Our Head of School’s Second letter during the Covid-19 essensial Learning experience

April 6, 2020

Dear Bridgeview Montessori Families,

Here we are - into our fourth week of remote and essential education for all our students. I am so proud of how quickly our teachers jumped into a whole new way to reach out and teach. I am also proud of how responsive parents have been in supporting and participating in our school-at-home venture. We have all had to be brave, resilient, inventive and able to make adjustments without much notice. All of this at a time full of monumental worries. We certainly have had the opportunity to live our daily mission, 'We learn to dig deep'.

Our overarching goals for remote learning are:

  • To provide students with opportunities to explore, discover and learn

  • To keep our learning community close and connected

We have tried to be mindful that each child varies depending on age, learning style, individual family needs, and comfort with technology. The educational activities we offer are math, reading, writing, science, practical life lessons, connections to outside, fitness, spanish, music, yoga and art. Depending on student ages, we are offering enough lessons and activities that students will be inspired 2-3 hours per day. We want to make sure to honor time for play and being outside. Our delivery methods are:

  • Hard copy packets sent by mail to families

  • 1:1 phone calls

  • 1:1 distance video chat lessons...zoom, face time

  • Teacher designed video lessons

  • Email

  • Sharing useful internet resources

  • Small group lessons and social gatherings via video chats

  • Keeping our website current and informative

Our classroom teachers are committed to checking in with each family once a week to make sure lines of communication are open. This ensures that parents and teachers have the opportunity to evaluate how distance-learning is working for each individual child. Our success depends on your engagement and willingness to ask questions and offer guidance when our approach is not quite working for your child. Although our building is closed, our learning continues. Each child's participation is expected.

We at Bridgeview Montessori are always willing to hear you. We have compiled a list of times each day we are available to speak with you by phone, Zoom or email. I want to thank everyone for making our remote learning something we are very proud of. It is truly an educational adventure created by faculty, students, parents and Board members - working separately yet together to achieve continuity during difficult times.

Every day, in spite of all of us being physically apart, I feel the closeness of our very special learning community.

Yours in resilience and grit,

Sandy

PS. Don't forget to laugh.