In these uncertain times, there is a bright and shining light – the continued life, vitality, and learning of our students as we navigate our school closure together. While schools around the country are struggling in making it through this temporary transition, Lake Tahoe School is moving ahead and offering a continuous and thorough remote classroom and learning experience.

If the past few weeks successes hold true, nearly all of our students are online with our teachers daily, actively participating with them in the learning process, and enjoying the experience a great deal. Whether it be the daily core subjects being taught on Zoom, our PE teacher sending daily videos on how to “get your daily 60 minutes of physical exercise”, or seeing our PreK students participate in storytime with their teachers on Zoom, it’s heartwarming to see how school come together during this trying time and continue the learning process.

One idea we have already picked up on is that the students need some socialization in addition to learning time. Social distancing may be a necessary practice for the time being, but we each still need time with one another. Our Zoom Conferencing interfaces within classes gives them just that. Teachers are now devoting a portion of each session for students to simply chat with one another in a group setting, and everyone enjoys it.

The entire remote experience is the result of LTS teachers recognizing early on our need to be prepared for what has now come to fruition. To keep our students engaged, learning, and connected with both the school and each other – these are the goals of our remote learning training and implementation. Special thanks for this readiness goes to the teachers themselves for their extra time and effort, and to our Director of Technology, Russ Bradford. Russ’ knowledge, training skills, and above all else, patience in walking us through each step will never be forgotten. From packets to passwords, we were ready.

Finally, we are again grateful for your support and understanding as parents for this new program and its rollout. While remote learning is not our first choice, we happily and effectively adopted it, and appreciate your willingness to be flexible with us as we strive to find the best methods and practices in this new world we now live in.