<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1621261714276.png" alt="Student teacher Maria Martinez helps a kindergartener at Mark Twain Elementary in Kansas City, Kansas, with her backpack. Carlos Moreno / KCUR 89.3" />
 <figcaption>Student teacher Maria Martinez helps a kindergartener at Mark Twain Elementary in Kansas City, Kansas, with her backpack. Carlos Moreno / KCUR 89.3</figcaption>
 </figure>With support from the Walton Family Foundation, KCUR has asked 
student teachers in the Kansas City area to write about their 
experiences learning how to teach during a pandemic. We'll be running 
their stories as a series of teacher diaries in the coming weeks.&nbsp;Para leer este artículo en Español, <a href="https://www.kcur.org/education/2021-05-17/una-maestra-de-kansas-se-preocupa-por-ponerse-al-dia-a-los-alumnos-que-iniciaron-la-escuela-durante-la-pandemia">haga clic aquí.</a>By MARIA MARTINEZ <a href="https://www.kcur.org/education/2021-05-14/a-kansas-teacher-worries-about-catching-up-kids-who-started-school-during-the-pandemic">For the Kansas News Service</a>The pandemic has affected early childhood in more ways than families,
 teachers and schools can even know at the present moment. Students in 
the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools were online from mid-March 2020 
until the end of March 2021. Some students are still learning online due
 to the individual decisions of families. That means there are 
kindergarteners who only just started experiencing the classroom — and 
others that will for the first time as first graders in August.First
 graders will come in knowing what it looks like to follow rules in 
school, the letters in the alphabet, various digraphs and blends (sounds
 like /sh/, /th/, and /ch/ for example), various sight words, writing 
their numbers to 20 and reciting them to 100, as well as grade-level 
science and social studies skills. Kindergarteners practice this and 
more as they go through their first year of public school. The goal is 
to make sure that each student is ready to start first grade by the end 
of the year. As the mantra for the classroom I am in goes, students are 
learning all these things “to become better readers and writers.”Unfortunately,
 there will be students who will not have all the skills needed to move 
on, and there will be students who struggle to catch up. As we have come
 back to school, some students are still learning to follow rules, how 
to write their names or how to read, write and recognize numbers. 
Because of the pandemic, schools and teachers are preparing for students
 who need additional support in regaining lost ground from this school 
year. This can come in the form of reading resources that provide 
students with a gamified version of learning to motivate each to 
practice their skills at home or in the form of pull-out services where 
students are meeting with a specialist one-on-one and in small groups to
 work on improving their academic or social-emotional skills.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1621261819410.png" alt="Maria Martinez welcomes kindergarteners back to Mark Twain Elementary in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. Carlos Moreno/KCUR 89.3" />
 <figcaption>Maria Martinez welcomes kindergarteners back to Mark Twain Elementary in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. Carlos Moreno/KCUR 89.3</figcaption>
 </figure>This "gamification of learning" actually plays to this particular set
 of students’ strengths because these apps are virtual games. Though I 
have seen students struggle with other skills in the classroom, they are
 better at navigating their technological devices than many adults. 
These technological skills they learned are skills that can be played to
 when supporting students in the months to come.These are methods
 already used to help students who need extra support in learning. With 
the unusual academic year that has been 2020-2021, schools and teachers 
are expecting to have more students in this place of need. Teachers can 
adapt activities and expectations to students’ needs throughout the 
year. For me, this is especially important for this incoming 
group of students. As I move into my own classroom next year, I’m trying
 to keep in mind that my students are coming in with bits and pieces of 
the previous academic year. They may not be coming in with all the 
skills they need to be successful according to what the standards will 
require of them. Many students will be in vastly different places based 
on how they were able to cope with this academic year. The question of 
equity in an academic year like this one with hybrid and remote learning
 models is that students did not have a choice in how well-suited their 
environment was for learning.It is my job as a teacher to not 
only give students a fair learning experience but make the learning 
experience equitable. This comes from my own teaching philosophy of 
giving every student what they need to be successful and recognizing 
that this will not be the same for every student because their starting 
points will be in different places. My hope is that the students coming 
in with “bits and pieces” will hopefully regain what they need to have 
the “whole” next school year.Maria Martinez is a senior at Emporia State University in Kansas. She is currently a student teacher in a kindergarten classroom in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. She is one of two Walton education fellows sharing her experiences in the classroom this semester.&nbsp;

Kan. teacher worries about catching up kids who started school during pandemic