At the core of early childhood education and school life are relationships.

Student social interactions and the critical emotional bonds that children have and need with each other and their teachers are the most essential at continuing during uncertain times.

To ensure that the school skills, such as structure and routine, we have all worked so hard to build throughout the year are maintained, here are a few tips and tricks to make this transition to virtual school life smoother.

Create a classroom corner at home
This needs to be an area with no distractions, with school books and materials within easy reach of your child.
Pencils, erasers, scissors, glue, extra paper, notebooks, a water bottle and a book for reading while waiting for others to finish a task
Get ready early
Check your technology such as audio, video and connectivity at least 10min before class time begins.
Allow them to log-in 5 minutes early to settle down and give students time to chat with each other.
Make sure your child knows or understands some of the basic functions
These buttons and tools include: the mute button, the video button and being able to ‘raise their hand’ to speak.
Follow the normal class periods and break times
It’s a good idea to set up alarms or reminders on an adult’s phone to know when the break times are.
Please don’t interrupt the lessons by talking to your child as it’s essential they stay focused on their educator’s instructions and classmates.
Please don't adjust or change any viewing settings or play with the video/microphone/background settings.
Video needs to stay on throughout the class, so please follow good etiquette: be fully clothed, don't walk around or talk in the background while the lesson is taking place.
Please check your email or LMS inbox regularly for messages and lesson details from your child’s educator
Keep up to date with comprehension skills and reading by using ReadingA-Z.

This new way of learning is completely new for young learners, so positivity and patience during the transition are key.

Encourage participation and listening with enthusiasm, let go of high expectations and allow time for your student to process a new way of engaging and learning.

Us as educators are doing our best to provide meaningful virtual interactions and lessons for our students and ensure we stay on our academic course.

Together we can do hard things and get to the other side of this challenging period. Our BigByte school community is one of a kind!

“Stay healthy, stay safe and stay positive!”

5 tips for setting up E-learning environment at home