Before we closed our doors for Level 1 lockdown on 23 March, the teachers reached into our cupboards and took home many of our wonderful resources to share with our families over the coming weeks. Parents were being inundated with emails from everywhere, but we knew we would rely on Storypark to keep us in touch with our families.
The teachers set to work and, from their homes, recorded stories, songs, waiata, experiments, art activities, brain gym and more. Then, each day through lockdown, we would post a story and something else from our vast selections. Tsana’s chickens, who featured in quite a few of her stories, were firm favourites with hundreds of views. Even though Uplands is 50 years old, some story books are still being used. Reading them bought back lots of memories for our parents from their childhoods.
Feedback from parents was fabulous. Some used the stories as their child’s bed time settling routine, or while older siblings completed homework. Others enjoyed the art activities and reposted their creations back to the teachers. Children completed the experiments and shared other ones with us to pass on.
The teaching team also contacted each family every week by text, phone or email. A quick hello and a chat or video call with them. Families who had recently left for school were also invited back into our Storypark community to watch the teachers sing and dance to their favourite kindy songs.
When returning to kindergarten after lockdown, the children didn’t miss a beat and resettled so well. We believe this was due to the work done by the teaching team and our parents in staying in touch over lockdown.