4th & 7th Grade

In looking through pictures, I realize that I have not blogged about several important things. One is the return of school in the time of COVID. It is definitely a strange time. We elected to have the kids go back to school in a hybrid format. That means they have school online at home on Monday and Tuesday and then go to school on Thursday and Friday. We weren't sure if it would be better to be virtual or if it would be better to have face to face, but we ultimately made this choice.

The kids love being back in school where they can see friends and interact with teachers. I think they also like the days when they can sleep in a bit, be mask free and have some overall freedom at home. The hardest part is that I teach four days a week so I have to go to school every day and they are home alone two days a week. On Wednesdays, we all get to be home together. I teach via online lessons that are prerecorded. I do run up to the school long enough to give a quick lesson to 4K, but mostly we're home on that day.

In two weeks, it will start to change. Jalen will go back to four days a week. Two weeks after that, Baylie will do the same.

While I'll be glad to only have to prepare one kind of lesson instead of both face to face and virtual, I'm a little nervous about what the impact might be. I hope that we will be safe and no one will get sick.

According to surveys, teachers in our district - including me - are not comfortable going back because our classes are full and kids don't maintain social distance, but some parents are protesting to go back. It's been kind of ugly.

Jalen has been greatly blessed with fantastic teachers this year. He is in Ms. Moody's fourth grade class and she is perfect for him. This is his third year working with Mrs. Taylor and she has helped him grow a great deal. I don't have a picture of his OG tutor who Ms. Taylor, but she has had a huge impact on his learning. This will be Jalen's last year at Irmo Elementary, which makes us sad, but we are so excited about his opportunity to go to a charter school for students with dyslexia.

Jalen conducted an at-home science experiment related to the different layers of the atmosphere.

Baylie was awarded the 7th grade student of the month. We are proud of how she always shows good citizenship. She's a great girl.

Because of COVID and efforts to not cross-contaminate, students can't come to my classroom this year. Instead, I push in to their classrooms on a cart. It's challenging, but it's okay.

David is at a charter school - East Point Chinese Immersion - where class sizes are smaller. Interestingly enough, his school has had COVID while mine has not. He loves his job and is so much happier than he was at Ridge View. It's good to see him happy at work again.

I think we're all hoping that things will go back to normal soon, but I'm not sure things will ever truly be "normal" again.