Dear GMS Families,
With today being the first day of our temporary suspension of in-person learning on both our main and satellite campuses, we wanted to provide an overview of what we are preparing for our students’ remote learning.
Your team is focused and hard at work putting the final touches on our remote learning plans. Families will soon receive activities, suggestions, tips, assignments, links, projects, and plans that will help minimize disruption to our students' learning. Through interactive group video chats, personalized work plans, recorded teacher lessons, and one-on-one video conferences with their teachers, we will provide your child with a myriad of learning opportunities, challenges, and suggestions.
The older the student, the more expectations we will have for the work they complete. The younger the student, the more our emails and packets will be suggestions for activities and projects. Fortunately for all of our students, two of the main tenants of Montessori pedagogy is independence and curiosity, which inherently support our current situation.
While our aim is to provide work our students can tackle as independently as possible, we are fully aware of additional support needed from the adult members our families to make remote learning work. We thank you for this partnership ... and we know most of you are still working yourselves, be it remotely or still physically heading to work each day. So, give yourself grace, and use what time is available to have fun with your child’s learning and discovery, however old they are.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time. I am available to you by email every day. Even though we won’t see you in person, know that our entire team and I are still hard at work, focused on nurturing and challenging your children to help them unleash their full potential as learners and as human beings. Keep reading to learn more about:
- Our Timeline for Remote Learning
- Our Communication Plans
- Tips for Talking with Your Children about COVID-19
- Tips for Your Days at Home
While this pandemic has provided a disruption and challenge to us all, I have full faith in our community and know that together, we will unleash our community's full potential in the weeks and months to come. Thank you, as always, for your partnership.
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Dr. Kevin Navarro
Head of School
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Timeline for Remote Learning
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Throughout today, Monday, March 16, our team gathered to refine our plans for remote learning and campus operations. We met only in small groups and observed strict social distancing measures. Colleagues were also given the option to connect remotely for any reason. For the remainder of the week, we will follow this schedule:
- Tuesday, March 17, families will receive division-specific information on what to expect in the coming weeks for your child's remote learning.
- Wednesday, March 17, we will host two car lines for families to drive through and pick up division-specific learning materials from our main campus. When you come to campus, follow the drive toward the Upper School, rounding the cul-de-sac, and pulling up to the side Gym door. Your administrators will bring your learning materials to you.
- Morning car line will be open 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.
- Lunch car line will be open 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- All learning materials will be in grocery-style tote bags. Traffic flow may be heavy during car line. Please be patient and remain in your vehicle at all times.
- Families and students will not be allowed in buildings. Please remember, do not come to campus, even through the car line, if you are experiencing any symptoms of respiratory illness – FEVER, COUGH, or SHORTNESS OF BREATH. We are happy to find another way to deliver materials, either via email or the U.S. Postal Service.
- You are welcome to pick up learning materials for another family if you have that family's permission.
- Thursday, March 18, remote learning will begin for all students. All campus facilities (indoor and outdoor) will be closed. Access will be restricted to essential employees and allowed only through my permission.
- Friday, March 19, remote learning continues.
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At the very least, we will send weekly schoolwide updates with tips and ideas for remote learning.
And we want to hear from you! Let us know what's working for your family and share your own remote learning experiences by emailing us at
gms@gms.org.
Families with students in Upper Elementary and Junior High will receive daily communications from your teachers. Families with students in Toddler, Primary, and Lower Elementary will receive weekly communications.
All teachers are available to you and your family via email from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. In recognition that time away from screens is fundamental to our well-being as students, educators and families, please do not expect our team to answer emails at night or on the weekends. Sleep, hydration, nutrition, exercise – and time spent with our families – keeps all of us healthy, balanced, and able to care for each other with attention, creativity, generosity and grace.
Please do not call the School, as our Office will be closed.
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Talking with Your Children about COVID-19
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We realize this may be a worrisome time for you and your children. Fortunately, there are many helpful resources available on how to talk with children about COVID-19. This is also an important time to teach and remind children about healthy hygiene and ways to remain well in mind and body.
This article from TIME reminds us that "'Parents should tailor their approach depending on their child’s age, information processing style, and exposure to news about the virus,' says Ellen Braaten, co-director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital. 'You have to know your child,' she says. 'Does more information help them cope, or does more information make them anxious?'” Here are some additional resources we've found helpful:
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How to Structure Your Day
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While each division will have specific recommendations, assignments, suggestions, and activities for your children, here are seven helpful tips for everyone:
- Create and keep a schedule. It doesn't have to be an eight-hour day, and it needs to work for your family. However, it is important to let your children know this isn’t a vacation and engage them as much as possible in the planning, where appropriate.
- Go outside everyday. And go out many times a day. Set movement goals for both you and your children to help release energy and manage stress.
- Read everyday. Dive into your home libraries, tap into "free little libraries" in neighborhoods and parks, swap books with friends, and download books to your devices.
- Engage children in purposeful work (practical life skills) as much as possible. Prepare meals together, clean their rooms, create sewing projects, fix something around the house, build a garden, collect household items to donate, etc.
- Find unique ways to help your children connect. Write and mail notes, make phone and video calls, draw pictures for friends, etc., so your children don’t feel overly isolated.
- Manage your children's media. Work to set limits on what media your children can consume, and how much screen time works for your family. Common Sense Media recently sent this email helping families "choose media and tech that can keep kids engaged, entertained, and learning. And remember to extend yourself grace – don’t feel guilty if your children watch a few more videos than usual. Everyone is navigating this new balancing act.
- Research a project or an idea together. Try to make space for your child’s curiosity. Let their seed of an idea take root and explore it together.
- Explore the arts each day. Listen to a concert together. Take a virtual tour of a museum. Try your hand at nature art à la Andy Goldsworthy.
- Take social distancing seriously. The difficult choice to temporarily suspend in-person learning was informed by our School's social and corporate responsibility to slow the spread of COVID-19. Social distancing is a strategy we can employ as individuals and families to play our role. These articles from Good Housekeeping and CNN explain social distancing and why it can "flatten the curve."
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Greensboro Montessori School
2856 Horse Pen Creek Road, Greensboro, NC 27410
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