Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Virtual Planner

    Posted 08-07-2020 05:46 PM
      |   view attached
    Hello Everyone!,
    The start of the new school opening brings excitement and joyous moments when opening the doors to our young students! I wanted to share what I have done with Virtual learning for many young students. I was not given a solid plan. But decided to develop one in the event preschool closures arise. I have already implemented the planner with three,four and five year olds. I have made adjustments depending on the level of each child /group. I felt that one hour everyday does keep the children involved as interactive with the lessons that are focused on the whole child approach to learning. We are all in a different system as we try to create tasks that are child-centered and educationally appropriate as well. I am a firm believer that having children in front of a screen longer than an hour will lose interest. So, far it has been great having a planner where I can change as we go along this path right now. I hope this is useful to some. 
    Milagros V. Neu
                                                                    

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  • 2.  RE: Virtual Planner

    Posted 08-09-2020 08:25 AM

    Hi Milagros,
    I have used Remind, Seesaw, and Class Dojo. I think they are all strong programs, but if them, I found Seesaw to be the most comprehensive when it comes to communication, sharing individual student work, and providing whole class communication...especially in this new virtual format.

    Journals:
    Think of it similar to Instagram, where you can post to each child's individual journal so only the family can see it (i.e. a work sample), or to the whole class for all families (i.e. a whole class project). Parents can comment and like these journal postings (teacher approve all comments so it can be a positive and encouraging environment...I only had one instance where I had to ask a father to be sure his comments were encouraging). I would share these with my students so they could see family feedback right away. You can also categorize these postings by topic (math, science, etc.) so you can easily sort and track progress over time. After time to teach them about how we use Seesaw, my students began to ask if we could share something they had done on Seesaw (block structure they spent a lot of time on). 

    We used the paid version at my previous school and the journals, which allowed for the storage of portfolios year to year. When children move on, we could provide families with this collection of portfolios demonstrating growth and development over time. That was a nice feature.

    Messages:
    You can use the messaging platform to communicate either individually with families or send announcements to the whole class. 

    Activities: 
    These are helpful for virtual learning! While I wouldn't promote the virtual activities for ECE as the primary source of virtual learning, they can be used on occasion to collect feedback from children about what they did at home. 

    Hope that helps!



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    Jean D Barresi, MSEd
    Portland CT
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  • 3.  RE: Virtual Planner

    Posted 08-12-2020 12:48 AM
    Thank You for sharing! I am at lost and trying to wrap my mind around how to effectively do this. In the spring, my colleagues and I had a similar template too, but now we are awaiting for more information from our district and ECE department.

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    Lorraine Alvarado- Calderon
    Chicago IL
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