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
Month: January 2021
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
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 4
C's morning went well: woke up well-rested, enjoyed a couple of episodes of Paw Patrol, ate frozen fruit for breakfast, dressed himself, and then chose to make a new name card for attendance. Today's card featured his drawing of his newest "Bumblebee" figure, and his name with all the letters in a row, in the … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 4
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 3
Day three began well, with C beginning a morning routine. He has made a new name card each day, and this serves as a good warm-up, and fills the time until the Google Meet link shows up in their Google Classroom. By getting into the class as soon as possible he gets acknowledgement from his … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 3
School Systems are not ready to End Oppression
I am on a journey to understand how my actions as a teacher and administrator have contributed to Anti-Black Racism in our school system. And to understand why we have taken so long to acknowledge it, and to act to counter it. Our school structures are power structures. Director to Superintendent to Principal to Teacher … Continue reading School Systems are not ready to End Oppression
Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 2
We're back in Google Meet with C's class. Today he created a new name card, with letters we printed with the Cricut Maker. He added a hand-cut (by grandma) heart "because I love my class". The first activity today is another workshop with the art gallery. Today the teachers enlisted the help of the teacher … Continue reading Junior Kindergarten Online – Journal – Day 2