I never thought I would be on a video call with a bunch of preschool kids. I mean, in what world does that even make sense? But here we are, doing distance learning at Head Start.

At the beginning of the stay-at-home order we were primarily using Learning Genie as a way to send lessons to the families. We were already using the app regularly to communicate with them so it was not a big deal to add more content. I was excited to be able to communicate with the kids & comment on their progress. However, we quickly realized that Learning Genie was not built for the amount of traffic that it was getting.

Our staff is great at thinking outside the box & coming up with creative solutions.

Flash forward a few weeks. We now have a private YouTube channel that houses all the educational videos that we have created. On the channel can be found videos on simple cooking projects, crossing the street safely & read-aloud stories, just to name a few.

Each class also has a private Facebook group where we can share videos, announcements & other content with the students and their families.

AND THEN this week we began ZOOM meetings with each class. It was so much fun to be able to sing songs, do a scavenger hunt, read a book, have a puppet show & participate in show-and-tell with my funny, smart & giggly little friends.

Things are far from normal these days but Community Action Agency ~ Head Start of McHenry County is still making an impact on the many children & familes that we serve.

#HeadStartHelpsIllinois