Good Morning Leon Heights Elementary!
When school closures were announced earlier this month, life for the Big Red Community became anything but typical.
Marcie Beck, principal at Leon Heights Elementary, racked her brain for ways to recreate a normal school day while having her students and staff isolated in their homes.
“I realized there was a way to connect students each day that was familiar to them,” she said. “That is how Morning Announcements Live came to be.”
Beck’s idea was to continue her routine of providing morning announcements to her campus each day. But instead of speaking through the school’s public address system, Beck meets her campus community virtually through a Facebook LIVE video.
“We always begin with the U.S. pledge of allegiance, the Texas pledge, our campus ‘Guidelines for Success” and a moment of silence,” Beck said of the 4-8 minutes of announcements. “I follow up with staff and student birthdays, upcoming events and important information.”
These 9:15 a.m. meetings have provided the sense of normalcy Beck was striving to achieve.
“I received a number of emails and posts thanking me for holding the daily announcements,” she said. “One parent shared that it is the highlight of their day, one shared that it gives them a great way to start their ‘homeschool’ day off, others have said it helps them feel that school is still in session even though it is very different right now.”
Beck said students are excited to hear their birthdays mentioned and see who comments on the feed. Many say “hello” to their friends and teachers, and staff is also able to respond.
“It’s an unprecedented time,” Beck said. “We can handle whatever comes our way as long as we do it together as a school family.”
You can catch Leon Height's Morning Annoucement each weekday of the district COVID-19 Closure by liking and following the campus facebook page here.