As I sit here typing out ideas for connecting with your preschool students, I had to move a post-it off my laptop screen. It says, ” Hailey @ 3:30 and Micah @4:15″ it’s my low tech reminder that I am visiting two of my preschool students today. These porch visits are one way I am trying to make connections and create community during remote learning. I shared a picture of me doing a porch visit on Instagram, and it’s gotten so many likes, not just because it’s a sweet photo, but because we are all craving connection. Students, teachers, and families alike. We are wired for it.
As Harvard’s Center On The Developing Child shares, “Stated simply, relationships are the “active ingredients” of the environment’s influence on healthy human development.” The same report shares that children with warm, loving relationships with teachers are more positive about going to school and show more confidence and achieve more in educational settings. I am not achievement-focused with my preschoolers, but I am very focused on my students being positive about going to school and being confident. Being able to confidently walk into a classroom, wave to their caregiver, and start exploring is always high on my list of goals for my students. Even during a pandemic where we do not have in-person learning, that is still one of my main goals. That hasn’t changed. The methods I use to work on it have. Here are some of the ways I have focused on connection and community during virtual learning.
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How To Connect With Students During COVID With Lessons and Activities
Greeting Children By Name Multiple Times During Zoom
This seems simple, maybe too simple, but it’s effective. As my students enter into my zoom meeting, I wave hello and welcome them by name. “Good Morning, Jamil. I see you have your puppy with you!” “Hello, Farrah, I like your Pjs” Sometimes, it’s simply a ” Hi Gregory!” with a smile and a wave.
After everyone has entered, we sing our good morning song, which again uses everyone’s name. First is a hello to the child. The next is a recognition that we are all part of our classroom community. I don’t think my 3-5-year-olds would break it down like that, but that is what the practice does.
If a child comes in late, we STOP, say hello, and welcome that child by name. “Hi, Kelly, so happy you made it!”
Focusing on One Child For Child Of The Week
In my class, we do a child of the week, but a child of the day for classes that meet more frequently is a great option. That child gets to be our meteorologist but more importantly, in the first class of the week, we all learn more about that child. Some of my students have never met each other; I want them to learn about each other and be celebrated for their likes and uniqueness. Every week I introduce the child of the week as a mystery for us all to solve, as I go through each of the hints ( the favorite toys, foods, etc… pictured above) The child of the week beams, it’s the sweetest thing. It’s been so well received by the children, and other students can be heard saying things like ” I like blue too!” or ” I like to eat pancakes just like Harry!” ! This Facebook live video shares how I do it step by step.
Incorporating Students’ Favorite Things Into Lessons
At the start of the year, I asked my students families about favorite colors, interests, and personality traits. My goal is to honor the children as individuals as well as possible in this new format. In a classroom, it doesn’t take long to find out who is obsessed with dinosaurs, who is always walking around in dress-up clothes, and which colors are student’s favorites. With virtual learning, I had to explicitly ask.
When you have this information you can make small but meaningful choices.
If you know a student loves dinosaurs when you are giving a lesson about shapes, why not use Dinosaur Shapes by Paul Strickland as the read-aloud? Do you have a student that is obsessed with construction vehicles? When you learn bout the sound the letter Dd makes, be sure to include a digger in the lesson.
If I feel a student hasn’t been as engaged I shoot off a quick email to ask their caregivers what thing their child has been really excited about lately, so I can find a way to re-engage them with a little personal touch. These are tiny little details, but they add up to students who are more engaged, feel included, and more willing to be a part of the class.
Making Personalized At-Home Activities
Connection and differentiation are intertwined. When you are able to adjust activities so that they are well suited for individual students you are helping that student connect, not with you but with the material. For my remote preschool program I send home 6-8 at home activities a week, they are optional, and I try my best to cover multiple areas of learning from fine motor to gross motor, literacy, art, science, and STEM. I’ve been doing many name activities this year, not only because of the benefit of using names for literacy development but also for making sure my students see it and know these activities aren’t generic, they were made just for them. They feel connected to the materials immediately when it has their name on it.
From the differentiation standpoint, making activities that can be used in multiple ways by caregivers who may or may not facilitate them as you would takes time and is the greatest challenge for me with remote learning. Sometimes differentiation means sending links to supplemental activities ( thankfully, I have a few links to share..) or changing activities to fit that child’s abilities and interests. It pays off because meeting a child where they are developmentally appropriate allows them to be challenged, successful, and build confidence that makes learning a positive experience.
Interactive Lessons
Lessons over zoom can easily fall into performance. In many ways, there needs to be some performance element for it to be engaging over a screen; thanks, Mum and Dad, for all the acting classes! However, what is more engaging is to include your students in the outcome of the lessons. Preschool lessons should not be a simple broadcast. As you sing, include actions. As you read stories, have them do specific tasks. For example, when I read my students an alphabet book, I give them a specific letter to be on the lookout for; when they see it, they clap, wave their hands, or some other action.
This letter recognition activity was offered to my class as an opportunity to help Quinn (our Mouse) find all the letter Pp magnets in his bucket. The children yelled out Puh Puh P! When they saw the letter and stayed quiet or yelled out “No, that’s a letter A!” with the others. I labeled all the letters after the children had time to respond. This allowed the students who had mastered this task to act as scaffolds for those that didn’t while doing it as a group. They were all engaged.
Another way that has worked well for me is to do voting/graphing activities where students choose between different options, and we graph the results. They provide input and see their name up on the screen. Small little connections that say to them, ” You belong here, see your name is right here!”
Making Personalized At-Home Activities
Connection and differentiation are intertwined. When you are able to adjust activities so that they are well suited for individual students you are helping that student connect, not with you but with the material. For my remote preschool program I send home 6-8 at home activities a week, they are optional, and I try my best to cover multiple areas of learning from fine motor to gross motor, literacy, art, science, and STEM. I’ve been doing many name activities this year, not only because of the benefit of using names for literacy development but also for making sure my students see it and know these activities aren’t generic, they were made just for them. They feel connected to the materials immediately when it has their name on it.
From the differentiation standpoint, making activities that can be used in multiple ways by caregivers who may or may not facilitate them as you would takes time and is the greatest challenge for me with remote learning. Sometimes differentiation means sending links to supplemental activities ( thankfully, I have a few links to share..) or changing activities to fit that child’s abilities and interests. It pays off because meeting a child where they are developmentally appropriate allows them to be challenged, successful, and build confidence that makes learning a positive experience.
How To Connect With Students During COVID Outside of Class
Snail Mail
During the school shutdown in the Spring, one thing I did was send my students postcards with drawings of their favorite things. Dinosaurs, trains, a cute puppy, and a horrifying Mickey Mouse that, according to the mom, was well received. These postcards are great ways of making students feel special. We can’t give hugs and high fives right now, so we need to find new ways. I bought these blank postcards and will be making personalized ones for my students, and I am sending home ones for them to create and send to someone they love during our unit on family.
Parents need connection too, and when I saw these Mr. Rogers note cards, I immediately bought them. I needed a nice simple way of making personal connections with my families that could make them feel special. The smiles and waves, quick chats about how their child is sleeping, or that they just got a new puppy are not happening right now, but I can send them a note to tell them how amazing I think their child is and how much I appreciate the chance to teach them. Email is great, but a personal note is much more effective for connection.
Porch Visits
Last but not least, porch visits. The benefit of home visiting is well documented in early childhood research; however, many schools shy away from it. The pandemic was the fire I needed to finally do these visits because they are essential. They are outdoors, socially distanced, and I remain masked. What I love about porch visits is that I get to step out of my computer screen and make a personal connection with my students. We read stories together and I model dialogical reading for them and their parents. I get to see families and offer encouragement, ask if there is anything I can help them with, and build that school community that is vital for school success. I don’t get to have one on one time with a student in zoom. With little ones, virtual learning is tough, but I get to with these visits. Yesterday a student showed off their counting skills, and I got to tell them how proud I was of his hard work. Seeing his face light up reminds me of why I teach.
I’d love to hear from you about how you have created opportunities for connection with your virtual classroom. Leave a comment and share.
Anurag Nautiyal says
Awesome post.
Veronika Yurina says
Thanks for the post – it’s jam-packed with valuable tips.
I’m absolutely sure that online education of pre-schoolers and grade-schoolers is impossible without gamification. Add a few activities, virtual rewards and elements of competition – and they’re all yours.
Gaby says
Loved your post! To enhance interaction I ask my children (4-5 yos) if they want some “invisible cheese/chocolate/gloves”. First I try myself, I tell them its sooo delicious. Then if they want (half of them accept) I slowly put my hand on the camera, pretending I have the cheese, and automatically the child does the same. It is fantastic. The first time I did it none wanted it, and that was funny too because I would over react and say “Oh nooo! Everybody is missing this marvellous cheese!!” and they laughed at it. Slowly they would join my game. Then I would use digraphs as well. Would you like some ch-ch-ch (showing the /ch/) cheese?