Covid 19- Part 1 of 3

As I sit down and write this our school currently has the day off in honor of Easter weekend. This Easter sure was different than our ordinary Easter's, however it was perfect. In many ways I think God was trying to remind us the true meaning of Easter. We celebrated at home with our family and our entire day was centered around Jesus... it was wonderful. On Saturday we even got a special visit from the Easter Bunny himself on a golf cart. Here are a few of our Easter pictures from the weekend: 

Okay, back to quarantine life... today is our 29th day at home quarantined. We started out all this craziness with a week at the beach with our friends and family for our spring break. I am so thankful we had that week to unwind and relax before coming home to a big move and quarantined life. While at the beach we got word that GA was going on lock down and we rushed to the grocery store to stock up on essentials to bring home with us. Here are a few pictures of our relaxing days at the beach before returning home to craziness: 

Upon returning home, our family moved into a new house three days later(just 1.5 miles down the road) the day that all schools closed. We are so blessed that our move went so smoothly, despite everything that is going on. It has also given us PLENTY of time to unpack and get started on the many projects we have. 

Just like almost every family in America, we have been juggling schedules so that Elliot and I can take our calls without the children screaming in the background. All the while trying to keep them entertained, happy, and learning! It took us a few weeks to get into a good schedule that seems to be working very well, of course we do have many bumps along the way. Here is what a typical weekday in the life of the Nolan family looks like during quarantine: 

• 6:00am- I wake up and have some alone time and prepare lesson plans for my students as well as my own children 
• 7:00am- kids wake up and eat their breakfast 
• 8:00am- I have a live online faculty meeting via Google Meet
• 9:00-9:30am- I have a live morning meeting with my class via Google Meet 
• 9:30-10:00am- I teach small groups for my students 
• 10:00-11:00am- I am available for office hours with my students 
• 10:00am- Ansleigh chats with her class via Google Meet 
• 10:00-11:30am- homeschooling with my children 
• 11:00am- Cooper chats with his class via Google Meet
• 11:30-1:00- Lunch on the screened in porch and play outside or ride bikes 
• 1:00-3:00- quiet time for my children and I check in on all of my students work for the day 
• 1:30- leadership meeting 
• 3:00- Ansleigh chats with her class via Google Meet 
• Then we try and get outside/exercise until dinner time 

As you can see our days fly by pretty quickly. We are trying to slow down, make memories, and spend time outside together. I will continue to do a few other quarantine posts about homeschooling my children as well as teaching kindergarten online so stay tuned. To everyone reading this stay home, stay healthy, and make memories. To close here are a few pictures of how we have been spending out time outside together as well as what learning from the computer looks like for me and the kids: 

100th Day of School

Today, January 22nd, our school celebrated our 100th day of school! It was a wonderful day filled with many great memories for the kids as well as my team of teachers. 

At our school, on the 100th day of school, we allow our kindergarten students to dress up as if they were 100 years old. All of their costumes are adorable! Us teachers also dress up and play the character ALL day (including in our morning faculty meeting). 

Here are some pictures of the teachers and my sweet students in our 100 year old costumes: 

Here are some of the activities we did today to celebrate the 100th day of school: 

1. Students arrive in their adorable costumes and were so excited to walk through the streamers on the classroom door: 

2. Kindergarten students/teachers took part in a 100th day of school parade

3. Our kindergarten students broke into rotations through the three kindergarten classrooms. Rotations included: 100 cup stacking towers, race to 100 with dice, 100th day of school hat making, and 100th day of school posters. Here are some pictures from the rotations: 

4. Later in the afternoon students had to search the classroom for 100 Hershey Kisses. Each Hershey Kiss had a number (0-100) on the bottom. Once they found a Hershey Kiss they had to bring it to me, identify the number, and place it on the 100 chart. They LOVED this activity!! 

5. Next we went to the cafeteria and made 100th day of school necklaces. Each student had to get 10 beads of every color (10). When they were complete their necklaces had 100 beads. Before they could get their special "100 days smarter" bead they had to count by 10s to 100. This was a great activity that the kids loved that worked on fine motor skills. 

6. Finally we ended the day with a special visit from Zero the Hero

Today was a very special day for our students working all day on the number 100!!