Can I ask a practical question. Do the kids in hybrid do work mainly on the ipad or are they doing pen and paper work? There is a group here pushing the narrative that kids won't be able to do anything via paper because teachers cant get w/in 6 feet of kids. But I feel like that isn't really going to be as big of problem as they are making it out to be.
It is definitely more computer work than normal times, but also plenty of papers as well. They are sent home with a packet of papers heading into the at home week. I know they use them in class too. I had to buy 3 notebooks and plenty of pencils, so definitely in use. My 4th graders practice writing cursive daily too.
Our hybrid was the same for grades k-12: T/W/Every other Monday for students with last names A-K Th/FR/Every other Monday for students with last names L-Z
Benefits: class sizes were super low. Like 8 kids to a class, tops. Siblings went on the same schedule, was good to have the kids back in person 2-3 days a week.
Cons: teachers had to provide instruction for the cohort that wasn't in person that day for all students in the hybrid model. Students in the fully remote model had their own designated teacher that provided live instruction basically all day. So it was a bloody nightmare bc how on earth could those teachers teach two groups of student simultaneously? It ended up working out pretty well for my middle schooler. My elementary didn't have much to keep her busy on at home days, but it wasn't the end of the world.
This week we moved back to our "in person" model, so no more hybrid. All students k-12 are in the buildings M,T, Th, F. And they all do a traditional elearning day on W, with no live instruction. This is a good format, and we are very happy with it.
Our district is doing AM/PM 5 day a week hybrid for elementary school. All students (and teachers too, but obviously there was a limit) were given the option to stick with distance learning and were asked to stick with it until the end of each grading period. In practice the school is allowing people to switch if there is room in each class. A little over 20% of families chose DL at our school, which is the lower end of the spectrum in our district.
We've been at hybrid for almost two weeks now and are getting in a rhythm. I have a carpool, but it's still a very short day (2 1/2 hours) and I feel like we're back in preschool. The asynchronous time is to do assigned work or things like music or PE zooms. For some reason they are doing speech therapy when they are on campus. DD2 goes, and has been doing it through zoom since March. I'm still unclear how they are doing speech in person with masks. I wish they had kept it through zoom since they get such little time with their teacher as it is.
I do think the 5 day a week model works best with the elementary school age group to allow for continuity, but in general it's not great for me!
Our school is split into A & B groups by alphabet. Each group goes for the entire week as "roomers" and then spends the next week at home as "zoomers." This week has been DD's first full week at school as a Roomer. I trust with all the fanfare outside at drop off of temperatures and form filling and then the general A/B groups and the zillion other rules they have in place, that they are doing everything inside within their control to keep everyone from contracting COVID. They eat in their classrooms, wear masks the whole time. Specials teachers come to them rather than the kids traveling to specials. DD did comment that she didn't get to see much of the school since she is new and they didn't hold orientation so that must mean they don't travel anywhere inside the building much. She also said 2 kids were told by the teacher repeatedly to have the mask cover their noses. She had Library yesterday and got to bring a book home and seemed so happy to have that opportunity (the librarian brought a cart of books to the classroom).
She does have to bring her laptop into school on Roomer days. I don't watch her during Zoomer days so I don't know exactly how it's going or how productive it is but I kind of don't care.
I wish she had in-person daily, but my husband I disagreed on sending her to private school for that. I do feel based on seeing her work that she's not learning much, but I'll take my chances with second grade being a wash and see where she's at in third.
Post by charteroakstate on Oct 8, 2020 17:00:32 GMT -5
We have cohort A(A-K), cohort B(L-Z) and cohort C(full remote). Cohorts A and B alternate full weeks in school, and full weeks remote. Classrooms are taught by the teacher synchronously all day with the exception of lunch and recesses. We are one to one chromebooks, so kids are paired in google meets for group work or in interventions. Working on full inperson return over the next month. It has gone much smoother than anticipated. Each kid has a plastic shield on their desk, and masks are required.
Our school is pre-k through 8th grade. Pre-k and kindergarten are in school 5 days a week. Those classes are smaller and it’s easier to space them out. They just decided to bring back 1st grade 5 days a week starting next week (testing has shown 1st grade is not catching up like older grades are). This is also a smaller class, so it will still be easy to maintain distancing.
My kids are in 2nd and 6th. We are in group a, so they are in person Monday, Tuesday, and every other Wednesday. Group b is Thursday, Friday, and every other Wednesday. The whole school, whether in person or online, goes 8-12:30. Online days are synchronous. Teachers are teaching to both in person and online kids all week, which is the reason they did the shortened schedule. And I appreciate this, because my 2nd grader struggles with focusing on the shortened schedule, there’s no way he could sit online all day on their traditional schedule.
Because the schedule is shortened, they are only teaching the core subjects: math, English, science and social studies. There are no specials or electives. They wear masks all day, and the desks are spaced apart. Each grade gets 1 snack and 1 30 minute recess.
It sounds like they want to bring 2nd and 3rd back 5 days a week also, but those classes are bigger so they haven’t figured out how to make it work yet. I struggle with that, because then I will have 1 kid in school 5 days a week, and 1 kid only going a few days a week. We are having a hard enough time making the 12:30 pick up work, as both DH and I work.
My kids both have school issued chrome books (normally our school doesn’t go 1:1 with chrome books until 4th grade). My 2nd grader only uses his at home on his online days, my 6th grader takes hers to school every day, but does not use it all day long, just for certain classes.
ETA: School started 8/19, and so far there has only been 1 case, in pre-k 2 weeks ago. 1 student tested positive. They quarantined both pre-k classes and 6 staff. My son’s math teacher was one of the teachers quarantined. He still taught math from home, there was a sub in the classroom supervising the kids.
Post by redheadbaker on Oct 8, 2020 22:09:06 GMT -5
DS is doing 100% remote, but his school does offer a hybrid option. Our district doesn't have school buses (very small, less than 1k kids).
Students who chose the hybrid option were divided into A-group and B-group. Siblings are kept in same groups.
A-group students are in class Monday and Tuesday while B-group is virtual with the 100% virtual students. B-group students are in class Thursday and Friday while A-group is virtual with the 100% virtual students. Everyone is virtual on Wednesdays, and school is dismissed at 11:30 instead of 3:00. The kids in-person get three "mask breaks" outside each day, weather permitting.
The students who are virtual participate in live teaching along with the in-person students.
The kids usually have five specials each year (gym, library, art, music, and foreign language). The foreign language program has been temporarily paused. Rather than going to one special each day, they are doing two specials, twice a day for one semester, then they will switch and do the other specials twice a day.
I'd say they do half of their work with pen/paper and half on Google Classroom.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Oct 9, 2020 6:55:04 GMT -5
Right now we are all remote, but they’re hoping to move to a hybrid model in November.
Kids will either go in person the morning or the afternoon. When they’re not in class, they’ll be doing independent work on SeeSaw so the teachers aren’t split between trying to teach kids at home and at school. They’ll also still be offering all remote to parents who aren’t comfortable with the hybrid model.
ETA - morning or afternoon is based on location rather than last name since kids in one family may have different last names. We don’t take the bus. Masks are required.
We pulled N out of kindergarten early on because he’s a young five and remote learning was a giant shitshow with him. There is no way we could have stayed employed. He’s going in person in the mornings to a preschool. There are only 8 kids total there and all of them wear masks and social distance. He loves it and we currently feel very comfortable with their precautions. He’s also learning WAY more than he learned in his previous preschool. In addition to their COVID precautions, I’m very impressed with their curriculum. Plus H and I are able to stay both sane and employed.
I am also in Arlington & facing the same decision. Virtual is going surprisingly well. My kids kinda love it b/c they can scooter for recess time.
I was a hard NO on hybrid when there were 3 async days. Now...I'm not sure?
Did you end up making a decision? I picked hybrid but now it is pushed back to the 23rd and I have no idea. I feel like most people are picking virtual, which makes me think I should pick it. BUT also, if most people pick virtual the hybrid experience will be better.
I also think there is a lot of misinformation going around.
Don't feel pressure to pick virtual just because other people are. I get it- I felt that pressure to. But everyone has to do what is best for their individual family.
For us, I have 1 child doing virtual and 1 child during hybrid. They would likely be fine both doing hybrid, but I had the babysitter booked through December.
Our school has done a great job of not mixing people up so they are able to quarantine just that classroom cohort. We have had numerous cases in middle school and the 3-5 school, but no community spread in the school. Everyone is getting it from not wearing a mask in the greater community. We have not had to shut down because they are doing such a good job not mixing people. Our numbers in the whole state are going up. And this might not be the case that every school is doing such a great job. Lots of other schools have had to completely shut down or have lots in quarantine.
DD is in the K-2 school, and only 1 case. They are doing awesome. She is enjoying seeing her friends and getting a break from her brother. She is bright and only in 2nd, so while there will likely be gaps for all students this year, I think she will do just fine.
My son that is fully remote is in 4th grade. Academically, he struggles in writing and places where he has to write like Science projects. He is in advanced math, so while he might be doing about a B there- the work is 5th grade math, so that is OK in my book.
Asynchronous, I think is more work for the parents, but that might even out if you get days off while they are in hybrid. In comparing the 2 modules academically, I know my son is farther along in advanced math than the hybrid folks because he gets 5 days of instruction versus 2.
I hope this helps to make your decision. But I think there is no wrong decision. School is relatively safe, and if community spread in the schools become a thing the health department will likely shut them down.
Once the time with the babysitter is over with, then we plan to move my son to hybrid in January and ask if she will work 3 days a week instead of 4, and see if she is OK with that.
The alternating Mondays for hybrid since there are so many days off only equals 1 day a month. We started the end of September, so that 3rd weekday only occurred once in Sept, once in Oct, once in Nov and once in Dec due to Columbus day, election, fall break, winter break etc.
Also many of the people who are doing virtual only are still sending their kids to sports without masks or doing cub scouts without masks, which is probably riskier than school with masks, so I don't think they are necessarily better in their approach to this unless they are also limiting exposure in other areas of their life (only 2 families I know are doing this).
Where I see it helps that some are virtual is lowering in person class sizes for everyone else, which is nice.
Post by karinothing on Oct 21, 2020 14:19:13 GMT -5
waverly, Thanks. One other issue I struggle with is we have to make a decision for the entire year. It seems impossible to make that choice now. Kids in virtual and hybrid will be getting 4 days of instruction (hybrid is one day asych, two days live in person, and two days live virtual).
I just worry my kinder kid is going to hate being at a desk all day. But I keep telling myself it is only 2 days a week. I just hate that I can't feel confident and that I am locked in. Virtual is going fine for us now, although the K kind struggles more with Spanish classes (we are at an immersion school).
I have a kindergartener attending full time. Our district is full time K-6, and hybrid 7-12, with an opt-out for full remote for anyone who prefers that. We've been going for a little over a month. So far there have been 3 covid cases in the high school, none in the middle or any of the 5 elementary schools. Knock on all the things.
They wear masks all day except meals and mask breaks (which I am pretty sure are outside). We send in a towel or yoga mat for them to keep there for hanging out outside during snack, mask breaks, etc. I've seen her classroom in person at supply drop off and in pics/videos on Seesaw since then, and the desks are space 6' apart. They took a cubby space out to make it happen. No more tables. She's lucky that her building has bathrooms within the classrooms, so no mingling in the hall bathrooms. They go outside in all kinds of weather. For recess they rotate so classes can be separated, there's a playground, a grassy space, and blacktop that they rotate between. Supposedly the playground equipment gets sanitized between classes, which seems like a lot!
She does paper/pencil/gluing/cutting type projects at school as well as iPad stuff. More iPad stuff this year than most, because they want them familiar in case they need to go remote later. They have school issued iPads that for now stay at school but I guess we would pick up if needed at home?
She does ride the bus in the AM from home, and again from school to after care. Masks required. Siblings sit together, others are one kid per bench.
She doesn't know kindergarten being any other way, and she loves it. It's a long day (roughly 9-6, all in) and she is wild when she gets home, but it's a good day.
waverly, Thanks. One other issue I struggle with is we have to make a decision for the entire year. It seems impossible to make that choice now. Kids in virtual and hybrid will be getting 4 days of instruction (hybrid is one day asych, two days live in person, and two days live virtual).
I just worry my kinder kid is going to hate being at a desk all day. But I keep telling myself it is only 2 days a week. I just hate that I can't feel confident and that I am locked in. Virtual is going fine for us now, although the K kind struggles more with Spanish classes (we are at an immersion school).
Yeah it’s hard when you feel locked in. We were told that we can change at any time.
I wonder if they just don’t want everyone changing but would make exceptions with extenuating situations (squeaky wheel), but I guess you can’t count on it.
We had to decide for the full year too, but it is much easier to pull out of hybrid to go virtual than to pick virtual and convince them to let you start hybrid later.
My kindergartener just started in person all day Monday and Thursday, and he is the happiest I have seen him in months. He loves it so much and tells us he wants to go to school every day for the rest of his entire life. We had been planning to keep him remote, but he begged to go to school and we agreed to try it. I am very happy we did.
Post by Dznyprnces on Oct 21, 2020 22:15:31 GMT -5
We have been hybrid since school started on 8/19. So far there have only been 2 separate cases. They quarantined groups and there was no spread.
We are in group a, and are in person Monday/Tuesday/every other Wednesday, and at home online Thursday/Friday/every other Wednesday. Group b is the opposite. They shortened the day, so all groups go 8-12:30 every day, and teachers have office hours from 1:30-2:30.
They wear masks all day, and because only half the class is there at a time, they are able to spread out inside the classrooms. They do get one 30 minute recess, where they are allowed to take masks off. Unless they are on the play structure, then they have to leave them on because they can’t distance. They also get one snack break, where obviously they don’t wear masks. They have hand sanitizer everywhere. My daughter says they get a pump every time they enter a room. They do temp checks and screening questions before they enter the building. They are also utilizing all building entrances, there are 2 grades per door, so there’s not a traffic jam of kids at the doors.
The in person days are great. My 8 year old second grader is having a tough time on the at home days. He often doesn’t complete all his work during class time, so we have to play catch up when I get home from work. My 11 year old sixth grader is doing well all around.
They are both using their computers during the online portions. My sixth grader I would say is about 50% computer work and 50% paperwork, and the papers get turned in the next time she is in person. My second grader only uses the computer for the video. Since his first day in person is always Monday, he gets a packet for the whole week with all the papers he’ll need. So on the at home days, he watches his teacher on the computer, and they screen share or whatever so that he can see their paper, but he completes all work on the paper and turns it in every Monday.
We are assigned to either X (M/T in person) or Y (Th/F in person) cohort. Wednesday all kids are home doing synchronous virtual learning. The days the opposite cohort is in person, kids are home doing asynchronous virtual learning.
This is for PreK-5. Masks are mandatory.
My kid is in kindergarten, and I wasn’t so sure about the bus even Pre COVID, so it was an easy choice for me to just drive her. It’s not a huge hardship for us, and I want to leave spots for the families that really need the transportation.
I am also in Arlington & facing the same decision. Virtual is going surprisingly well. My kids kinda love it b/c they can scooter for recess time.
I was a hard NO on hybrid when there were 3 async days. Now...I'm not sure?
Did you end up making a decision? I picked hybrid but now it is pushed back to the 23rd and I have no idea. I feel like most people are picking virtual, which makes me think I should pick it. BUT also, if most people pick virtual the hybrid experience will be better.
I also think there is a lot of misinformation going around.
I’ve decided on virtual. It is working for my family (my kids really like it) & we can have more happy Covid times lives with the flexibility it offers. What pushed me over is a) having to wait for screening to drop off (I’ve got 2 kids that would go on separate days sp it’d be 4 days. I was hoping I could kiss & ride or have my eldest walk with friends), b) the rolling admission & dismissal...so 2 hrs of the school ‘Day’ has kids coming in & out of class. It’d probably be only 1 hr of my kids day but nothing substantive can be taught then & whatever the assignment is, my ADHD would be struggling, and c) I don’t trust parents of other kids to not send them to school hiding symptoms or when there’s a case in the family, etc. Maybe unreasonable but it’ll help me sleep at night!
truthfully, I wish we were deciding in Jan/Feb for a spring open. Cases are only going to increase with holidays so I don’t think we’ll be back anytime soon regardless.
Did you end up making a decision? I picked hybrid but now it is pushed back to the 23rd and I have no idea. I feel like most people are picking virtual, which makes me think I should pick it. BUT also, if most people pick virtual the hybrid experience will be better.
I also think there is a lot of misinformation going around.
I’ve decided on virtual. It is working for my family (my kids really like it) & we can have more happy Covid times lives with the flexibility it offers. What pushed me over is a) having to wait for screening to drop off (I’ve got 2 kids that would go on separate days sp it’d be 4 days. I was hoping I could kiss & ride or have my eldest walk with friends), b) the rolling admission & dismissal...so 2 hrs of the school ‘Day’ has kids coming in & out of class. It’d probably be only 1 hr of my kids day but nothing substantive can be taught then & whatever the assignment is, my ADHD would be struggling, and c) I don’t trust parents of other kids to not send them to school hiding symptoms or when there’s a case in the family, etc. Maybe unreasonable but it’ll help me sleep at night!
truthfully, I wish we were deciding in Jan/Feb for a spring open. Cases are only going to increase with holidays so I don’t think we’ll be back anytime soon regardless.
Yeah, I really do not think we are going back any time soon. The 7 day average is something like 11.2 and it needs to be below 6. I saw that they pushed back level 1. I am sure 2 is to follow. I wouldn't be surprised if it was spring before they got back in.
I’ve decided on virtual. It is working for my family (my kids really like it) & we can have more happy Covid times lives with the flexibility it offers. What pushed me over is a) having to wait for screening to drop off (I’ve got 2 kids that would go on separate days sp it’d be 4 days. I was hoping I could kiss & ride or have my eldest walk with friends), b) the rolling admission & dismissal...so 2 hrs of the school ‘Day’ has kids coming in & out of class. It’d probably be only 1 hr of my kids day but nothing substantive can be taught then & whatever the assignment is, my ADHD would be struggling, and c) I don’t trust parents of other kids to not send them to school hiding symptoms or when there’s a case in the family, etc. Maybe unreasonable but it’ll help me sleep at night!
truthfully, I wish we were deciding in Jan/Feb for a spring open. Cases are only going to increase with holidays so I don’t think we’ll be back anytime soon regardless.
Yeah, I really do not think we are going back any time soon. The 7 day average is something like 11.2 and it needs to be below 6. I saw that they pushed back level 1. I am sure 2 is to follow. I wouldn't be surprised if it was spring before they got back in.
Yeah, that’s why I wish I could decide later when it’s not approaching holidays & sickness season! Plus, fingers crossed, we might have a National Covid response by the spring which would change things for me too I think.
Yeah, I really do not think we are going back any time soon. The 7 day average is something like 11.2 and it needs to be below 6. I saw that they pushed back level 1. I am sure 2 is to follow. I wouldn't be surprised if it was spring before they got back in.
Yeah, that’s why I wish I could decide later when it’s not approaching holidays & sickness season! Plus, fingers crossed, we might have a National Covid response by the spring which would change things for me too I think.
I think I would be happy to at least be able to decide after the election! Dr. Duran couldn't wait another week! lol.