This is the year with all the First Days of School. Of course, back in September we had a virtual one, to prepare for which we had hours and hours of individual virtual orientations. Now, in March, the school building has reopened for about half of our students, those whose families felt comfortable selecting the hybrid option instead of remaining virtual all year. Hybrid means that only half of the half comes in each day. This allows for the 6 feet of distance between each kid. Only ¼ of the student body attends on any given day, so the huge building still feels quite empty and quiet.
A classroom we used for testing (which is why the walls were blank). Each desk, chair, headphones, and pencil has to be sanitized between uses.
Our school always gives Kindergarten their own First Day of School, one day after the other grades. This gives them time to come to Cookie Day with their parents on the “real” First Day. Cookie Day is a euphemism for Kindergarten Orientation, so named because the kids practice holding a lunch tray with a cookie and a carton of milk. They also practice holding the railing to walk down the stairs, following the person in front of them to walk in a line, and sitting criss-cross applesauce on the carpet. While the kids enjoy their milk and cookies, the parents get basic information from the teacher, and then they all load back on the school buses to practice going home. The next day, when the kids do it on their own, it will be more familiar and less frightening (although there won't be cookies).
This year, parents are not allowed inside the building at all, so Kindergarten couldn’t get that helpful easing-in day. Instead, they’d start before the other grades, a day in the building without any other students. “All hands on deck” was repeated many times, and with only Kindergarten in person, there were that many more hands to work the deck. And since the classes were split in half under the hybrid model, there were two First Days of School, one for Zone 1, and the next for Zone 2.
Signs in the halls matched pictures and colors on students' nametags. We have to avoid getting too close as we help them find their way - no holding a hand or bending down to kids' level like in years past.
First grade got its own two First Days of School as well. That gave the teachers extra help from 2nd grade teachers and support staff. It’s been a year since students walked the halls. When you are 6, a year is a huge portion of your life. When you are 6, the routines you built last year are probably mostly forgotten. And when you are an early-grades teacher in a pandemic, you might need an extra set of hands (or two) to get all your little ducklings safely through the day. You have to learn the best time in your schedule to wash hands, the silliest ways to remind kids to stay apart, and the extra time it takes to do nearly everything.
The following week, grades 2-5 started in person, and all staff dispersed to their regularly-assigned roles. Grades 3-5 are not at our school, but their presence still mattered, because at dismissal, older siblings come flooding into our cafeteria from next door. They wait with their little brothers and sisters for Car Rider dismissal, adding to the number of variables and moving pieces in our new-and-improved routines.
Paw prints mark out 6 feet of social distancing in the hallways and cafeteria. Each time a room is used, we flip the card from blue to orange to indicate it needs to be cleaned.
All told, we had six First Days of School in a row. Six days of showing kids where to walk, where to sit, where to line up. How to make the new automatic sensors spit out paper towels to dry their hands. How to stay apart from their friends with “superhero arms,” “zombie arms,” and “lawnmower arms.” How to complete learning activities without leaving their desks. All supplies are already separated into individual containers, all activities planned out to the last detail. And the floors have never been so well-decorated. Rainbows and fish and strips of tape are laid down on tile and carpet to show students exactly where to position their potentially germ-filled bodies so as not to infect their classmates.
And of course, teachers stay at the front of their classrooms. They are tethered to their desks, no longer circulating around the room to offer constant feedback. It’s safer that way. One more hurdle thrown at the coronavirus that wants to spread. At any given time a teacher may also have students on Zoom or parents emailing her, so she needs to stay close to her computer as well. The children all face forward accordingly, desks laid out in rows. Despite the whimsical posters and the high-tech gadgets, it all looks very old-school. In 2021, our classrooms resemble 1921 more than 2019. What effects will follow? What will the next First Day of School look like?
University of Iowa Elementary School in the 1920s. What pedagogical progress have we lost in the pandemic? Image from: Iowa Digital Library, Creative Commons license.