The COVID case numbers in the county where my school is located are on the rise. There was more than 50% jump in target numbers (number of cases per 100,000) last week over the week before. After the weekly numbers came out, we got word that the earliest date my grade band might return to school will be November 2. 

My classroom still isn't quite ready to receive students, but it's close. It's incredibly difficult to find time to work toward setting it up now that the school year has already started. There's always something more pressing to do, like stay on top of my email, grade assignments, plan the next activities, and digitize assignments. I could stay really late or work on the weekends if I had to get it done, but I am already working on the aforementioned tasks during those times so I'm trying to continue to just do a little at a time. The room still looks stark, but rather than bringing in my classroom library and declaring it off limits, I'm leaving it in boxes at home. Rather than bringing in containers for shared supplies and having them sit empty, I've left them with the boxes of books.

Last week I was told my classroom will need to have plastic shields up on each student's desk. I got my set out of the workroom and brought them down the hall to my classroom, but haven't brought myself to set them up yet. The idea of each of my students sitting behind a plastic screen, not moving around the classroom is difficult to grasp. I'm told they are working well in the K-2 classrooms, but I do wonder what will happen with older kids who are bigger and work more often out of books. They may end up on the floor frequently in the older grade levels. 

In the midst of all of the crazy of getting a classroom ready to teach in the era of COVID-19, I am feeling very welcomed back into the building. People keep saying things like, "I'm so glad you're back!" and "We were lucky to get you back." When I was in last week, one teacher walked in with a gift for me. She said she was shopping and when she saw it, she had to buy it for me. 

While many things about teaching are different this year, some remain the same. I'm primarily teaching from a corner in my bedroom, but I'm still building relationships with my students and getting animated during lessons. While I'm not jumping up and down or standing on furniture as I would in person, my husband has commented about my lively tone of voice and arm waving as I teach. I'm pretty sure my neighbors have also noticed my arm waving. At least I'm teaching with the windows shut as the weather has shifted toward a cooler pattern.

Even over Zoom, students are making me smile and laugh on a regular basis. I have a few who contact me daily on Google Hangouts. Some send emojis, others greet me every morning, and one gives me regular air quality updates. Fourth graders are fantastic. I'm enjoying this year despite all the unprecedented challenges.

This was my favorite response to a Growth Mindset reflection.

How is it Already October?

 It's not like I'm itching to have 2020 continue to linger, but how the heck did we slide into October already? I still don't know when I will be teaching students who come into the building, but the time is likely inching closer. The school where I worked last year welcomed back K-5 students last week and my current school is welcoming back K-2 students on Monday. 

For those of you who have lost track, I'm teaching 4th grade this year. Now I can say I've taught every grade, third through eighth without the qualifier, except fourth. I guess it was inevitable I'd end up with a fourth grade gig. But I digress.

I had a co-worker ask last week if I was excited about the idea of returning to school. I told her I think "excited" is the wrong word, but there are several reasons I am anxious to get back in the classroom: 

• I have one student who has close to 20 missing assignments, and I have had zero response from the several emails I've sent to her parents. 
• I have another who has too much anxiety to turn on the camera  or mic, and only interacts during class time with a private chat, "here" during attendance check.
•  I have a few students who are off track in their brainstorming for our writing lessons, but don't appear to be reading my notes on their assignments or listening to my redirections during our Zoom sessions. 
• I have so many individual meetings on my calendar that I don't have adequate time to answer student questions that come in outside of their individual meetings.
• I am spending a shocking amount of time digitizing resources in a fourth grade friendly fashion so there is *less* chance that they will accidentally delete the instructions or formatting of their assignments.
• I know I would be doing a better job of teaching these kids if we were in person.

However, I also see many challenges to coming back in the building. Without considering the possible scariness of increasing my students' and my own risk of coming into contact with a virus that has caused a global pandemic, any form of in-person teaching this year will not be like teaching during any other time in my 20 year career:

• Entering the building will require daily health screenings and temperature checks. Those who pass will get a colored dot on the color of their uniform shirt indicating they have permission to be on campus.
• Desks are spaced as far apart as possible to still allow 15 students per classroom.
• Class sizes are capped at 15 to ensure maximum physical distancing.
• Students will only be able to interact with their "cohort" - homeroom classmates for the entirety of the school day. I honestly don't know what this will mean for recess.
• "Interaction" will be limited to that which can happen from a distance of six feet or more.
• Group work will be nonexistent.
• Shared classroom supplies of pencils, paper, erasers, silent reading material, etc. have been removed.
• Students will need explicit permission to get out of their seats and move around. Acceptable reasons for moving around will be limited.
• Everyone in the building will be required to wear masks which will 
• make it challenging to hear/understand many students, 
• cause my chin to break out, 
• and probably give me daily headaches (I can't even wear stretchy headbands for a full teaching day without getting one). 

COVID numbers in my area are on the rise again. The President was hospitalized after a positive COVID diagnosis this week. These are not just unprecedented times, they are uncertain times.

In the midst of all of this, I have finally been able to spend a bit of time getting my classroom ready to receive students. The science teacher finished clearing out as much as she could from shelves and cabinets, and the vent that recirculates air was repaired (the science teacher says she never heard it run in the decade the classroom was hers... and upon opening it, it was discovered that it did not have a motor inside). Getting those items checked off the list should put a stop to people needing to shove the physically distanced desks back toward one another. 

I have scrubbed off the fine grit that settled on every surface with the removal of a wall of cabinets and the subsequent wall repair and floor scouring. Nametags are laminated and waiting to be cut an affixed to desks. IB attribute posters are likewise laminated and are ready to adorn the walls. I have put up many of my own decorations, including above a window that required standing on the newly repaired vent.

There's still work to be done, but it's getting closer to looking like a cozy classroom. Well, as cozy as a classroom be with all the new requirements in place.