“TCPS pulled off a miracle with this transition. I can appreciate all of the hard work it took and love that it was such a seamless transition from the user/student perspective. A huge thumbs up!”
-8th grade parent
“Thanks again for all your hard work. We are really grateful for the hard work you and your team at TCPS have put in over these last few weeks. Our kids really had no interruption from learning which is amazing! “
-2nd & 4th grade parent
Spring 2020 was an unprecedented time in our country and in California as much of the state shut down for essential business only, including schools due to the coronavirus threat. The Child’s Primary School (TCPS) quickly transitioned to remote learning, closing the campus in response to the state mandate on March 16th and beginning remote learning on March 18th. After one week of asynchronous teaching combined with live office hours with teachers, we shifted to a live or synchronous teaching schedule, where students interacted live with their teachers for multiple sessions daily. Our Remote Learning program was modeled to be true to our mission and philosophy of providing an interactive and engaging learning experience for our students. We are able to successfully accomplish this due to our uniquely small class sizes. We are proud that during an unprecedented time for schools, our students were happy, engaged, and learning.
Remote Learning Daily Schedules – Fall 2020
All grades are following their daily and weekly schedules as if they were on campus. This will help allow for a smooth transition when students return to in-person learning on campus. It will also allow those students who remain at home learning remotely to integrate with the on-campus class virtually on the same schedule, again with minimal disruption.
Our school day remains the same with classes starting at 8:30 am and extending the full day, with classes for younger students in the afternoon focusing on enrichment classes such as P.E., science, Spanish, music, coding and library. During the day all students are largely on-screen with their teachers, with off-screen time for completing assignments and breaks built in throughout the day.
In the afternoons, teachers in all grades work with students to provide 1:1 support or are available for office hours as needed.
What does the TCPS Remote Learning program look like?
- Multiple live teaching sessions daily across our regular curricular areas
- Live fish dissection with plenty of up-close views
- In-depth and creative digital projects
- Dressing in character and students role playing from The Outsiders unit
- Constructing a backyard aqueduct to share with the class during a Roman History unit
- Congressional lobbyist simulations in the 1860 Abraham Lincoln election
- Supreme Court student mock trials
- Direct instruction
- Small group work
- Art activities incorporated in projects
- Guest speakers and presentations
- Class meetings
- Student Council meetings
- Virtual dance parties
- Virtual recess periods
Benefits of the TCPS Remote Learning program include:
- Small classes enable teachers to continue to interact with all students
- Seamless and immediate transition to a remote learning program with very little loss of teaching and learning time
- Continuation of all curriculum subjects
- Individual attention from teachers during class – office hours and opportunities for 1:1 help available for any student
- Students prepared for the next grade level
- Small school enables rapid adjustments as needed
As the coronavirus situation develops and health officials continue updating their recommendations and guidance, we are making plans to make sure our on-campus learning will provide a rich in-person learning experience, continue to be accessible for our remote learning students and prioritize safety for everyone in our school community: students, teachers and families. Our Covid-19 Committee will continue to review options and be ready for multiple scenarios to ensure the most effective educational environment for everyone in our community that faithfully adheres to our educational philosophy.
For more information and to see past updates regarding our planning and communication to parents this past summer please click here:
TCPS Covid Remote Learning Update – June 2020
TCPS Covid Remote Learning Update #1 – July 3, 2020
TCPS Covid Remote Learning Update #2 – Remote Re-opening – August 5, 2020
“I wanted to thank the teachers for rising to the occasion. Transitioning virtually overnight to an online teaching system that so closely emulated the students’ in-class experience was nothing short of remarkable. From what I’ve observed, you succeeded in keeping him engaged and motivated, and he’s clearly continued to learn at a rate similar to before the quarantine. Hats off to you all and thank you.”
-8th grade parent
“We wanted to reach out and thank you for everything TCPS is doing for us during this challenging time. We are so fortunate that she is able to continue to learn from home with a very organized and well set up remote learning program. We can’t thank her teacher enough for her dedication to our first graders and her true caring approach when it comes to their success.”
-1st grade parent
