\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFifteen out of her usual 24 students took part in the Together Strong<\/em> video, which Leslie shot on her phone and edited at home. “We thought it was important to share a message of hope and strength to staff, students, and parents as we went into remote learning,” she said. “I’m amazed at their resiliency. It gives me the sense that these kids are going to be OK.”<\/p>\n This year, the focus in Grade 4 has been on kindness and how kindness can have an impact on those around us. “We have shown kindness to our school community through activities such as creating kindness postcards which are ‘mailed’ in our kindness mailbox, doing our part to maintain a clean classroom to support our overloaded custodians, and creating videos to show our appreciation,” she said. <\/p>\n Her class has been making videos all year, including a big production in December, and a recent flash mob as a thank-you for the school’s principal, Camie Lawson.<\/p>\n “We couldn’t have our school assembly in December, so the kids and I made a 35-minute-long video about a family fighting over a TV remote. The TV shows they were watching were things like COVID’s Got Talent<\/em> and the Twelve Months of COVID<\/em> and a baking show.”<\/p>\n In fact, the whole school year up to now has included the use of video in an interactive newsletter written by her students. “I think parents are getting a greater look into what we do in the classroom than ever before,” she said. “The students chose what goes into the newsletter, and we made short videos on our activities, like making bird houses. Parents can’t come into the building, so we took our activities to them this way.”<\/p>\n Leslie describes herself as having a “high energy” teaching style. She prefers doing hands-on activities rather than worksheets. “I’d rather talk about things, rather than just assigning reading and writing,” she said.<\/p>\n Interviewed after the school moved to remote learning on May 12, Leslie said she is using Google Classroom to teach lessons. “I’m sitting in my classroom, with my computer and four Chrome Books grouped around me, so that I can put students into smaller groups and keep track of what each group is doing on a Chrome Book,” she said. “I feel like I’m sitting at NASA with all these screens.”<\/p>\n She misses having her students in person, but knows staying home is for the best during the spring lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t