Teachers connecting to students through online video

LEWISTON — In the video, Tara Bryant is sitting on a bed, reading Robert Munsch’s “50 Below Zero” with a puppet co-host voiced by her 11-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, off-screen.

With schools closed just two days into a weeks long shutdown, the Geiger Elementary School librarian missed story time already. There’s more books and more puppets coming — she’s shooting for two videos a day.

“Mackenzie and I thought this would be a great way to get the books to (kids) if they don’t have access,” Bryant said. “My son Weston, who is 4, is our tester to make sure he is laughing . . . If I can get these videos to make people smile and have a better day, my mission during all of this is worth it.”

Teachers around Lewiston-Auburn are picking up cameras to informally connect with students, sharing books, a laugh, a familiar face, or a familiar stuffed elephant.

Becca Masse, a kindergarten teacher at Park Avenue Elementary School in Auburn, posted a video of herself reading Mo Willem’s “Waiting is Not Easy!” with Mabel, the classroom mascot.

Part of her inspiration was the makeup of her class, the majority of whom speak English as a second language.

“I knew that they would be spending a lot of time immersed in their native language while they were home, which is wonderful,” Masse said. “I wanted to make sure that when they come back to school and are immersed in English again, they wouldn’t be overwhelmed.”

Angela Grondin, an occupational therapist at Geiger Elementary School in Lewiston, is starting an online shoe tying boot camp so kids can come back with a new skill. Submitted photo

She’s shooting for one reading video on each missed school day.

“I am also posting morning meeting videos on the days we should have had school,” Masse said. “I expect there will be some ‘bonus videos’ every few days of silly things Mabel is doing or check in on our class fish.”

Loni White, a kindergarten teacher at Fairview Elementary School in Auburn, shot a video of herself reading Bonny Becker’s “A Visitor for Bear” for her students, asking questions and pausing while she waited for kids to answer the screen.

She also sat with her son while he watched a video from his kindergarten teacher, Mackenzie Gauvin, also at Fairview.

“She sent it this morning — it was a leprechaun book for St. Patrick’s Day,” White said. “You can see a little brightness in his eyes to be able to hear her. That’s kind of what I hope my students get from it, too.”

She’s also planning to video herself daily and hopes students get the message that, “We’re still here, we’re OK, we’re going to get through this and get back together soon.”

Angela Grondin, an occupational therapist at Geiger, wanted to teach her son to tie his shoes and has decided to film a series of lessons she’s calling a shoe tying boot camp.

“Shoe tying can be mastered in a short amount of time, and it would be wonderful for students to go into spring with this new skill to show their teachers when they go back to school,” said Grondin.

She’s hoping kids enjoy seeing the familiar face and parents can adopt a teaching mindset guided by five rules:

“Rule #1: It needs to be fun
Rule #2: See beyond the shoe
Rule #3: Repetition is the key
Rule #4: Keep sessions short
Rule #5: In Lewiston we thrive.”