Wednesday, May 5

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today.

In the morning, the students worked on a secret art project, did some math, and spent time outside.

In the afternoon, we did a "Buddy Book Study", in which the students were put into pairs to read a story about friendship, kindness, or mental health. They then gave a short presentation to the class about what their book was about, and what it taught them. This was the first time many of the students have had to stand in front of their peers and present, and they all did a fantastic job!

We played a great game of bench dodgeball in gym.

At the end of the day, I asked the students to take home their workbooks, for online learning. Hopefully having those will make the transition to online learning a little bit smoother. It will also make it easier for me to keep track of the work they complete!

Tomorrow is Job Day! I think it will be a fun way to wrap up our time learning in the classroom.

I'm in the process of putting together an information package to send home regarding our online learning, which starts Friday. I think it will likely look a lot like it did back in January. There will be assignments posted on Google Classroom, two virtual meetings each day, and drop-in "office hours". I'm also planning to set aside some time for more formal small-group instruction. I do not want the kids to be spending too much time looking at a screen, so I expect that most of their time will spent working, reading, playing, or exercising, and the time spent on a device will be limited to more focused instruction time, or time to socialize with friends.

I cannot express how saddened I was to hear the update yesterday. I will greatly miss having the opportunity to teach in person and I know this will be quite difficult for the students too. If you have any questions, or would just like to chat, please feel free to email me at zalink@cbe.ab.ca. 

We will get through this together!

Have a nice night (don't forget about Job Day),

Zac