teachersbrain, Author at Teacher's Brain

Back to School Checklist and Tools for Teachers with Social Distancing in Mind

July 23, 2020 teachersbrain Back to School, Distance Learning, Teaching Tips

This year is going to be different than any year we have ever taught before thanks to Covid-19. The best thing you can do now is get a jump start on classroom organization. I like to have checklists and a lot of teaching tools at my fingertips before I begin the school year in order for my days to go as smooth as possible. The best advice someone gave me once was to always plan and if the plan doesn’t work in teaching, change the plan.

Checklists for Teachers

Here is a list of things you can add to your own checklist for this school year. I have a free social distancing checklist download on TpT you can use if you don’t want to make your own.

Gather and organize classroom materials and supplies. (Include safety supplies, masks and hand sanitizer)
Distance seats from each student.
Make it a rule that kids need their own water bottle to keep kids out of the water fountain.
Create individualized bins for each student for supplies.
Prepare student name tags and/or student desk labels.
Organize your files.
Label all furniture in the classroom.
Create an emergency substitute folder.
Label textbooks, workbooks, and supplies.
Set up your grade book.
Make the first day of lesson plans very detailed.
Have rules for the NEW social distancing guidelines if you are in person.
If you are doing virtual or a blended version of both, create those rules.
Decorate your room to help students remember new safety guidelines.
Plan icebreakers for each day the first week of school.
Have a classroom calendar and schedule in the classroom.

Teacher Toolkit

In order to help you with all the new social distance guidelines and distance learning, I got together with some of my favorite teacher authors to bring you some teaching tools you can use in this Back to School Tools for Teachers! This is exciting because some of these are resources are way too time consuming for teachers to create. There are a few freebies in the mix too.

Here are the resources for your Distance Learning Teaching Toolkit:

$Math and ELA Toolbox Distance Learning$

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Teacher Tips for Returning Back to School Safely

July 21, 2020 teachersbrain 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.

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Science Lessons For Kids: What Is A Scientist?

July 17, 2020 teachersbrain 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:

Ask a question
Gather information and observe
Guess the answer or make a hypothesis
Test your hypothesis
Analyze your test results
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.

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!