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!
These days we are all spending a lot of time sitting in front of the computer. Taking the time to pause and breath is important in class. Doing simple breathing exercises and asking children to close their eyes while doing them is a quick way for them to take their eyes off the screen.
In this video I have shown 6 fun breathing exercises for you to learn and teach your students.
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!
Movement Cards are a life saver in my classes. I like to use them as quick brain breaks with my younger students. Now that we have moved to teaching online due to the current health situation, I find that giving our students some time to move after staring at the screen computer or iPad for a while is extremely important. I have shared Movement Cards for different seasons and celebrations before, so adding a set with animals is a must!
I just ended our 3rd week of distance learning, however this was my first week teaching live online classes. I do have to say that it has been exhausting trying to figure out how to make the class interactive and engaging while being so far apart from my students and only interacting through a screen. Learning new tools is a plus but is also exhausting. By my first class session I thought I had mastered Zoom, but it when I taught my first class (a second grade group), I realized that there were more things to learn. I shared my plan for the class using the screen sharing function of Zoom. One of my students then started using the annotation tool to scribble over the shared screen agenda, and that’s when I knew I needed to learn more. It was a bit funny but frustrating at the same time.
Anyway, we came up with the list below while brainstorming with some of my students about quick games we could do in class without the need to share my screen. By not sharing a screen, it also becomes possible to see every student. We have played these games in our classroom before, so the students should know them well. It is necessary to adapt some of these games to make it work for our current online setting.
Simón dice: We usually play this game in class by saying “Señora dice” instead of Simón dice. Sometimes I like choosing a student to be “it” and the name “Simón” will be replaced by that student’s name. Choose one person to give directions or say a command. Everyone should follow the direction only if they hear “______ dice.” If someone follow directions when the person directing hasn’t said “_____ dice”, that person will be out of the game. You can continue until one of few people are left in the game.
Charades: I usually have between 8 to 16 students on a live class on Zoom, so it’s not easy to divide the groups, or at least I haven’t tried it. This works great with students 2nd grade and up. You will need to use the chat tool for this game. I am not familiar with platforms other than Zoom, but in Zoom the host can choose to privately chat with a student. The rules for this game are simple. No words or pointing at anything, just acting it out for other students to guess. Choose one student to act out a word. Send the word in a private message to the chosen student only. Have the student act out the word and give students turns to guess. Whoever guesses first will become the next actor. You might want to write the word on a piece of paper or board to show to the students later.
Color colorcito: This is a game that my kindergarteners love playing in the classroom. It usually involves one person naming colors and the other students running to find the color. If the person naming the color tags someone who is not touching the color, then that person becomes the new “it.” See my previous post here for a longer explanation of the way I usually play it in the classroom. Because it’s impossible to play a “virtual” tagging game, we made it for students to look for an object of that color in the room. The person who finds the color last will say the new color.
La caja mágica: You could either use a box or a bag. Place and object inside, describe it and have your students guess it. Click hereto find more ideas.
Sigue al líder: Play some music and choose one student to lead the class in different dance movements.
Congelado: Play music for a few seconds, stop the music and everyone has to freeze. If anyone continues moving, they will join you to find other students who are not freezing or continue moving when you stop the music.
El director de orquesta: This game is known as “Follow the leader.” Choose one student to close his or her eyes, and this student will have to guess who is directing the group. While that student has his/her eyes closed, choose another student to direct the group. Write the name of the “director” on a white board or a piece of paper and show it to the group. The student directing then has to do movements or gestures that everyone else will copy. The student who is guessing will have three opportunities to guess who is directing the group. If the student doesn’t guess, you can reveal the name of the student director, and then you can all clap for him or her. You can decide how long you want to continue with this game.
Do you have any other games to add to this list? Feel free to share them in the comments or email them to me for updates to this post.
