School and the City

I have virtual class meetings with my students twice a week. They are not academic - purely for social and community purposes. I give each meeting a theme to give us some structure and something to do! ⁣ Here are the themes I've tried: Would You Rather I prepared a bunch of Would You Rather questions which turned into a whole bunch of silly discussions! Show and Tell Students brought something to show and tell the class about. Many brought pets, of course! Pop a Joke I asked students to bring a joke or a riddle to share with the class. Pro tip: Just stick with jokes... some of the riddles students brought were super long, super confusing, or borderline inappropriate. Jokes are a win-win! Keep the Quote Students were asked to bring an inspirational quote to share during the meeting. ⁣ Before the meeting started, I got nervous that students wouldn’t be prepared to share quotes and that we’d sit there staring at each other with nothing to d...

We've talked a lot about distance learning, remote teaching, whatever you call it. I've shared many ideas regarding distance learning , including specific ideas for using choice boards , recording video minilessons , and celebrating the last week of school . There's something else that's weighing heavy on my heart that we need to talk about and we need to remember: packing up a classroom during this pandemic. For most of us, our classrooms stood frozen in time. My whiteboard said "March 16, 2020," because when students left school the week before, that's when they planned on returning. By 5:00 on March 12, Atlanta schools had been closed indefinitely. If only, IF ONLY, we had had a few more hours notice. We could have sent students home with supplies for learning and some personal belongings. Instead, we had no time to prepare and hoped for the best for the next few weeks at home. March 13th had already been a scheduled teache...

Remote learning isn't going to stop us from having a little fun during our last week of school. The kids are already missing out on so much - field day, yearbook signings, all the themed days... ugh! Breaks my heart. Here's what I have planned in an attempt to make our last week of school still somewhat special and memorable: We aren't supposed to be giving any assignments during this last week of school; it's to be used for students to make up any missed work. So instead of assignments, I'm giving them some optional activities like my End of Year Newspaper Writing Activity . Because I can't print them for the kids, I created a digital version! You can use it with Google Classroom or Seesaw. I'm sure there are other options out there, but those are the two I'm familiar with! Check it out here on TPT. Themed Days During the Last Week of School I hate that we'll be missing out on our typical, last-w...