Someone asked me, "How do you do all of this and have a young family?" I am used to hearing people say, "Do you ever sleep?" Yes, I sleep. In fact, I need at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Rest is important for me to function at full speed as well as for my recovering brain. It's a fair question. When I was a beginning teacher, I would arrive at school early in the morning and stay there until past dinner. Then, most nights I was doing work at home before bed. It would've been really difficult for me to be an excellent teacher if I were just now starting with littles at home (not to say that others who are just starting and have littles at home can't be excellent teachers, just that it would've been hard for ME). But due to that hard (and likely unhealthy) work back then, I have a lot of strategies in my teacher tool kit and many resources to pull from. I also spend an hour each day in the summer working on resources that will help me durin
Especially after school closures due to Covid19. A recent study of children in 3rd to 5th grades showed that students lost, on average, about 20 percent of their school-year gains in reading and 27 percent of their school-year gains in math during summer break. Couple this with our recent distance learning, and the possible setbacks make me just a little nervous. Social Emotional Learning/Health Your child just went through a traumatic ending of the school year. It's important to recognize that and proceed accordingly. You know your child best. What does he need? Would it be best to just continue on with the regular schedule? Does he need a break? Take time to talk with your child about his emotions and continue to make him feel safe during this uncertain time. Social emotional health is paramount to academic learning. If you are looking for strategies to help your child with learning at home, check out these videos: Routine Creating a routine is essential! Outline the exp