In this post I explain 18 games or activities that are educational AND appropriate for a socially distanced classroom. These are all intended to be used within content areas. These will get your students moving, interacting, and thinking when they might be stuck at their desks throughout the school day. I hope a couple get you brainstorming!
If you're teaching online/virtually or concurrently/hybrid, I hope at least one of these 15 ideas will inspire you! There are several free templates linked here to get you going. Have fun! Laughter is the best medicine. Spread some love to your students and build that classroom community no matter the circumstances.
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.
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.
One of the first things I wanted kids to have at home while teaching virtually was whiteboards, so I was psyched when my administration planned to make sure every kid got one in their "to go" kit to take home. I love using them in class, and kids love working with them. While whiteboards can of course be used as a replacement for paper, here are 10 specific ways to utilize them.
My personal journals had always been something of a mix of scrapbooking, diary entries, flaps of papers with short stories, pasted in notes, etc. The rise of Bullet Journaling speaks to my love of creativity, planning, and writing. In fact, my favorite subject to teach is Writing. When you google bullet journals, though, you’ll see layouts that make you cringe under Pinterest Pressure. Smashbooks, on the other hand, are meant to be messy. They went through a quick flash of popularity some years back; here’s theK&Company introduction to the smashbookif you want to see a video of the idea. The description at the front of my K&Company smash book says:
“It’s OK. Just smash it in. There’s always room, just like the junk drawer.
Nothing’s right. Nothing’s wrong. It’s all YOURS. We say glue in the gladness.
Google Slides are great for Collaborative Work! Think about collaborative story writing, number sense routine discussions, jigsaw reading, and more! See my periodic table project for one such idea.
