HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Keeping kindergartners engaged with virtual school sounds like a tough task, but one Houston County teacher found the key to creating an interactive environment through the screen.
Amy Thomas was nervous about her daughter, Sophie Grace, starting kindergarten virtually, but Beth Stewart at Quail Run Elementary eased her mind.
"The first call that I received from Mrs. Stewart kind of calmed me just a little bit because the first thing she said [was], 'Hey we're going to figure this out. This is different. No stress,'" Thomas said.
"We have a motto here that we can do hard things, so I was just determined that we were going to do hard things and make it work," Stewart said.
She set the tone during the first week, focusing on a book called "The King of Kindergarten" and delivering crowns to each of her students' homes.
"We can't give them tangible things -- obviously -- through our computer, so we did back when we read the book and here it is "The King of Kindergarten." We delivered, that weekend, crowns and for all of the students. The boys got the king and the girls got the queen because they are our kings and queens of kindergarten," Stewart said.
"I just thought it was great and just an awesome touch from her going the extra mile and that again just tells you about her and who she is as a teacher," Thomas said.
Stewart uses a lot of visuals in her lessons, and she says you just have to be silly sometimes. Keeping 5 and 6-year-olds happy and laughing is the key.
"They've really surprised me. It's been really awesome to see the engagement even from a 5-year-old on a computer Monday through Friday, twice a day. It really is quite awesome," Stewart said.
It's her 14th year teaching, and second at Quail Run Elementary.
She credits a lot of the help with their kindergarten class to her para professional Meridith Rizer.
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