"Zoom" into Distance Learning

Like everyone else in America, we've become quite familiar with using Zoom!  We use Zoom for staff meetings, parent conferences, small group meetings, read alouds, even our morning meetings.  My schedule is posted as the "header picture" at the top of our Google Classroom.  It makes it easy for parents to have a quick reference and see what time their child needs to log onto Zoom.  Wednesday's are school-wide planning days.  The workload is a little lighter, since it's usually a minimum day, and none of the classes have Zoom meetings scheduled.

In the classroom, we use the "One Note" app on our tablets to project and do work along with our students.  This has been really helpful to use during our Virtual Learning!  I can share the screen and we can still do our work together, only now we do it in small groups.  This is the brainstorming portion of our opinion writing unit.  We sent home packets with all the writing prompts at the beginning of the school closures. Each week, students grab the weekly packet so we are able to practice writing paragraphs.

Every Friday is Spirit Day.  Last week's theme was class colors.  We were "Miss Ross's Red Rockstars," because all my students have been such Rockstars with all their hard work at home.  I love the Spirit Days because the students come onto Zoom so much more excited and are able to connect with each other through wacky outfits.  The Spirit Day themes are simple so it's easy for families at home; hat day, beach day, crazy hair, polka-dot or stripe day, etc.

  

Sometimes, we play fun games at the end our Zoom meetings.  We've played different games like, I Spy, and Hangman.  My favorite game was the Virtual Scavenger Hunt.  I gave students different objectives and they had to walk through their house to find objects and bring them back.  I gave them open-ended prompts like, something round, something for your foot, something shaped like a cylinder, something that begins with the letter b, etc.  The kids brought back silly items and had so much fun! Of course, at the end, we talked about how to put everything back where they found it!

Google Classroom in Distance Learning

All of this Virtual Learning as been quite the learning experience for a lot of teachers!  I am so thankful that we used Google Classroom throughout the school year.  It was the perfect platform for us to use and great for the students' transition to Distance Learning.  They were already familiar with the layout and "turning in" assignments on GC.  Each morning, I post a "Daily Schedule" for students to see their daily assignments.  Assignments include reading a story in their reading textbook, practice pages in their workbook, ReadWorks assignments, journal entries and Google Slide activities.

I love ReadWorks because it makes it easy to differentiate the reading assignments.  The passages are leveled and the website is easy to navigate.  I can assign each group a different leveled-passage so students are practicing fluency at their own reading level.  After students read the passage, there is a set of vocabulary words and comprehension questions they complete.  For my lower students, I can give the option of an audio-assist, so the passage is read to them.  I also love that ReadWorks has a huge range of topics; each week we have a theme which has been helpful with integrating Science and Social Studies.  ReadWorks makes it easy for the kids to access too!  It posts directly to their Google Classroom feed so a direct link takes them to their reading assignment.  After they read, they complete the questions and click submit!

It was tough to be able to see their work with all of the writing and workbooks being at home.  And I wanted to assign activities that were more fun for the students and gave them some hands-on practice.  Or as much as they could do virtually!  I took a lot of practice pages that we normally use from TPT and converted them onto Google Slides.  The kids complete the assignments and then click "Turn In" so I can see their work.  They really enjoy these types of assignments.  Some assignments prompt students to type answers, and others prompt them to match words or pictures.  Instead of cutting and gluing to sort, they click and drag!

Another kid-favorite was the animal report!  Students researched a zoo animal and filled out a report.  I posted a few links to use (National Geographic, kiddle, etc.) and they wrote 8 facts into their journal.  I taught them how to change the fonts and colors too!  After they finished typing their facts into the matrix, they could go back to change their text boxes.  All the reports were so colorful with lots of detailed facts and animal pictures.  They really got creative and loved the whole process of researching, typing, and editing!

Staying Connected in Distance Learning

It's no secret that one of the most important parts of student learning is the class community.  With school closures forcing us into Distance Learning, I wanted to ensure that my students still felt connected to our classroom and the strong community we had built!  Getting mail is so exciting when you're a kid.  Over the past few weeks, I've sent little things in the mail for students to let them know that I'm still here for them.  I got so many ideas from teacher-bloggers that I follow on social media!  Most of them were from Megan Fadal's TPT store.  The first week, I sent these postcards just to say hello and let them know that they were deeply missed! 

Another week, I sent a "top secret" math message to my students.  They had to solve the problems to figure out the secret message.  They LOVED this! I got so many happy parents messages with cute pictures.

The most recent mail I sent to my students was this "Flat Stanley" activity.  I didn't send the QR code with the story read aloud because the 2nd Grade classes at our school do a Flat Stanley unit and I didn't want to step on their toes.  Instead, I sent it with a "Bitmoji Bingo" card.  Students do the optional activities "with me."  Parents send me pictures to share with the class on our picture document that's in our Google Classroom.  It's a wonderful way for students to feel connected to me and a fun way to see each other's adventures!

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week.  We did a drive-through parade in our school parking lot.  The staff stayed in our cars in our assigned parking spots while families drove through the parking lot in our regular school-valet line.  It was an amazing event but made everyone miss being together!