Back in Action!

Hello Chester Ronning School Community!

Hopefully you have already heard the announcement made on Wednesday by Education Minister Adriana LaGrange and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Denna Hinshaw, confirmed that Alberta students and teachers will return to in-person classes on Tuesday, May 25. We are so excited to welcome students back to in-person classes after the long weekend!

I'm sure that the past two weeks have been a bit of a challenge for everyone but I have been so impressed by the level of engagement that I have observed when popping into virtual classes. Our teachers have worked so hard to develop meaningful learning experiences and to incorporate some interactive activities into their Google Meets and the students have really developed their capacity for using online learning tools to achieve their learning outcomes!

Over the past several days of remote learning, I have seen online class read-alouds, teacher-led story times, show-and-share, teachers and educational assistants working with small groups and individuals, and I even got to participate in a competitive math game with a Grade 4 class. (I came in 3rd, but who's counting!) And I know there were lots of great, engaging lessons that I wasn't able to attend as well! My point is that there was a ton of great learning going on - and we know that hard-working parents and guardians deserve an enormous thank-you for helping to make that possible! 

But we also know that there are a lot of things that are more difficult to accomplish in virtual formats as well. We are really looking forward to get the students back for the last 5 weeks of the school year and to have the time to work with them for full school days and to provide opportunities for healthy socialization with their classmates.

There are a couple of informational items that I would like to share as we prepare to resume classes on Tuesday, May 25th:

• Borrowed Chromebooks can be returned Friday May 21 or first thing on Tuesday morning. We lent out an entire cart of devices to support student learning while classes were paused and we know that teachers and students will be champing at the bit to use them in classes as soon as we return. If you borrowed a device, we'd love to get it back on Friday afternoon, between 1-3:30pm. If this is not possible, please have your child bring it to the office on Tuesday morning so that these tech resources will be available for our learners. As returned devices come in, we will make sure that deposits are refunded as soon as possible.
• Health and safety processes remain in place. With the announcement that classes are resuming, there has not been any relaxation of existing pandemic-related safety protocols and we will be continuing with the same processes that helped Chester Ronning School before classes were paused. We appreciate families' continued vigilance when it comes to doing daily self assessments and keeping students home when they are experiencing symptoms. We will also continue with our routine of meeting our classes outside, as close to 8:30am as possible and bringing them in, one cohort at a time. 
• Student "book-shop" on Friday, May 28 - As teachers are preparing for an eventual move over to the replacement school that is under construction, there is a lot of purging and packing that is taking place. As such, teachers will be doing a book swap to replenish their classroom libraries. As educators, we are reluctant to toss away reading materials so any reasonable-condition books that are not claimed by other teachers will be made available for students to take home. Although there is evidence that the probability of the virus being spread from surfaces, we want to respect all people's comfort levels. If you do not wish for your child to choose a book, please communicate with your child and consider sending a note to your child's teacher.

I think that's it for now - I'm looking forward to seeing many of you from my regular place at the crosswalk on Tuesday morning. 

Take good care and I hope you have a very safe and relaxing May long weekend!

Reid Lansing