them. Like this morning he was supposed to take and post a picture of himself and then write the title of his portfolio. Instead he drew a giant scribbled spider and said that he didn't know what to do. I don't have time to police this, just happened to catch all of it today because he was done way too fast.

[traveltheworld]

What curriculum / extra materials has the pod teacher proposed / been running?

Some ideas: could you get the teacher to work on additional activities? We did the below for DS and DD in the spring (so it should work for all 5 kids), with a general focus on fun but educational activities that wouldn't overlap with the school curriculum:

- Science: Foundations for Scientific Understanding is a great curriculum that takes a bit of prep work on the teacher's behalf, but otherwise is pretty fun; experiments: National Geographic has some good ones, so does Mystery Science;
- History: Story of the World is a great curriculum (and it's never too early to teach a bit of history!); the teacher can read the chapter, and there's an activity guide that provides activities; we also found good Khan Academy World History videos that reinforced the concepts;
- Art: Deep Space Sparkle has really awesome video tutorials and projects; Art for Kids Hub is also good on working on drawing;
- Math Games: Dragonbox Numbers or Dragonbox Algebra are good; the teacher could also guide them through math logic games - check out the free sample questions on Math Kangaroo;
- Reading / Story time: we also tried to tie in whatever we were learning to good podcasts/books; so for example, when we were covering the Greeks in history, we borrowed and read a bunch of picture books / chapter books on Greek mythology, then listened to some podcasts;

Lastly, does she take them outside to just run around? I think there are lots of learning opportunities / lessons you can do relating to nature/environment.

Edited to add we did do a bunch of Outschool classes in the spring and liked them; but we used those mostly for times where DH and I had to work and just needed the kids occupied.  With a dedicated pod teacher, I'd think she can do activities with them.

[waverly]

If she is a licensed teacher, then I would suggest that she come up with some additional lesson plans and that I would pay for the supplies.

And also a behavior system. Lots of people hate them, but there is the clip up clip down. They can do little treats or grab bag items etc.

Also, running it like a classroom I would suggest a classroom meeting (you can discuss at home before or after as well) and come up with posted classroom rules. No jumping on the couch is one, and the consequence of such- loosing screen time maybe?

Is she doing any kind of recess to get the wiggles out?

Good point that she would/ should be going through the must do's/ agenda daily and making sure it is done and have them redo it if is rushed/ bad work. After they are done with their must do's they can work on can do's. Since everyone's pace is different for those that have already finished they can read independently or do another independent activity like an math app such as Zearn for example.

I don't really see why you have to pay for an Outschool class when you have a teacher there already that can do some of the plans. I would just work with her to have less free time and be more structured, and work with the kids to be better behaved.

She should also have a schedule for them.

[k3am]

... your pod teacher isn't cheap, is she? Or is she basically just a glorified babysitter?

I know what pricing was for pod teachers here, and for what they're asking, I would expect them to figure out how to keep the kids engaged and in line. It honestly sounds like your pod teacher hasn't set herself as a position of authority.

(And I'm totally no help, obviously)

[186momx]

How much work on they getting on asynchronous days? On Wednesday the only total asynchronous day DD has she has enough work to keep her busy for 90 minutes. I would tell your pod teacher she needs to come up with stuff to keep them busy. If I was paying someone to facilitate learning I would expect them to facilitate what the school gives and supplement the rest of the time. I wouldn't pay for extra classes but would pay for art/science stuff.

[waverly]

It sounds like DD is done by 11 am at the latest on her asynchronous days 9-11. The nanny still has DS to work with, but she does a huge number of board games type stuff with them. I have somehow accumulated a lot of board games. My point isn't that there is nothing to do, but that she needs to come up with stuff to do to keep them engaged. You could definitely bring over a bunch of games if you have them and most are somewhat educational.

[sandandsea]

What about filling a marble jar or incentives for good behavior?

Also can you find some stem activities for them to do that are more hands on? For example our kids daycare pod is doing a slime lab where they try different recipes of slime and compare them. So over a week they make 5 types and then compare daily.

Also activity during recess like take a walk, 4 square, or a bike day.

[sdlaura]

Thanks, all. I think part of the issue might be the transition from the initial all-virtual structure, where she really couldn't set her own schedule or get them out to play whenever she wanted because of different zooms for the kids at all different times - and now with all asynchronous, where really she could set any schedule or add in whatever breaks and activities she want. We have a zoom between the 3 moms and the teacher tomorrow, and this is something I'll definitely bring up. She has been awesome at helping them complete all their work well and learn, but not great at "classroom management."

k3am , we're paying her $50 an hour/so $10 per kid per hour. I think that's on the lower end of licensed teachers for pods, because this area is cheaper than some other major cities where pods are popular, and also because she's a brand new teacher. But it's definitely still a major outlay for us with two kids in the pod.