Maggie

Maggie’s Week at School at Home

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This week, I worked on grammar and mammoth math and I read a lot. For grammar I had to figure out what part of speech different words were. For math I did all types of math, like clock work, and pluses and minuses, and figuring out what numbers are even and odd. I read Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, I and II. I got online for about a half hour to an hour every day with my teachers and classmates. I liked sharing at the end of the week where you get to share something special. The first time I shared a rock. It reminded me of state parks. And the second time I shared a plastic polar bear that I made in a Mold-A-Rama at Como Zoo. I don’t get to go to the zoo a whole lot now and I like the zoo.

A completed example from Maggie’s Daily Grammar packet.
Andrew, Teaching

Distance Teaching

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I’m starting my second week of distance teaching today. Not loving it thus far. Admittedly, there are some neat aspects to it. I thought I would dislike having to record all of my class meetings, but it’s actually pretty convenient. If I’m having a one-on-one discussion with a student during our “quiet study” period, I can share the video with them afterward so that they don’t have to worry about taking notes. Similarly, if a student misses a class meeting, the video of the class will be posted within about 15 minutes… so that can be useful.

But, and this is huge, the connections with students are so much weaker. I see all their tiny faces on my meeting grid, but I can’t really tell if they are with me or snoozing or confused. Normally I can walk around the room and read everyone’s body language. If the energy is sleepy, I rev things up or insert a quick oxygen break. If students seem confused, I slow down and go over things more carefully. All of this is much harder when mediated by a video conferencing app. Even doing a “whip share” where everybody shares something feels slower and less dynamic on the computer. I find myself losing focus before we make it around the circle (and when I’m zoning out, I know that most of the class is long gone!).

I’m confident that I’ll get better at this as I gain more experience. I hope to solicit plenty of feedback from my students, too, about what’s working for them. I haven’t been at it long enough to see how the quality of student work changes. I’m curious about that.

Below are two artifacts from my first week. First is the Welcome Back video that I sent to my eighth-grade social studies students before our first class. It took me forever to make and I have a million criticisms, but it’s safe to say that it was the best I could do in the time that I had. The second is a cartoon created by my good friend Nate. He’s a teacher on the east coast and used to draw illustrations of our high school D&D adventures.  In my classes so far, I’ve seen all of his archetypes except the skateboarder.

Oliver, Uncategorized

Coversation evolution

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The following is a conversation that I had with Oliver as I was helping get him ready for bed tonight.

<I’ve just brought in the top to the pajama bottoms he picked out.>

O: Oh, Mama! You found the match! How did you find that?

M: It was in your pajama bin at the bottom!

O: I LOVE those pajamas. They look like a Christmas tree. Hey, Mama. Why did you take down the Christmas tree?

M: It was dead, and all the needles were falling off. Plus it’s not Christmas anymore!

O: When will it be Christmas? Tomorrow?

M: No, it’s a loooong way away.

O: On Thursday?

M: No, it’s many months away. Let’s count: April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. That’s 9 months. That’s a long time.

O: So next Saturday?

M: No, months have about 30 days in them, so that’s 270 days away! That’s a lot!

O: Like this many? <holds up both hands>

M: No, that’s only ten. See, we’re only in spring, which is a season and another way we mark time. Spring is when all the plants come alive. Then it will be summer, which is another season, when it’s warm, and we can go swimming outside. And then it’s fall, when the leaves fall off the trees and we get to pick all the food we grew in our garden over the summer.

O: <squeals> I LOVE OUR GARDEN! Can we have an ONION TREE?!?

M: Wow, an onion tree?

O: <excitedly> YES! It will grow and grow and then we’ll get to pick the onions that are hanging!!

M: That would be really great. But onions don’t grow on trees. They grow in the ground!

O: <surprised face> Oh!! Then we will just grow them in the ground, and then hang them in the trees, and then we will pick them from the trees!

M: Alright! That sounds like a plan.

O: Can we also plant a sausage tree?

M: Well, sausages don’t grow. 

O: How about a hot dog tree?

M: Also not a plant.

O: Ok, then we will grow a bunny cookie tree that will have bunny cookies hanging from the branches, but it will just be pretend.

M: That sounds good, honey.

<30 minutes later as I’m saying goodnight after tucking him in>

O: So will we plant our garden tomorrow afternoon?

M: Not quite, love. In a few weeks.

O: In the afternoon?

M: We can do it in the afternoon.

O: I love you, Mama.

M: I love you, too, Bug.

Andrew, Griffin, Maggie, Sarah

Virtual Family

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Our new way of connecting with family in Oregon, Washington, and Southern Minnesota: Yahtzee on Google Meet/Hangouts and FaceTime. We learned a few things about cameras and scoresheets and the importance of seeing the dice when we’re playing, and it was so nice to connect in a way we’re used to doing in person. I predict many more creative solutions to come ❤️

Maggie

leopard seal

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[Maggie did some research on leopard seals this morning while studying at home. We’re aiming to include highlights of daily lessons on the blog. – Andrew]

Leopard seals live in freezing polar waters. They have clawed flippers. There are many different types of seals but leopard seals are the strongest hunters and swim very fast. Leopard seals have spotted fur and look like the cat called a leopard.

This is a leopard seal hunting a penguin.
Baby leopard seal with its mama.
Sarah

Big Fat Cry

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I had a big fat cry today. The cracks are starting to show in our kids, who miss their school life, friends, and routines, and despite them being used to me saying, “I don’t know” about all kinds of things, they kind of know this time that I *really* don’t know. Don’t know when we get to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s. Don’t know when the museums will open again. Don’t know when school will resume. I just don’t know.

We’ve never really been in control of this life, but there’s a special kind of something going on right now with this uncertainty. Crying is good. Loving each other and not doing school is good. Soaking up the sun is good. Leaving secret notes for our friends in the hollows of trees is good. There is a lot of good. AND. This sucks, and it’s scary, and we don’t know what’s coming next. And that’s worth crying about.

“We do not need to create a foot race to the silver lining. We don’t need to be in a hurry to turn these quarantine lemons (or cancer lemons, or any kind of lemon!) into a side hustle or a novel or a newfound fluency in three new languages.”

The latest news from Sarah and Andrew.