Distance Learning

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused school closings across the country in mid-March, Loudoun Country Day School harnessed its talents, innovative spirit, resources, and resolve to execute a distance learning program immediately.

The LCDS mission is to inspire a life-long love of learning, critical and creative thinking, leadership, character, and compassion. Never have these qualities been on greater display throughout our educational community. Our administration and faculty created a substantive distance learning program, our students have engaged it, and their parents have made it possible for the experience to be successful.

About Distance Learning at LCDS

A Clear, Unified Vision
Develop a distance learning program that supports the delivery of our educational program and furthers our personal relationships with our students. 
A Prior Commitment to Technology as a Learning Tool
Access to devices and a distance learning platform are integral components to a successful distance learning initiative. LCDS’s use of G-suite allowed our school to leverage Google Meets seamlessly as a secure and integrated synchronous learning platform while 1:1 device programs in third through eighth grades made it possible for all students to connect and learn immediately upon moving to distance learning. If any family needed a device for their child to participate in distance learning, LCDS met that need, ensuring equal access to all learning in preschool-8th grade.  
Effective and Efficient Communication
We realized in the development stage that delivering a robust distance learning program was going to require sharing an enormous amount of information to students and their families daily. Therefore, creating a system of daily communication that was sufficiently comprehensive while also efficient was critical to success. Our division directors, along with some grade-level teachers, have played a major role in the process.
Administration and Faculty Teamwork
The greatest distance learning plan imaginable is only as good as the administrators and faculty who will lead it. Strong educational division leadership was essential to creating a structure for our distance learning program and for providing support for teachers during the ongoing iteration of the experience.   Our teachers think constantly about how to instruct our students in the best possible ways. Because they are talented professionals who constantly evolve their craft, they possess the necessary tools to make the transition to distance learning efficiently and effectively. Those qualities include:

  • A growth mindset – always ready to embrace new approaches
  • A thirst for collaboration – learning from and supporting each other
  • Adaptability, flexibility, and innovative spirit – modifying familiar instructional practices to a new environment; embracing new methods 
Balanced Methods of Instruction
A blend of real-time (synchronous) and flexible-time (asynchronous) instructional approaches has provided the opportunity for continuing personal connection and independence in learning during this difficult period.
Partnership with Parents
Just as the collaboration among teachers has been important in this process, the partnership between teachers and parents (school and home) has been critical. It would not be possible to deliver a successful distance learning program without a strong partnership with parents. The parents of our students have not only supported the daily execution of the process but also have provided valuable feedback to assist the ongoing refinement of our distance learning program. 
A Day of Distance Learning: Early Years, Preschool - Kindergarten

The academic and social-emotional needs of our youngest learners coupled with respect for working parents drive the focus of our Early Years Distance Learning Program. Daily agendas shared with parents each morning outline a variety of live class sessions, pre-recorded activities, sign-ups for weekly individual Google Meets, and curated content.  In addition to the experiences with the homeroom teachers, students also continue to receive a combination of activities and live instruction from specialty content teachers.  Each student is provided with a bag of materials to use during lessons so they have everything they need to continue moving forward in their learning. The result is an engaging academic and socially nurturing program for all our Early Years students.

View a sample Early Years Agenda            View a sample Early Years Recorded Lesson      View a sample Early Years Live session

A Day of Distance Learning: Lower School, Grade 1st-5th

A third-grade student prepares watercress soup as a culminating activity of the class’s “Despereaux” unit.

Each morning, students and parents receive an email with a schedule of the day’s live sessions, plus a variety of shared lessons, documents, and pre-recorded videos. Each day includes a live ‘Morning Meeting’ designed to meet the students’ social and emotional needs through a fun activity and to help them to organize their day. During the week, every student will meet in person with their teachers from every discipline, sometimes as an entire class, other times in small groups, and even one-on-one during ‘office hours.’ New material is being taught every day, as the teachers continue to deliver a robust curriculum, while at the same time, supporting their students through the challenges posed by social distancing and distance learning.

Sample Daily Agenda           Parent Testimonial

A Day of Distance Learning: Middle School

7th-grade STEM students are learning how to develop Alexa Skills through GoogleMeet Classes

Our middle school community of enthusiastic teachers and connected students is redefining what a classroom can be. Our teachers engage our students with new content through a combination of live classes and asynchronous learning opportunities. A weekly schedule of class sessions for all subjects–including art, instrumental music, STEM, and physical education, daily agendas shared with parents, Google Classroom, and an open-door policy for communicating with teachers provide support, structure, and easy access for students and parents. Student-created middle school trivia games, chat sessions, student council meetings, and fun Friday activities also provide a social outlet for students and faculty.

Middle School Weekly Class Schedule     Sample Middle School Daily Agenda  Parent Testimonial

Nonprofit / Independent
Preschool — 8th Grade
Contact:
703.777.3841
info@lcds.org
Fax: 703.771.1346

 

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LOUDOUN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

20600 Red Cedar Dr., Leesburg, VA 20175