On March 13, 2020 it was announced that we would be transitioning to distance learning, this was a new and concerning experience for all teachers and students. As a teacher who was been teaching for over 20 years, I knew I had to come up with new plans, routines, expectations and more as we all learned from our homes. Explore what this experience was like for myself and my class.

Teaching during the pandemic was a challenging experience that forced me to adapt to a whole new way of teaching. I had to learn to come up with both beneficial synchronous and asynchronous learning for my students. I was teaching first grade during this time. It was fortunate that this happened at the end of the school year and I knew my students academic and social abilities quite well.

From March to May, and August to October my students were learning from home. My day was divided into periods where I would have either my whole class, small groups or one-on-one times. When my students were not learning with me directly, they were working on asynchronous work. Students and their parents were given a week at a glance and their weekly schedules so they knew when they were Zooming and when they were working independently. Their assignments were then posted on Class Dojo or Google Classroom.

In November of 2020, we were able to return to in person learning. In person learning was still much different than in the past years, students had to remain physically distanced and wear masks. This was challenging for these young first graders. The in person part of our days ended at 12:45; and I still worked one-on-one with students in the afternoon using Zoom meetings. I did my best to stay positive through all of this for my students and their families. I must say that I learned a lot about myself and my students.

• Google Classroom

• Class Dojo

• Google Docs, Slides, Forms

• Freckle

• Superkids Online Learning

• Zearn for math concepts

• SEL Check-ins

• Zoom Parent/Teacher Conferences

• Teacher Collaboration

• Seesaw

• IXL

• Clever/Freckle

• Superkids Video Resources