Google Classroom during School Closures

Even before our schools closed because of COVID19, I have been a huge advocate and user of Google Classroom to engage learners and improve 21st century skills in the classroom!  Yet, at this time, Google Classroom is such a convenient way to continue learning during our school closures!  Not only has Google provided a way for us to connect through our devices, but they've done it for FREE and other educational websites are offering free access to their resources too!

While the pandemic and change can be stressful, you don't have to reinvent the wheel with the amount of free and ENGAGING resources that are available to work compatibly with Google Classroom.   If you haven't heard of flocabulary.com before, then you may not teach above 2nd grade.  Flocabulary offers an abundance of original hip-hop song video resources to explain grade-level concepts and social-emotional skills to students!!  Most are geared to 8 year-olds and up, but they've been expanding their library and reach each year.  Here's their latest & timely video about the importance of handwashing:

My students and I LOVE watching a flocabulary video clip to emphasize various science, math, and even those drier ELA concepts.  It really brings the academic content to life in front of your student's eyes and truly captivates them with the catchy lyrics and humorous animation.  Because of school closures and the switch to distance learning at home, flocabulary.com is offering a 60 day free trial to their resources.

The BEST PART is if you already have Google Classroom setup for your students, you can easily create assignments for your students straight from Flocabulary.  Once you've linked your Google Classroom account onto your flocabulary sign-in, you are able to create Google assignments and require students to watch a certain video you've found and then take the quiz (or study the vocabuary flashcards, play lyrics lab, there are truly a wealth of options!)  Personally, I just require the video and the quiz.  Linking your Google Classroom account can be done in the three easy steps seen above in my picture tutorial! 

There are two apps I tend to use more than the others on the Google Suite for Education platform.  SLIDES is definitely my go-to!  I use it for creating lesson plans throughout the week, it helps me manage student transitions into and out of the classroom, and it allows me to be the most creative.  Here's a look at the SLIDES resource I display when students enter the classroom.  How can my Digital Morning Message SLIDES be used for distance learning?  Well, you can edit it to share your learning agenda for the day and snip the image to paste into your Google Classroom assignment description.  Or, you can used it along with your recorded lesson through Hangouts - using as a starting point to get you going!  If you're looking for free tips on how to EDIT and customize your GOOGLE SLIDES, access the product preview on TPT!

When creating a lesson to share with students, I often create a SLIDE presentation and embed videos (from reputable & age-appropriate sources like Flocabulary or NatGeo Kids), my bitmoji images, and giphy animated stickers to increase engagement.  When requiring the students to interact with the content, I prefer to share the slide and select MAKE A COPY FOR EACH STUDENT so they are able to add their edits to the document freely without affecting anyone else's work or my master file.  This is important to keep in mind, because if you share the SLIDE so all students can edit, then be prepared to end up with a document that has completely changed!

I've shared this resource on my store, geared toward 3rd and 4th grade students.  This free lesson includes my GOOGLE SLIDE lesson for students to interact with, watch a video.  Then, there's an auto-grading check for understanding made with Google Forms.  It allows students to apply their understanding of the reading skill by answering multiple choice questions by referring back to the text and making connections with a relevant educational video clip!  If this sounds like something you could use with your students, click the picture above for this freebie!

This morning, Teachers Pay Teachers even assembled a FREE assortment of helpful resources, the first of which I know is on the minds of the district staff on how to equitably instruct our SpEd students during this time of school closures.  Check it out above!

Ring in the New Year with Traditions from Around the World!

Are you looking for something quick and engaging to include in your lesson plans the week after winter break?  Sharing how people celebrate New Year's traditions around the world is a FAVORITE activity of mine (and my students)!  I just love getting to connect with my students and find out more about how their family celebrates, as well!!

Something I have been meaning to do is update my files to Google Slides.  With the return back to school after winter break, I knew I wanted to add in related VIDEO CLIPS for my students to get a better understanding of how people around the world celebrate the New Year!  HOORAY, because it finally happened this year!

This New Year, I have added in clips for students and your classroom to get a better idea of how people from Chile, Russia, Australia, and Spain ring in the new year!  In the image below, I have included an overview detailing the importance of starting the year fresh

  The New Year's Traditions Around the World teaching slideshow (now available for use with Google Slides) covers the traditions celebrated in these five countries.  Not to mention, it explains the various, unique ball drops celebrated widely thorughout the United States on New Year's Eve!

If you made it to the bottom of the post, here's a link back to a freebie I made for my blog followers, especially for this New Year themed resource!

Here's to a HAPPY NEW YEAR filled with joy and good health!!

Veterans Day for Elementary Students

Veterans Day for elementary students can be a great time to instill a sense of pride in our country.  Elementary students (and teachers) can sing patriotic songs in honor of the day, such as "I'm Proud to be an American."  The choir at the first elementary school I taught at was a central part in the town's Veterans Day parade and would nail this song every time.  Veterans Day is also a great time to find out if your students have family members who served in the military.  I love how it makes for such an easy and engaging conversation to build community!

Like most Americans, I am incredibly thankful for the brave men and women who serve(d) our country.   In fact, several men in my family are/were veterans (they served in the Army and sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom).  At my middle school growing up, we had an annual tradition: hosting a Veterans Day assembly in which we invited neighborhood veterans, sang the national anthem and learned about their service.  We even had a Veterans Day Poster Constest each November to help decorate for the event.  I remember learning so much from my own research and feeling proud to see my poster hanging on the cafeteria walls!

 Recently, I discovered the Library of Congress has a wonderful program called the Veterans History Project in which you are able to interview and document the experiences of your beloved member of the military.  Not only that, but it is an excellent online source for your students to practice their research skills through their extensive catalogue of veteran profiles. 

Each year at this time, I play the Veterans Day brainpop video clip during snack time, but that was about it.  Was I really doing this day justice? NO WAY!! So, I created a meaningful computer lab activity (which can also be used as ELA center activity) perfect for Veterans Day.  I took my time to find just the right archive of experiences on the Veterans History Project site, and have it bookmarked on my class website for students to access.  Then, students can select any 3 veterans with photo images to research more about (eventually they choose just 1 to do the biography poster write-up for).  If I need to narrow down the list a little bit more for my students, I'll tell them to focus on learning more about veterans with their same first initial or last initial.
The research note-taking sheet we use is pictured below. 

I like to demonstrate one together as a whole class, so I can show them where I look to find information on the website.  If the student would rather conduct a personal interview outside of school, they can use the same page.  However, they'd just interview the family members/friends they're interested in finding out more about to document their military experiences.  Afterwards, students will turn in this research sheet and indicate their top choices.  I do this to make sure that:

• there won't be multiple posters of the same veteran
• (for me) so I can start prepping a PowerPoint document with photo images of their veteran.  I'll size down the images (if needed) to make sure they fit on the final poster, and print them in color for the students to add to their Veterans Day projects!  

With November being the shortest month of the school year (in my opinion), we normally share with a partner or among table groups, but there isn't typically enough time to share each veteran's story with the entire class.  As a solution, I'll have students set their final posters on their desks and tour their classmates' work as part of a Veterans Day Gallery Walk.  

If I feel extra competitive when assigning the project, I even announce there will be a Veteran biography poster contest for the neatest work.  After completing the initial gallery walk, they'll go around with a small sticky note ripped in thirds (each with a sticky part).  They get to award the 3 posters they believe to demonstrate the "BEST" quality work by placing their sticky on the top edge of the person's poster (it shouldn't cover their work for other classmates to see).  THEY LOVE getting to DO THIS, but you have to make sure to let them know it's not so they can just put a sticky on their friend's poster, they have to be serious art critics!

Want this Veterans Day writing project to accompany research on the Veterans History Project in your classroom? Just, click the link below!