Settling Into The School Routine
The children have settled into the school routine, along with Mrs. Dotivala, Mrs. Wiryaman, and me. None of us (nor anyone else) ever taught preschool with Covid-19 safety precautions in place, and I am so pleased that ALL of us, children and teachers, have found our footing. I want to give you a sense of how the days are going:
We are using their name strips, which include a photo of the child, to help the children transition into the morning. After arrival, hanging up bags/jackets in their cubbies, and washing hands, the children walk around the tables and rug and find their name strip. The children know that the place where their name strip appears is where they will start the day. There are toys at every place where a name strip appears. The teachers only had to show the children how to find their places the first couple of days. After that, they understood what to do with simply a verbal reminder.
We have learned that each child has their own way to communicate when they are done with their toy. Some call out “I need a new toy”; some clean up the toy (put it back in the basket or bin) and hold it up; some simply stop playing and wait for us to notice. Whatever signal they use, we know what to do. Sometimes we give a new toy with the child staying in place, but more often we put the new toy at a different table so the child moves around during the morning. And all of the children know that their name strip has to travel with them. The toys that have been used go into mesh bags and dropped into a large basket to be run through the sanitizing machine later in the morning. During the summer I created a ‘staging area’ where I put all the toys that are in circulation. We’ve only had 9 days of school but I am finding I need to swap out for some different toys every 3 days.
We are also using vinyl/rubber disks, which we call circles, for spacing the children. Each ‘circle’ has a photo of a child taped onto it. We spread those out on the rug or other areas in the school in which we play. They help keep the children a safe distance apart and because of the pictures, the children are able to find their spot quickly on their own.
The daily snack is portioned into individual servings before school by one of the teachers wearing gloves. Before snack, the children wash their hands and, once again, find their name strip for their seat. This keeps the classroom very orderly and we are always mixing up which 2 children are at each table so they have the opportunity to sit with different friends.
On our way to the playground, the children wear their masks as we walk through the shared hallway in the building. When we exit the building, the children hang up their masks on their own hook with their photo. The first time it took all 3 of the teachers to accomplish this. Now, the children are almost all able to do this independently and they put on their masks before entering the building after the playground.
I had expected that it would take two weeks for the children to settle into the routines of this school year and wasn’t planning on starting a daily project till next week. However, the children have done so well that we started making a project after just one week. Two children come at a time to the art table to make their project during the Free Play part of our day (9:00-10:00).
All the children take a turn in the bathroom between 9:40 – 10:00am. Everyone tries again before the playground, around 11:10am. I am very aware of the need for rain, but am also glad that we have been able to go to the playground every day.
I hope this helps give you a sense of your child’s day at school.