August 31, 2020
Dear Families,
We did it! We survived (er, perhaps that’s not the right word) our first 11 half days of school.
Per your request, and to ease any anxiety brought on by dropping your child off at school during a pandemic, here is a detailed recap of the day for Cohort A (henceforth to be called “The Aardvarks,” chosen this morning in a class vote).
8:12 a.m.
Sidewalk temperature checks commenced. (Friendly reminder that all Aardvarks are to be dropped off in front of the school between 8:12 and 8:14 a.m. ONLY, to allow for staggered entry and social distancing school-wide.)
8:15 a.m.
Visit to the Sanitation Station. We encourage the children to sing the main verse of their favorite song from Hamilton while they wash. Anything but "Baby Shark," please.
8:30 a.m.
Shoe removal at the classroom door. Two students accidentally used their hands to remove their shoes, so back to the Sanitation Station they went.
8:40 a.m.
Circle time and mask check. Today we threw our talking stick across our six-foot divides and shared how we feel wearing masks at school. Responses varied from “My face is hot” to “I’m a ninja, hiya!” (Friendly reminder that face shields are not suggested as they encourage the children to talk like Darth Vader, which is only slightly distracting.)
8:50 a.m.
During math, we worked on real-life addition and subtraction problems. Textbook examples such as “Nine kids were at the playground, then seven more came,” felt dismal given our current situation. They were replaced with problems like “If Charlie has 3 bottles of hand sanitizer, then Amazon delivers a case of 10, how many bottles does Charlie have now?” (If anyone knows how to actually procure sanitizer from Amazon right now, please share pro tips with your teacher.)
8:52 a.m.
Math was paused for 15 minutes when a student sneezed twice into her mask. She went to the nurse’s office to have her mask set on fire and her temperature checked. (Friendly reminder that your child should have about seven spare masks at school for situations like this, and that you should wash masks every night at home, because that feels feasible.)
9:35 a.m.
Since it was not our cohort’s turn to use the playground, we did our movement break indoors. We celebrated our own resilience by dancing to the GoNoodle version of “I’m Still Standing.” We ended with “Go Bananas,” because this sh*t is bananas.
9:50 a.m.
For independent play, the children sat below their desks and made creations out of their personal collections from home. A couple of the kids tried to swap items with each other and had to be reminded that sharing is not caring anymore.
10:15 a.m.
Bathroom break. Students who needed to use the bathroom went one by one, then pushed our new bright-red alert button so our new sanitation crew knew to wipe down the facilities. Highlight: Only two students dropped their masks on the bathroom floor today — progress! Other students used our classroom sink to wash up. (Friendly reminder to donate 15 bottles of hand soap to our room and to plant 15 trees to balance out our obscene paper towel use.)
10:25 a.m.
During our literacy block, we started working on long vowels, beginning with “A.” Students generated lists of long-A words in their notebooks, then took turns shouting their responses through their masks and plexiglass desk protectors. Answers I could hear included “pain,” “lame," and “rage.” Your children have extensive vocabularies!
10:45 a.m.
Our resident art teacher roved into the class to do an emotion exploration project. The children picked colors to express their feelings and drew monochromatic images. Scenes included a beach in shades of blue, with only seagulls and crabs present; and a desolate city street in shades of gray with “Closed” signs on all storefronts.
10:50 a.m.
Three students went to the Sanitation Station when the art teacher noticed them picking their noses. It’s a tough habit to kick, but we’re in this together.
11:20 a.m.
For today’s end-of-day quiet time, students spent most of the time asking when recess was. Answer: never.
11:35 a.m.
Walkie-talkie pickup commenced. (Friendly reminder to join the carpool line between 11:28 and 11:32 a.m. ONLY, to allow for staggered campus departures.)
The entire classroom was power-washed between 11:45 a.m. and noon, so that Cohort B could learn safely.
Is it Friday yet?
Your Teacher
