Anonymous wrote:Once again... all you have to do is log into canvas.
No need to struggle

According to Chancellor, you don’t even need to do that for PK:

Important Updates

Every Day Counts!
As a reminder, daily attendance is critical to academic success and is required for students ages 5-17, even in the virtual setting. Attendance will be recorded based on the student activity in Canvas each school day between 6:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. This includes Wednesdays when students have small-group or independent learning and follow a different schedule.

If the student is already logged into Canvas (e.g. from the day before), any activity within Canvas will transfer to attendance. This means that a student should click on the link for the day’s activities, click on a Teams meeting link, open a course, or work on an assignment in ClassNotebook within Canvas so it can translate into attendance for that day.

Please visit Reopen Strong – Virtual Attendance Guidance for more information on student attendance procedures during virtual instruction days.

We pulled our Ker out of ~80% of DL last spring b/c any enthusiasm they had for learning was being sucked out daily by how miserable they were doing DL. We agreed to a minimum of what they had to do with the teachers, and then covered the rest one-on-one. It was actually more time efficient (I.e. we controlled the schedule so could better stagger work schedules). Good luck, OP!

Anonymous wrote:I find these posts interesting. My child is in self contained PK and she’s not even 3 yet (late sept) but her teacher is so great.

My child is able to do 1 hour live a day so far because her lessons are really fun and engaging, sometimes it seems like my child is literally playing a customized game.

The teacher is also great at reading when kids are getting antsy and plays some funny kids song that helps the kids.

Is it always perfect, of course not but it’s more than I could have ever hoped for. And I still pray we have in person soon because if she’s this good online I know she’s even better in the classroom.

I’ve learned so much already just by watching her and getting coached by her. She also sent home these cool home materials she calls ‘task boxes’ my kids all want to do them not just my littlest one.


Just ask the teacher for what you need if your kids absolutely won’t sit, do not stress yourself out.

As a self contained mom & send contained teacher I can tell you the reason it’s working is that you have realistic expectations. You likely also have a great teacher. Expectations are what is killing DL.

I find these posts interesting. My child is in self contained PK and she’s not even 3 yet (late sept) but her teacher is so great.

My child is able to do 1 hour live a day so far because her lessons are really fun and engaging, sometimes it seems like my child is literally playing a customized game.

The teacher is also great at reading when kids are getting antsy and plays some funny kids song that helps the kids.

Is it always perfect, of course not but it’s more than I could have ever hoped for. And I still pray we have in person soon because if she’s this good online I know she’s even better in the classroom.

I’ve learned so much already just by watching her and getting coached by her. She also sent home these cool home materials she calls ‘task boxes’ my kids all want to do them not just my littlest one.


Just ask the teacher for what you need if your kids absolutely won’t sit, do not stress yourself out.

Yes can’t imagine PK3. The only reason my son tolerates the 60 min a day of PK4 is because he misses his teachers and friends but if they were strangers? Forget about it. Just log in often enough to keep your seat.

PK4 teacher confirmed that the kids just need to log onto canvas daily. We’re trying to get DS to participate in morning meeting, but it’s not working. The teachers are trying so hard but DL just doesn’t work for my kiddo

Once again... all you have to do is log into canvas.
No need to struggle

Of course. It's not developmentally appropriate to do PK remotely. I'm sorry OP, we had such a struggle with our PK3 child in the Spring. It's a little better this year so far.

My suggestion is to figure out which courses seem to be the most beneficial, and log in for those. It's ok to skip PE if your kid is running around outside and your kid can't sit through every class. Just my $.02.

I honestly love the idea of having someone there to guide the PK students - and I really like some of the creative lessons our teachers have developed. But I think they can only really do it in small chunks. And most of the PK teachers get that.

There is a reason DCPS wanted to cancel PK DL. Those Pk teachers and aides teachers could be leading small reading groups of elementary kids, but parents insisted they wanted this.

Anonymous wrote:I spoke to a PK teacher yesterday who said there was only 8 kids in his class. I think a lot of people have just moved back to daycare.

Yupp - Janney PK4 class has had about 60% attendance

I spoke to a PK teacher yesterday who said there was only 8 kids in his class. I think a lot of people have just moved back to daycare.

that sounds like way too much at this age. our school started with one 20 minute session -- it went well!

"Several hours" of live content is a LOT. Ours will barely tolerate 10-minute sessions for 2 or 3 times a day. Any way you can reflect this to the school, possibly in conjunction with other parents, while showing your appreciation for the effort they have put in?

We have tried enticing them to the iPad with a snack, and allowing them to keep a non-noisy toy close by (while trying to keep said toy out of video view). And keep in mind that this is a lot for a 3-year-old, especially if this is her first time in a classroom setting - just being with a ton of strangers, doing stuff with strangers, speaking up among people, even if s/he knows the answer or knows what to do. Every day there is a tiny, tiny bit of progress for us, if it only means squirming a bit less and staring at the iPad for 30 additional seconds, and whispering the answer to the teacher's question without prompting from us. Best of luck to you. You're not the only one.

Anyone else have a 3 or 4 year old struggling with online PK? I know classes have just started and I want to give it a chance, but my kiddo loses interest pretty quickly and it has been a struggle to keep him engaged. Our school has several hours of live content every morning and they are really trying (the teachers are wonderful, but this format is really tough at this age). Anyone have any tips or suggestions for getting your kid to engage more? Thanks.