COVID-19 travel contingency plan for Canadian

[FigmentSpark]

Premier Ford now expects this lockdown will probably last til June or July.

Well, then he'd better direct the teachers to come up with a plan to teach our kids, particularly after promising none would miss their graduation.

 

[Jrb1979]

Well, then he'd better direct the teachers to come up with a plan to teach our kids, particularly after promising none would miss their graduation.

My suggestion is to finish the school year in the summer. Treat this as your kids summer vacation.

 

[FigmentSpark]

My suggestion is to finish the school year in the summer. Treat this as your kids summer vacation.

I think that might happen. It'll suck for the kids, but it might be the right choice. I'd like to see some online learning. The website the government launched is one big joke.

 

[Silvermist999]

Well, then he'd better direct the teachers to come up with a plan to teach our kids, particularly after promising none would miss their graduation.

Two of my daughter’s four teachers already reached out to me/her yesterday to notify us online learning would be starting. I was very impressed that one teacher was so well prepared that he conducted a virtual class this morning and will do the same every day. It was great to see this and I am sure her other teachers will be starting up soon. If universities and colleges can teach their courses online, then high schools should be able to do the same.

ETA: I also have a child in elementary school and it looks as if not much “teaching” will be done based on communication received so far. It looks like materials will be posted online for the child to complete.

 

[elaine amj]

My son heard a rumor that schools might be setting up for online learning in the next week or two? He is in Grade 12 and we are hoping for some kind of online learning. We still have 3 months of school to go!

In the meantime, this week I got him to start doing some online stuff and he spends 1-2 hrs a day doing various work. I asked him what he wanted to learn and am tailoring the work around that. Was going to start him on one of the lesson plans the Ontario govt has posted online but now will wait a bit more to see if his regular classes resume.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I think there is a lot more flexibility in the elementary years, because there's the ability to pick up next year (except for grade 8s), But the high school years are so defined by subject and learning the curriculum, that I think it would be hard to teach twice the curriculum next year.

My son is in grade 12, too. He was finally on track to get some really great marks this semester and that momentum may have been derailed, now.

Our teachers have reached out, too, but so far, it was just to post reminders to complete existing work and that "something will be coming". I hope so.

 

[elaine amj]

I think there is a lot more flexibility in the elementary years, because there's the ability to pick up next year (except for grade 8s), But the high school years are so defined by subject and learning the curriculum, that I think it would be hard to teach twice the curriculum next year.

My son is in grade 12, too. He was finally on track to get some really great marks this semester and that momentum may have been derailed, now.

Our teachers have reached out, too, but so far, it was just to post reminders to complete existing work and that "something will be coming". I hope so.

It stinks. This is the first semester my son was actually enjoying all his classes. He's always struggled in school. The transition to high school was tough on him. His grades plummeted, he had trouble making friends, he failed tryout after tryout after tryout - he had two very unhappy years. He has come a long way since and this semester, he was doing much better at school, heavily involved in a school team, finally had lots of friends. This was his time to shine. And now all this.

 

[AngelDisney]

My son heard a rumor that schools might be setting up for online learning in the next week or two? He is in Grade 12 and we are hoping for some kind of online learning. We still have 3 months of school to go!

In the meantime, this week I got him to start doing some online stuff and he spends 1-2 hrs a day doing various work. I asked him what he wanted to learn and am tailoring the work around that. Was going to start him on one of the lesson plans the Ontario govt has posted online but now will wait a bit more to see if his regular classes resume.

If your son is taking advanced functions or calculus, here is the link to the courseware by the University of Waterloo. We found the grade 12 resources more useful than other grades.
https://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/resources/courseware/courseware.htmlAs a math teacher, I am ready for virtual teaching but we are awaiting further directions from the school board. We are not sure which platform would be used: D2L Brightspace or Google classroom. I am ready anytime with either platform. Let’s be patient and wait.

 

[hdrolfe]

Wow. I would like to hear the plans for the rest of the school year because it is stressful for me too. I am lucky that I can work from home during this time but if it goes on for months that becomes much harder. I also have no idea if I should be planning for day camps this summer, which normally book up fast. It's all just... ugh!!

My son's in grade 5, thank goodness not grade 6 (they head to high school for grade 7 from his school) which would be a huge change. I have supplies, I can teach him myself if he will listen to me. But then will he be too far ahead of those kids that aren't learning? He gets bored easily as it is. His teacher set up some kind of message board for all the kids and they are answering her questions with little videos. Funny thing is so far it's only the boys answering. None of the girls (and there are more of them) have done videos yet. It isn't work though, what is something no one knows about you? Any way. I just want to know what's going on!!

I'm not sure how school through the summer would work, most of my kids school has AC but those portapacks they added on do not, those rooms get HOT in the summer, not just for the kids but I'd worry about the teachers as well. And there are a few of them so I don't think they can just cram them all into the other rooms. Working in them to the end of June is already hard. Last year they switched the grade 5 & 6's out of them and put the grade 1 & 2's in on the assumption that the smaller kids have an easier time with the heat. Something like that any way.

 

[Frozen2014]

My son heard a rumor that schools might be setting up for online learning in the next week or two? He is in Grade 12 and we are hoping for some kind of online learning. We still have 3 months of school to go!

This wouldn't surprise me. My son's high school principal indicated something similar on twitter.
This is completely new though so will take time to set things up.

My son has already gone ahead and has completed the homework for the year for 2 of his subjects (math and science). The only two he doesn't have anything he can do on his own. He is now just self learning...found an online computer course.

My daughter's grade 5 teacher is posting the odd assignment and keeping in touch by google classroom but of course it's nothing like a full day of school work. On top of that, I've just found some online math sheets for her to work on.

Am hoping things will be more structured in upcoming weeks so they don't lose their year.

My son too has a summer job at a camp this year he is soooo looking forward to. And that is a different kind of learning so it's good for him.
I agree too with teh comment above. If they put them into summer, they need to do something about AC. Even June can have some really hot uncomfortable classrooms for them and those little fans don't cut it.

Will need to see what will be. Day by day.

 

[isabellea]

My 5th grader has daily contacts with her teacher on Google Classroom where she posts some practice worksheets and challenges. Nothing for my youngest who is in 2nd grade. Maybe because they don’t have a Google Classroom account yet?!?

 

[Madame]

Two of my daughter’s four teachers already reached out to me/her yesterday to notify us online learning would be starting. I was very impressed that one teacher was so well prepared that he conducted a virtual class this morning and will do the same every day. It was great to see this and I am sure her other teachers will be starting up soon. If universities and colleges can teach their courses online, then high schools should be able to do the same.

ETA: I also have a child in elementary school and it looks as if not much “teaching” will be done based on communication received so far. It looks like materials will be posted online for the child to complete.

We have been instructed not to do that by school boards , if anyone is wondering why teachers have not started online learning. For example there have been cyber attacks on the Zoom platform many US districts are using. Let’s just say things children should not see have been popping up during live lessons.

We have been asking what we are to do (equity issues make this a legal minefield) and as of yesterday got vague responses that decisions are being made, to start prepping, but not lessons.... WHAT? It is truly frustrating

 

[elaine amj]

I made DS17 reach out to all his teachers the last Friday of school asking for some work to do over these three weeks. At least some indication of his ISU so he could start researching. Anything lol! All his teachers said they had nothing to give. Just the luck of the draw with the particular classes he is taking this semester. Oh well. He gets extra work Mom and Dad find lol! DH has been giving him stuff from udemy. I have been giving him online quizzes plus some extra English work.

 

[bankr63]

The online learning thing is very difficult to get right. DW is a teacher at an inner-city school and teaches core grade 7. She has completed calling all students and parents and has compiled a list of students who have problems accessing technology. There are families out there with no internet access, and no computer. In other cases, there is one computer, but mom or dad is working from home and must commandeer the computer to keep an income coming in. In other cases, large families have 4 or 5 kids in school, and only one computer. How do they ration the precious resource equitably for all the kids? Do the high-school kids get more preferred access?

We need some of the larger tech companies to step up and help out. My agency would send hundreds of off-lease laptops back to Dell every year. There have to be warehouses filled with viable equipment that could be redeployed to less fortunate families who are struggling in these times. Rogers/Bell could help by cutting payments for cellular data to families so that kids can get online and learn. I would be very impressed by any of the big tech and telecom companies that would do that, and it would be a great PR win.

It is very tough to move ahead with curriculum when 20-30% of the kids do not have access to the learning opportunity.

 

[Susan2771]

My suggestion is to finish the school year in the summer. Treat this as your kids summer vacation.

If that is a possibility that kids will be attending school in the summer, someone better get cracking at installing air conditioning in the schools that do not have it. My daughter's elementary school is an oven when the weather heats up in May and June, then again in September and October. The heat can be brutal, and a number of kids get physically ill from the heat.

 

[Silvermist999]

We have been instructed not to do that by school boards , if anyone is wondering why teachers have not started online learning. For example there have been cyber attacks on the Zoom platform many US districts are using. Let’s just say things children should not see have been popping up during live lessons.

We have been asking what we are to do (equity issues make this a legal minefield) and as of yesterday got vague responses that decisions are being made, to start prepping, but not lessons.... WHAT? It is truly frustrating

For years, our school board has been using G Suite for Education, so kids in our schools are very familiar with it already. They are not using apps like zoom which could pose privacy and security issues.

 

[Madame]

For years, our school board has been using G Suite for Education, so kids in our schools are very familiar with it already. They are not using apps like zoom which could pose privacy and security issues.

I understand that, but every student must have equal educational access and opportunity under the law. This is where problems arise and why we have be instructed NOT to do anything.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

@hdrolfe, the place where we like to enroll DD for summer camps said they are bumping registration out to end of April. I will like register her just to have those weeks in place (only need three) and if our province isn't back to normal by then, I will just get my money back.

 

[CanadianKrista]

I have a grade 6 and grade 4, we've been getting a few things from the teachers, but honestly, both DH and I area still working full time, even though it is from home. Trying to get the kids to do the work and still do what we need to do for our jobs is close to impossible. Very likely DS will not get a grade 6 graduation, he's off to a new school for grade 7, it's going to be a hard transition with all this. But at this point keeping all of us healthy is my top concern.

 

[Sunelis]

This just drop