Two weeks ago, Zachary Lombardi was teaching first graders art in person, in classrooms at P.S. 29 in Castleton Corners on Staten Island. Then, COVID-19 cases sent them home, and back to Google Classroom.

“You have to be pretty flexible with the kind of work you’d like to do with the kids,” explained Lombardi.

Flexible is a good word to describe the sculptures his class was making out of paper, modeled off a zebra he showed the class. Doing this kind of thing over Zoom isn’t quite the same as in the school's art studio, where, pre-COVID-19, he could lend a hand, literally.

What You Need To Know

  • Two weeks ago, Zachary Lombardi was teaching first graders art in person

  • Then, like hundreds of schools around the city, P.S. 29 closed due to multiple coronavirus cases

  • So class moved online, where students learned to make paper sculptures

“I’m not in their house with them and they’re trying to figure out how to attach the leg on the zebra, so I feel like I’ve had to get better at describing things clearly. I’m not sure I’ve achieved that yet but I’m trying to figure that out,” Lombardi said.

Even over the internet, the art classes have been an outlet for his students to express themselves to one another, starting back in March when the pandemic began.

“It really seemed like it was crisis teaching — it felt like art therapy,” he said.

Now, even when his school is open and he’s in the classroom, Lombardi takes time after school each day to meet up virtually with those he can’t see in person.

“We’re going into almost the eleventh month, I guess, and it’s sort of like I don’t know what I would be doing without some of these afternoon meetings I have with these kids. I meet with my fifth graders, it really feels like it’s helping everyone’s mental health, including my own,” he said.

On Tuesday, schools chancellor Richard Carranza beamed in to Lombardi's class, and made a sculpture of his own.

“I made a person,” Carranza said, showing off a floppy figure.

“Oh, wow! Good job,” a student replied.

The classes often offer a little glimpse into students' lives, especially their pets.

“What’d you make?” Lombardi asked one student.

“I made a bearded dragon, my bearded dragon running,” she replied.

It was modeled after her pet lizard Rocky, a real-life bearded dragon, which she showed off to the class.

Little glimpses like those help the class come together, even when they have to be apart.

"We're in this situation together that's not ideal, everyone's a little scared, and we don't know what's going to happen — and we're making stuff and talking about our lives,” Lombardi said.