Hello Scott,
In response to the pandemic and subsequent time for young children at home, our teams have created a Home Learning Book of 36 lessons based on HighScope's COR items. In addition, we safely delivered 150 Home Learning Kits of resources and supplies to all of the families in our program to assist with teaching from the Book.
The next day, we established the following goals to guide our Continuous Learning Plan:
1)Build relationships first and foremost
2)Communicate our plan for learning clearly
3)Teach our families how to use a virtual format 4)Further the HighScope content with authentic learning and assessment, mentoring our families
We created private Facebook Home Learning Groups with specific goals for families, using the supplies, Home Learning Book, and additional resources sent home, as well as everyday items found in the home. We have videos created that introduce the importance of our Kits, that they are a learning tool and we reference Home Learning Book lessons in subsequent teaching videos.
We have established a few criteria for what seems to make for a strong home learning video (based on family engagement and posts):
1)Prepare the read aloud beforehand as you would in the classroom with best practice strategies for read alouds and questions to the families
2)"Channel Mr. Rogers" in your approach and speak a little more slowly, and in a friendly approachable manner, talk about everyday life as well as the lesson to connect with families
3)Show the children and families that you live in a home! Use your own family members for lessons if you are comfortable with that
4)Keep video lessons brief (3-5 min) to help children stay engaged in listening
5)Be sure to note open-ended extensions and the "why" for the lesson in simple terms 6)Always ask for a "see and do" at the end from the families to assess they have learned from the video lessons or story, ask them to post what they have done with the lesson and have them give feedback
Our next step will be to hold Facebook Live-Home Learning Sessions to provide the give and take needed in a real dialogue as well as help us understand how we can assess the learning taking place. We typically have class on Mon-Thurs. We are not sure how many Facebook Live events we will offer per week, we are determining that with family and teacher input.
This process is not perfect and evolves daily. It is important to note we include all families in phone calls, text messages and the good, old-fashioned letter to be sure we touch the lives of all of our families in the program. :)
I am happy to share our resources and would love to discuss the wonderful work everyone else is doing in the virtual world. We see this as continuous learning for all!
Be well my friends!
Chris
christine.whitmire@lewiscassisd.org
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Christine Whitmire
Director of Early Childhood Education
Lewis Cass Intermediate School District
Cassopolis MI
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2020 09:13 AM
From: Scott Mesh
Subject: Helping Parents with Tips
I am putting together short 3 minute VIDEO TIPS for PARENTS.
So many parents are stuck home with kids and not sure how to create positive joyful days. We know it's hard with young kids without knowledge. Yet, our community has lots of knowledge of what young kids love. Please connect with me if you want to share tips. This will be a FREE service to the public. thank you
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Scott Mesh
scott.mesh@losninos.com
Los Niños Services, Los Niños Training, NYC
www.losninos.com www.youngchildexpo.com
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