Our goal is to provide Landon boys with meaningful and engaging learning experiences through online instruction and activities for the duration of a closure.  While distance learning will not be able to fully replicate the experience found in Landon classrooms and campus on a daily basis, our faculty will continue to engage students in a variety of ways and will, through this process, explore with the boys new and creative ways for delivering academic experiences. As we are a teacher-coach-mentor school – that is, one defined by strong relationships between teachers and students -- an important goal of any distance learning approach is tending to those relationships through ongoing and frequent engagement among students and between students and teachers through regular and intentional use of video conference platforms. 

In order to provide the best experience for our boys, our guiding principles for distance learning include the following:

Emphasize community and relationships. Providing opportunities for community, connection, and support online are essential aspects of our distance learning approach given how important relationships are to our mission and our boys’ academic success.

Be flexible.  Flexibility, a willingness to try new things, and communication are key for all matters related to distance learning.  This plan will evolve as we learn more about what works best and as circumstances evolve, so being open to the likely and necessary modifications will be crucial should distance learning take place for an extended period of time. 

Use what we know.  Students and faculty will use those platforms that are already in place and familiar for communicating about work and delivering learning experiences. 

Provide structure.  Structure offers clarity and support.  Continuing with a structured daily approach, similar to what boys are used to while in school, is important for boys in distance learning.  While this includes breaks, required time for physical activity, and time for connecting with advisors, it also includes regular academic time, homework, and the expectation that boys will be engaged and on task.

A successful family-school partnership is important for a student’s success, and this holds true in a distance learning environment as well.  Here are some suggestions for how best to approach distance learning as a family, recognizing that each family’s circumstances may differ.

Maintain a regular schedule for your son as much as possible.  This includes getting up and going to bed at normal times, getting dressed in the morning and ready for the day like any school day, maintaining a healthy diet, and taking set breaks throughout the day.

Identify a study/work space for your son.  An ideal location would be one that is quiet and away from distractions but also open enough to allow for a family member to provide encouragement with work as well as monitor what is on your son’s screen on occasion. 

Balance independence and support with distance learning expectations.  Your son will need to work through problems that he encounters as he digs into his work, so it is important for adults to resist the temptation to jump in and solve their sons’ challenges right away.  Equally important is being a support for your son should he begin to become discouraged or disorganized with his work.  Should that occur, please speak with him about the importance of reaching out to his teachers for guidance and support and how best to do so.

Encourage balance and wellness.  While there will be academic expectations during a campus closure, your son’s health and well-being remain a top priority.  Our approach to distance learning includes required athletic expectations as a rough proxy for his athletic experience here at school, mostly because we strongly believe this serves his overall wellness.  The fact that we are in a distance learning setting does not lessen – and perhaps increases – the importance of that part of our program.   There is time set aside for him to change into athletic gear as he would do at school.  Let him know that this part of the program matters even though he is not directly with coaches and teammates.  In addition, help ensure he is maintaining social connections with peers virtually or on the phone, that he is taking breaks outside and getting fresh air throughout the academic part of the day, and that you communicate any concerns about his wellness to school counselors, our nurse, or advisors as appropriate. 

Help reinforce Landon’s expectations for online behavior.  Being a good citizen, one who is honest and respectful, both in person and online, is an expectation articulated in our Code of Character.  We have spoken with the boys about how they are to continue to uphold our Code of Character during distance learning. The school’s Responsible Use Policy will also continue to guide our expectations during distance learning.  We ask your partnership with that in reminding them about the fundamental importance of character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all have been experiencing change and uncertainty and learning new ways of what it means to be a Landon community member.  Students and adults will need to develop or update their own stress relief routines.  This message is intended to provide information and suggestions on how to better care for ourselves.  Consider incorporating a few of these tips into each day.   

Breathe  

Breathing exercises are easy to do, they work quickly, and you can do them anywhere, anytime.  If you practice them regularly, they can reduce your overall stress level, make you less reactive to stressful situations, and help you think more clearly.    

Eat and drink well 

A healthy diet can counter the impact of stress, by strengthening the immune system and lowering blood pressure. Keep some healthy snacks on hand like nuts, raw veggies, string cheese, fresh fruit, and some small pieces of chocolate. Limit caffeine intake (especially after 2 p.m.), and drink more water.    

Exercise  

Exercise is one of the most effective stress relievers - it clears your mind and energizes your body, which can also help you feel more motivated to tackle daily tasks.  Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week.   

Give your eyes and thumbs a rest

Limit your cell phone/gaming use to certain times of the day.  Set a regular time to check for texts, posts, and emails so that you are not constantly looking at the screen.  Avoid using any type of screen at least 30 minutes before bedtime – this helps your brain shut down from a busy day.  Also, you will have a better chance of staying asleep if your phone is across the room instead of right next to you.    

Laugh and play  

Laughing reduces blood pressure, increases energy, and reduces stress. Everyone could use a little more playtime in our lives.  Any kind of fun playful activity can help give your mind and body a much-needed break.    

Prepare  

Being unprepared and unorganized can increase your stress. Organize your room, notebooks, etc.  Make a to-do list for each day, outlining assignments and other tasks.  Getting organized gives you the sense that you're in control of the situation and can handle it.  Don’t forget to schedule in some relaxation time!  

Say No  

We often get stressed out and feel overwhelmed when we are over-scheduled with too many activities. Honor the responsibilities that you accept, but don't feel the need to fulfill every request. If an obligation is unavoidable, remove something else from your schedule to help manage stress.  Remember that "No" is a complete sentence. 

Sleep  

When possible, try to get 8-9 hours of sleep each night.  You cannot make up sleep on weekends – sleeping until 2 p.m. on a Saturday only disrupts your sleep cycle even more.  Consider bringing nap time back into your life by scheduling 20-45 minutes a day for a nap.  Any more than that will leave you feeling tired rather than refreshed.    

Take a timeout  

Take at least 15 minutes a day to meditate, practice deep breathing, read a book, watch a funny video, or chat with friends.  Taking short breaks helps us relax and re-focus.  

Please feel free to email us if you have any questions, suggestions, or just to check-in!

School Nurse
Julie Acebal
julie_acebal@landon.net

Upper School Counselor
Richard Curtis
richard_curtis@landon.net

Middle/Lower School Counselor
Justin Roman
justin_roman@landon.net

Head Athletic Trainer
Mike McCormick
mike_mccormick@landon.net

Landon's teachers, librarians, and academic specialists have guidance for parents who may be looking for online and outdoor activities for their children during Spring Break and beyond as we maintain social distancing. Here’s a general list of 100 ideas to keep things interesting and productive while we social distance. See more links to activities for boys and families by division below.

Lower School 

• Area hiking trails 
• Hour of Code and Code.org 
• Good Lower School Podcasts - But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids ; Brains On; Stories Podcast ; Grim, Grimmer, Grimmest; Circle Round 
• Virtual Voyages at the Virginia Zoo - Join the zoo for a voyage every day at 2 p.m., through March 30. You can go behind the scenes, tour the zoo, and cure your curiosity with animals, keepers, and education staff. 
• McHarper Manor in Milford - This art studio is offering live art and craft tutorials for projects to create at home daily at 1 p.m.
• Home Safari Facebook Live 
• Each day at 3 p.m., the Cincinnati Zoo will host a livestream featuring an animal and an activity for children to do at home. 
• Typing practice with Qwertytown 
• Virtual Field Trips  
• Audible Free Audio Books  

Middle School 

• Area hiking trails 
• Hour of Code, Code.org, and Tynker 
• How to start a Podcast  
• Student Podcast Challenge 
• Typing practice with Typing Club 
• Virtual Field Trips 
• Wildcam Gorongosa – Help identify animals and contribute to scientific study 
• Audible Free Audio Books 

Upper School 

• Area hiking trails 
• Tinkercad 
• Code.org 
• Listen! NPR Podcasts (TED Radio Hour is a great one!) 
• Create! How to start a Podcast  
• Create!Starting your Podcast: A Guide for Students 
• Create! Student Podcast Challenge 
• Daily Math with Po Shen Lo (Carnegie Mellon Professor) 
• Virtual Field Trips 
• News in slow Spanish, French, Italian and German
• Zooinverse – Contribute to citizen science projects 
• Audible Free Audio Books 

ADHD resources

Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Resources Colleen Tully provides this helpful guidance for parents of children with ADHD, ideas which can be more widely applicable to all students. 

Common Sense Media

Landon also partners with Common Sense Media which provides excellent resources for finding age-appropriate media, understanding the media your kids are using, and providing resources for parents, including how to talk to your children about media and technology use.  

Suggested audiobooks from Tales2go

To use this subscription, parents must create a free Tales2go account. The user name is the student’s Landon user name (e.g. John_Smith) The password is GoBears!

The 39 Clues (series) — Rick Riordan
Football Genius (and other titles) — Tim Green
My Weird School (series) — Dan Gutman
Mr. Terupt (series) — Rob Buyea
I Survived (series) — Lauren Tarshis
Jack and the Geniuses (series) — Bill Nye
Wings of Fire (series) — Tui Sutherland
Spirit Animals (series) — Brandon Mull
Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor — Ally Carter
Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators that Saved an Ecosystem — Patricia Newman
Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — Patricia Newman

Suggested audiobooks from Stories.Audible.com (No login or membership required)

Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers — Chris Grabenstein
The Terrible Two — Mac Barnett
Mission Unstoppable — Dan Gutman
Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire — John August
The Orphan of Ellis Island — Elvira Woodruff
Camp Red Moon — R.L. Stine (for students who like scary stories)
Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World — Scott McCormick
Rivals 2! More Frenemies Who Changed the World — Scott McCormick
Shelter Dogs — Peg Kehret
A Pain in the Pigza: The Hidden Files of Joey Pigza, Book 2 — Jack Gantos
The Halloween Tree — Ray Bradbury (for students who like scary stories)
Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry — Neil deGrasse Tyson
Out of Time — Carol Lynn Thomas
Blastaway — Melissa Landers
Lives of the Pirates — Kathleen Krull
The Reluctant Dragon — Kenneth Grahame
90 Miles to Havana — Enrique Flores-Galbis

Fiction

The Big Game by Tim Green*
The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
Checked by Cynthia Kadohata*
Full of Beans by Jennifer Holm
Greetings From Witness Protection by Jake Burt
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
The Last Mission by Harry Mazer
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
Loser by Jerry Spinelli*
Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch*
Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
Restart by Gordon Korman*
Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Lee
The Unteachables by Gordon Korman*
Vanishing Act by John Feinstein*
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry

Fiction series

Ascendance by Jennifer Nielsen *
Diary of Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney*
Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull*
I Survived by Lauren Tarsish
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins*
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielsen *
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry
Rebel in the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton*
Spy School by Stuart Gibb
Wings of Fire by Tsui Sutherland*

Non-fiction
The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20^th Century by Neal Bascomb *
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
To The Moon! The True Story of the American Heroes on the Apollo 8 Spaceship by Jeffrey Kluger*

Graphic novels

Fiction
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Amulet series by Kazu Kibiushi
El Deafo by Cece Bell
New Kid by Jerry Craft (Winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal and speaker at Landon!)
Wings of Fire series by Tsui Sutherland

Non-fiction

Becoming RBG by Debbie Levy
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
Hazardous Tales series by Nathan Hale
Steve Jobs: Insanely Great by Jessie Hartland

An * indicates that this book is available on Tales2go, our audiobook subscription. For more information about Tales2go please click here.

These books can be found on Audibles or on Landon’s Tales2Go account.  

The Tales2Go account username is student’s Landon username (John_Smith) and the password is GoBears!
 
Barnum’s Own Story: The Autobiography of PT Barnum 
Exuberant autobiography reveals the whole story of Barnum’s world-famous hoaxes and publicity stunts. 
 
The Bear by Andrew Krivak (FIC) 
Some have created a new category for this short stunning book: the post-apocalypse utopia. 
 
Flatlands: A Romance of Many Dimensions (FIC) 
What happens when a sphere tries to introduce 3-dimensions to a square? All hell breaks loose, of course. Hey, Mr. Sorkin and Mr. Katz will be impressed you’re reading a story about anthropomorphized geometric figures. 
 
A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Rob Goodman (NF) 
“When his daughter…dropped a package of toothpicks all over the floor, rather than instruct her to clean it up, Shannon observed, ‘You know, you could calculate the value of pi from that.’” 
 
The Seven Seat: A True Story of Rowing, Revenge, and Redemption by Daniel Boyne (NF) 
Humorous, liberating story for rowers and non-rowers alike.  
 
The Time Machine by HG Wells (FIC) 
The OG of time travel stories—with a knock-out ending!  
 
Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien
Beginning with a rescue at four days old, the story of Wesley and author O’Brien’s 19-year friendship. 
 
Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulson  
Snowstorms, frostbite, dogfights, moose attacks, sleeplessness, hallucinations - and the relentless push to go on.