I've been a virtual teacher for the last 3 years. During the school year, I teach 3rd grade for students in a virtual school in my home state of Florida. On weekends and during the summer, I teach ESL children in China with VIPKID. Virtual teaching definitely has it's perks! No commute, no "classroom" with ALL the things, some flexibility, to name a few. (Don't get me wrong- my teaching job during the year is just as much work as when I taught in brick and mortar school, just in a very different way.) Here are 8 essentials I feel you need when teaching virtually in any setting: 1. Headphones & Microphone This is essential for virtual teaching! I use MPOW Headphones that have a built in microphone. When I teach with VIPKID I always use my headphones because they help cancel out extraneous noise that my happen since my own two kids are home during that time. During the year, I use these about half the time I'm teaching and my webcam with the built in mic the other half. I feel when I wear my headphones I am a little more focused on the lesson and teaching. Plus, I am doing a lot of typing for whatever reason during a lesson, I like that these cancel that typing noise that is definitely there. When I am typing and just using my webcam mic you can always hear that "click, click, click" which I think is distracting for students. 2. Webcam I teach most of the day from 8:30-2:30 with my 3rd graders, so a good webcam is essential! This is also super important with VIPKID as well. I love this inexpensive Logi webcam because it has a build in microphone that works really well and my laptop does not have a reliable mic. If I am using my headphones I do usually use my built in webcam in my laptop, but I will have this hooked up as a second camera to show books, model actual writing, etc. during lessons. 3. Portable Dry Erase Board I actually have about 2 or 3 handheld dry erase boards that I use every single day! Sometimes you just need to show something on camera and you want to be able to write it down- and not use a mouse on the computer screen. I use mine to work out math problems, write important words, draw something we are discussing, display rewards, and the list just goes on. It's a serious must have! I have one that is 11x14 and one that a bit smaller and is magnetic. The magnetic one is more useful for VIPKID to display rewards I use. Here is a similar version to the one I currently own. 4. Laptop stand I use this adjustable stand every single day. There are a few benefits to using a laptop stand that I've figured out this year. First, it keeps your laptop able to ventilate and stay cool when you use it all day. Second, it props up your camera to keep it at a more flattering angle when you are on camera. Lastly, it makes typing so much better since your hands are more ergonomically correct. This stand I use is sturdy and doesn't wobble at all. It's also super easy to move if you feel like teaching in a different place, plus it's completely assembled when you get it! 5. Good Lighting It goes without saying that if you are going to be on camera, you need some good lighting! I don't use anything professional. I actually use a desk lamp that I got from Costco that has a fan built in it too. What I like about this lamp is that it allows you to choose the kind of light you want (warm, bright, natural), so you can pick what is best for you and the time of day. Just make sure you put the lamp IN FRONT of your face, so that the light shines on your face. A lamp next to you or behind you on the desk isn't going to help for video. Some people also get small selfie lights that they can hook to their computers. Also, lipstick goes a looonnnggg way in making you look alive on video! I don't worry so much about make-up with my everyday classes. But, when teaching my VIPKID classes I always put on a bright pink lipstick that I would NEVER wear in real life. But, on camera, it looks fantastic! 6. Fun student rewards In my 3rd grade class, I use digital rewards as well as rewards that I mail my students. I regularly use Class Dojo to reward my students for participation and hard work. I also find small things that I can send in the mail like stickers, erasers, sticky hands, slime, etc. I get some of these things from Oriental Trading. I love the sticker scenes especially, like in the photo below. Other stuff I find in Target dollar spot and random places. I also make simple reward cards using my Bitmoji to send along with the little treat. My students love getting these in the mail! 7. Mouse Pad with wrist support (plus a wireless mouse) So, when I first started virtual teaching all day, I actually started getting pain in arm from using the mouse so much. After googling my symptoms I diagnosed myself with "mouse elbow". (Google it- it's real!) I realized I needed some more wrist support with a mouse pad that had that gel wrist support pad attached and the laptop stand for my keyboard. Made a huge difference and now I am pain free! 8. A 2nd computer monitor Last, but not least, if you can swing it, a second monitor is a huge help in virtual teaching! It allows you to easily multitask while teaching. So, you can have the virtual classroom/camera on one computer and use the other monitor to pull up videos, websites, etc. that you need during class. I have an Acer monitor that is great. Check out my "classroom" set up from my first home office below! *All product links are Amazon affiliate links and I may earn a small commission if you use my link when purchasing products.
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Come grab this free resource that is a collection of my favorite virtual math manipulatives!
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Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a new Project-Based Learning initiative with my students. Working in groups, the students have developed business models, created budgets, filled out loan applications, met with loan officers, developed advertising campaigns, and placed purchase orders for materials. They've corresponded by email with their loan officers and tracked their work in business portfolios. They've presented their business plans to leaders in our school community, and are preparing to start production when we get back from spring break. My students are seven and eight years old. They don't even have all of their teeth yet. It sounds unbelievable, but I promise--it's true. If you haven't experienced Project-Based Learning in your classroom, I can't WAIT to share all about it with you, and how I make it come to life for my second graders. I won't lie--it's a lot of work. However, teaching in and of itself is a lot of work, and I've actually found that committing to one large project is a far better use of my time, effort, energy, and resources than planning 25 separate, smaller, unrelated activities. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll share how to practically apply Project-Based Learning in a primary setting, and give you the tools and resources you need to make it happen in your own classroom. Before I dive into the specifics of the project we're currently working on, though, I want to outline some of the core principles of Project-Based Learning and some of the practical first steps you need to consider before you write even a single lesson plan. Project-Based Learning is an instructional strategy defined by several key components. First, students need to have a real-life problem that they are trying to solve. This is written in the form of an essential question. All lessons and learning activities are tied to this essential question, and the question helps to focus the unit of study. This leads to the next component of Project-Based Learning, inquiry. Project-Based Learning allows for open-ended exploration of the essential question. This means that students working in groups might all come up with slightly different answers to the essential question, and that's okay. This also means that students might fail at first, and that's okay, too. A final characteristic of Project-Based Learning is that the project is integrated into all content areas over a long period of time, and eventually the project is shared with others. Project-Based Learning is NOT a single day of lessons, and it isn't something you do from 9:30 to 10:30 each morning. Instead, your reading, writing, grammar, science, social studies, and math lessons ALL point back to the essential question, and help students move forward in their project in some way. Where is the teacher in all of this? The teacher is a guide and facilitator, but not the source of all knowledge. Of course, direct instruction is involved, but there's a huge, collaborative problem-solving component woven into the instruction, as well. I'll be completely honest: when I first heard about Project-Based Learning, just thinking about it made me feel exhausted. This was a major shift from how I had previously taught my primary students! I used to approach planning on a week-to-week basis, and would look up activities and crafts on Pinterest for each separate content area. I'm certainly not knocking Pinterest (in fact, you can see my own overflowing Pinterest boards here!); I always found great activities that really engaged my students. The difference with shifting to Project-Based Learning, though, is that I'm no longer searching for and prepping 25 separate activities each week. Instead, each subject area is seen as an opportunity to make progress towards one big goal of completing a final project. Instead of planning on a week-to-week basis, I plan on a unit-to-unit basis. Before you get totally overwhelmed, let me encourage you: Project-Based Learning takes no more effort than you are already putting into your teaching. If you are a week-to-week planner like I was, you'll find that planning a whole unit at a time is actually easier! I'll be sharing an overview of our current Economics unit in a future post so that you can have a practical example of what this looks like, but first I want to share the initial steps for putting together a Project-Based Learning unit. 1. Create a Curriculum Map Gather all of your standards for each of your content areas in one place. Are you working on narrative writing? Jot down that standard. What ELA standards are you focusing on? What math standards will you be working on? Most importantly, what science or social studies standards will you be covering? (These last ones will be key in designing your Project-Based Learning unit.) Put all of these standards into one document, and now you have your Curriculum Map! 2. Identify a Central Theme Now that you have all of your standards together in one place, what kind of themes do you see? Can you tie together social studies and science standards? Do any specific math concepts correlate with your topic? Consider what books or articles you could study that are related to your topic. By starting a unit with a particular theme in mind, you'll be better equipped to make smart decisions about the resources you choose to plan your lessons around. You might also spot some ways you could group your standards and identify concepts that would lend themselves to being taught in tandem. 3. Write Your Essential Question After you've identified a central theme, craft an essential question that encompasses a real-world problem related to that theme. Essential questions are broad, but they help define the purpose behind a project. For example, the essential question for our Economics unit is, "How can we use economics to bring justice to the world?" This encompassed our topics of economics and countries working together, and defined a purpose for why we would care about buying a cow for a family in the developing world. 4. Outline Your Project Once you have your unit theme and essential question, you can start to think about a project that would give your students a real-world problem to solve. In our Economics unit, I focused on the problem of economic injustice in the world. Not all problems that are presented to students need to be on a global scale, though. We happened to be studying about how countries work together for our social studies standards, so choosing a global problem was appropriate. In other units, though, we've identified problems on a school level. When choosing a project, just remember that it should be spread out over weeks, not hours. It's completely reasonable to break up a project into a lot of tiny steps, especially with primary kiddos. Sketch out what you want your final project to be and list off the small steps your students will need to take over the course of the unit. 5. Create a Weekly Pacing Guide Whew, last step! Now it's time to make your Weekly Pacing Guide. I promise that this upfront work will make your weekly planning a breeze. Pull out your Curriculum Map, Project Outline, and calendar. In a new document, map out how many weeks your unit will take. Divvy up your standards by week, deciding how long you want to spend on each content area standard. For each week, make a note about your project goals for that week. What portion of the project will your students be working on, and how will that tie to the standards? Now when you go to do your detailed weekly planning, you won't be doing a search on Pinterest for each individual content area. You'll still be searching for resources (Pinterest is great!), but you'll be carefully and intentionally choosing activities that all relate to each other and to your essential question. If this still feels like a mystery, don't panic. I'll be sharing with you all of the start-to-finish details of my class' most recent Project-Based Learning experience in Part 2! If you're ready to get started and want to integrate Project-Based Learning into your classroom right away, I've put together a resource to make your first experience a breeze. I've included ALL of the printable materials you'll need for a project, along with a detailed daily pacing guide, in my Marketplace Economics packet. If you're interested, you can find the printable materials here. For those of you who have already implemented Project-Based Learning in your classrooms, what has your experience been like? I'd love to hear all about it!
5th grade artists had fun learning about the artwork by Grant Wood, "American Gothic." We also watched the video, "Dropping in on Grant Wood...
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My Favorite Creation Apps for the Elementary Classroom
Hi! I’m here today to share with you a meaningful art project for your younger students. This would be good as as a “getting to know you” activity. The following examples were all made by kindergartners near the end of the year, but I would think this lesson would be suitable for kids through grades 2. Many art teachers have taught about the artist Faith Ringgold and had their students create paper quilts. I have a free printable for you … Read more... →
Tweet Clip art by Whimsy Clips My students are so engaged by the changing of the seasons and learning with a theme that I try to incorporate the seasons into what we do each day. Because some members of our school community are not really into celebrating holidays in the classroom, I try to stick with lots of activities around the different seasons rather than specific holidays. Fall is a great time to bring pumpkin, apples and leaves into the classroom. When I saw this great set of 10 frame clip art by Graphics From the Pond I knew I wanted to make a new set of 10 frame cards. When I made a set of cards and spend time and money putting them on cardstock or laminating them, I want them to serve more than one purpose. Ten frames (and twenty and five frames) have so many uses in the classroom, so I put together 10 ways to use these cards with kids. These activities work great in Kindergarten and first grade classes and can be used for whole group, math centers or interventions. With the mix of ten frame cards and numeral cards, it is easy to differentiate the activities to meet a diverse group of needs. 10 Frame Flash This makes an excellent whole group, small group or partner activity. Simply flash the 10 frame at your students for 1-3 seconds and then ask them how many pumpkin seeds they saw and how they know they are right. Read more about this here! Matching Numerals and 10 Frames As a whole group game this can be a lot of fun and a great way to work on numbers to 10! Pass out 10 frames and numerals and ask kids to find their match. You can then display them on a pocket chart and talk about what they see. Kids can also do this on their own or with a partner. Spread out all the numeral cards and make a pile of the 10 frame cards. Have the student(s) pick a card from the 10 frame pile and find it’s match in the numeral pile. You can also switch this around and spread out the 10 frame cards and have them pick a numeral card. 10 Frame Memory An easy twist on a classic game! This game is great for kids to play with a partner or in a small group. Simply mix all of the cards together, do a bit of shuffling and then arrange in a rectangular array. If your students are not ready for all the 10 frames you can pick and choose. Just make sure you have the corresponding numerals and 10 frames! Note: Your students should be familiar with matching 10 frames before trying this activity! Sequential and Non Sequential Ordering These activities can be done as a large group by giving each kid a number (until you run out!) and having them get in order from least to greatest. It also works great as an individual task or a partner activity. Once kids have the cards in order, it is a great time for kids to practice counting forward and backwards. Make sure your students get a chance to put numbers in order that are not sequential as well. This activity can be done with just the numeral cards or with both the numeral and 10 frame cards together. Roll and Build This is a simple and effective game! All you need is some blank 10 frames, 10 sided dice and pumpkin seeds. If you don’t have pumpkin seeds bingo chips or other small markers will work just as well. Students can play alone or with a partner. Roll the die, and build that number on the ten frame. This goes much faster if kids do not remove the bingo chips each time but just add more or take some off as they roll. The pumpkin seeds I used got rinsed off and left out for a few hours on a towel to dry. The kids had a lot of fun with them! Odd and Even Sort These cards are a great way to practice odd and even numbers. Using the 10 frame cards is easier than just the numerals but when your students are ready go ahead and use them all! Check out more ways to work on odd and even. Flip and Write Combinations of Ten You can never have to many games for combinations of 10 and this is a great one requiring little teacher prep. Give the student a stack of 10 frame cards or numeral cards if they are ready. Have them flip over a card and write an equation showing how many seeds they see and how many more they need to make 10. I usually have kids create their own record sheet for this activity on a piece of scrap paper. It saves prep time and money! You also might want to check out computer games for combinations of 10. Make 10 Go Fish This is one of my students’ favorite games for practicing combinations of 10. Mix two sets of the ten frame cards together. Shuffle and distribute 4-5 cards to each player. Have each kid look for matches that make ten. For example the 3 and the 7 are a match and the 6 and the 4 are another one. When all matches have been found in individual player’s hands, have them play go fish. If I have the 2 card in my hand, I would ask another player, “do you have the 8 to go with my 2 to make 10?” That player would respond “yes I do or no I don’t have the 8 to go with your 2 to make 10. This language can be challenging to students when you first start but they will catch on quick! Read more about how I use this game in the classroom and see some pictures of the game in action. Pyramid 10 This is played like the classic solitaire game pyramid. Mix two sets of ten frame cards together or use one set of ten frame cards and one set of numeral cards if your students are ready. Students make a pyramid and find matches that make ten. Read more about how my students play pyramid and see more pictures! Mystery Card (Addition and Subtraction) This is a fun game and a nice challenge when students are ready. This game must be played in groups of 3. Two players choose a 10 frame card and place them on their foreheads. The third player finds the sum of the two numbers on their foreheads and tells what it is. Then each of the players with cards on their heads looks at the other person’s card and tries to determine what card they have. This lets one student practice adding 2 numbers under 10 while the other two students practice solving missing addend or subtraction problems. The 10 frame visual really supports this learning. I like to change out the 10 frame playing cards with the seasons to keep things fresh for my students! You can grab the pumpkin playing cards here or the spring seeds card set here. Looking to extend these activities for older students or those who are ready for a challenge? Check out my Double 10 Frames Activity Set! If you are looking for more ways to get 10 frames into your classroom, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Using Ten Frames to Build Number Sense. It is full of great ideas that are easy to implement in the classroom.
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