It has been an extraordinary beginning ti 2020. This Spring everyone is experiencing challenges that have never been met before. People are growing and surpassing themselves constantly ibecause of these challenges, adapting to a new life style brought by this sudden change. In this period of time, the teachers, children and parents are trying to communicate and connect in a new way, so that during the time that they cannot meet it will become more colorful and meaningful.
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Video Collection of Family Interaction
First of all, we would like to thank parents for participating in and making use of the curriculum guide and resources online, providing high-quality companionship to children in home-based learning, recordings and giving feedback about children's life at home. We can see the children's growth from the pictures shared by their parents. Let's witness their outstanding performance and learning achievements together!
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The heart-felt feelings from parents
I believe that during this period, parents will surely gain a lot in the process of using online resources and interacting with children! Here are some words from two parents' representatives.
Ethan's parents from domestic section：
This year is very special to everyone. It presents a precious life lesson to children. Under the online guidance of Newton teachers, the "epidemic crisis" has unexpectedly made family education practical and it presents an unforgettable opportunity for children at home to improve themselves with an all-round development of morality，intelligence，physics and arts.
During this super long vocation, teachers from Linglong bayside Newton campus keep providing online resources and guidance to ensure the healthy growth of children. The approach of home-school cooperative education is helpful to children who can spend quality time at home.
Thanks to teachers who have devoted themselves to record a series of qualified and interesting activity videos, covering a variety of subjects featuring health facts, games, music and rhythms, handcrafts and science experiments. Videos vividly present teachers’ image and voice, also their kindness encourages children to be more willing to watch at home. Children can feel a constant caring and love from teachers’ online company during this special period. Meanwhile, parents can communicate with teachers on "A Tong Mu" APP, we can give feedback about family activities to teachers who will always give us kind suggestions and professional guidance. For instance, we are inspired to read a story with children in combination with traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and Tomb Sweeping Day, and to observe traditional customs for that festival; we are recommended to hold family fun sports competition, which encourages all the family members to participate; and we can read before going to the bed. We can also share a picture of children's growth with teachers... children are recommended to do exercise at home to strengthen their body, to study and to rest regularly, to form good behavior habits, and thus guarantee their healthy life at home.
Although the epidemic has postponed the opening day of school, we believe that it will not stop the growth of children. Thanks to the efforts of Newton kindergarten and all the teachers, children can have a safe, healthy, and meaningful life during this special vocation.
Neil’s parents from International Section:
At the beginning of this year, a sudden epidemic event limited children's freedom and made the vocation exordinary. With the extended holiday, Yang Yuanning could not stop missing her teachers, friends and interesting kindergarten life. As a parent, I began to think hard about how to arrange my child’s daily routines at home. Thanks to a variety of activity resources that Newton teachers prepared for children, my child could also have fun at home. Although children right now can't walk into the classroom, give hugs to friends and teachers, with these online resources, my child can learn and grow up happily at home.
The online parent-child interactive resources enable us to spend time participating in my child’s life. Moreover, we can feel how much care and love Newton teachers bring to children. We have not only witnessed the kindergarten's responsibility, but also Newton teachers' enthusiasm for education.
Video from the children above Password：roos
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Making film of preparing the resources
Let's see what the teachers have achieved in this period!
From Ms.Elaine
As soon as we started learning about the spread of the virus and the lockdown we all started to wonder what this would mean for us as teachers and how our students would continue to learn. We immediately started brainstorming ideas together; could we teach lessons over Skype calls or WeChat? Would the children be able to fully interact with us in this artificial way?
It took some more brainstorming sessions for us to agree that the best way to do this was to provide the students with all the necessary materials so that they could fully complete the lesson at home and with their families help. It was really great that right away we all wanted to play out part, we all wanted to be as proactive as we could to deliver the best online lessons we could. We looked at the positives from this - it was a great way for parents to see fully what every one of our lessons entails! And the great thing about our cross campus English team is that we had such a big number of colleagues to help and support to create each lesson.
We still had a lot of figuring out to do and we use the APP called InShot to create our videos. This was brand new for the majority of us but some of us were already familiar with it and more than willing to help out. We had a couple of training sessions to learn how to record craft videos, make story book audios, record dance videos and read through lesson plans. It was a lot to take in but we always knew that someone in our team would know what to do and be able to help! It’s times like this that you really appreciate working with such a great group of people and I’m so grateful to have them by my side when learning all these new things. We’ve all had different skills to offer and put together has been perfect.
From Ms.Tina
When the sudden epidemic made the kindergarten unable to start as scheduled, the principal immediately calls on all our teachers to pool their ideas on how to provide better resources for each family to use at home. How can children have better home activities based on the existing resources? How to help children keep healthy and regular schedule at home? We are encouraged to give more ideas on providing high-quality home learning resources. I have always loved music and am good at music teaching, so I actively asked to be responsible for the design, production and provision of music activity. I focused on how to make children participate in music activities at home, which is interesting, easy to operate and educational. I think that children can use the items around or body parts for rhythmic activities, so I started to think about the available props at home according to the year level of children, combined with the theme and parent-child interaction/ We were able to make a series of music activities. In the process, I felt a sense of achievement for bringing high-quality resources for children's. I hope that in the company of these familiar music rhythm games and song activities, children and their parents can enhance parent-child bond through the games, and also feel the care from kindergarten and our teachers.
From Ms.Diana and Ms.Wang Wang
For most of us, the biggest challenge of preparing the resources is making the video. In our regular teaching, there are not many video productions, some teachers have mastered different skills, so as to study from each other and becoming better. Before recording, we will carefully write the script, prepare the materials, practice, and think about the shooting style; during the recording, we should pay attention to many details ensuring that the camera is stable; When editing, even a small adjustment needs to be repeatedly modified many times. The first time I worked until mid-night, as I didn't master the skills well, so I was repeatedly confirming and adjusting, fearing of missing a detail. I am very happy for my every achievement when making a new video. I am thankful for the process of learning new skills and growth. What is more gratifying to me is that I can still provide children with online resources through my own efforts in this way when we can not meet each other, and contribute to their growth. I’m looking forward to meeting with them as soon as possible.
making film of online resources 密码: 9ji9
During this special period, we are most pleased to be able to pool the strength each of our Newton teachers to provide the children with a wealth of educational resources that are suitable, high quality and can promote parent-child interaction.
Since February, through the remote meetings, self learning, online training and taking advantage of everyone’s strength, teachers completed four themes of online resources in both Chinese and English with unity and cooperation. While in the process of design and production of videos, we met many difficulties and challenges, but we deeply feel the growth and value of ourselves in the breakthrough and progress. We know that only with continunual thinking and learning can help one to adapt to the changing world.
We are looking forward to seeing the children, and working with every parent to accumulate strength for the growth of the children. In this period of time, teachers can still accompany children from a distance, so their growth won’t be delayed!
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