You'd think that if you never actaully left the house to GO to school, then the END of school should be no big deal right. But no, I think we all felt a little panicky to lose the one thing that kept us tethered to our "before" COVID life. The quarantine started with about three months left in the school year. It took about half that time for the school to figure out a system of remote learning. But by the time they finally got into a goove it was over.
Both kids were pretty self sufficient with their remote learning. It's impressive that even as a third grader, Audrey set up uer own work space and kept herself organized. Her teacher, Ms. Tolan was the most amazing teacher that I've ever seen. She was so good at knowing what each kid needed, whether that student needed extra help or an extra challenge. She set Audrey up on a novel writing website and even proofread ALL FIFTY PAGES of Audrey's novel about a comittee of animals trying to save the forest from an evil logging company. THAT'S how dedicated she was!
I'm sad that Audrey lost the last few months of "in-person" with such an awesome teacher, but I'm also grateful that Audrey had such an amazingly empathetic teacher to help her navigate this super challenging time. This is not the "last day of school" photo that I wanted, but it's definitely a good representation of how the year ended!
Maddy's experience was a little tougher. She did great, but most of the video interactions with teachers were optional, not mandatory (except the "Team Meetings" which were 50 or 60 kids, and usually brought our interent down!) And it wasn't until the last couple weeks of school that I realized that I really needed to nudge Maddy into going to office hours with her teachers even just to say hi, and that even a little bit of interaction with a teacher and other students was SO good for her. I could hear it in her voice when I would eavesdrop on her.
At the last Team Meeting of the year, they gave out 7th grade awards, and Maddy won the Band Award, Superior Effort in Math Award AND....the Unsung Hero Award. I'm so proud of her! And glad that her teacher's noticed the amazing effort she was putting in.
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