 She was my, the person who got stuck before I put on the wager and so I am for understanding if you can hear me. Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. I would like to briefly introduce our guest speaker, Megan Shelby Megan graduated from Fairfield University in 2010, went on to receive her master's in education at Boston College, and teaching licenses and early graduate in elementary education in Massachusetts. She spent a decade teaching at public and private elementary schools in Boston suburbs. In the fall of 2019, she took a brief hiatus from teaching to refocus her energy and align her skills to serve others. While fundraising and running her second marathon for the Muscular District the Association, she realized that there is an opportunity to impact the world beyond the four walls of the classroom. COVID brought into focus the realization that there is a need for teaching children one on one. So Megan founded Next Step Education, offering private tutoring, preschool grade six supplementing and supporting students in person and online. Megan uses her passion for working with children to build confidence and momentum for every day. So Megan's going to speak to all of you tonight, share her wisdom and expertise and she is going to answer questions that were submitted online during registration but if you have additional questions, please feel free to pop those in the chat. And I will turn it over to you. Great. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. I'm really excited to be able to share my work with all of you and I hope that it can be helpful. I will just start by telling you a little bit about myself. I graduated from Fairfield in 2010. I was a journalism major and a marketing minor. And during my time I was really involved kind of across campus which was awesome because I feel like I got that full Jesuit experience. I did retreats. I was Eucharistic minister. I went on service trips and I joined the mirror so I was an editor there. And I was an RA so I really got to kind of dip my toes in a lot of different areas and I think a lot of those skills kind of carried over and kind of helped me find my way after graduation. But when I graduated I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I worked for a newspaper with something I really thought I wanted but back in 2010 it was kind of when things were shifting. Sort of the social media, digital media world hadn't quite kicked off where it is today and I didn't really know what I wanted. So after meeting with an old high school teacher who kind of helped guide me, he sort of pulled that out of me. Teaching is something that you really love and kids is something you really love maybe going back to school is something that's right. So I did. I went back to school to become a teacher. I went to B.C. and I got my master's in early childhood. So during my time I taught in Newton and Wellesley in the early childhood grades K1 and 2 and then I spent my last year of teaching at St. Agnes in Arlington. So when I was there I taught second grade which I loved. It was teaching First Communion was a big part of it also which I know there was a question about COVID and religious ed so I'm going to hit on that at the end. But I really loved being able to kind of use my religious background and a lot of my experiences from Fairfield to kind of reach those kids which was something to be able to combine like my Catholic faith with education. It was such a perfect culmination of those two. But during that last year I kind of felt like, you know, this is teaching this is kids this is everything I love but inside I just felt like there was something more that I wanted to do. So I kind of hit pause which was something I hadn't done in 10 years of teaching and I took a step back to kind of see was there like another way I could use my skills and my love of teaching and of kids to help support them. And, you know, was there another way that I could do this so this was the fall of 2019 I had no idea what was in store, but I took some time off. And I got back into running so I ran for a couple different charities and during this time it kind of helped me gain clarity on how, you know, I could do this work and how I could create impact just outside of the walls of the classroom. So it kind of gave me confidence in my path and sort of trust in my ability to sort of strive for more. So it brought me back to this question of how can I best use my gifts and my talents to serve others, which kind of was a foundation that had been instilled in me with all of the Jesuit ideals during my time at Fairfield sort of that ability to reflect on where I was and where I wanted to go. So then 2020 hit during my hiatus from teaching. And at the time I was nannying for a family that had six kids, four of them were in school. And there was just this huge need for support the kids needed support and the parents needed support and I kind of just realized you know maybe this is the opportunity maybe this was my reason for kind of taking that break you know this is my time to use my skills. And what I'm passionate about to, to serve others. So I founded next step education last summer. And I've been just supporting and helping children one on one with grade level curriculum to sort of fill in the holes and the gaps in the learning and just make it fun and engaging for them. So I work with children preschool through sixth grade, based on this philosophy of confidence and momentum and growth so kind of starting with that place of confidence and helping children feel, you know, capable and able of doing the work and that just sort of builds to momentum and ultimately leads to their growth across the curriculum. Tonight I hope to offer you strategies to help motivate your child and resources to fill back confidence, and just some tips for home setup and routines to help foster a love of learning. So here are some strategies it may seem like a funny place to start with handwriting but this is something that I really value, and it's something I work on with all of the children that I see. This is just an example of some number writing that we did. And I really think that the importance of consistency and consistent practice even if it's only just five minutes a day. You know when I first get there, or whether it's number writing or letter writing just spending five minutes to practice. This was just the difference between October and November. So just having that that time and that opportunity to practice really, as you can see really added up. And here's another example. Some of the boys I work with we do is number writing also. So here's something that I did where I modeled the numbers. It's really important to model for them so that they can see and not just have blind expectations. So we, I modeled for them and then they practiced writing it. And just giving them that opportunity again five minutes of consistent practice really does add up over time. And this is something that we work on a lot and this is a real big foundational skill in kindergarten and first grade but also going through elementary school. Using these magnetic letters is just something novel to have around the home, sometimes having things that children have at school having them at home just makes it exciting and engaging they can sort of have their, their own way to practice that they don't have to share with classmates and they can kind of use tools that they have in the classroom. I found to be really motivating for a lot of my students. And this is a great way to practice sight words or spelling words. So this was just magnetic letters on just a cookie sheet that we had so she had a lot of fun with that ordering numbers and just that skill of whether it's numbers and then putting them in order this was again with a kindergartner so we were working on numbers one through 10 you can do it one through 20. I try and make it seasonal so here we had just hearts and it was just me you know manipulatives that she could move around to put the numbers in order, just building that skill. So it was number writing, and then it was also that skill of ordering numbers which is, you know, seems so simple, but that repetitive practice is something that children really need. And to have something hands on that they can, you know, touch and move around and manipulate really helps the learning to sink in posters are a really awesome way that you can engage your child at home it really makes the learning personal and this is something that's been very successful with students I've worked with. This child was getting a glowfish so she was so excited about it and as far as I know glowfish are not on any science curriculum in school. But it was something that you know we took the time to make a poster about and she drew a picture of you know the fish tank she had all set up. We added labels, we created a glossary down here she wrote some fun facts, and just again having something novel like a big huge poster board and allowing them to kind of express themselves and dive into something that's important to them is a really great way to kind of, you know, add that curiosity and that motivation that oh this can be something this can be a way that I can learn and it's not just a pencil and a piece of paper. But it's you know a fun way that I can use you know markers and crayons and write really big and finally use bubble letters in just a fun opportunity. There was another one where we talked about the solar systems we read a couple books and then we made another big huge poster of the solar system and the benefit of this is that it's allowing them to practice those drawing skills. It's novel having those big poster boards and also nonfiction exploration kids are I found so curious about the world around them and those nonfiction books are often the ones that they gravitate towards in the classroom because it's really, you know, learning about snakes or bugs or volcanoes. Those are always really popular so having those around your home for kids to dive into that can kind of light that curiosity and they'll want to pick up a book maybe about something that's one of their passions or their hobbies or their interests. And it might not be everything but if there's one particular area that they're interested in you know, filling that filling that need and coming up with creative ways like posters to kind of give them the opportunity to engage. Something that I've worked on with a lot of students is drawing and using these step by step drawing. I found a lot that children hesitate to write, especially in the K to two age, they'll hesitate to write, and the only one to write about things that they know they can draw, because in those early grades, they know that they're often going to be expected to have to provide a drawing for whatever is that they're writing about. I'm doing something like this practicing. There's lots of books for step by step drawing, or I know my nephew loves the online YouTube videos for the step by step drawing, and just giving them the opportunity to practice and to kind of build that confidence in themselves that there are, you know, that they are capable of drawing and so when they have that then they'll feel more capable of wanting to write more. I do have one student who we do like a weekend journal type activity. And every Monday I show up and he writes, I played basketball, I played basketball, I played basketball and when I try and ask him to write about something else. He often like hesitates and he's like I don't remember what else I did I don't know I played basketball because I know for him drawing is a skill that's really difficult. And so he only wants to draw basketball because that's something that he's really curious. So, whether it's you know how to drawing type book or just having you know opportunities for your children to practice. I think that in addition to the writing, the drawing is a big huge piece of that and modeling it. I know I do that with my, my nephew a lot where he's not willing to dive in and try something if I do it and he sees me modeling it and practicing it, then he's more likely to want to participate and to feel confident trying, trying that skill on his own. I'm creating games and involving your child and feeling like that sense of ownership is really empowering for them. So this was an example. This was with the kindergarten and we were working on number skills and greater than in less than and rather than just showing up with a game which sometimes I do just bring a game but in this instance I asked her to help me make it so I made all the green number cards and she made all the pink number cards. And then, you know, it was basically like we flipped over a card and saw who's was bigger and who's was smaller, but she was far more engaged because she had been a part of making that game. So, here's another example of bingo. I showed up with sight word bingo, and it wasn't as engaging she was kind of hesitant to want to play and then, you know, why play a game out of the box when you can build your own this child was so excited to you know, make her own version of bingo and make her own cards and that was something that she was really excited to participate in she wanted to make four boards or whole family could play and they would each have their own after dinner. So, you know, finding opportunities for your child to feel like an active participant in the learning is something that I found to be really successful. This is an example of something I did with a fifth grader she was pretty much a reluctant reader, and she didn't have a lot of confidence in her reading. She, she felt sort of behind like her classmates were always reading bigger longer books than her, and reading was really something that didn't come naturally to her so I had been working with her for a while. And one day I realized I was like you know I bet if we sat down, and we wrote down you know how many pages she's actually read and we added up you know it might help build that confidence in her so we did. And I don't remember if it was this day or another day but we found out that her total page count was 1000 and she, the look in her eyes that she had read 1000 pages was just like, so exciting to her and she was so proud. And she hung it up on the fridge and her grandfather you know she told me he saw it and he was so proud of her and so just finding little ways that might seem really simple. But to kind of like acknowledge the work or keep track of you know, something that's challenging for them that they've been able to accomplish and, again, it comes back to that Jesuit ideal of reflection, and you know stopping and acknowledging the work that's why a lot of the times children keep portfolios that they bring home you know at the end of the year of their work throughout the year and it kind of gives you the opportunity to stop into reflect on all of the hard work, and just even acknowledging that. And saying like you've been working really hard or look how many pages you've read that that look in their eye when they realize like you're acknowledging that and you're proud of them and then they feel proud and confident in themselves is something that's been really exciting and this was, you know, just such an example of that for one of my students. Having a collection of just right books at home is really key to helping your child learn to read a lot of times picture books don't follow like story books don't follow a repetitive text or they have words in there that are very challenging for children so just any old picture book off the shelf might be hard for them to sit down and read. These are some of the scholastic readers that I have here, and they've been really successful with some of my younger children you can get them on Amazon. But they just have like small repetitive text and it's predictable, and it's words that children know. And so, you know, if you have a collection of those books that they know they can read that you can put in a basket or a bin, or some of those books sometimes the paper ones will come home with from school, saving those, because those are going to help to build that confidence which is going to, you know, build that momentum and eventually lead to their growth. This was something again he was a very reluctant reader but we worked through these books and when he felt like confident these were books he could read. You know it was one of those moments that he was like wow I have a whole box of books. I as a reluctant second grader know that I can read. So when I have to read for 10 minutes or 20 minutes at night. I know I can go to this box and feel like I could pull out any book and be confident. And so here's just one little quick tip. If your child. You can read for like the K to two K to three range, just a little five finger tests that I like to do with some of my kids where you open up a book. And you read just any random page and if it's, you know, you put up a finger for each word that you can't read on the page and so if it's, you know, just one word the book is probably, you know, too easy. Two to three words that are challenging is where the book is going to be just right and if there's four or five or more words on the page that the child can't read that it's probably at like more of a frustrating level for them. So that's just kind of a little tip if you're, you know, looking for books like these biscuit books are good or I have so many I could share, but just that five finger rule is just a good tip to remember when your child who's learning to read is looking for just right books to have at home to practice. Again, that's just a picture of the inside of those books. Time and money is a really big skill in first and second grade so any resources that you have at home to practice whether it's, you know, having clocks around your house that you're pointing out. This was something we did where they made their own pocket watch and it was really good practice, writing the numbers, noticing the numbers on a clock, noticing the order they go in again. It might seem so simple, but this is a skill that really they go into in first and second grade so having that foundational knowledge of you know what does the clock look like what numbers are on the clock you know what to the different hands on the clock mean. This child got really excited and he drew a little picture he just gotten a puppy. So he put that on there and it was just you know it made the learning come to life for him. And it wasn't just you know a worksheet with a clock on it in numbers but it was like you know he had his own clock that he could move the hands around and he could practice telling time, and it just made it more hands on and interactive for him. Going into the summer having some sort of journal or routine for practicing writing is really important. And I like to do this weekend news. So it really just you know on a Monday morning or on a Sunday, just one page a week as an opportunity to practice you know what was one thing we did this weekend that we could write about. Sometimes that's enough. And if you do that you know you know, eight or 10 weeks there's going to be eight or 10 pages of this like that that counts and that's significant. And that's a good opportunity to practice the writing and the drawing, and just kind of, you know, stopping and reflecting on what they've been doing gives writing a purpose, and it helps build a routine. And children just thrive on routines and I think it makes the writing skills bills and become a little bit more automatic and natural when it's something you know they're, they know they're going to have that expectation that every week they're going to be doing this. So I know when I was teaching kids would come in all excited to share their weekend news, you know, because they knew they were going to be writing about it so they would have something ready. So that's just one recommendation for the summer or even starting now just to have extra writing practice just a simple you know, one or two sentences you know what was your weekend news what can you write about and draw a picture. This is an example of the site word game, your children whether it's you know they come home with a spelling list and they need to practice those words. This was just kind of a little hide and seek game we did where we wrote the words on clothes pins, and then on a piece of paper, and then I hid kind of the clothes pins around and they had to go find them and then match them up. This was just a quick way to practice they're seeing the word, they're writing the word, they're matching it up. And that was just a way to kind of make those spelling lists in that traditional method of just sitting there and writing down the word over and over again to practice this just kind of makes it a little more hands on and engaging. This was another example of a site word game. It was just memory. So we made two sets of every word, and we flipped them over, and then just took turns matching them up. So again, it's not that worksheet model that maybe some of us I know I grew up with in Catholic school, but this kind of makes it a little bit more engaging and the learning I referenced nonfiction books earlier but if you don't have any or if you don't have many, I highly recommend getting some for your bookshelves this is the stuff that would, the kids would gravitate towards and we had free reading because it was you know that real world application of things they were into these National Geographic kids readers are something that I love you know they have great pictures and illustrations and captions and kids just love, you know, learning about snakes or bugs or sharks or volcanoes. So I highly recommend getting some nonfiction books if your, you know, collection at home is mostly of story books. And here's just one example of, you know, having visuals to practice this was, you know, rather than just straight practicing her multiplication facts we made these little multiplication fact posters. So these were all the multiples of three on a three. And then you know she had that up on the wall as a visual representation. So during your like nightly reading routines, stopping and asking questions and asking your children, you know, what is this story remind you of or who are the characters in the story just simple things like that to engage them and show you know your curiosity for learning will help inspire their curiosity for learning. So now I just want to share a few resources that I love to use that you can get to have at home if you would like if you think they'd be cool for your child. These dry erase boards I love again I talked about the practice practicing handwriting, and these books are pretty awesome they're dry erase and they have all the letters in the alphabet. So if you had something like this just you know, each day picking one letter and just having your child sit down and practice just one letter, even if they're in like third grade and they can of course write their letters. This gives them a good model for that practice. And again that's just going to help with, you know, consistency. Having math tools around the house for exploring, having dice or having these cubes or having rulers, you know anything that they're learning about that they can kind of explore and play with on their own. These Unifix cubes, they're those little plastic cubes that link together, kind of like Legos, but they're something they have in school. And then when they have them at home kids get really excited that they get to play with them on their own I know with these kids love you know connecting them together and having them stretch across the whole room or building different patterns with them. Again, these are skills that they're learning patterns and measuring. And so when they just, you know, have that free explore at home. It helps build that curiosity and that momentum for wanting to learn. I could go on forever talking about some of my favorite book series, but you know just making sure that you have a collection of different books at home and having you know some early readers having some nonfiction books. And then if your child likes a certain book, you know, having a whole series or if that author has other books, getting other books by that same author that can help build momentum. And that can help build curiosity because they know if they like one, then they might like another if they know they can read one, then they'll be willing to try another. A lot of these series books are just ones that have been really popular with kids I've worked with. And then for home set up in routines just having things I'm sure at this point after a year of most children being home, you have sort of a routine but just having things easily accessible, whether you have an alphabet chart, or if you have a number line. Just having things out and easy for them to reach always having like sharpened pencils around. And then on the next slide I'm going to show a word wall that I built with one of my students. So having those, you know, sight words like because and does and gave and you in those words they're frequently using, having them up on the wall, so that they're learning to practice them and whether it's their spelling words you know it's not just seeing them in a book but if they're always up there, maybe that his area is set up kind of off the dining room so you know when he's eating dinner or when he's walking or you know maybe he's glancing up and seeing a word and it's just that visual reinforcement is really has been really helpful and successful for him. These are just some other ideas for how to practice literacy at home in a more engaging and fun way. Writing is an awesome way to practice, you know, handwriting, also putting your ideas down in paper posters I talked about in the beginning, picking things that your child's interested in and providing them you know a fun opportunity to practice diving into it in a new way. Or book writing, sometimes those are the things that children a year or two later will look back on you know a book they wrote about their trip to wherever they went or a book they wrote about dolphins that they decided to research. Writing the parents type up the words makes it exciting because it's typed and then the children can illustrate the pictures. Or maybe it's a great opportunity to have your child practice typing. Or they can just hand write a book you know and staple it together I know in kindergarten a lot of my children love to do that just writing their own books and you know it was exciting to be able to staple the pages together and you know how long could they make it and you know the cover page, and then it was again something they were proud of and something that you know, built that motivation in that curiosity. Having a diverse home library, not just fiction and nonfiction but magazines are a great thing. There's lots of awesome subscriptions those spider magazines or I think click magazines. There's so many different resources of kids magazines which is just you know another way that they can get into reading into learning. That's not just a book out of the library or book from Amazon if they're you know reluctant to pick up books, talking with your child that alone helps increase vocabulary so much. So going for a walk and talking about the different things you see using those words and like full complete sentences and modeling that good vocabulary is just so significant and impacting their positive vocabulary development. And then things like cooking, you know measuring that's math reading directions and step by step problem solving those executive functioning skills something like cooking is a great way to practice that. And then having some sort of calendar in your home gives them real world, you know application of days of the week and numbers number order writing you know special occasions down and it just shows that numbers have meaning beyond just you know math curriculum in school it shows you numbers on a calendar stand for significant dates and the order they come in. And then games games are an awesome way to just you know build skills like turn taking and problem solving combinations of numbers. It also helps build patients. And just talking increases that vocabulary and those communication skills so there are so many games out there I could give so many recommendations these are just a few. But again, it's not just like a win lose game there's so much more to it like these, these skills that I have listed here. And then just reading every day is so important and it doesn't have to be you know 20 minutes in one block of time, even if it's some in the morning and some at night but this is a visual I really, I think is so significant to look at. If your child is reading less than a minute a day versus 20 minutes a day, just what that can do for their vocabulary development in this next slide. You know if they're reading less than a minute a day. Over the course of a year they're exposed to about 8,000 words. And then if they're reading you know four and a half minutes a day 282,000 if they're doing that full you know recommended 20 minutes a day of reading. In terms of their vocabulary the words they're exposed to a year 1.8 million, like just to look at the significance of that compared to you know if they're reading a minute a day at 8,000 words. I think this visual always, you know helps me just remember how important it can be to just find those to be able to sit down and build a reading routine is just the number one most impactful statistic I've read about for having children having you know successful academic experience is that 20 minutes a day of reading and just remembering that picture books are not just for older kids. There's so many skills that are linked to just reading in general and picture books provide, you know an opportunity for stronger vocabulary enjoyment, it increases their attention span and their cognition and it provides you know a safe way to explore, you know emotions or topics. And just promotes bonding through that shared reading experience. So just keep it simple, follow your child's interests and just find ways to see the joy in learning. And if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them. And these are just you know what I'm up to tutoring one on one and I do have a reading comprehension course I'm happy to share. I'm also all over Instagram and Facebook, almost every day offering just tools and support. And then I just wanted to end this is just a quote. I really love. I'm a pencil in the hand of God and it just seemed, you know, we all have these skills, and there's different ways that we can use them and then really just honing in and finding the way that, you know, you can use your skills most to impact your child and you know how can you use your skills and your abilities to to help their learning and to help them grow. So, so that's it for that. And then I do have some questions that were submitted already that I would love to just dive dive into. So one that was asked was about COVID and religious education. And I really love that because that's something that I miss from teaching at St Agnes was being able to teach the religious at peace. So these are just some things that we used in my classroom that were really impactful the, you know, there's so many different children's Bibles, but I have a link that I'm going to send out with some resources and one is a interactive Bible we had in my classroom also just songs, kids in my class love to sing you know songs from church. And, you know, when they're going to mass weekly. They're hearing that music and a lot of my kids love that so you know, bring that into the home if you're not going to church or if they're not having those religious ed experiences. I think music is so important. There's also so many crafts and also my kids love learning about the saints and the lives of the saints. That's a great way to kind of, you know, build that religious ed at home and it makes it sort of real. And then form.org is a great resource, a lot of parishes have subscriptions to. And there's a lot of videos there's kids videos that we used to watch about the lives of saints or different holidays or different themes that might be engaging to children around religion. Another question that came in was how can we get the schools to do their part and assist with the transition to in person learning. So I think just some ideas that I had we're asking for clear expectations and just having you know clear open communication with teachers. I asked one of my students today kind of what he thought and he said, you know, asking the teachers to have outside time or extra breaks for that socializing a lot of these kids. As you know, who have probably been home, they've been missing that socialization so now that they are going back to school, you know, asking what the plan is for opportunities to be able to socialize. How would you engage an ADHD 13 year old boy. Some ideas that I have that have been successful with similar students I've had are having headphones. So when they're doing their work at home, rather than just having the volume coming out of the computer or the iPad having headphones has been really helpful to keep him focused. There's lots of different chairs and those ball chairs or those wobble chairs having a band that goes around the bottom of the chair is something that's been helpful for one of my students and having sort of those fidget toys. He said, you know, repeating hand motions but those ones that they can hold in just one hand has been helpful to help him focus and how to ensure children are not being distracted by non school work went online. So you have it making sure you know setting the expectation that there's going to be one tab open on their screen. And I think, checking in and following up showing them that you're curious what they're learning about and kind of holding them accountable. If they know you know they're going to be sharing what they're learning them they'll be more likely to want to to listen and to have that accountability. So having a checklist you know what is it that you do when you sit down to your class you're supposed to sit down and you're supposed to log in and you know what are these things that are expected and just having a visual checklist I know that's something I've done with my students on the desk has been something that's helped to stay on task. So that is it for me. I hope this was helpful and if there's any other questions. I'm happy to answer them. Meg we do have a couple questions here. I will read them to you they came into me. Okay. What are some quick fun things I can do over the summer break to help keep my child engaged or prepared for the new year I know you touched on a lot of resources whether I guess are there certain things you would highlight. Yeah, I think. Keep things fun like in the summer I think even things like sidewalk chalk and using that to you know write, write different words or to practice writing on the driveway things like that can be really fun. Again, you know, some sort of journal where they're writing in it or even just drop the writing them just drop pictures just to kind of, you know, have that practice and kind of build in that routine. Other things that are fun for the summer. I'm trying to think, but just like games like any games you have I think building in that routine. You know, because it's building those other skills it's building in. You know those problem solving skills and those communication skills and that is the important stuff. You know school is not just all academic I think a lot of it is social to so providing them those opportunities to practice those other non academic skills is really important. Great. I have two more. Thank you. Thank you for that. And kindergarten is such a fundamental building year with a non traditional year this past year. Are there certain things I should reinforce at home to ease the transition into first grade. So my heart for kindergarten I could talk to you all night about it. I think it's really like making sure your kid love school like that's what's going to be what carries them and making sure that they you know are interested in curious I think in kindergarten. Really the foundational skills with math it's like the numbers the number writing you know writing numbers one to 20. I mean you can Google your state standards just to know like technically what they need to know but I think having that love of learning practicing those handwriting skills. And then just you know those beginning reading skills you know talking about books with your kids and giving them opportunities to you know build those comprehension skills is really important in the rest. The rest will come I really do think that it will shake out I know it's so scary because kindergarten is so foundational but everything builds and I think that a lot of these potential holes will be filled in if there's that intensity and that love of learning is really going to be what's going to carry them. Great. Last one. As of now if anybody has anything else feel free to pop it in the chat. So this one is a little bit different from the academic side. After a year or even longer at home do you have any tips or advice or resources that you could share to help ease the emotional side of entering a new grade next year perhaps with students they have never met in person. Yeah, it's, it's definitely been such a different year and again like the academics are important but the socializing is so, so significant I know one of the students I work with she has like a weekly zoom call with some of her friends I think on Friday afternoons just to kind of have that you know socializing experience. I think they started another student I work with started like an online newspaper where they're all kind of collaborating and talking through that. Just, I mean, depending on people's comfort level and who's getting together or play dates I don't really know kind of what people are doing for those opportunities but you know now they do have these technological skills and they you know are able to have a zoom call with friends or I know that there are, you know, like out school. I don't know if you've heard of that platform that they offer online courses so maybe you know having having your child take a class with another child that's a way to kind of bond or have that shared experience, like in a safe and online way. Great. Thank you so much. I think that was all the questions will give it one more second. As we say thank you to you if anything pops into the chat. I know that you kindly offered to share, you know additional resources in your contact information which we will put in our follow up email so thank you again so much for sharing your wisdom and expertise with all of us this was so helpful and informative and I don't even have school aged children and I was writing down all the books that I want to look into so thank you so much for sharing and for donating your time back to Fairfield and for everyone on the call thank you for joining us tonight you can view a list of upcoming events online at fairfield.edu slash alumni events, and we will share this recording with everyone after via email. Thank you so much Meg. Thanks so much. Have a great night.