Teacher’s Brain

How To Celebrate Valentine’s Day In Your Classroom Online or In Person

Valentine’s Day is just a couple of weeks away! February is such a jam-packed month with lots of things to learn about. We get to celebrate Valentine’s Day (of course), Chinese New Year, and this year, the Winter Olympics! 

Today, I wanted to share some of my favorite Valentine’s Day traditions from when I was in the classroom. Valentine’s is one of my favorite days to celebrate because it’s so fun to show our love and appreciation for each other. I love seeing the little cards that students bring in for their friends and their teachers. 

Here are some fun ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in your elementary classroom

  1. Decorate your classroom. This one goes without saying but decorating your classroom or even just your classroom door for Valentine’s Day is so fun! A great place to find cute and festive decor on a budget is Dollar Tree. They have tons of heart-shaped banners and other decorations. 
  2. Have a Valentine’s Day party. This is a great time to break out the Valentine’s Day candy and activities. I love doing this escape room with my students. It is an activity that is guaranteed to get their engagement. Another very popular activity is the Love Monster Writing activity! 
  3. Exchange Valentine’s Day Cards. You can have your students decorate a paper bag or a shoebox with Valentine’s Day-themed supplies to collect their cards! This is such a fun way to get creative in the classroom and it’s so exciting to see what students come up with. 

If you are teaching online this year, don’t worry! You can still have tons of fun with your students, even digitally. 

Just host an online Valentine’s Day party! You can decorate your Google Slides with cute Valentine’s Day clip art. I created a digital Valentine’s Day escape room activity for teachers who need virtual activities that you can check out here.  

As for exchanging Valentine’s cards, I have you covered there too! 

This digital Valentine’s Day card resource was created with the needs of teachers who are doing virtual lessons in mind. 

celebrate Valentine's Day

These digital google slides make it easy for your students to personalize and move editable conversational hearts to give virtually or in person. There is even a name grid provided so students can keep track of who got one and how to spell classmates’ names!

celebrate Valentine's Day

Included with this resource you’ll get 27 Colorful Google Slides with premade titles, editable text boxes, directions, movable conversational heart parts, and a video tutorial that you can check out below.

You can delete slides you don’t want to send to students, add your own directions or images to the sides of the slides to personalize.

celebrate Valentine's Day

Are you celebrating in person or online this year? Let me know in the comments!

 


 

How To Make Distance Learning Easy By Using Google Slides

As distance learning has become a “normal” part of most classrooms, teachers are finding and creating fantastic tools that are useful for all kinds of learning. (Check out my virtual escape rooms here!) Necessity has definitely influenced the invention of new uses of technology tools- and Google Slides are a prime example.

Google Slides are quickly gaining popularity, and it’s easy to see why! 

Teachers are using Google Slides in their virtual and in-person classrooms with great success. Although they are perfect for distance learning, Google Slides can easily be transitioned into the regular classroom or in hybrid models as well. Although they can be integrated into Google Classroom, they can be used on their own and don’t require students to be logged in to Classroom.

 Teachers can create ONE slide that can be updated daily with new information. Each time students access the link, they will see the new version. Slides can even be accessed with low or no internet when teachers make them available offline. Google Slides are useful for any kind of subject matter. By inserting text, audio clips, or video, teachers can tailor them for any grade level or topic. 

Students can also access quizzes, puzzles, Google Forms, or any other assignments directly from hyperlinks in the slides. Teachers can easily incorporate Google Slides into their plans to support any kind of learning!

Perhaps the most convenient part of Google Slides is that they can be purchased pre-made and ready to use!

Teachers can find slides that match their needs, then immediately use them in the classroom. 

One of my favorite sets for first and second grade classrooms is Google Classroom Reading Comprehension and Questions

google slides

This set includes twenty passages as well as questions for students to answer. Students can use their mouse to drag words and answer the questions, making this perfect for little hands. 

google slides

Another useful set is Digital Calendar Math for Google Classroom.

google slides

These slides are editable, helping teachers create engaging daily calendar math experiences for any age. You can even add video, audio, text, or images to further explain concepts during calendar time.

google slides

 

Hopefully, you’re ready to take advantage of this amazing tool and add it to your own classroom!

 

google slides


 

 

Netiquette for Kids and Adults

Netiquette Guidelines for Online Learning and Communicating

First, let us look at the definition of netiquette.  Netiquette is the correct or acceptable way of communicating on the Internet. The core rules are to remember the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Your written words are read by real people who all are deserving of respectful communication.  Before you press send, ask yourself, “Would I be okay with this if someone else had written it?” or “Do I care if a room full of strangers hears these words?”

It’s important to remember netiquette varies from domain to domain.  Depending on where you are in the virtual world, the same written communication can be acceptable on one domain, where it might be inappropriate on another.  KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE is something that will help you with communication just like if you are in the real world.

Respect Others

You should respect others and make yourself look “good” online.  One of the BEST and WORST things about the virtual world is you will be judged on the quality of your writing. Always check for spelling and grammar errors, know what you are talking about, state it clearly and most importantly be polite. Some sites have their own type of language due to limiting text or site terms.  Before you participate in a discussion on a new site, take time to research that site’s slang or acronyms.

Don’t abuse your power or feed the flames.  If you see a lot of angry posts being exchanged, don’t jump in and be hateful with others even it they reflect your same feelings.  Think about how you can respond in a way to make the conversation more productive and extinguish future angry postings. In addition, angry postings usually don’t change people’s minds.  As a result, negative posts can close off a conversation that could have ended with a deeper understanding of both sides.

Forgiveness

Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes.  Not everyone has the same experience in the virtual world.  Some people don’t know netiquette.  You will see stupid questions, misspelled words, cyber bullying and hate filled comments.  If it’s a minor “offense,” you might want to just let it go.  If you feel compelled to respond to a mistake, do it in PRIVATE, not on a public forum to avoid cyber bullying.  I know I have posted spelling errors in the past and really appreciate a kind private message.  I have seen memories pop up about how I felt years ago and don’t feel the same way today. People change all the time.

CONTROL YOUR ZONE

Don’t be afraid to block people.  Each domain has different ways for you to snooze, block, hide, report or delete comments.  USE THEM.  You do NOT have to attend every argument you are invited to. Especially when we know there are trolls who are there just to instigate cyber fights. Think before you respond.

Here is a list of my TOP 5 Netiquette topics I share with kids and adults who are on the internet:

  • Cyberbullying is saying something to purposefully scare, injure, or hurt another person or ruining someone else’s reputation.
  • RUDE LANGUAGE  – Using curse words, or calling names is not using good manners.  Dirty jokes are not acceptable.  Use kind words.
  • CAPITAL LETTERS – USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS YELLING!
  • Laws – If it is illegal to do it outside the internet, it’s illegal on the internet. Think before you type.
  • Sarcasm is a source of plenty of misguided arguments online.  What seems like a joke to you is not to others. Be polite, respectful and direct when communicating. Of course, if you are in a private area with someone who knows your personality you can get by with more.  Remember to know your audience.

What do you do if you are a victim of cyber attacks or negative comments?

  • If it’s a crime, call 911 or if you are a child tell an adult.
  • If someone is hopeless or suicidal contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline online or at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
  • A child is being bullied in school, contact the teacher, counselor, principal or parent.
  • If the school doesn’t respond, contact the superintendent, State Department of Education or Department of Justice.
  • If it is offensive, don’t respond.  Do report it to the site admin. Block the person and delete comments.  You are in control of your zone.

A great  interactive learning resource for educators and parents, Sammy’s Guide to Internet Safety. The guide teaches kids how to enjoy the internet safely while providing fun activities and games.