Continuous Learning: Checking in with Broken Arrow Elementary

Continuous Learning: Checking in with Broken Arrow Elementary
Shawnee Mission School District

What does Continuous Learning look like for Broken Arrow Elementary School students? Here are a couple of examples from Broken Arrow teachers. 

Mallory Mansour’s First Grade Spirit Days As the new experience of Continuous Learning began for Mallory Mansour and her students, she turned to a series of themed “fan favorite lessons” to get started.  

With a twist on the “spirit day” concept, she encouraged her first-grade students to create a workspace and take part in lessons inspired by a theme each day. Each theme day included lessons relating to priority standards such as  math, reading, social studies, science, motor skill, and social-emotional learning.

For example, on beach day, students were encouraged to sit on a beach towel and read to a family member. On a camping day, they were encouraged to build a tent out of sheets. While there, they worked on a creative writing activity about what noises they heard outside of the tent. On rocket day, students worked on a guided drawing of a rocket.

Multiple family members and students sent pictures of their experiences to Mansour.

Mansour said they all have been very “flexible and positive” throughout this new process.

“It has definitely warmed my heart to read those comments and emails,” Mansour said .

Samantha Weems’ Third Grade Classroom’s Interpersonal Interaction:

Like many classrooms in the district, Samantha Weems and her third-graders are using multiple avenues of communication to stay connected. In the first days of class, Weems and her students took the time to reflect on school closure through letters, video chats, and collaborative art.

“We shared what we did over spring break, talked about our feelings related to not being able to return to school, and shared what we are grateful for even in these hard times,” she noted.

Weems mailed her students a card and a coloring sheet that stated “Everything is Going to Be OK.” She colored half of the work of art and invited each student to color the rest.

“That way we could feel like we were still able to work on something together,” Weems said.