Today is the first day of my new job. As a teacher, this is only my second school board, so it's been a long time since I was truly walking into a brand-new organization. And it is very different from my first day back in 1983. You need a lot more "stuff" to begin work … Continue reading Beginning a New Job
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Days 17, 18 and 19
Despite our best intentions, our plans to go "screen-free" lasted until late in the day on Wednesday. By then we had been busy all day, and we needed a break from each other. And we decided that Netflix as a reward was working, so our screen time on Thursday and Friday featured "Go Dog. Go", … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Days 17, 18 and 19
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 16
Today was a "no screens" day. Except for a search for a bread recipe, a Cricut project, and "window shopping" for Lego for C's upcoming 5th birthday, we kept all computers, tablets, and phones out of sight. Generally it went very well. We observed a lot more singing, imaginative play, conversations with both of us, … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 16
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 15
It's week 5 of online school for C, and his fourth with me. We decided that he should check in with his class, to begin the week, despite having been asynchronous for much of last week. He was ready at 8:30, and the 45 minute wait was filled with music and videos, and you can … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 15
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Days 13 & 14
C awoke ready to make breakfast. Of course he needed a recipe, so he drew each item, and then labelled them: bread, butter, cinnamon and raisins. The last two he copied from the packages, and as you can see in one of the images above, he's beginning to adopt a traditional pen grip and trying … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Days 13 & 14
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 12
As promised, today we are not going to try the synchronous Google Meet, as it seems to be more stress than success. C was happy with this decision, and happy to head to the Virtual Classroom (Bitmoji) where he had listened to one story and viewed a video on volcanoes yesterday. I was happy that … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 12
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 11
I was awakened this morning by the sound of C laughing in his sleep. When I told him this, once he awoke, he was very angry, and insisted that he hadn't been laughing. I wonder why the idea of laughing in his sleep is so troubling to him. With almost two hours before school begins, … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 11
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 10
So we're back for week three, and trying a different approach. Kindergarten in Ontario is "play-based in a culture of inquiry", and I am going to do my best to support this. If you've been reading my blog you will know that I am an experienced secondary school teacher and administrator who has most recently … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 10
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Days 6, 7, 8 & 9
Monday was a Professional Activity Day, for C's teachers to complete report cards. So, after a 3-day weekend, Tuesday morning was little more rocky. He needed a great deal of coaxing to get dressed, and to get logged in. But he was happy to have me cut out more letters for his name card, and … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Days 6, 7, 8 & 9
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 5
C awoke eager to make robot cookies this morning, so before we even arrived at school we had mixed sugar cookie dough, and cut out cookies to bake. C is getting very good at levelling cups of flour, though not so careful with the stirring yet. He is also very ambitious with his cookie cutting, … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 5
