Teacher’s Brain

Month: July 2020

Teacher Tips for Returning Back to School Safely

Distance Learning, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Returning back to school safely is going to take teachers a lot of patience, tips and tricks this year! There are so many unknowns but I know for sure that being organized and clean are going to be play a big role in our Back to School routine.

Here are some ideas for you to think about this school year while planning!

Tips for Teachers Returning Back to School Safely

1. This hand sanitizer holder is pretty neat to place outside of the door.  Students use their foot to squirt their hands.  I have seen some great motion detected dispensers on Amazon too.

(Photo: Stephanie Deal)

2. This teacher is using individual yoga mats, plastic serving trays and individual bins for supplies to keep her students learning at a distance from each other.

(Photo: Kaycie Huffman)

3. Individual book bins are a MUST this year. Plan on using paper printable books or after a week, place the books on quarantine for a couple weeks before rotating them to the next student.

 

(Photo: Teaching Little Leaders)

4. If you are meeting students in person this year, teaching Distant Greetings are going to be important to teach that first week back to school.  Make a poster or sign to hang at the door for students to easily remember and choose their greeting and goodbye each day from a distance.

(Photo: Teacher’s Brain – Cindy Martin)

5. I love this idea! These are pillowcases turned inside out with individual supply bins inside.

(Photo: Mrs. Classroom Craziness)

6. If you are teaching virtual or in person this year, a virtual Meet the Teacher or Open House will make it easier for you to introduce yourself, the classroom and to get students to get to know each other virtually. Google Slides are perfect for personalizing and sharing with families.

7. Social Distance Posters are perfect for in the classroom to remind students of the new safety rules and procedures for the school year.

Also Check Out:

Science Lessons For Kids: What Is A Scientist?

Science, Teaching Tips

Science is such an important part of elementary curriculum. We set the foundation for our students to understand important science concepts later on. Creating meaningful science lesson plans that students can really learn from is essential. 

A great way for students to begin to really grasp science and have a FUN, positive learning experience is to teach them how to see themselves as scientists. Putting themselves in a scientist’s shoes can really get their minds working and understanding the subject. 

What is a scientist?

I like to start the school year off with the first lessons focusing on what a scientist really is. A scientist is someone who observes, thinks and discovers how things work. A scientist has expert knowledge on a particular subject.

The next step is to move into what tools does a scientist use? Teach about safety equipment including goggles, gloves, and masks. Other tools you can teach include rulers, thermometers, measuring cups, beakers, hand lens, globe, etc. 

Next you’ll want to teach the scientific method. The scientific method is a way for a scientist to study and learn new things. 

Teach your students the steps: 

  1. Ask a question
  2. Gather information and observe
  3. Guess the answer or make a hypothesis
  4. Test your hypothesis
  5. Analyze your test results
  6. Make a conclusion

After covering this with your students, dive into some fun experiments! Plan to do lots of STEM activities to engage your students and make learning about science fun. Interactive notebooks are great for helping students collect data and easily integrate writing into your lessons.

To help make this lesson easy to plan, I created this What Is A Scientist 3 Week Unit! 

It includes 3 full weeks of detailed science lesson plans with interactive notebook pages, posts, and hands on activities that are fun and engaging for your students. Examples include gummy bear science, rainbow milk magic, and mixing primary colors to make observations. This unit is perfect for preK, kindergarten, 1st grade, or homeschool students. 

Science Lessons For Kids

science lessons for kids

Interested in a full year of science lesson plans? Check out my Science Curriculum Yearlong Bundle. For more tips, check out my post here.

What are your best tips for teaching science to younger students? Let me know in the comments!

 

Science lesson

Social Distance Greetings for Students

Distance Learning, Teaching Tips

No-Touch Greetings for Students

Greeting students in the morning is going to be especially important this fall with a pandemic hanging around.  Welcoming students in the classroom is a great way to help students feel welcome and leave any problems they might have from home at the door.  Teachers want schools to open safely this year.  Social distance greetings for students can help with the transition from home to classroom.

Here are some no-touch social distance greetings you can do with your students:

  • Foot Bump
  • Jazz Hands
  • Namaste
  • Wave
  • Blow a Kiss
  • Bow
  • Curtsy
  • Wink
  • Peace Sign
  • Smile
  • Air Hug
  • Thumbs Up
  • Air Five
  • Air Fist Pump
  • Raise the Roof
  • Pretend to Tip Your Hat
  • Salute

How to Teach Distant Greetings

I would have students pick a greeting before they get to school to do at the door and an action for how to say goodbye.  These activities should be quick. You can make a sign that has the actions that hangs on the wall by the door for a reminder.  Hang posters and share other distance greeting activities to help students get in a routine of greeting each other.  I recommend having a few actions and then changing the activities out every month to keep them engaged. Create your own or check out Teachers Pay Teachers for some great resources already made for teachers.  Using Velcro will make it easy for teachers to change the greetings regularly.

Social Distancing Greetings for Kids

Jack Hartmann has a wonderful song to help teach how to greet someone without touching and remind students how to stay 6 feet away from others in the classroom.  Check it out! Thank you JACK!

Can Schools Open Safely in the Fall

education

Not My Regular Kind of Post

I’ve been waiting to hear from our government about the guidelines and plans for opening schools this fall so I could make an informed decision.  My number one priority IS the safety of my children, family and community.   I watched the Secretary of Education on an interview today. NO PLAN being their PLAN made my blood boil!

Lucky?

I’m lucky. I have the option to NOT send my kids back. Not everyone has that option. This will leave the working poor forced to send their kids back to school, putting their neighborhoods at a greater risk. It’s tantamount in my opinion to ethnic cleansing. Huge profits for private schools.

I WANT to OPEN Schools

We need to open in my opinion because…

  1. Education is not the same online
  2. Social skills are important
  3. The economy will suffer and is important to mental health

BUT, if we can’t do this safely, don’t do it at all! In a matter of months the public went from “Teachers are underappreciated, we should pay them triple!” to “Get in the classroom to WATCH the children so we can get back to work, even if it kills you.” Children must receive vaccinations to enter most schools, yet we are allowing this???!!! All of this is falling on the individual schools and teachers with no help from the people who are in positions to make a real difference from the top down.

Scientific Data

The general public doesn’t believe the data available because HONESTLY, it is flawed. Teachers teach science. We know how important data collecting is and if it’s flawed, we need to fix the way we collect data. Scientist still observe the flawed data to make decisions of how to make corrections for future data to be more accurate. We don’t ignore the data.

Thoughts or Solutions?

I know that teachers have it hard when thinking about Back-To-School! Worrying about their own families and careers while having to solve this HUGE MEGA problem without help from officials who have access to information to make intelligent suggestions for real lifesaving solutions.  Many know if they make a big stink about how they feel, they could be out of a job, so they are silent. Please feel free to leave comments or send me an email at cindy@teachersbrain.com so I can be your voice without using your name about your concerns or maybe some REAL solutions to how we can open safely.

Betsy has not plan