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Elementary students, staff look forward to return to 'normal'

Lead Summary
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By
Mavis Fodness

When Luverne Elementary students and staff return to school after the holiday break Jan. 4, in-person instruction will be a welcome relief.
“We know the safest place for students is in school,” said Principal Stacy Gillette. “Going to school is normal.”
She said school routine provides mental and emotional comfort to kindergarten through fifth-grade students, and mask-wearing and routine hand sanitation kept the coronavirus from originating from the building.
In November, however, because the district’s incident command team couldn’t track the outside spread of COVID-19, instruction at Luverne Elementary switched to a hybrid model.
Hybrid at Luverne Elementary means half of each grade meets in person every other day. Instead of 550 students on a daily basis, only about 225 were in the building with staff.
When students are not in school, they complete paper assignments from home.
 
Teachers prepared for upcoming learning switch
With hybrid learning teachers switched young learners to an online platform that they can use when they’re in school or at home.
Second-grade teachers Lori Nath and Laura Louwagie familiarized students and families with Google Classroom.
“We did introduce Google Classroom right away in the fall,” Nath said.
Students and parents learned how to check daily assignments, classroom announcements, current lesson materials and complete attendance. Some elementary classrooms made the same connection using a program called Seesaw.
A routine developed before the November learning change. Students worked in Google Classroom while still meeting in person.
“We wanted to get them used to Google Classroom just in case we went to hybrid or distance learning,” Louwagie said.
A common platform wasn’t used extensively last March, when schools abruptly switched to distance learning.
This fall teachers prepared for months in case of a switch.
“We focus on more instruction in the classroom with more of the practice being done when they are at home,” Nath said.
“Students are given a practice packet to do at home for their ‘at-home learning day.’ I feel like our day is very similar to how it is when all the students are here.”
Chromebooks are issued to elementary students for use at home, if necessary.
 
Paper packets become norm for at-home use
However the second-grade teachers don’t live-teach or record lessons for playback online like their middle- and high-school colleagues do in hybrid and distance-learning models.
At the elementary level, day care and/or work schedules often prevent parents from assisting their grade-school-aged children during the day, so teachers adapted to an age-appropriate method of take-home paper packets.
“We realize that there are a lot of parents working, so we tried to give practice work where students could be more independent,” Louwagie said.
“We are covering more concepts at school because they are doing a lot of practice at home.”
 
Safety features continue after holiday break
When in school, students and staff wear masks, keep six feet between desks and each other and use lots of hand sanitizer.
“Our staff has done an amazing job,” said Principal Gillette. “They have been very diligent following the safety protocol.”
She said she welcomes the new vaccine currently in use in the community and hopes it slows the positive cases and allows the elementary school to continue in-person instruction.
Until COVID-19 cases drop, the school will continue to follow health and safety recommendations inside the school.
Parent Amy Chapa is a board member of the school’s booster club, Parents Partners In Education and works as a paraprofessional at the elementary school.
“I have seen that the kids are wonderful about keeping their masks on, the kids are distanced in the classroom, in the halls, at the lunch tables, classes are divided during recess so close contacts can be identified easily,” Chapa said.
“Kids are required to wash their hands and are offered hand sanitizer frequently. Janitors are working extra hard to keep things extra clean right now. The change in how school now operates has been noticeable.”
 
Learning milestones monitored for gaps
Teachers, as well as students, long for normalcy.
“I never imagined we would be teaching this way. We miss having all our students here every day,” said Louwagie, who is in her 23rd year of teaching.
“We feel so grateful that we have not had to go to distance learning this year (like last spring). It would be much harder to teach new skills and individualize instruction if we weren’t able to see them in person at least some of the time.”
As in-person classes begin next month, each student will be assessed.
Gillette said instruction and early intervention teams watch test data and assess the mental health of students on a weekly basis.
“This was a concern when we came back this fall,” she said.
Identifying potential deficiencies allows staff to intervene and, in the case of instruction, focus more practice on those areas.
“I feel like the kids seem to be doing better emotionally than they were in the spring,” Louwagie said.
“At least now they get to see some of their classmates and teachers a few times a week. In the spring, they didn’t see them at all except on the computer.”
She said the pandemic highlighted that parental support is a critical element in education.
“When they are learning at home, it’s essential to have parents checking in and making sure the students are keeping up on their work,” Louwagie said.
“At this age, most students need reassurance they are doing it correctly and have followed instructions.”
With the return to in-person learning, Luverne Elementary will also have new school hours. Classes will be in session from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

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