I love teaching with a workshop model, and I love teaching in small groups. Stations are so much fun to me. I love feeling like the class is shifting in time and being productive. I wanted this virtually, too, but how? I knew what I needed to get started. Here are some ideas for how to get going and what kids can be doing while you're with small groups. I'd love to know how it's going for you, too.
I love google forms! I have done tons of assessments using forms, gathered feedback, used it to create groups based on student choices, and more. It's a fantastic platform that can fill many needs.
If you're like me, you're teaching online, and breakout rooms are one of the few things that make my online classroom feel real and interactive. Here are 7 ways I'm using this tool and 9 recommendations for gradual release.
I love games and activities in morning meeting! While I know that carpet time may be gone as we re-enter classrooms, there are so many possibilities for maintaining connection and community even with physical distance.
Below are songs/chants and activities that I think would work well while staying at a desk space. These could make for great energizers or brain breaks as well. While many of these require standing up and sitting down, they should be able to stay in their area.
If you teach elementary, you're likely familiar with the idea of a morning meeting or class meeting. This is typically a time for community building and connection. When we had to switch to online learning in Spring 2020, I knew I wanted to keep elements of morning meeting. Here are 5 ideas (picture prompts, collaborative google slides, partner games, whole class games, and Flipgrid) for building connections online.
I love having kids reflect in journals on paper and take notes in notebooks; however, I've enjoyed using Google Slides as digital reader's notebooks. Read here to get a set of slides you can adapt and use for free.
No matter how great you are at classroom management, there will be times when you want to create individual behavior plans and when it’s necessary to the health of your classroom. Still, it should a later step in the classroom management process because it requires so much work. If you can, I encourage you to wait on an individual behavior plan until you have tried some of these ideas.
I love Morning Meetings with my sixth graders. Our typical Morning Meetings follow the structure from Responsive Classroom, but there are some days that we spend a lot longer on activities than others. Sprinkled throughout the year, I love to teach my students mind games. These mind games are ones that can only be done... Continue Reading →
I love my Bullet Journal! If you are a Pinterest browser like me, then you've probably seen many gorgeous journal pages. One quick search of #bujo will elicit a ton of images, designs, graphs and charts, calendars, and to do lists. I love my Bullet Journal because it is so many things to me. My bullet journal is my planner, my contact list, my post-its in a book form, my scrapbook, my calendar, and my diary. It can do whatever you need!
Number Sense Routines have become my passion. Over the past couple of years, I've been exposed to more and more websites with so many free resources. Now, I am obsessed! There is so much variety. I love how these routines and puzzles teach students so many skills. Most of these could be used in an online environment, so no matter how you're teaching this year, these will work for you!
As a camp counselor, lover of morning meeting games, and lover of improv games like from the TV show "Whose line is it anyway?" I've curated several fun but structured games to use with students that can be done with social distancing and zero materials other than people and imagination. Have fun!
Podcasts will be an ideal resource for teaching this year. Whether you're teaching in person with distance and looking for varied independent work or online and have run out of audiobook links, podcasts could make for great independent learning.
