distance learning Archives - Page 2 of 7

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!

The Best Winter Writing Activities For Elementary

November 26, 2021 teachersbrain Winter, Writing

Around the holidays, I usually like to try and come up with some really unique holiday or winter writing activities that will be different from the stuff that students have become used to. Adding in a variety of lessons, crafts, and activities never fails to get students excited and engaged in our writing practice.

With many teachers and students still learning virtually this year, I have been thinking about winter writing activities that students can get really engaged with whether they are learning in person or online.

This Trapped In A Snow Globe writing activity has to be my favorite this year!

Students will get to create a photo of them trapped in a snow globe and write about it. It comes with 14 background slides to choose from and 4 slides of movable parts to add. Just choose a background, palace a picture of your student “trapped”, and then add your accessories!

After that, there are 6 slides for students to brainstorm, organize thoughts, and write a story about their snow globe. What I love about this is that it is designed for distance learning so you can easily add gifs in place of photos.

You’ll also get black and white slides for students to digitally or handwrite their stories. You can choose from narrative, persuasive, or opinion writing. You’ll get 4 writing prompts to choose from or 2 pages that are left blank so you can create your own prompt.

There is also a Google Form so you can do a “Favorite Design Contest” with your students!

Step 1. Choose a background

Step 2. Add your photo or gif

Step 3. Add your accessories

Step 4. Write about it!

Afterward, you can create a slideshow with music that includes all of your students’ creations!

Another fun twist to this activity is that students can all trap the teacher! Add your photo to each of their designs and they can write about how you got trapped.

Check out the video here

What are your favorite winter writing activities? Let me know in the comments!

Disguise A Turkey Digital Thanksgiving Activity

November 12, 2021 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers, Thanksgiving in Kindergarten

November is such a great time of year. Turkeys everywhere, delicious food, and the start of Christmas decor!

As a teacher, it is especially fun because you get to do lots of turkey and Thanksgiving-themed activities with the kiddos.

Students love making pilgrim hats, completing this Thanksgiving escape room, creating turkey headbands, and even performing a Thanksgiving play!

These are all amazing for increasing student engagement throughout November, but one of my favorite activities was always the Disguise a Turkey activity.

Every year, I would have students disguise a naked turkey so it wouldn’t get eaten on Thanksgiving Day. It’s so fun! Students are sent home with the turkey printable and work with their families to come up with creative disguises. We got some cool disguised turkeys! Then students would practice their creative writing skills by writing about them.

It was a hit! But then the pandemic hit, and I was so sad that students wouldn’t be able to do this project. However, I found a way to use Google Slides to provide a digital version with a printables so students would never have to miss out on this fun activity.

So now students can disguise their turkey while distance learning!

This Thanksgiving activity is available on Google Slides

These interactive, editable slides make it easy to have students copy and paste movable parts to DISGUISE a TURKEY!

After coming up with the perfect disguise, they get to write a narrative opinion story about their turkey.

I love this activity because it is not only educational, but it allows students to engage in some creative holiday fun. They’ll get 9 backgrounds to choose from, 6 slides with movable parts, 5 slides for students to brainstorm, organize thoughts, and write a story about their disguised turkey, and black and white slides for students to digitally or handwrite stories.

You can even add some animation and music to it while in Present mode! Afterward, you can print these out to decorate your classroom or make a slideshow so everyone can see it virtually.

Check out the video tutorial here!

Must Do HALLOWEEN Lessons

October 1, 2021 teachersbrain Fall & Halloween

October is here and that means it is time to bring out the Halloween lessons and activities! This time of year is fun for both teachers and students.

Pumpkins, candy, and all things spooky.

What’s not to love?!

In honor of Halloween season beginning, I am sharing some of my absolute favorite lessons for this time of year. These lessons are especially perfect this year because they can easily be used for online or distance learning or in the classroom.

Here are my three favorite Halloween activities for elementary

Whether you are in person or virtual learning, letting students design a Haunted House for sale is a huge HIT! You can print these out or let students use the virtual Google Slides shapes to design their very own haunted house!

After their design is perfectly spooky, now it is time to sell it! Let their imaginations run wild as they write a story and explain why their house is for sale.

This resource is versatile enough to be used for any grade in elementary. It is so much fun to see what they design and the creative stories they come up with when they write about it!

Here’s a review of this Halloween activity

“This is a wonderful resource for many reasons. My kids were able to pick their backgrounds and design their own haunted house. Then they got to review and work on a variety of writing prompts. My students loved designing their houses on Google Slides. This activity makes students believe they are not working.”

Check it out here!

The next activity I want to share is another one that is always a hit with students, no matter what.

It’s my Halloween Mystery Escape Room!

This activity is ideal for K-2 students and is a great way to get them engaged and thinking critically as they solve the mystery. With a little prep, your students will work as a team to break into a box, which breaks them out of the classroom as they beat the clock!

The best part? It’s simple to set up! Just add a pumpkin for students to find.

Here’s a review for this Halloween escape room:

“I used this during our Halloween party and the kids had such a blast figuring out the clues to escape the classroom! Will definitely be doing this activity again next year.”

Check it out here!

Are you looking for something that is perfect for this time of year but is not actually “Halloween” themed? This virtual Bats Escape Room is perfect!

During the escape, students will be tasked with solving 4 lock clues in order to escape the bizarre bats buzzing around their building.

It is super simple and never fails to get kiddos excited.

Here’s a review for this bat themed escape room

“During our virtual meeting the next day, student could not wait to share with me what they learned about bats. I love that they used critical thinking skills to solve problems while learning. Excellent resource!”

Check it out here!

Bonus! Looking for free activities? Check out this Halloween Sticker Story resource!

Let each student pick a Halloween Sticker out, add a spooky background and write a story using these fun printables. Sticker stories are a great way to get kids motivated to write creatively!

These activities are perfect for Halloween parties, individual work, or group activities. They are guaranteed to get student engagement!