THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2020
DISTANCE LEARNING & A NEW TEMPORARY NORMAL
As we wait to find out when or if we are going back to school this year, we are trying to create a new temporary normal at home with our online classrooms. As educators who work with our students every day, we are missing those in person connections with our students and our time with our class family. Our routines have been changed and our students are now at home on a different schedule, away from their peers and their sense of normalcy as well. We hope to create some of this normalcy for them through different resources we send out to families and students, and different means of communication. Though the unknowns and changes can be difficult, let's use this time to really reach out to others, connecting with others, and being better teachers for our students and for other educators. We are all on one team and that is to love on and empower our students.
As we are all adjusting to a new temporary normal right now with all that is going on in our world, I wanted to share something that may be helpful for other educators. I was recently working on editing the resources I have been sending out to my families and students, and I wanted to simplify the visuals and content to make it even more user friendly for my kiddos. This is definitely new for all of us, and navigating how to teach our students from home can be challenging at times. There are so many factors we need to consider and so many resources we want to provide for our students. I wanted to take time to share some links that I have found to be very helpful along with some links that were provided from my district. I hope that these links and tips can help you in some way as we all create a new temporary normal, and help empower our students with distance learning.
iReady
Lexia
BrainPop Jr & BrainPop
Khan Academy Language Arts
Quill Grammar
Newsela
ReadWorks Digital
Epic! Reading
Brains On Podcast
But Why Podcast
Stories Podcast
Khan Academy Math
BrainPop Jr & BrainPop
Xtra Math
Prodigy
Math Card Games
Cool Math for Kids
Math Tasks
Multiplication Practice
Mystery Science
National Geographic Kids Experiments
San Diego Zoo Live Cam
Mr. Nussbaum
NASA Science
GoNoodle
Choose My Plate
Scratch Coding
Khan Academy How to Code
Music Lab
Thrively
Typing Test
If you need a template to send out to your students and families, here is a link to my TpT store to download this At Home Learning template for FREE. You can personalize it for your students by adding in your own content, hyperlinks, photos, Bitmojis, video clips, etc. It can be sent out to your students as a PPT or as a Google Slide. I have been using Google Classroom, Seesaw, and our district platform called Canvas to post. Make your template personalized for your students, helping them to feel empowered as they are learning from home.
Feel free to follow along on Instagram @teacherlyway as we navigate distance learning together and feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We are a team!
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2019
Music Cue is one of my favorite apps for transitions. Teachers can choose which song they want to link with a classroom transition. I use Music Cue for many different transitions in my classroom such as letting students know it is time to transition from morning work to morning meeting, it's time to take out our planners, or it's time to head back to our desks to get ready for math. Matching a song with a transition helps students know exactly what is coming next and it just adds to the day. I love adding music whenever I can and my students do too! You can even have a discussion with your class at the beginning of the year about their favorite music, then choose which song matches with which transition. Some of my go to transition songs include "Married Life" from the movie Up, "The Pink Panther Theme Song," and "Mission Impossible Theme Song." Choose songs that your students will recognize and enjoy hearing throughout the day!
Check it out here.
Class Dojo is another one of my go to apps that I use daily. My students love it! Class Dojo is a classroom management tool using a point system. At the beginning of the year we discuss how to earn points and how points can be lost. Students are working towards earning points to use at our class store that occurs every other week. I have different levels that students are trying to reach in order to purchase a class coupon, so they aren't losing points when they make their purchase, but rather their points continue to build up to reach the different levels at the store. I also don't buy items for students to purchase from the class store, they purchase coupons that I actually bought from TpT from Core Inspiration. These coupons include different celebrations such as using a crazy color pen, sitting by a friend, changing jobs for the day with another student, take your shoes off for the day, lunch with teacher, etc. These are all fun, but simple coupons students look forward to working towards purchasing with their points.
I also use this app to build team work and encouragement by establishing a house system in the beginning of the year. Check out Ron Clark Academy's model and Miss 5th's product on TpT.
This app is very convenient since it is right on my phone and students love working towards earning class coupons. In a way, I have modeled this system off of having a classroom economy, but instead of printing out class cash, I just use the Dojo point system on my phone or computer!
Check it out here.
