52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 37
Prompt – Back To School
My 11 year old granddaughter was so happy to be going back to school after being away for almost 6 months due to COVID. It was so boring.
Apr 9, 2020.
Just weeks into the quarantine.
May 18, 2020 - Kelsey expands her bubble to include Grandma and Grandpa.
June 15, 2020 - Hanging out with grandma on the deck.
July 1, 2020. Exercising while working on a puzzle book.
July and chilling with Alanna's dog, Milo. August swinging at the park and counting the days till school starts.
Back to school shopping went ahead despite not knowing if the school would open to children. She got her supplies from the school list and a new backpack. Her 1st day of back to school clothes were laid out days before school started. She had her hair colored red because well, you know, one needs a new look for back to school. If she was nervous about the pandemic in school, she did not say so to me.
Parents had the agonizing decision to make whether to send them back to school. Teachers were similarly wrestling with their return to school with the added urgency of their need to support themselves. Choices were given to the parents. They could send them back to school or home school them. However for most parents there was no choice at all. They could not quit work and stay home to school their children. And I know in the case of my granddaughter, she did not want to do virtual schooling at home. She did not like it.
I had the privilege of picking her up after her first full day of school. I believe she called it a safety day and only half of her class was there that day. They learned all the procedures and rules they needed know to be in school during a pandemic. Masks had to be worn while in the hall or in areas where there are many children together including wearing a mask on the bus. Apparently their is no social distancing on her bus. They sit side by side but in assigned seats. So many children so few buses or is it drivers?
Her classroom has all desks filled. Perhaps they are distanced. It
was once suggested that they might have an empty desk beside them to
put their coats, backpack etc onto. They do not have lockers during the
pandemic for some reason. My guess is that it would cause the
children to be too close to each other. So all of her stuff goes on
the floor under her desk. The teachers move while the children stay
in their classrooms except in those special classes such as gym, drama etc. She was most disappointed by the lack of team sports this
year. During gym class their teachers scramble to find non contact sports for the children to participate in.
They eat their lunches at their desks in their classrooms and it sounds like they have two shifts so that not all the children go out at once. Hand washing or as it is called at school, hand hygiene is the most important thing for the teachers and children.
She brought home a copy of the self screening questionnaire that she has to do everyday before going to school.
When I picked her up after her first full day, I was expecting to hear all about the new rules. She did not dwell on any of those things. She proceeded to tell me about her homeroom teachers, her other classmates in her new grade 7 class. She was quite put out with the 6 day schedule. Remember Day 1 through Day 6 and not Monday to Friday Schedule? She thought that was a dumb idea. She is worried about trying to remember what day it was so she can take the right books to school. She was disappointed when she did not get her preferred optional classes. All in all she was happy to go back to school.
Going back to school during COVID-19 was not about the mask wearing, the physical distancing, hand washing and non sharing. It was about all the usual things that students talk about when going back to school. That is teachers, classmates, classes, schedules and routine. It is the routine that they all have missed the most during the pandemic.
Kelsey after her 1st day of school. All smiles!
Wendy
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