Gramma Goes On-Line

As mentioned in earlier posts, I frequently visit my grandson Dylan in PA, and I was always able to join in with his preschool class for a couple of hours each day. I loved helping the teachers with the students or engaging in the different activities with them. On every visit, I bring a special gift to give to the classroom, mostly in the form of a children’s book about Arizona, or the desert and desert animals. Unfortunately, the 2020 Coronavirus stopped all visits to his preschool classroom, and now, Dylan is in Kindergarten, and I have never been allowed into his Kindergarten classroom because of the virus.

I felt terrible about this situation, not only for Dylan, but for me missing out on the joy and experiences I received through interacting with his teachers and with his classmates. I recall how Dylan beamed with pride as the teacher read one of my books about life in Arizona because this is where Dylan was born, and where much of his family still lives.

I pondered this current situation where no one can volunteer in the classroom, and I remembered how even early on with the virus, the kids were not allowed back in the classroom and the teaching was done through Zoom. Fortunately, I was able to participate in some of Dylan’s Zoom classroom sessions, watching the teachers teach with videos, including the reading of stories. EUREKA! It came to me that I could also read a book on video and make it available to the teachers to show in class, and I can still donate my book to the classroom library.

In creating my first video, I started out with my own book, “Gramma goes to Preschool” (see previous post about writing this children’s story). As a sidenote, my book had just been published and I was so excited to read it to my grandson’s preschool class since the story was about my actual visits to his class. Unfortunately, with the timing of COVID, it was not possible to enter his classroom to read the book.

Creating a video was a bit of a challenge as I tried to make sure my voice projected as I read, while keeping the book straight, steady, close to the camera, all while turning the pages smoothly. It was easier said than done, and it was crazy with how many “takes” I had to do, lol!

As I read the story, I sometimes interjected a question to the students, or added an additional tidbit of information about the page. Overall, the video turned out well, considering my lack of expertise, and Dylan’s teachers provided positive feedback. I opted to store my “story-reading” videos on a YouTube channel I had set up previously. This YouTube channel was originally set up to store family milestone, memorial, or celebration videos that I created for my family and friends to access anytime.

One other item of importance to note is I found that including Dylan in on making the videos, helped to create a better video because it was more relatable, funny, and interesting. Today’s kids are certainly better versed in the phenomena of YouTube, TikTok, and video game narration.

Check out my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcvV1qB61NcBStj73qZkzIw to see and hear stories such as “Gramma Goes to Preschool”, “Cowboy Camp”, “Bedtime in the Southwest”, “Here Comes Santa Claus”, or “Where Did Papa Go”.

Hope you enjoy Warriors!

Love and Regards,
GrammaWarrior