Our school is a different place than it was 8 short weeks ago! It’s better…and I’m so excited to share all of the ways that we have used this really challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen Upstream Learning Preschool. The Saturday of our Spring Break, the Upstream staff gathered—we rallied. We talked frankly about the changes we would put in place to keep our students, parents, and ourselves safe. Then…we got to work…BIG TIME. In some ways, I feel like these 8 weeks have been a rebirth for our school. The teachers have worked tirelessly; focusing their efforts at improvement and looking ahead to when the days are brighter and all of our families return to us! They could’ve been paralyzed by fear; but every.single.one met this frightening future with zest and desire to prevail!
Together, we enhanced our curriculum and reflected together on some new instructional practices. We reformatted our entire literacy library to be more user friendly for lesson planning. A small group worked to reorganize an entire closet of resources—academic, art, and decorative to be more accessible for every staff member. A team took on creating comprehensive listing of all curriculum supplements for each classroom which improves not only the efficiency of planning, but also uses our school resources in a more highly effective way. Two teachers took their classrooms completely online to serve our families that stayed at home. Lessons they learned through that process are now being implemented as they returned to their regular classroom teaching practices and both have said the process made them stronger educators. Support staff and lead teachers worked side-by-side to keep the students attending through the crisis in normal routines so that their only memories of this crazy time is fun with Mom and Dad at home and lots of showered teacher attention at school. Our leadership team improved schedules, processes, and implemented new strategies for most every system in our school. The most inspiring thing? They worked harder than they ever have at school—but every minute, every job, every task, every new project was only met with happy hearts, grace, and smiles.
I’ve always known that Upstream Learning is a very special place. I’ve always felt deeply that it was a calling from God for us to do the incredibly blessed work we get to do each day. In the last 8 weeks…I’ve seen the power in our school. We have overcome with such stunning spirit that only could’ve come from the Lord.
Our school is a different place than it was 8 short weeks ago…and though I pray daily for the healing and the health of our country…I wouldn’t trade this time with our outstanding staff. THEY are the magic that makes blessing your children so joyous. Well done Upstream team. Well done.
