The end of the school year is an exciting time for everyone! My students are excited for summer holidays, they are excited about all their growth and learning throughout the year and excited about all the people in their lives that are proud of them for the fantastic work they did at school!

The end of the school year is a time of celebration. This year, however, is unique. We were not able to celebrate in the way we usually do due to the pandemic, though that did not stop us from celebrating! In fact, the pandemic did not stop us at all.

Acadecap teachers and students alike showed how they can be resilient through challenging times. The pandemic did not stop us from teaching, it simply led us to adjust and modify our teaching to suit the current circumstances, a practice that we as teachers are meant to do anyway. And it did not stop the students from learning, it made them stronger more independent learners.

Acadecap teachers used Padlet as a tool to deliver content to their students, among other things. My kinder students received a weekly Choice Board of activities that covered the learning for the week. This included math activities, French and English language tasks, Unit of Inquiry assignments and other skill building tasks. Each day, students chose three activities from the Choice Board to complete. This allowed them to take agency of their learning. Also on the Padlet were activities from their specialist teachers such as music, art and iSTEAM. Each week, we would have live class meetings via Google Meet to discuss ideas, present completed projects or to simply have show and tell. Kindergarten students also had weekly one on one French reading sessions with their homeroom teacher, me! The variety and flexibility of everything worked so well for my students and their families. Just like in the non-virtual classroom, each student is unique in their learning and therefore teachers have to differentiate the learning. The Choice Board gave students and their families the opportunity to work at their own pace and having both group and individual Google Meets also proved to work well. At the end of the week, parents shared pictures and completed work which was then posted to our Padlet. This was a way for me to monitor and assess learning but also to keep the students connected in yet another way!

The school year, including three months of telelearning, has come to an end. I would say it was a successful school year, even with the challenges we faced. I think we all learned a lot about ourselves through this whole process. Learning can take place anywhere and anytime, we just have to adapt and make it happen, and that is what we did at Acadecap!

Source:: JK & SK Blog