COVID Closure Ideas for QAE Parents
Morning QAE families! I miss you and staff already! As we navigate these very unexpected challenging times together as a community, I thought it might be helpful to put some resources/ideas together for QAE families as we begin COVID Closure Day #1:
- Childcare: Huge issue for many Seattle families! Let’s work together in our community to help each other out. Here are some emerging ideas shared with you as possibilities for you to explore on your own:
- Queen Anne Elementary PTSA on Facebook – I heard this might be a space where QAE families are posting ideas
- King5 Live posted the following report on childcare options this morning:
- “The Boys & Girls Clubs of King County are also stepping in to help. The clubs are offering a $50 membership and a $25-per-day fee.
- “… The Nanny Parent Connection is all hands on deck as the group helps its 20,000 members connect to child care providers throughout the area.”
- “Josie Droz is a 13-year-old Robert Eagle Staff Middle School student who is one of the 53,000 Seattle students having to adjust… Droz created the Good Kids Network Facebook page, connecting middle schoolers with parents looking for babysitters….”
- Health Care: Washington Health Benefit Exchange sent out the following info to all school nurses yesterday: “Due to COVID-19 the Health Benefit Exchange has opened up a Special Enrollment Period for clients who are uninsured. From 03/10/2020-4/08/2020, uninsured clients can get health insurance effective 04/01/2020.”
- Food: Ballard Food Bank, a community partner for QAE families, needs our support. Want to donate? Check out Ballard Food Bank Amazon Wish List.
- Unemployment benefits for hourly workers: just established by Washington State Employment Security Department
- At home:
- Okay, let’s tackle this together!
- All QAE students went home with supplementary materials and extra books yesterday. If you have a question about these materials, email me (jbroy@seattleschools.org ) or your child’s teacher.
- If you want to follow the same typical routine that your child usually follows at school, here is a general guideline of a QAE learning day:
- Independent reading/writing time (10-15 minutes) begins the day.
- Classroom meeting (could be a ‘family meeting’ each morning) – sit down together face to face, take a breath and begin the 10-12 minute discussion:
- Ask your child to teach you how a class meeting works.
- Ask your child to teach you how compliments are given at school and how you signal you are ready to accept a compliment during the meeting.
- Plan the day together*: developing the day’s visible schedule together can maintain a consistent routine for your child (and you!), which can be familiar and comforting for kids in a time of uncertainty. Giving voice and choice is key! Positive Discipline recommends offering limited choices* YOU know will work. Example: schedule learning time and jobs before desired activities, or break up learning times with brain breaks and mindfulness moments, increases productivity and avoids procrastination battles.
- Learning times:
- Reading daily is powerful!
- Use supplementary materials provided.
- For beginning readers, listen to your child read aloud to you every day.
Reading ‘just right books’ (for primary students/beginning readers, these are books at their independent reading level) and ‘dessert books’ (books children interested in but may be a bit hard to read themselves).
- Check out Seattle Public Library Online Resources.
- Your child can listen to a podcast – great for learning and building listening comprehension, and it is a great independent opportunity for your child.
- Read a story aloud to your child. K – 5 students listen to a read aloud every day at QAE.
Writing daily is empowering!
- Use supplementary materials provided
- Could keep a journal
- If it becomes a battle, set a timer for undesired tasks. (Primary students typically write in 10-15 minute blocks, while intermediate students typically write for 15-30 minute blocks. Saying to your child “Shall we set the writing timer for 10 minutes or 11 minutes?” gives them limited choice while establishing a firm boundary.)
Daily math builds brain cells and growth mind set:
- Supplementary math materials sent home yesterday
- Turn to YouCubed
- Check out Choose Your Own Math Adventure
- Math games are powerful! These include printables, board games, online games and card games. (Keep in mind: research shows that regular repeated practice makes learning ‘stick’, so playing a math game with a deck of cards or dice daily is more effective than playing an online game for a single extended period.)
- Science builds critical thinking and creativity:
- Look to QAE supplementary materials your child’s teacher may have sent home yesterday
- Seattle’s own Bill Nye the Science Guy videos
- Social studies builds brain cells and social justice mind-set:
- Look to QAE supplementary materials your child’s teacher may have sent home yesterday
- Break Times:
- research recommends building breaks into schedules to increase productivity, creativity, and maintain your sanity as a parent:
- Wash hands frequently. This is essential and it gives children an authentic way to stay healthy and take action during uncertain times.
Take Brain Breaks periodically through the day.
- If you are at home with your children, model ‘Parent Break Time’ and build it into the schedule. School-age children need opportunities to be independent, so setting firm boundaries around your break times is healthy and increases productivity for everyone. Plus, it will maintain your sanity during this really stressful time!
- Mindfulness moments give a great breather for your child and YOU.
- Jobs. Jobs are powerful! Every school age child can have jobs at home as jobs teach responsibility and help your child feel like they are providing authentic help to your family. Best jobs that develop math skills in young children: laundry, setting the table and helping with dishes, as these authentic tasks help the family and involve counting, sorting and planning. Ask your child to help you generate a list of jobs for home, as this is a powerful citizenship opportunity for your child!
- Recess/playtime into the plan.
- Social Emotional Learning Time:
- Ask your child to teach you about Zones of Regulation.
- Help your child set up a Positive Discipline Calm Body Spot at home, so they can take a home brain break if they need one.
- Ask your child to teach you about ‘brain in the hand’ (check out the video!) and how they can signal to you with a hand signal if they are flipped.
Establish a plan with your child about what to do when they need a break, how to tell the difference between a big problem and a little problem,
- and practice this before they need to put it into action. Great opportunity for modeling and critical thinking together! They can explain to you that at school they use self-calming strategies like taking a deep breath, going to the calm body spot, reading a book, drawing as a way to calm their brain.
- If your child does ‘flip’, use hand signals to ensure they take a break to calm their bodies before you debrief, as humans aren’t be able to calmly articulate how they are feeling when they are upset, so they need to calm their brain down before talking.
- Guide them through Positive Discipline’s ‘How to Make Repair’ process when they learned about at QAE
- Talking with your child about Corona-virus: By now every child has heard of the coronavirus and likely has questions. Don’t be afraid to talk to your kids. Below are a few resources to help you navigate the conversation. While all are good, if you have time for only one, I strongly recommend watching the Child Mind Video.
- Child Mind: Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus: https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/ Top Take Away’s:
- Don’t be afraid to discuss the coronavirus.
- Be developmentally appropriate.
- Deal with your own anxiety first before discussing it.
- Take your cues from your child.
- Be reassuring.
- Focus on what you’re doing to stay safe.
- Stick to routine.
- Keep talking.
- Child Mind: Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus: https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/ Top Take Away’s:
- Related Reading on Managing Anxiety:
- NPR: Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus This resource is appropriate for elementary aged children. ” It’s based on a radio story that NPR education reporter Cory Turner did. He asked some experts what kids might want to know about the new coronavirus discovered in China”. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus
- NYTimes: How to Talk to Kids About Coronavirus https://parenting.nytimes.com/childrens-health/coronavirus-kids-talk
- NYTimes: Is the News Too Scary for kids? How and when to introduce current events to your children https://parenting.nytimes.com/culture/kids-current-events
- Seattle Times: Coronavirus facts in Spanish, Chinese, Amharic, Tagalog and other languages for Seattle-area residents https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/coronavirus-facts-in-spanish-chinese-amharic-and-other-languages-for-seattle-area-residents/
- Try to address your own anxiety by:
- Get the most up to date SPS COVID information and FAQ
- Know that we are learning as we go and we will figure this out together as we navigate this. Aim for ‘one day at a time’ rather than perfection.
- Got a question? Reach out by email (jbroy@seattleschools.org). I’d love to connect!
Take care, stay healthy, and keep me posted on how you and your family are doing. Thank you for checking out this blog and sharing your feedback – please be kind as this is my first blog and I’m learning as I go along.
Thinking of you,
- Janine Roy, QAE Principal
Reflections of a Happy Principal 