The time students were away from the classroom due to COVID-19 created a gap in student knowledge and understanding, as well as decreased ability to focus for long time periods. Carli Smith recognized it was imperative they close these gaps and implement breaks to enhance student learning. She shifted her mindset from previous experience of teaching science in 90-minute blocks to teaching science in 20- minute blocks, but continued to maintain the 40% time allocation for labs and hands on experiences. She firmly believes students learn better with visual, kinesthetic and natural learning applications. In the classroom, this looks like frequent brain breaks, going outside for lessons, modeling concepts with movement and consistent group and class share activities. Examples include:

• Step up/take a step reviews (kids take a step each time they get a review question correct - done as a class not individual)
• Newscaster improv (students act silly and give a “news report” to the classroom based on what they learned)
• Lab safety scavenger hunts (classroom and school)
• Café Days where students can bring music and snacks and take their notes, read content material and catch up on assignments