Supporting Learners Through the Emotions of the Pandemic

  

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"Behaviour is the language of trauma. Children will show you before they tell you that they are in distress."  - Micere Keels

"The time was not lost, it was invested in surviving an historic period of time in their lives - in our lives. The children do not need to be fixed. They are not broken. They need to be heard. They need to be given as many tools as we can provide to nurture resilience and help them adjust to a post-pandemic world." - Teresa Thayer Snyder

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As the pandemic continues to stretch in front of us with no clear 'end' in sight, schools are coming to terms with the multiple changes living through this historic, worldwide event has generated for adults and, for us most significantly, for our students. 

Quite honestly, when all this began a year ago, I don't think I knew anyone who anticipated the breadth and depth of changes that were rolling towards us - strange viruses had happened before (SARS comes to mind, or H1N1) and we had taken them in stride in Canada. I remember having brief conversations around the quality of our medical care and public health systems and really not being too concerned at all about long term impacts on the school - or our lifestyles - at all. 

Hindsight makes me wonder at the naivety of that thinking - so many things have happened since then that have revealed challenges to fundamental supports in our world, including our health care system, our economic system, our lifestyles and to our education system all at the same time, in a historical confluence that has been both humbling and inspiring.  The idea of being on 'solid ground' no longer exists as we constantly adjust our thinking to ever-shifting new information and events, both on a worldwide scale as well as on a microscopic level inside our school.

Last week I wrote about some cracks in resiliency beginning to become visible amongst our students as the winter months have arrived, with the COVID-19 realities still stretching forward in front of us for a considerably longer time than ever anticipated.  I noted some of the new behaviours and conversations we've seen creeping onto the landscape gradually over the past few months that are becoming more prevalent and persistent as time passes:

• children resisting learning - not wanting to participate in specific learning tasks
• children who are expressing or acting out feelings of being anxious ('I'm worried, I'm afraid, what if...)
• sometimes children will say they are bored, or tired or don't like doing a particular learning activity     
• children are struggling to read body language, solve problems in peaceful ways, or are misreading social situations 
• learners are exhibiting a wide variety of learning gaps that are not consistent across the school population - we are discovering interruptions in learning and understanding that are different child to child 
• questions specific to school are being asked much more frequently (Will we need to stay home again and learn online? What happens if someone gets sick - do we all need to go home? What if my teacher gets sick and has to stay home? Will school stop for a long time again?)
• children are beginning to vocalize the things they miss - like swimming, birthday parties, going to hockey or skating, seeing grandparents, etc - while this is not unexpected it is a relatively fresh phenomenon expressed in a variety of ways (Remember when...When COVID is over the first thing I want to do...I miss my....I wonder if I will ever get to....again)

As teachers, we are exploring strategies that will both reassure and support our learners as they move through the various nuances of feelings that are surfacing as the restrictions and constraints on learning seem to have become permanent for our young students.  It is a tightrope walk for sure, trying to reassure while honouring the questions and feelings, trying to keep school as 'typical' as possible while also acknowledging school is nowhere near the 'same' experience some of them have loved before - while others have only this experience as a way of understanding what 'school' is all about. 

Coming to school every day with a cluster of children to absorb and demand your time and attention is, without a doubt, a happy distraction from the realities of a life constrained on every front. As a staff, we have all become accustomed to the masks, sanitizing, distancing, cohorting schedules, stay-in-place expectations, restricted use of student supplies, controlled use of washrooms and hallways and the staggered entry/exits that have defined this school year.  And we are grappling with the changes in teaching and learning, the spectrum of learner needs that is more diverse than anything we have experienced before and the absence of opportunities for shared experiences with peers and parents, doing our best to ensure constrained learning is an engaging, personalized and interesting as possible.

The next level of nuance in these pandemic teaching circumstances is supporting and understanding the students when they do begin to exhibit signs of emotional distress, and to work with families to better recognize, appreciate and sustain students when small emotional displays or expressions of concern do pop up.

A key strategy for supporting learners to successfully navigate their emotional responses to school during the pandemic is to better understand where their concerns are rooted. Sometimes this is relatively clear when a child can express their concerns verbally while other times it takes a bit of exploring and talking to discover where a child's anxieties may be focused. There are some general starting places where adults can begin when a child either acts out or expresses a worry, fear or anxiety.

'I'm bored...'

For example, we know that when a child says "I'm bored" they are typically referring to the level of activity associated with learning rather than the actual content or task. At EHS, students who attended pre-pandemic were hands-on, active learners every single day, engaged in group projects, in working in the Maker Space, accessing the Learning Commons as needed, being part of weekly Wonder Times, participating in a variety of Ignite early morning activities designed to calm brains and bodies in preparation for active learning. Today in our school, virtually none of these opportunities exist for students. While there are a few opportunities for engaging (either masked and/or distanced) in learning with others in a child's specific cohort, opportunities for hands-on learning are extremely limited with daily school work much more focused on paper-and-pencil type of tasks. Interactions with children outside of their cohort do not exist anymore. Ignite activities when children enter school are restricted as well to individual activities. The Learning Commons is off limits at all times, even for choosing a new book to read. The Maker Space is a mask-free zone without the usual active, group-focused design and building activities many children thrive on as learners. Children are bored because they learn best when both bodies and minds are engaged in learning at the same time. 

How do we support learners who are expressing these concerns about being bored with learning? 

First, we listen and honour that expression, acknowledging that it is very real for that child in that moment. There is no one 'magic' solution to supporting any child whose emotions are becoming visibly demonstrated, but listening is always a great place to begin!

Dr. Michele Borba is one my go-to resources for suggestions when we are supporting students who are exhibiting any kind of emotional distress. She suggests using a 'Talk. Stop. Listen. Talk. Stop. Listen.' strategy with kids - with an emphasis on listen. Through the 'Talk' phase, teachers can as questions or offer suggestions as to why a child is expressing boredom as a feeling (such as asking what is different about this year's learning from last year, for example), as well as ideas for making the learning more active that the child might not think of on their own. While many of our learning activities are restricted to paper and pencil, there is also room for acting out ideas through Reader's Theatre or mini-plays, learning to draw in a different way (eg. 3D drawing or using shapes), building structures such as dioramas at home to demonstrate understanding, making use of video or other digital strategies to capture learning, etc. The key is to listen, to talk to parents and support their efforts to help children understand the root causes of 'boredom' and to try and build room for alternative demonstrations of learning within the constrained classroom. 

'I don't want to do...'

Some of our youngest learners are struggling to adapt to daily constrained learning - being able to sit still in a similar place for an extended period of time, listening to instructions, following models and then trying a task on their own is a multiple-step process that takes time to get used to. For many of our grade 1 students, for example, time spent in Kindergarten in the classroom where routines were established and expectations reinforced for 'how to be a student' was reduced by 1/3 and then, stretched over summer, by another two months. That's a long time for 5-year-old to remember how to behave like a student - especially when the last few months of Kindergarten are the ones typically most focused on acquiring 'getting ready for grade 1' skills and strategies. 

A constrained pandemic teaching arrangement brought inexperienced learners into a fairly intense learning environment with a multitude of 'rules' and expectations no grade 1 students had ever had to contend with before - masks, sanitizing, cohorting, no general playground or play time, etc. Our little ones have risen to the occasion dramatically well, learning to cope with these expectations without complaint and adjust to being in a controlled environment pretty much every minute of the day. And, when listening to the teacher seems to take too long, or the learning tasks are difficult or take a great deal of energy or time, investing in yet more 'musts' seems like just too much to do for someone whose body is itching to jump around, sing or just play. 

As teachers, this is a challenge in a constrained classroom because our options for sustaining a controlled learning environment while finding a way to engage every learner is a tall order to say the least! Our learners are coming to school without a consistent set of background experiences and without predictable previous learning experiences that we have come to rely on as scaffolds to guide our learners through the various learning stages and graded content.  Our support ladders have been disturbed and we are working hard to adjust our teaching strategies to absorb a much wider range of abilities and work styles than would typically come to us in an average school year. 

We start with listening to the children, talking to them as well, as we try to uncover where the 'hard parts' are that are resulting in resistance towards engaging in tasks.  Sometimes we've talked too long and they have tuned out from the actual instructions or directions on what they are expected to do - I don't think there is a teacher anywhere on the planet who has not experienced 'teacher over talk'!  In our zeal to ensure everyone understands the next steps, we explain and explain and explain...Sometimes we need to learn to pause and this pandemic year has certainly been instructive for all of us in learning not to 'teacher over talk'!  Sometimes the task is really just too complex or unfamiliar and requires additional scaffolding or coaching. Sometimes we need to chunk tasks into several smaller units and take a break in between to celebrate accomplishments before attempting yet another step in the process of learning a new skill. Sometimes we just need to take a break and get bodies moving in a quick, desk-side body break. 

These are all differentiation strategies teachers know and use daily in any regular teaching context - adapting them without including movement to a small group setting or access to the Maker Space, Learning Commons or other alternative learning space makes offering opportunities for differentiating tasks a much greater challenge when we are all confined to one room and one space in that room. Additional learning tools cannot be shared (such as games, ipads) without cleaning and sanitizing in between; meeting together as an informal small group of students to get a little extra support is almost impossible when there are no additional spaces in the room to join together. Sometimes we need to find a digital solution (like an online game or listening activity) and that requires a whole other level of sanitizing too. 

Teachers are adapting, sharing ideas, trying new strategies that will both scaffold and engage our learners who are resisting taking up constrained learning activities. We are coaching and encouraging whenever possible. Dr. Timothy Shanahan has always championed use of the 'Triple P' strategy for encouraging students - Pause. Prompt. Praise. and we are making great use of this strategy as children are nudged to lean into the work of reading, writing, making sense of complex tasks.  Teachers are sharing scaffolding ideas with each other and with parents, recognizing the need for impromptu body breaks and trying a wide variety of small tweaks with every day tasks to promote student engagement with everyday learning activities currently constrained and restrictive for children who have a great need to run, jump, talk, laugh and play in an environment where that is no longer an option. 

It is clear there is no one 'way' to gather all our learners together and ensure they are successfully adapting to the many, many changes the pandemic has shaped in our school.  As teachers, we are constantly learning and adapting all the time too, trying to make sense of this new reality that has been so unexpectedly thrust upon all of us.  We are all in this together in so many ways, and adapting to how we might best support learners who are displaying unanticipated emotions through this pandemic year is just one of the ways we are all coming together to make sense of 'school' in this new era.

Next blog entry I will explore strategies for supporting learners who are struggling with social interactions, anxieties and all the things they are missing as a result of COVID-19.  Following that, my plan is to look forward a bit to what we might be able to do in preparation for post-pandemic learning. Things have changed and they will necessitate bigger changes overall. We didn't have an opportunity to anticipate the immense shifts in teaching and learning that all but swamped us these past 10 months, but we do have a clear path to anticipating what might come afterwards when we are all back to in-school, uninterrupted learning together without constraints.

In the meantime, we will continue to support students to the best of our ability, adapting and adjusting our practices as required, in consultation and communication with our parents. We are truly all in this together and our greatest opportunities for building success with students rests with sharing our stories and experiences with one another. 

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal

Eric Harvie School 

 

Temperature Check: How Are the Children Feeling These Days?

                    "This storm is making me tired," said the boy. "Storms get tired too," said the horse, "so hold on."                                       - Charlie Mackesy (The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse)

 "Everyone, from parents to educators to children, is feeling the stress of uncertainty. Many parents worry that their child has regressed, withdrawn, or disengaged from school. Educators have rapidly acquired new instructional delivery methods, and some are balancing both in-person and remote instruction. Even teachers with decades of experience feel like they're back in year one, and educators across the country are on the receiving end of a steady stream of demoralizing criticism. Meanwhile, emotions are contagious, and children are absorbing all the ambient anxiety."   - Phyllis Fagell (Educational Leadership, January 2021)

 

"Children will need a lot of the same things we have offered them pre-pandemic at school, but they are also going to need different things, and less of some things.

What better time to redefine a developmental path for children from preschool through graduation?" 

- Bethany Hill (January 2021)

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It goes without saying what a trying year this has been - and also without saying (I hope!) how hard the school has tried to keep things as familiar as possible within the context of absurd change. 

When I think about the amount of planning and consideration we typically put into changing one small thing in a school, it is astonishing for me to consider the number of changes we have made in the past 9 months - along the magnitude, I think, of what could be generational change in any usual timeline. 

We've been diligent in implementing changes to the point that excessive everything - sanitizing, wearing masks, distancing, cohorting, etc - has become de rigeur and a way of being in school. It is safe to say we have worked hard to build the strongest fortress against COVID-19 possible. And we have, through all the changes, been so impressed with the resiliency of the children.

Having survived - and hopefully thrived - almost five months of establishing this new order of how school operates during a pandemic, we are beginning to breathe a little more slowly as we settle deeply into what school might truly be for students during these unusual times.  January has, in a way, brought us back together with a bit more perspective than seemed possible through the tumultuous changes of the autumn months.

One of the things we are recognizing is that many of the assumptions we have built our teaching practices around are not on the same firmament as they were before the pandemic arrived unexpectedly last spring. We are noticing there are some cracks developing amongst the resilience we have all been building together, and that is impacting our thinking as we look forward to the remaining months of the pandemic, towards the great beacon of hope that will be the 'time of post-pandemic learning'. 

Truth be told, there are challenges for all of us, children and adults alike, that are beginning to take a toll on us as we continue moving forward through this school year. While the general veneer of 'we're all coping' is still intact, there are signs of stress that lead us to wonder: How are the children feeling these days?

We've observed some changes for sure....

We've noticed more children resisting learning, feeling anxious, sometimes saying they are bored, misreading social situations, exhibiting unanticipated delays in learning, worrying about many things - such as when the next online learning time will begin, or a relatively new phenomena where children are mourning vocally the loss of favourite activities they remember from 'before'.  Not every child for sure, yet more than we might have expected.

This is not just a time of lockdown, isolation and separation. It is a definite time of loss and sea-change with long-reaching implications for all of us, as individuals and as families. While the children have persevered quite well for many months, the endless feel of this experience is beginning to wear on them as much - sometimes more - than the adults in their lives. 

Everything about school is different for our students this year. 

This one fact has, however, tremendous implications for children still growing into being students in a school setting - because the school setting is not really familiar once they get into the building, routines have changed and opportunities for learning are limited in multiple ways that are more about keeping children safe than about optimal conditions for learning. 

Kids are happy to be back at school - it feels like a release from being so confined to home. Yet, once they are inside the school, it doesn't really feel like school has in their brief pasts. And the kinds of tasks they are engaging in are necessarily constrained by safe behaviours to be less active, creative and imaginative, as well as more solitary. 

Educators know that knowledge is socially constructed, best acquired in the company of others. When we severely limit opportunities for collaboration, conversation and working in cooperation with each other, knowledge becomes a personal construct of understanding. There is less scope for possible challenges to single perspective understanding and fewer opportunities for applying new understandings in novel situations. 

While knowledge is, of course, still acquired in solitary learning situations, it becomes a more restrained 'knowing of ideas, facts or concepts' rather than an exercise in exploring, applying, investigating, designing, re-designing, questioning, practicing, innovating or challenging those ideas to become a broader and deeper appreciation of possibilities in the world. 

It is not surprising most children benefit from and thrive in a school environment where opportunities to socially construct understanding of new concepts together are offered every day, all day as part of their regular learning experience. There are reasons to get up and come to school every day and live out various adventures in learning - the motivation to engage in learning actually lies in the learning experience itself. 

It is also not surprising that children are expressing frustration with constraints on their learning no matter how hard we work to make their in-school learning as interesting and as creative as possible. Regardless of how much teachers and staff try to make coming to school under pandemic restraints inviting and engaging, none of us are able to escape the fact we are experiencing school in a constrained, restrained and controlled environment that runs counter to everything we know about how children love to learn. 

Dr. Brad Johnson, an educator/author who reflects often on how children learn and engage in school, noted long before the pandemic, "If we allowed children to learn how children learn best, maybe it would be a more joyous and impactful endeavour for all involved. Children love and learn through free play, physical activity, recess, Arts, Music and movement." And these are the very things we are currently constraining most in schools. 

Have you noticed your child is resistant to doing learning tasks or balking at going to school? Is it harder to get them motivated when learning temporarily moves online - or vice versa? These are typical responses when children feel they are on uncertain ground and not comfortable with experiences or expectations. 

We've noticed a higher number of our earliest learners demonstrating some resistant behaviours to being in school every day - most likely reflecting the interruption to building school familiarity over the past months, beginning with the school closures last spring. In a regular school cycle students gradually develop appropriate in-school behaviours and routines over time together.  We are discovering - for the first time for most of us, as educators - that interrupting this regular school cycle of development has a significant impact on how skilled our students are at coping successfully with the demands of school. 

This is exacerbated for our youngest learners who are now being asked to respond to school in typical ways when their preparation was not complete and, often, forgotten completely. No wonder they are resistant - school is not inviting them to do the things they do naturally - play, explore, move, interact with others - and they can barely remember what it 'used to be like' anyway. Confusion and frustration are the byproducts of small children expected to conform in unfamiliar circumstances to practices they have not encountered before. Depending on personality and background experiences, some will willingly do their best to conform while others will exhibit varying degrees of nonconformity.  We've noticed several other indicators of child stress as well that are becoming trends as the pandemic endures - in future blog entries, I will further explore some of the nuances of motivation, frustration, anxiety, boredom, worry and delays in academic achievement associated with living through a pandemic in real time in a real school setting. 

It is so important for us to remember that nonconformity of any nature is how a child tells us "this is not a comfortable place for me to be" - either emotionally, physically or socially. Brad Johnson reminds us always, "There are no BAD KIDS!  There are kids who have been traumatized, have little hope for the future, have never experienced success, love or joy, have not learned to regulate their emotions. It is NEVER too late to help a kid who is struggling!"  When a child acts out, they are sending a message to the adults in their circle that this situation is not comfortable for me but I can't explain why and I need a little help - or maybe a lot of help.  And in this pandemic time of constraint and uncertainty, it may take some extra investment of time and care to actually unpack what is underneath the discomfort and causing the reaction in a child at all. It is hard enough for adults to wrap our heads around what has happened to the world and explain how we feel. For children, trying to figure out why they feel anxious or confused or frustrated in a world that is their unfathomable reality.  

Dr. Michele Borba, educational psychologist and author of many books on raising and educating children, offers what she calls the 'TALK Strategy' for helping children cope with anxiety, stress, trauma or tragedy.  It is a 4-step discussion strategy that requires no background in psychology; just a wish to help a child in distress for whatever reason:

    1) Talk about what is happening - what are your child's understandings related to an event, a situation, a conversation and correct any inaccuracies of information while listening and affirming feelings

    2) Assess how your child is coping with the situation; what are they feeling and how are they behaving in school and/or at home. Appreciating the realities of the situation will help with developing resiliency in the future.

    3) Listen to your child's concerns and questions. Use the 'Talk. Stop. Listen. Talk. Stop. Listen.' model as you talk to your child.  As the adult, listen more than you talk. Answer what you are able to answer truthfully. Don't give more information than needed in the moment - follow your child's lead.

     4) Kindle hope - despite this difficult situation and all the other challenging events taking place in the world, there is also goodness, compassion and hope. Offer awareness of all three to your child in as concrete a way as possible. 

When we talk to children and really listen, we begin to see the world through the eyes of a child, to perceive and appreciate childlike perspectives we may have abandoned long ago. We find ourselves able to reframe our own thinking while guiding our children to consider alternative possibilities. We are able to offer them ideas to apply in their own situations for problem solving, using empathetic thinking, appreciating other human beings and the flaws we all carry as members of the human race. And, perhaps most importantly of all, we are able to acknowledge feelings and behaviours as authentic and normal and part of living in a pretty mixed up world. It is through these practices that children develop resiliency and become comfortable with their own feelings and discomforts. 

Examining the nuances of children's feelings through these later days of a still-raging pandemic, I recognize there are many implications for successfully leading students through this time of social, emotional and physical upheaval that will require reflection and examination well beyond one blog entry. 

Over the next few weeks, I expect to explore multiple aspects of working successfully with children during these uncertain times, and begin to visit possibilities for moving forward in numerous ways with children through the final (hopefully!) months of the pandemic into a quite different post-pandemic time. Our learners are on this journey with us as children of the world, and they deserve the time and attention focused on a much different future.

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal

Eric Harvie School 

Behind the Scenes: School in 2021

 

Pivot. 

It has become a much-used word in schools through the 2020-21 school year, attempting to capture the sometimes whiplash-like changes that have occurred (and most likely will continue to happen) as school boards, governments and families grapple with the constantly-changing situation that is our current COVID-19 pandemic reality. In schools we use the word pivot within the context of the pandemic to describe teachers moving swiftly - sometimes in a matter of minutes or hours - to shift between online and in-class learning. This sounds much more innocuous than it actually is; shifting between online and in-class learning requires a significant investment on behalf of all staff members to ensure productive, positive learning encounters.  

I thought I would share some of the behind-the-scenes efforts that afforded our whole school an online learning experience the week of January 5 - 8, 2021 as a way of acknowledging and appreciating the tremendous efforts of staff and students as we all work together to manage the many aspects of the pandemic situation.

Our preparations for online learning really began much earlier in the fall when teachers established new Google Classroom environments and collaborated together to generate plans for teaching and learning that correlated to a previously non-prescriptive scope-and-sequence for learning that aligned with learning in the Hub online school environment. A plan for providing learning encounters in the event of student isolation or extended at-home illness was also developed. Students were re-introduced to their google passwords, Google Meet and Google Classroom over the first several weeks of school - a 'just in case' preparatory move in the event of a COVID-19 related event requiring cohort isolation.  These steps laid the ground work for any pivots toward online learning for in-school students and teachers. 

When the announcement was made in late November that all students - including elementary - would be engaging in online learning for the first week of January, preparations became focused on that particular situation. The CBE presented timetabling expectations and guidelines and staff worked to collaboratively develop schedules for cohorts that were reasonable, varied and would meet students' learning needs. Once the timetable for the whole school was established, teachers planned collaboratively for instruction in anticipation of January 5, 2021. Information was shared with parents, as well as opportunities for accessing school-based technology as needed. And winter break began.

The weekend before school re-opened online, Mr. Strand spent several hours preparing digital devices for families to pick up for use through the online week of school so they would be ready for parents to pick up on Monday morning. Last minute plans and preparations were finalized on our PD day, Monday, and teachers set up stations either at home or at school complete with resources, headphones, laptops, etc. On Tuesday morning, January 5, we were ready to go 'live' with online learning - again. 

From our perspective, focused preparation resulted in a successful week of online learning - there were a few glitches for sure (there always are!) but overall, the week unfolded relatively without incident and both students and teachers pivoted and adjusted effectively. We are also prepared to continue to support students going forward through the next few months when the opportunity for periods of cohort isolation will continue to be very possible, with the potential to cause students and teachers to pivot between online and in-person learning on very short notice. And teachers do have plans for modified support for students who might be isolated or quarantined at home due to exposure to a positive case outside the school or in their families. 

We have adjusted to the concept of pivoting from an educational perspective, with full realization it takes the collaborative effort of a whole school, supported by the school system, to make this happen effectively for students.

From a framework for expectations related to instructional minutes, planning, teaching and assessment established at the system level, to the communication with families, decisions related to online formats and platforms and ensuring access to internet as well as digital devices that includes the necessary signatures and inventory tracking, and the actual unfolding of the daily teaching and learning that also includes opportunities for extending learning as well as specific support for students who require a little extra attention to continue to grow as learners, the robust nature of our pivot to online learning reflects an amazing level of collaboration and cooperation across our staff. 

And I am the most fortunate of principals to work as part of this outstanding team!

There is no doubt the pandemic restrictions are taking a toll on all of us - our patience levels, our frustrations with endless restrictions on our personal movements as well as our professional practices, our reduced social interactions that sustain a school on so many levels, and the recognition that the success of our teaching and our students' learning is being impacted by all the layers of restrictions, changes and constrictions of learning experiences are draining energies and impacting our emotional wellness every day for staff, students and families. 

Collaborative practices and checking in on each other helps immensely; it does not diminish the pandemic situation nor relieve any of the vigilance and perseverance required by all of us to continue with schooling through the next few months. Collaboration and support does mitigate, however, some of the more overwhelming effects of feeling like we can never rely on the previous conceptions of school, teaching, learning and living we believed were foundational to successful educational experiences. 

We hope your child's online learning experiences were positive and accessible - they were the result of a tightly woven web of multiple levels of support and effort by everybody at the school as well as the CBE - and of course was the result of our families' extremely strong support of the school in every possible way. 

Together we will weather this storm too!  

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal 

Eric Harvie School 

Perseverance: The Next Dance of the Pandemic

 

 

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called 'Opportunity' and its first chapter is new Year's Day." - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

"We are all afraid. We are all confused. We are doing our best, no matter what it looks like. We are all lonely and weird and beautiful. And we are all here together. We should remember that more."

 - Nanen Hoffman

Welcome 2021! 

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have thoroughly enjoyed the 16-day break from school, as I am sure all other teachers, students, administrators and parents have as well.  It was definitely a different holiday season - completely unlike any other I have celebrated in a very long past - thanks to the impact of the pandemic on pretty much the entire world and definitely in Alberta.  I do not recall a quieter, more confined break ever!  

We return to school on Monday, January 4/21, although our first day will be a professional day with no children in attendance.  And, as per provincial mandate, our school will also be virtual for the remainder of the first week, with an expected return to in-class learning on Monday, January 11, 2021.  We have shared our plans for online learning with families and are ready to go!

When school returns to in-person learning next week, we will be focused on persevering with precautions, doing our best to keep things as safe as possible while ensuring students are growing as learners. While vaccinations are clearly on our horizon, persevering with layers of protective actions will continue to be our primary focus for the foreseeable future. The promise of a return to a typical schooling experience is certainly on the horizon, but we have months of persevering with protective practices before that becomes our reality again. We know there will be challenges; we are ready to persevere. 

There are multiple layers of protective practices we have established and will continue to keep in effect in the coming months. The most visible, of course, are the three strategies we emphasize daily with the children and have captured in our school healthy triad poster. 

Other protective strategies include those mandated by the Calgary Board of Education, such as not allowing visitors in the school or on school property, all grades wearing masks in the school any time 2 m distancing cannot be sustained, and enhanced cleaning of the school each day with additional staff assigned for these purposes. Strategies that include distancing, assigned seating, use of PPE and daily checks at home for absence of any signs of illness begin with provincial mandates. And then there are strategies developed or enhanced by the school to provide additional precautionary layers of protection from COVID-19.  

Pre-cautionary strategies that our school uses include:

• staggered entry and exit times for all students
• mask wearing at all times, inside and outside, except for mask-free designated areas and physical activity outside
• hand sanitizing/washing when entering/exiting the school or classes   
• individually wiping surfaces after we are finished with them (eg. tables, shelves)
• students cohorted in class groupings at all times, both inside and outside and during lunch hours
• individual supplies in labelled, personalized containers for each student
• managed used of reading books to limit cross-contact, with 'book spa' time (3 days) between users
• no use of Learning Commons, Maker Space or other shared spaces, manipulatives or resources 
• controlled, supervised access to washrooms and hallways
• 4 mask-free zones in the school where a supervised cohort of students may safely take a break 2 m apart for a story or lesson
• open windows where appropriate to facilitate air flow
• occupancy limitations for staffroom and other working areas, and use of virtual meetings for staff

These strategies offer precautionary layers of protection for students and have been in place since the fall. We will definitely persevere with them as the winter progresses into spring, appreciating the support of our families, carrying a great deal of hope and optimism for keeping the virus at bay until the realities of vaccinations are able to keep us all safe and able to have learning look more like school used to and will again.

It has been a restful break, preparing us for the immense work ahead - we are energized and ready to begin learning again - with appropriate cautions well in place.  Welcome back to 2021 - a whole new year of growth, challenge and (I expect) many surprises :)

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal

Eric Harvie School