School and the City

Are you face-to-face or virtual? My district is currently all virtual, at least for the time being. I want to make sure that you are equipped to use resources you already have with your students, albeit digitally. Use what you already have - no need to completely reinvent the wheel! I have three tips for you to use PDF resources digitally. Work smarter, not harder! I'm going to use my text features products as the examples, which are great to tie in science and social studies content with your literacy instruction! 1. Grab Only the Pages You Need If you are emailing resources to parents, here's a trick to end up with only the pages you need from a PDF document. Go to "File," then "Print" like you normally would to print. Select the pages you want to use. Find the spot to designate the printer. Instead of a printer, though, choose "PDF" or "Save as PDF." Make sure to name your new document specif...

I'm still shocked and in disbelief, but here we are planning for the first week of virtual school. We will be starting the school year virtually this year. In the past, I've shared with you my day-by-day plans for the first week of school . These plans won't exactly work this year, but many elements will. While I don't know exactly what "school" is going to look like this year, I do know that the first week of virtual school will need to include the same kinds of activities that we usually do in order to set expectations for the year and build relationships with students . Setting Expectations Use Picture Books My favorite way to discuss behavior expectations is through the use of picture books . If you have hard copies of these books, you can record yourself reading them to your students. If you don't have them or can't access them, try finding read alouds on YouTube or eBooks on platforms like Epic and...

Here are 5 of my favorite, tried and true ways that I use to get to know my new students. Teachers and students alike will love this back to school community building activities! 1. Survey Your Students I think it's so important to survey your students during the first week of school! I typically use surveys as morning work and keep them to refer to all year long. There are tons of free and paid surveys on TPT and elsewhere, but after a few years, I made some tailored to my needs. The first survey I use is one that asks students about their learning styles and preferences. This helps me make environmental decisions about dimming lights, playing music, and so on. Another survey that I find to be important is about what holidays students celebrate. I have an amazingly diverse student population, and it is imperative that I am inclusive to all students. For example, I don't want to do any Halloween activities in my classroom if I have any students ...

Choice boards are a staple in my classroom. I’ve explained  why and how to use choice boards  and even  how to get started with choice boards . Maybe at this point I've convinced you how amazing choice boards are. They are truly a MUST-HAVE in my classroom - but I'll spare you the lecture! Have you been thinking about dipping your toes in by trying one of my choice boards? I created a short video just for you so you can see just what you'll get when you purchase one of my many choice boards on TPT . Watch it here: You can explore all of my editable choice boards  here : Holiday Choice Boards Math Choice Boards Science Choice Boards Social Studies Choice Boards BUNDLE TO SAVE $$$: Math Choice Boards Bundles Science Choice Boards Bundle Social Studies Choice Boards Bundle Have any lingering questions about choice boards? I'm happy to help. Just leave a comment below, or email me at schoolandthecityblo...

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...