Seesaw is one of the most valuable teaching tools I have used during Distance Teaching. I have been using it for over three years, but I’d always limited myself to asking students to retell stories or to send them messages with links they would need during class. I have also used Seesaw as a backup plan for third grade and up when I had a sub that didn’t know Spanish. Seesaw is a wonderful portfolio that allows students to see their progress. It has also been a tool that has replaced paper assessments (Yay for the trees!). So I realized that I really needed to learn more about Seesaw during Distance Teaching. I feel that I now have created a bank of resources that I can use as emergency lessons or reuse if we continue with online teaching.
If you want to learn more about Seesaw, they have been offering different types of professional development (PD) and also have a lot of information on their website.
These are two activities that I created during Distance Teaching. Feel free to copy them to your library and make the changes you need to make them work for your students. You will need to have access to a premium Seesaw account to make changes to it. If your school is using Seesaw, you likely already have access to it. If you or your school have a free account, you can assign it to your students as is.
The first activity is based on the story “La vaca que decía oink”*** by Bernard Most. I read this story to my kinder and first grade students and used this activity as a way to review key vocabulary.
This second activity is a retelling of the story “La gallinita roja”*** in a much simpler way. Just like the activity above, you can edit it to make it fit the needs of your students.
I hope you and your students enjoy these activities!
I miss my classroom so much and also miss being able to see my students in person. One of the hardest things about transitioning to online school was finding ways to keep some of the routines I had in my classroom and adapting them to this new way of teaching that I refuse to call “normal.” I wanted to bring to my “home classroom” (which is now a table in my bedroom) some things that I had in my regular classroom for the children to feel connected, especially our kindergarteners and first graders. I brought home our class pets, and sometimes they make their appearance during our classes. I continue teaching my classes by first greeting them, then sharing the plan for the day’s class, singing a song, engaging in the main activities, doing a game and a closing song or phrase to end the class.
Of course, the greeting that I used with my younger students needed some adaptation to work in a virtual setting so I introduced new ones, and the children seemed excited. The most popular greeting has been the “baile,” since they can get silly and creative. Here are some greetings I use. Please notice that all the greetings are on the left side of the picture to let you place the Zoom video (or any online communication platform you and your students are using) on the right, as shown in the example below.
Click on each picture to save or drag them to your computer’s desktop. Place them in a PowerPoint or Google Slide widescreen, and you are ready to greet your students in your virtual meeting.
Have fun greeting your students in your virtual classes!
One of the things that I love about Seesaw is the different options it has for teachers to give feedback to students. You may either type or record your voice to provide direct feedback. Although Seesaw doesn’t allow you to give a quick sticker response (like you can do with text messages) many teachers have found an easy enough workaround to reply with unique stickers. I love to add digital stickers in response to my students’ work, and I think they love to see a special touch that resonates with them!
I have created a quick picture tutorial for you to follow along if you don’t know yet know how to add stickers using the Seesaw platform. Here goes:
1. First, go to the response by your student to an activity you have posted. This is an example from an activity I posted called “Mis actividades de español.”
2. Next, find the three dots at the bottom right side of the activity.
3. Click on “Edit Item.”
4. Find the specific page within the activity where you want to place the sticker.
5. Click on the Seesaw photo icon.
6. Click on “Upload.”
7. After clicking on “Upload” you will be prompted to choose an item from your computer, most likely your desktop. Look for the place where you saved the “Digital Stickers.”
8. Click on the “Digital Stickers” folder and choose the sticker you would like to place on your student’s activity. Click on “open.”
9. Now a special digital sticker has been placed in your student’s activity. Move it around to the final place where you want it to appear. Click on the three dots to lock the sticker in one place.
10. Click on the green circle with the checkmark to save the activity.
11. Now the sticker is visible to your student.
Are you ready to download the stickers to use them now? Stop by my TPT store to download them all!
¡Hola! I am Carolina, a Colombian elementary Spanish teacher based in Boston, MA. Fun for Spanish Teachers is the result of my passion for teaching Spanish to children and my desire to inspire collaboration and creativity in a vibrant teaching and learning community. It’s the perfect stop if you are looking for songs, games, teaching tips, stories, and fun for your classes.
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