Stephanie Haecherl’s 2nd Grade Students

We ‘re almost through our first month of eLearning in South Carolina. It hasn’t always been smooth and easy, but as lesson plans move from classrooms to living rooms, bedrooms, and even laundry rooms, you can count on South Carolina teachers to come up with creative and innovative ways to reach their students.

Stephanie Haecherl teaches second grade at Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant. She's created assignments with the unique situation and her students' emotional reactions in mind.  

“We have been busy navigating through the virtual learning. My class is using a color-coded checklist to navigate through this distance learning. They have yellow (Must dos) and blue (may dos). I have tried to combine digital learning with hands-on learning, while considering the different needs of the students. Our class has loved the variety of different optional activities such as sidewalk chalk messages, cooking, STEAM projects, directed drawings, and more. There are also activities they can do with their families like reading, going on walks, and playing logic games like chess/checkers. We have been using Zoom with audio and video feed and most recently had a Zoom dance party, a special guest local artist/illustrator Zoom, and coming soon a local mayor and police officer Zoom. The social and emotional needs of the students are the most important and through parent communication and making connections, it helps relieve their anxiety."

Our Carolina Classrooms crew visited Ms. Haecherl’s classroom in 2019. Watch the video below.