Distance Learning Archives - Page 2 of 7

Spring Would You Rather Game For Elementary That Students Will Love!

April 1, 2022 teachersbrain Distance Learning, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips, Writing

There’s nothing I love more than when students get excited to learn. It’s the best feeling to see their faces light up as they fully engage in their lesson. It’s every teacher’s dream! However, it can be tricky to achieve. Especially as we approach the end of the school year. Students start to get a little restless so it takes a little creativity to really capture, and keep, their attention.

One of my favorite ways to do that is by playing games! Games in the classroom are proven to increase engagement, learning outcomes, and fun! In fact, research says that along with increased participation, playing games with your students can also encourage social and emotional learning and motivate students to take more risks.

One of my favorite games to play in the classroom has to be Would You Rather!

If you aren’t familiar, Would You Rather is a fun game where you have to choose between two different scenarios or items. For example, would you rather see a bird or a butterfly? These questions are intended to be silly and fun and encourage creative thinking. It’s guaranteed to get your students giggling.

With spring officially here, I created a spring-themed Would You Rather game that your students will love!

These Google Slides come with several questions to get your students thinking about spring. After making their choice, students will then use the paper provided to explain why they made that decision.

These Google Slides are interactive and editable. Which means you can change them up to fit your needs. Feel free to delete slides, add your own directions, or change the pictures as you see fit.

You can have students hold up one or two fingers to share what they would pick. It even comes with a movable highlighter to highlight your student’s most popular choice! This resource comes with 50 colorful slides for endless writing fun. If you are distance learning, this resource is easily adaptable to do digitally as well.

If you love this activity, you can also get it for every season!

The complete bundle comes with Would You Rather slides for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. This means you get over 200 colorful slides. A great way to teach students the seasons as well!

What are your favorite games to play in the classroom? Let me know in the comments!

Looking for some more fun spring resources? Create a bunny trap with this resource!

Digital Sight Word Puzzles for Practice

February 4, 2022 teachersbrain Distance Learning, education, kindergarten survival, Sight Words

We know how important sight words are in those early grades. They are crucial to developing reading fluency and expanding reading comprehension. It’s also a nice little confidence boost for beginning readers when they come across words they know!

To do this, we generally work on them in class and hand out our sight word lists for students to practice at home and they get them checked off as they master them. This is a simple and effective way to make sure your students are getting the practice they need! However, it’s not the most engaging or fun thing to do.

How can we make sight word practice fun and engaging?

I have lots of ideas on this topic including this cute and fun sight word teacher dress, sight word escape rooms, plus all of these fun, hands-on activities listed here.

You could say making sight word practice fun is a passion of mine!

Today I wanted to share another sight word practice activity that is a unique and engaging way for kindergarten and first grade students to master those sight words.

These digital Sight Word Puzzles are guaranteed to get your students excited to practice!

Created using interactive Google Slides, students will get to solve a puzzle using picture clues. They’ll locate the sight words and write them in the text box.

Two types are included 3×3 and 5×5 so you can differentiate and choose the difficulty level appropriate for your students.

This resource comes with 11 unique puzzles for students to work through at once or spread out. Plus, it comes with a fun bonus puzzle for those who need a little extra work for a real challenge.

I love this activity because it is completely digital. This means that it is perfect for students in the classroom or who are doing virtual school. So no matter the status of the pandemic or the weather, you can reach for these digital puzzles.

Here’s what’s included

Eleven total puzzles. Ten puzzles are 3×3 (easy version) and ten are 5×5 (more difficult to put together.) One puzzle is the bonus challenge. It is 5×5 and has 12 sight words instead of 6.

Students drag the puzzle pieces over the image area (picture cue) to solve the puzzle and see the sight words. Then, they will type the sight words into the corresponding area. When they are done you can have them send them back to you to check.

Wondering what sight words are used in this resource?

I, like, the, and, see, we, a, to come, me, with, my, you, what, are, now, is, how, of, so, many, where find, this, from, came, on, will, be, into, that, your, who, go, for, here, they, soon, up, make, play, them, give, say, new, said, good, was, then, ate, could, she, all, over, her, when, some he, no, must, saw, down, there, day, too, take, off, put, saw, their, very, look, ask every, one, walk

Learn more about these sight word puzzles in my video here!

What are your favorite ways to practice sight words? Let me know in the comments!

How to Celebrate the 120th Day of School Virtually

December 31, 2021 teachersbrain Distance Learning, education, Teaching Tips

It’s a tradition in elementary school to celebrate when you reach a milestone in class. This could be reaching our reading goals, mastering sight words, counting, or reaching a certain number of days at school!

For kindergarten, it’s typical to celebrate the 100th day of school. In first grade, however, it’s more standard to celebrate making it to 120 days instead. Counting to 120 is a goal for many first graders and this is a fun way to tie our celebration in with our class counting goals.

If you are a teacher looking for some fun activities to do on the 120th day of school, you’re in the right spot! Here are some simple and exciting ways students can celebrate reaching this milestone.

Bring in 120 items. Students can find 120 pieces of an item at home to bring into the classroom. This gives them practice counting to 120 in a way that doesn’t feel like practice! Bonus, it is fun for students to show their classmates what they accomplished. They can bring 120 paperclips, beads, Legos, etc.
Draw yourself as a 120-year-old. This one is such a fun activity for students. Have them create a picture of themselves as a 120-year-old and write about it.
Create a frame with 120 boxes for students to put small snacks into (think cheerios, m&ms, or goldfish)

If you are teaching virtually or just looking for some activities that can be done easily online with your students (no cleanup!), I have you covered!

These virtual 120th day of school activities give you several engaging activities to choose from to celebrate this exciting milestone.

Some activities included are:

120-second scavenger hunt
Make yourself or your teacher look 120 years old
120th-day fitness checklist
120th-day dot-art
Narrative and opinion writing prompts
Add 120 buttons to a sweater
Make a clown
And so much more!

This resource is available on Google Slides so you can send it to your class virtually or use them in your classroom. Movable parts make this an interactive and hands-on activity that students will love.

Want to learn more about how it works? Check out the video tutorial!

There are so many ways to make this day special, even if you are teaching online.

I hope you and your students have lots of silly fun with these activities!

How To Celebrate the 100th Day of School Virtually

December 26, 2021 teachersbrain Distance Learning, Teaching Tips

The 100th day of school is generally in February every year and it is a milestone that teachers and students everywhere like to celebrate. It is fun to reflect on the year so far and see how far the students have come academically, socially, and emotionally! You and your students have worked so hard, it is worth celebrating all you have accomplished over the year.

How do you celebrate the 100th day of school?

In the younger elementary grades, it’s really fun to go all out with a classroom celebration. This is a huge milestone, after all! You could make a whole day out of it with fun 100th day of school-themed activities and even delicious snacks.

With the ongoing pandemic, this may be harder to do this year with so many schools still doing virtual classes. If that’s the case, don’t fret. You can still make it a fun and exciting day for your students from afar.

How do you celebrate the 100th day of school virtually?

There are multiple ways to make this a especially day while distance learning. Here are a few of my favorites.

Dress as a 100-year-old. This one is always a hit! Students can dress the way they think a 100-year-old would dress for school. It’s so cute to see the things they come up with.
Count to 100. Count 100 pieces of bubble gum together as a class. Or you can get small fake bugs and count 100 of them for the number of times students “bugged” their teacher.
Have students bring 100 of something. Students can collect something from around the house that they have 100 of and share it with the class virtually. This can be 100 paperclips, crayons, Legos, etc.
Do some 100th day of school activities virtually. This can include digital or online resources like books, videos, or teaching resources that have the 100 theme.

I created these virtual activities to make it easy to celebrate the 100th day of school online.

This resource was created with Google Slides so it is super easy to implement with your students. It comes with interactive slides with moveable parts that make learning easy.

You’ll get 16 fun and engaging 100th day of school activities that include a virtual turn yourself into a 100-year-old activity, writing prompts, ten frames, a make a clown activity, make a 100th-day monster activity, add 100 buttons to a sweater, bubble gum activity, 100 exercises, a rainbow activity, and add goldfish to a bowl. Students can also set a 100-second timer to time them on a simple and fun scavenger hunt.

There’s so much fun to be had with this resource! You can pick and choose the activities you want or just push them out one at a time.

I love that these are editable so you can change things around based on your needs within Google Slides.

If you are in the classroom and want to do these activities in person- no problem! It comes with 18 black and white slides as well that are easy to print out and use in the classroom.

You can check out the video tutorial for this resource here!

How do you like to celebrate the 100th day of school? Let me know in the comments!