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The first thing students did in Carrie Collins’ first-grade class at Conley Elementary School in Chandler was wash their hands, standing six feet apart in line at the sink.
It was the first day of in-person instruction after six weeks of school online. Things were different.
Collins has 13 students, down from the usual 20 to 24. Parents could choose to send their kids to school or attend the district’s Chandler Online Academy.
Their desks are spaced apart. They’re wearing masks.
“Should they be down under our noses, like this?” Collins asked, tugging down hers so her nose showed.
“No,” the kids say in unison.
“Should it be up here like this?” she asked, pulling it up over her eyes.
“No,” they say again, laughing.
Collins played a short video, “Wear a Mask,” Drs. Bop ‘n Pop singing, “A-B-C, 1-2-3, everybody’s got a mask around me.”
When Collins teaches phonics, she’ll trade her mask for a plastic face shield, so students see her mouth when she sounds out letters and words.
As on any other first day, Collins went over classroom procedures.
“Procedures? What is ‘procedures’?” Maisey asked.
“That’s a good question,” Collins said. “Procedures are how we do things during our day.”
Some were familiar. Raise their hands to ask a question. Put up two fingers to use the bathroom. Quiet voices. Listening ears. The day’s schedule posted on the white board.
They’ll take turns feeding the class pet, a tortoise named Flash.
But many procedures were new because of COVID-19.
No parents are allowed past the front gates. Students must wash their hands first thing in the morning and before lunch. They can’t share books, letter tiles for phonics or counting objects for math.
All these new procedures take extra time. They’ll take some practice, their teacher told them. But there’s a good reason for all of it.
The return to Conley was staggered, with kindergarteners through second-graders starting Monday and third- through sixth-grade students returning a week later.
Until Monday, Collins’ students had only seen each other on their computer screens. They had been eager to come to school, asking often when it would happen.
Now they were here, and they were excited, even if things were different.
To get from their classroom to the playground or P.E., or the cafeteria, they’ll hold onto a rope with loops every six feet to keep them spaced apart.
Collins compared it to ducklings walking in a row with enough space between them not to step on each other’s big orange feet.
Only one student can be in the restroom at a time. Waiting in line, holding onto the rope, Maisey jiggled, crossing her legs.
At lunch, they ate only with other first-graders, one grade level at a time, two students per table, all facing the same direction.
Lunch would stretch from 10:40 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., doing it that way, instead of the usual two hours.
The playground is marked off in sections, so Collins’ students can play together but not with any other students. Today they’re in an area with tether ball poles. Tomorrow, they’ll get the swings.
They can’t play “Red Rover,” but they can play “Red Light, Green Right.”
The playground equipment is taped off with yellow “caution” tape.
“It’s kind of a bummer, but it keeps us safe,” Collins told them. “We’re going to have fun, but we have new rules.”
Still, with all that was different, her students said, it was good to be in school.
Collins’ students took out their journals and new pencils.
“Now that you’re back in class, what is something you really, really want to do?” Collins asked.
Paige wants to make new friends. Christian wants to study science. Olivia wants to play on the fields.
“I couldn’t wait to see my teacher,” Hayden Olivia said.
“I like my teacher,” Sebastian wrote in his journal.
Collins showed him how to do an air high-five, same as a regular high-five except they did it at a distance and didn’t touch hands.
These are the reasons all the new procedures are worth it.
“If we do our jobs and keep our masks on, we can stay in school,” Collins said. “If we follow the rules, we all can stay safe.”
And they can be together.
Reach Karina Bland at [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @KarinaBland.
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