Fourth-graders easily adapt to virtual instruction

While working in an online classroom is more difficult for some grades, fourth-graders take to it quite naturally with their technology experiences. "Children are very resilient," said Holly Runsten, a Parker Whitney Elementary fourth-grade teacher. "They adapt to changing routines and boundaries, and they do it very well in fourth- grade." Runsten now maintains a digital weekly class calendar, while realizing that each family might organize their days differently. "The children are already pretty familiar with most things [on the computer] and we are learning to use what we already use but more efficiently," she said. "They jumped right into it and most students are doing very well." It is beneficial that everyone was well into the school year, Runsten said, and she and her students already have an "established relationship." Runsten's class was already using Google Suites but it wasn't being used to nearly its capacity, she said, and the students didn't have their own email addresses. Now they do. Runsten's class meets online every morning for attendance with nearly every student there most mornings. They have a chance to talk with each other before the day's lessons begin and they read aloud. "It's easy to be overwhelmed," Runsten said. "It's really important for them to connect with each other and me."