Dear Class, By now you've probably heard the news that we won't be going back to our classroom this year. I knew it was probably coming, so I made sure to watch Governor Pritzker's news conference this afternoon. Lucy kept me company as I cried. My heart hurts. I'm sure Mrs. Morgan will be meeting with Mr. Ross this weekend, and we will get more information next week. I'm sending you big hugs. I'll check in with you next week, but please call if you need anything before that. Love, Mrs. Smitley
0 Comments
Dear Class, Happy last day of Spring Break! I don't know where the sunshine and warm weather went, but I want it back. I had to pull out my winter coat again to let the dogs out this morning. Boo. Your work for the next two weeks of school is available online or your parents can get it from the school. I'll be at South today from 1-3 helping out in the office. Let me know if you need anything from the classroom, and I can have it ready for you. As a reminder, you can do only iXL things OR only packet things OR both if you would like to. The school is keeping track of who logs in and works on iXL, and it's easy for us to see how you are doing. They will also be keeping track of who has returned packets, so make sure to put your name on them and drop them off at the office when you get your new ones. If you are getting stuck on an iXL level, it's ok to stop after 20 minutes. You don't have to finish the level in one day. Let me know if you need help with any of your work online or in the packet...or even something that you're working ahead on. I can either send you a video clip or we can talk on the phone. I can also create an answer key for the packet if you would find that helpful. I miss you bunches! Mrs. Smitley Dear Class, Our first week of E-Learning or Remote Learning or whatever you want to call it is over. Did you survive? Did your parents survive?? We were good for three days. The kids were suppose to do some work this morning while I went to Walmart...but I don't think they did. Oh well. They at least practiced piano. It's absolutely gorgeous outside, but they've been playing video games with their cousins all morning. In the past few weeks we've upgraded our internet, got Xbox live, and some new games for the Xbox and the Switch so the kids could play with their friends and talk at the same time. I'm learning more about gaming systems than I ever cared to know. My brain might explode trying to keep the different pass codes, log in info, and parental controls straight. Walmart was an interesting experience. I haven't been in several weeks, and I was a little bit nervous. There are grocery carts sectioning off the entrance, and someone counts you as you walk in. About half of the people I saw were wearing masks or gloves. I had a mask with me, but I decided not to wear it. This time there was plenty of bread and milk. There wasn't much toilet paper, but based on the laundry I'm doing...I think several of my kids aren't using it anyway, so it wasn't on my list. (Kids are SO gross.) The weather felt like summer this week. The kids got in the hot tub, played in the sprinkler, and filled up water balloons. Unfortunately, the wasps are out, and Anna accidentally put her hand on one and got stung. She's now terrified of all flying bugs. Ugh. We also did school outside one morning while I got happy mail ready for you: notes, info for a few parents, and April birthday pencils and stickers. I really hope the Marshall pool is going to be open this summer. We are ready to go swimming! I hope your family stayed safe during the storm last night. We hunkered down in the basement for an hour. The kids didn't like it when we lost power, but the dogs LOVED chasing the flashlight beams. Luckily, the power was back on before we put everyone to bed. I soaked up bunches of sun this week; I think my internal solar battery is FINALLY recharged. Ha! I miss you! Love, Mrs. Smitely Dear Class, How did your first day of e-learning go? Ours was...meh. Since we had to leave the house anyway to pick up packets, we grabbed breakfast from Latte Dough. I was hoping the sweets for breakfast would make schoolwork more enjoyable. It didn't. Ha! At our house, the kids can wake up whenever, but there's no TV or device games until after lunch. They need to eat breakfast, get dressed, and brush teeth by 9:00. Then we do school from 9:00-10:00ish. The rest of the morning they can do educational things or play. The kids did their school work in completely different ways. I'll go one kid at a time: Emma: Emma loves school and enjoys learning on her own. She is the perfect homeschooling student. Thank goodness at least one of them is!! She finished most of her work today, so she can pick what she wants to learn the rest of the week. She is also working on learning Spanish through the Duolingo App. She's on the paid version since she's demonstrated that she's responsible enough to actually do it every day. Emma's pretty independent and cleared off her desk and got to work on her own. She's doing the packet and the iXL levels. Luke: Luke was finally adjusting to our schedule and the binder of work I'd put together for him the past few weeks. He was not happy to get something different. Different is BAD. He had to take a ten minute break to calm down and refocus. After that, he was fine. But he's not doing packet. He is only doing the iXL levels and then writing what he wants in his journal. I don't have the energy to fight the packet battle. He worked at our kitchen counter for a little bit and then moved to the couch. He's also learning Spanish on Duolingo, but he's using the free version until I think he'll actually use it consistently. There was about 30 minutes left of down time this morning before lunch, so he got on Curiosity Stream and picked a short video about Mars to watch. Anna: Anna likes to do what her brother does, so she also throws a fit when it's school time. I make her work at the kitchen table so it's easier for me to keep an eye on her. Every time I turn around, she disappears! She did a few pages out of her packet and then did her iXL levels for the day. Kindergarten doesn't have much work since they are so little, so it didn't take her long to do both. She then chose to do Sumdog for a little bit. I added her to my class and opened up the store so she could use her "money" to buy things. When she got tired of that, she played with her dolls and then watched part of the Mars show Luke was watching. All three kids also had virtual piano lessons with their teacher today. We propped an iPad up so they could see Ms. Jan and she could see them and their fingers! This is our third week doing virtual lessons, and it's getting easier. We found an easier way to prop the iPad up, and it doesn't feel as awkward talking to each other this way now that we're getting used to it. They spent the afternoon playing outside, finishing the Barbie Netflix series, and playing Roblox on their iPads. I went to school for a little bit to clean up the mess I left on our last day. I also grabbed some things to organize my kids' school stuff. My dining room has piles of stuff everywhere!! I guess it's not that big of a deal though, since no one can come over to eat with us anyway... Michael is on day shift this week, so we won't eat dinner until late when he comes home. I've still got plenty of time to take the dogs for a walk, clean, and make dinner. It's been a busy day! Good luck adjusting to e-learning, and let me know if I can help with anything! Love, Mrs. Smitley We have almost no yard, so we walked to the First United Methodist Church and borrowed their parking lot for Anna's bike practice and their yard for exercise.
Dear Class,
Today I am grateful for three things: you, the weather, and my bird feeder. First, it made my heart so happy to talk with all of your families yesterday. I've missed hearing your voices and seeing your faces. Feel free to post on Seesaw pictures and videos of what you have been up to with your family. Second, the weather today was my ideal day, 70 degrees and sunshiny. I could live like this all year long! (Especially since the biting bugs aren't around yet.) Finally, my bird feeder is entertaining me every time I'm in the kitchen...which is A LOT these days. So far I've seen a pair of cardinals, a pair of red headed finches, a blue jay, two pairs of mourning doves, a bunch of house finches, and a squirrel. The squirrel was hilarious to see hanging upside down snacking on the bird seed, but he's eating more than his fair share. He needs to stick with the corn I'm throwing out for him. As you start working from home next week, let me know if you want help with anything. I have a document camera that I can film tips or answers so you can check your work. I'll work on putting daily links on Seesaw in case your family would like to finish voting on our favorite book, too. Next week looks rainy, so let's make it a show and tell week. Post a picture or a video of something you make at home while it's rainy. You could show us a puzzle you finished, a picture you did, a fort or obstacle course you built, a creation you made, or anything else you can think of. If you don't have your own device, your parent can send me a picture, and I'll share it with everyone else if you would like me to. I can't wait to see what you will make next week! Love, Mrs. Smitley Dear Class, Today I got to meet with the rest of the second grade teachers and start looking at how we are going to teach you this month. It was pretty crazy trying to take turns talking on Google Meet and seeing everyone's home and hearing their dogs bark! I'll call your families this week to see how you are doing and if there is anything I can do to help. I know you were looking forward to getting a BUNCH of homework, but...you mainly need to keep reading and run around your house outside until your parents let you back in. Ha! I miss you! Love, Mrs. Smitley Dear Class, Did you have a good weekend? We spent a lot of time outside soaking up the sun. It was wonderful! I FINALLY finished my cards for you and got them mailed. It's been hard to get motivated, so I let myself have last weekend to be lazy. Hopefully, I can be more productive this week. The kids spent most of the weekend playing Roblox and Minecraft together. It was a lot of device time, but they were playing together and being nice to each other...so I'm going to count that as a win. They've also been watching a lot of Netflix. The girls are watching the new Barbie series...and sometimes Luke and I get sucked in to that, too. Shhhh! We rented Zathura from Amazon last night. It's based on the book written by Chris Van Allsburg. He wrote Jumanji and The Polar Express, too. I love his books, and they make great movies because they are usually suspenseful. Zathura isn't for little kids...just a heads up. Anna was pretty nervous in some spots and was afraid she'd have nightmares, but she didn't. She's also seen all of the Harry Potter movies though, so she's not your typical kindergartner...just a typical third kid who gets stuck watching what the big kids choose! We've also been reading a lot of books. I have a huge stack of books I want to read, but I've been having trouble focusing so I'm just reading easy books right now. I got a few from Books a Million which was still open last week, used my library card to get some online (including a few audiobooks!), and I've been listening to some podcasts that read short stories out loud. Emma usually reads a ton, but she's trying to decide if she wants to save the huge books she's checked out for when she's back at school so she can get AR points for them. (When you go to North school next year, you will have to take and pass AR tests each quarter...it's not just for fun anymore.) Luke's been rereading some of our graphic novels. He finally read the adventure book I got him from the library that I told him he would like. I was right; he liked it. Ha! Anna got the new American Girl Joss for her birthday, along with the first book in her series. I just finished reading it to her last night. It took us a while since we just read a chapter a night. Have you read anything good lately? Love, Mrs. Smitley Dear Class,
My internet was super slow last night, and I didn't have the patience to wait it out to type my letter, especially since we didn't really do anything yesterday. I went to bed early instead. Well, that's kind of what happened. I actually fell asleep on the couch watching the Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix. Oops. We didn't do school today. None of us were feeling it. I worked on the computer and made phone calls trying to find out which classes I need to take at ISU this summer. Even though I prefer being the one to GIVE homework, it looks like soon I'm going to GET a bunch of homework. Emma, Anna, and I took the dogs on a walk this afternoon. We met up with a neighbor and walked with her and her dogs. One of them doesn't get along with Lucy and attacked her, and we had to pull them apart. Lucy was fine except for some slobber all over her face. I think my dogs were trying to pull my arms off today so they could chase squirrels and roll in the mud. I'm going to have HUGE arm muscles if I keep walking the dogs everyday! Anna spent a large part of the day doing her makeup. She asked me this afternoon if I have to put "codes" of makeup on. It took me a minute to realize she meant "coats" or "layers" of makeup and what she really wanted was to touch up and reapply her morning makeup. She's going to need a shower tonight to get all the glitter off of her face. Ha! Anyway, she's looking fabulous again and insists that she can safely paint her own nails. I don't think so. I hope you enjoyed your day with the warm weather and sunshine. I got a sweet note yesterday from one of you and then another note this afternoon. I miss you! Love, Mrs. Smitley Dear Class,
We survived day two of night shift!! Today was a good day. Luke and I are finally starting to sleep better, so we're not as cranky and emotional as we have been. He is my mini-me, and we've both had trouble sleeping at night because of our anxiety. We are adjusting to this week's schedule, and it's helped force all of us to not lay around in our pjs all day on devices. We exercised, ate all of our meals at the table, and got outside for some sunshine and fresh air. We also escaped to get lunch at Wendy's. It's the first non-home cooked meal we've had in five days. It's an embarrassing record for us. I miss my Friday lunches with Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Wood. I miss my teacher friends. I'm still missing you guys like crazy! At one point to day I just sat in my van in the sunshine with the doors closed all by myself. It was blissfully quiet and peaceful. I think it's going to be my hideout for the duration of this lock down. So don't mind me if you see me chillin' in my driveway napping or reading in my van. And DON'T tell my kids about my secret hidey hole! Luke is due for his allergy shots tomorrow. We're going to head to Cork during morning, well people only time, and then we'll thoroughly disinfect our devices and wash hands when we come home. Wish us luck avoiding the germs! Love, Mrs. Smitley Dear Class,
Today was rough. Not only are we adjusting to being at home all day, but this week Michael started night shift for the first time in a couple of years. If you have parents who work shifts, you know how it feels. We tiptoe around all day trying to be quiet...which is super easy with an old house, wood floors, two big dogs, and three kids. Not. Then it gets super fun when he wakes up cranky at the same time the kids and I hit our pre-dinner crankiness. One day down, only six more shifts to go. Will we survive?? Tune in tomorrow to find out. Ha! As far as schooling went, we had an hour set aside today for Luke and Anna to do five worksheets that were fairly easy. Apparently Luke never does that many worksheets at school, and it was a traumatic event for him. I'd like to send him back to Mrs. Sims and Mrs. Scamihorn because I'm 100% sure he doesn't act like this for them. He and Anna are going to get sick of my new motto "Do it nice or do it twice." I should have grabbed some of my big erasers from my classroom when I snuck in! I had to check Emma's answer key for 6th grade math. I thought I knew what she was suppose to do, but I didn't want to teach it to her wrong. Packets are nice because they don't involve technology, but they also aren't self checking like the iPad apps. Luckily, I'm pretty confident I can answer 1st grade and 3rd grade questions. :) Today was the kids' first Face Time piano lesson. It was good to check in with Ms. Jan. I may need to see about getting some kind of iPhone stand so she can see their hands as they play. I held the phone for a while, but that gets awkward for everyone when I get that involved and stand over their shoulder. Mrs. Davidson will be shocked to hear that Anna moves around too much while she plays piano. That girl has ants in her pants 24/7! I think tomorrow we're going to pick up lunch or dinner. I'm tired of cooking three meals a day. I miss fast food. And fountain Diet Coke. We're also going to try and spend more time outside. Do you think we can fit a pool floaty in the hot tub?? I miss you bunches!! Mrs. Smitley |
AuthorWelcome! I'm a second grade teacher in Marshall, Illinois who is now unexpectedly homeschooling my three kids while our schools are closed for the coronoa virus. While I've always wanted to homeschool, this was not how I wanted to do it! Archives
May 2020
Categories |