Distance Learning

Distance learning updates, guidance and resources.

Updates

*UPDATED August 28, 2020*

For the Fall 2020, you will find below:

Schedules for Early Childhood and Grades synchronous learning if school is in distance learning
Asynchronous learning plan if school is in distance learning
Synchronous and asynchronous plans if one class needs to move into distance learning during in-person learning due to COVID-19 exposure or diagnosis within that stable cohort

Early Childhood
Synchronous Learning Schedule

Asynchronous Learning Schedule

The following materials will be posted onto Google Classroom: Audio and text of our current story, recorded visual puppet show, recorded visual circle times, audio songs, demos of seasonal crafts, seasonal cooking recipes. Painting, cooking, drawing, crafts will also be done synchronously.
Students will have project boxes that will be used whether in outdoor learning or distance learning. Every child will have the same supplies for handcrafts and practical arts.

Exposure or Diagnosis Exposure plan

Class will move into distance learning for 14-days (synchronous schedule and asynchronous Google Classroom postings)
There will be no physical materials available for pickup

Explanation of the plan
Parent Survey Results: Based on the parent survey, we found that the following details were important in developing a synchronous learning schedule and asynchronous instructions :

Seeing the teacher every day at the same time
Offering a time during the typical school day (between 9-1)
45 minutes is a comfortable amount of time (between 30 minutes to an hour)
20 min. one-on-one meetings with parents and/or the student
Offering recorded materials and activities on Google Classroom
Being online did not work for all students

Grades
Synchronous Learning Schedule

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th & 6th Grade

Asynchronous Learning Schedule

Class teachers and Subject teachers will distribute assignments and physical materials each Friday (pick-up on campus or at the farm).
Any assignments that will be distributed will also be posted on Google Classroom.
Each teacher will clarify if/when assignments are due and how to return them.

Exposure or Diagnosis Exposure plan

Class will move into distance learning for 14-days (synchronous schedule and asynchronous Google Classroom postings)
There will be no physical materials available for pickup

Both synchronous and asynchronous learning options will be offered from both Main Lesson and Subject teachers
Synchronous offerings for grades 1-3 will be no more than 1-2 hours per day. Synchronous offerings for grades 4-6 will be no more than 3-4 hours a day.
Google Classroom and Zoom will continue to be the platforms we use. Teachers will align on GC protocol (ie. what are labelled as assignments, materials, etc.)
Each Main Lesson teacher will meet with student in small groups or one-on-one on zoom once a week.

These schedules will be reviewed, grade by grade, every two weeks for efficacy and usage. This is a living process and adaptations will be made throughout the time of online/distance learning to best serve the needs of the children. Any changes will be clearly communicated to parents in a timely fashion.

June 12th, 2020 End of Year All-School Assembly

Video Recording

Guidance

Educational Philosophy
In the context of COVID-19, our Golden Bridges School educational philosophy remains unchanged and we are committed to the education of our students and providing support to families, teachers and our greater community.

Golden Bridges School operations follow the guidance of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). We appreciate our community’s responsiveness as we share information essential to our Golden Bridges School operations and will continue to keep our community updated as to current guidance, offering supplemental information and resources as they become available.

We are standing up at this challenging time, in this place and for the community we love.

Golden Bridges School operates in service to our community, leveraging new tools and new resources to support our Waldorf-inspired pedagogy - our students are learning, our teachers are teaching, and our community is pulling together to support one another in remarkable ways.

Though the essence of Golden Bridges remains unchanged, the method of how we meet the children is ever evolving in step with the changes to our daily lives. With careful consideration for the needs of the teachers, students and families, we have created a thoughtful distance learning program, including a weekly and daily schedule of LIVE online classes, brought in conjunction with asynchronous (flexible and not scheduled) instruction for all students and their families via Google Classroom.

The decision for our school to use screens across the board, with children of all ages, was not an easy one. We have wrestled mightily with the implications of this method of instruction, which challenges our ideals around how we bring education to the student and how they experience this education. Our highest endeavor is to bring age-appropriate, experiential education, nourishing the whole child through all of their senses. This is compromised through screens. However, our passion for relationship and connection in the teacher-student partnership is paramount.

We aim to continue the rhythm and richness of our education, even from within the confines of our individual homes. Children are transported back to the familiar classroom when they hear sound of a teacher’s voice when they begin to sing the morning greeting of circle, or the finger game that was always done before lunchtime; the tune of C on a recorder; the feeling of yarn held between two knitting needles; the clap of a familiar hand game upon your own lap; the puppet that came to visit the children every day with a new story; sharing the growing plants of your potted seeds with classmates; and the sensation, and ritual, of a colored pencil creating your main lesson book.

Alongside our work processing and responding to these serious and complex ongoing considerations, we have also heard the needs of our community and felt the longing in our own hearts for connection with the children we love. Our faculty and staff are innovative and inspired in how to transform our pedagogy to meet the current situation. Our Waldorf-inspired education is not an impulse of the past but instead lives in the present moment of the time and place in which we exist as humans and the time we find ourselves at this juncture is unprecedented.

Morning Glory Kindergarten Teacher, Melanie, with a puppet show of her handmade puppets delivered to each student in her class.

5th Grade Teacher, Ms. Delafkaran, continuing botany studies from Google Classroom with a video created in the parks of San Francisco.

Resources

Distance Learning Resources
The above link redirects offsite to Google Classroom our distance learning tool for parent resources and student instruction.

Distance Learning Support
The above link directs requests for technical support to a shared inbox monitored by parent volunteers and staff.