Skip to content

Other than some hiccups, first day 'back in class' went well, parents say

'The kids seem to be OK with it. Lots of things are interactive and fun, so it makes it a bit easier to do from home,' says one mom
SchoolWork

Monday marked the start of online learning for Ontario students while COVID-19 continues to shut down schools.

Schools will be closed until at least May 4, with a possible extension should more time off be needed to combat the coronavirus.

Today marked the provincial government’s regulated online learning mandate.

Teachers have been prepping for a couple of weeks to have lessons ready for students who would be involved in online classes and assignments. 

Tracy Lynn, who has three children — in grades three and four, as well as one in kindergarten — told BarrieToday the day went well, with a few minor hiccups. 

“All of them have their own devices and we’re set up in their own Google classrooms. My eldest has to do work in Google Docs and then submit it in the Google classroom, which was a bit tricky at first to figure out,” Lynn said.

“I’m sure over the next few days it will hopefully become a lot easier," she added. 

Lynn says she's going to get a laptop for her children to mimic something closer to what they use in school. But as it is, she said her kids were enjoying the first day.

“The kids seem to be OK with it," she said Monday afternoon. "Lots of things are interactive and fun, so it makes it a bit easier to do from home."

Michelle Boynett also found the system easy to get started with for her two school-aged children, who are in Grade 5 and senior kindergarten.

Boynett was sent information by the teachers, changed a password and was ready to go. The only downside for her oldest child was there wasn’t as much work as they wanted.

“There was not yet an actual structured assignment for our Grade 5 student, but she is set up and awaiting an assignment anxiously," she said. "We did some math on paper instead for an hour, then we all went out for 40 minutes of outdoor time.” 

Innisdale Secondary School teacher Robin Maladrino said she got the same excitement from some of her students on the first day.

“Some of the kids wanted more work today, but I was trying to tell them that we should get our feet wet first before we dive back in,” Maladrino said. 

The physical education and science teacher has had to plan for weeks to have emails and phone calls ready to parents, all the while getting her own kids ready for the new school system.

In her three classes, Maladrino has about 80 students and went on an online class with her girls phys-ed students.

“This is what it is right now and there will likely be a few challenges, but I think we’ll all get done what is needed to,” said Maladrino. “No one knows how long things will be this way.”