Keep Your Students Interested and Motivated During Distance Learning

As teachers, we've all been thrown into the distance learning environment really quickly since this pandemic began. I honestly didn't have a whole lot of time to research ways to keep my students engaged. I wanted them to come to my Google meetings with energy and motivation. Here are a few ideas that have been keeping my students excited to come to class and looking forward to the lessons each day. 

Google Classroom Header

Each week I change the header on my Google Classroom. They are usually upbeat sayings that motivate my kiddos. When you change your Google header in your Google Classroom, all of the colors in your classroom change to match. My students look forward to Monday morning so they can be the first to comment on the Google header in our classroom. They have made it a contest to see who can post about it first. It's just a fun way to start the week with distance learning. 

Click here to check out these headers. 

Class Meetings 

Connecting to your students is one of the most important things a teacher can do in the classroom each and every day. This is even more important during distance learning. Your students need to see you. You are a huge part of their life and they probably miss you. I have only tried two types of class meeting platforms. Google Meets and Zoom. 

Google Meets

This is the platform I use the most for connecting with my students during distance learning on a daily basis. It is simplistic and user friendly. All your students need to access the meeting is the website. I simply put the link into my Google Classroom assignment for the day and they enter at the assigned time. 

Chrome Extensions for Google Meet

The most common Chrome extension for Google Meet is called Google Meet Grid View. This gives the option to have a grid view of your students so you can see them all at once. 

There are also some other fun options to spice up your Google Meeting for your students. If you download Snap Camera you can add filters to your Google Meets. This might be fun when doing a read aloud. You can also search for specific filters. 

Another neat available extension is Custom Cursor to keep engagement up when presenting. You can choose characters your students love or just a different color. Changing your cursor will be sure to grab their attention. 

One last extension I use is called Save to Google Drive. This is a quick way to take a screen shot and it will automatically save right to your Google Drive for future use. 

One of the things I do not like about this option is the automatic muted presentation mode. This is problematic when wanting to show a video with audio. One way I have been hacking this is by using the "Chrome Tab" option in the presentation section. That makes your videos audible for your students. 

Zoom

I use this platform for social meets with my family and friends but I know many teachers use Zoom for class. This platform has a bit of a learning curve but it has many more features included where you do not need as many extensions. They have a grid option built in, you can change the background and they have "reactions" you can post with a few emojis. I personally like the "touch up my screen" option. It's like an airbrush filter. 

A huge draw is that you can break your class into groups and pop in and out to check up on them during group work time. You can also do this with partners. They get their own "chat room" and you have access to all of them. 

A big difference with Zoom and Google Meet is that the host of the Zoom meeting lets people in and finishes the meeting for everyone. When you logout as the host in Zoom, everyone's meeting ends. In Google Meet, kids can stay after you leave if you do not monitor carefully. 

Either way, both platforms have their positives and negatives. 

Morning Meetings 

If you don't usually do a morning meeting with your class, that is okay, but distance learning might be a good time to start. I say this because it builds a class community and promotes interaction with your students. It helps them bond with each other and they might need that the most during these tough times. 

There are so many educators in the teaching community that have some FANTASTIC ideas for morning meetings. The possibilities are endless but I will skim the tip of the iceberg for you here. 

Greetings:

Greetings can be simple or elaborate. One suggestion I would make is having students turn off their screens after they have been greeted and returned a greeting to someone else. Everyone will know that the children who are still visible haven't had a turn yet.

Simple Greetings

1. A student says "Hello _________." or "Good morning _________." followed by a gesture.

• High-five
• Fist bump
• Salute
• Hand wave
• Thumbs up

       2. Have students change their voices for their greeting.

• Cowboy: "Howdy  __________" and tip a hat off their head.
• Say, "Hello" or "Good morning" in another language. 
• Robot: Use a robot voice and robot movements. 
• Ghost: Greet someone in a "spooky" voice. 
• Baby: Greet someone in a baby voice.

Games:

You can also play games on your screen with your class. These two Instagram accounts have great distance learning morning meeting games for your class. Sparkles and Pompoms and Stop Collaborate and Teach. They explain how to play everything on Google Meet and/or Zoom. 

I have done the following games for my students and they love them.

Scavenger Hunt & Bingo

The two games come in a pack and they are both curriculum based. They are a combination of measurement and geometry. 

Click here for the Scavenger Hunt & Bingo Game.

For the scavenger hunt, all you need to do is present the slides to your students and they run to get an item that fits the description. For example: A Tool to Measure with. That could be a ruler, measuring cup, thermometer or even a scale. It is very open-ended so they can think outside the box when grabbing an item. There are also challenges. In the bottom corner of some slides it says "Get an extra point if you find the object in the garage." or "Get an extra point if the object is purple." That makes the game a little more engaging. 

The bingo cards have the same items on them as the scavenger hunt, but you can use the bingo as an individual activity and post them in Google Slides. Then your kids would cut and paste pictures from the internet that fir the description. 

You can also play the bingo as a class by using the Powerpoint included. You present the Powerpoint and the kids check off the boxes on their bingo board as they find those objects in their house. There is lots of movement and it is super engaging. 

Click Here to see the Can You Spot It? Morning Meetings

The next game is called Can You Spot It? This is also curriculum based.  Just present the slides for your student and they need to "spot" the similarity on the split screens. The following slide is the answer slide so the students can see if they are correct. 

Check out some other Morning Meeting Activities that my kiddos love! 

Morning Meeting Mystery Sounds Bundle 

The children listen to the sounds and try to guess each one. 

Morning Meeting Memes Bundle

Children are shown a photo in Google Jamboard and they must caption it...MEME STYLE! Full class engagement. Upper grades LOVE this one. 

Sites for Interactive Class Work

Independent work time is the most important time to keep your students engaged and motivated during distance learning. There are so many websites and platforms out there that can keep children interested in digital activities by manipulating objects with drag and drop features and interacting with their digital worksheets. There are two that I use on a daily basis. One is Google slides and the other is Boom Learning. 

Google Slides

I know Google Slides seems pretty basic, but there are so many different ways to interact with these digital slides. The best part is that once a copy is made for each student, they can drag, drop, type, insert, you name it! I have used Google slides for teaching a math concepts with manipulatives, creating graphs, cut and paste activities from the internet, and even digital break outs! The sky is the limit. The best part is that if your students have a Google account, it's free!

Boom Cards

Boom Cards are hosted on BoomLearning.com. Teachers can sign up for free and make a trial class. You can purchase them on the Boom Learning website or even on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Boom cards are...

• interactive
• digital
• self grading
• independent
• no prep
• student paced
• progress tracking
• game like 
• available on multiple devices  

They are basically interactive task cards that self grade. What teacher and student wouldn't want that!? My students beg for these cards so I do my best to include them at least once per week. 

                       

Click here to grab my Figurative Language Boom Card Freebie!

Interactive sites are imperative during distance learning to keep your students wanting to work and do their best. When they are having fun they want to do more. 

Review Games

This is another category that has endless options to choose from but since I use Google Classroom with my students, I find Flippity.net has a lot of game choices. 

They have flashcards, randomizers, quiz shows, scavenger hunts, timelines, bingo, mad libs, matching and tons more. There are even ways to add these games and spinners to your Google Slides!

Anytime students have a chance to play a game they get excited. Even high school students enjoy a game day every now and then. It brings a level of competition to the academics. Give it a try and see how motivated and excited your class gets. 

Rewards & Incentives

I know giving digital incentives seem hard to wrap your head around and I'm sure you are thinking, "How do I give rewards during digital learning?" It is a great motivator so here are a few suggestions. 

• Lunch with the teacher & friends in Google chat!
• Video hang out with friends. (Teacher monitors with screen and audio off.) 
• Student leads the morning meeting.
• Digital game of your choice.
• Star of the week. (They get their photo on the Google Classroom header-with parent's permission of course!)
• Class movie or show.
• Read to the class.
• Wear sunglasses or a funny hat to class.
• Choose music for a class dance party.

Those are some incentives to students excited. I like to use this treasure chest when a student earns a reward in class.  I have them choose a jewel, slide it over and they get the prize behind! They love to choose it in front of the whole class. 

Grab this freebie and give it a try! 

This will download right to your Google Drive.

Digital Stickers

These can be used when grading a Google Slide or any digital assignment that you return to your students. Copy and paste them right onto the document you are checking! Kids love positive feedback. They want to do the right thing and if they are getting a boost from seeing a digital image on their work, they will work harder to get another one next time. So simple yet so motivating. They can even make a Google Document and save them all until the end of the school year!

Click here to grab these digital sticker freebies! 
This will download right to your Google Drive.

Snail Mail

We live in a digital age where people rarely get mail unless it is a package from Amazon or a bill, and even those come digitally. Kids LOVE snail mail. They love it even when there isn't distance learning going on in the world! There is nothing like getting a letter in the mail addressed to you in someone's handwriting. Children get super excited to see anything addressed to them, let alone from their teacher. Whether it's a letter, a book mark, a sticker, a pencil or just a card telling them that they are missed, I guarantee they are going to feel special and be looking forward to their next class. 

Distance learning can be a lonely time for some kids. They miss interacting with their principal, the custodial staff, the lunch ladies, their classroom aids, friends and their teachers. Making children feel special and wanting to come to "digital school" is everything right now. I hope these ideas and freebies can be useful for your future distance teaching! 

A Glow Day Classroom Transformation

What a glorious day for my students! This was the first time I had ever done a glow day classroom transformation. It was one of my favorite classroom transformations to date because it was a quick set up, high engagement activities, super interactive, student centered and fairly cheap.

DECOR: 

For the decor I shopped at several places but the prices were reasonable. Especially since I will reuse these items I bought. 

• Window Black Out: Home Depot - I purchased a painting plastic drop cloth. I have a whole wall of windows so I got the 50ft x 10ft.
• Black Light Reactive Tape: I got this on Amazon.com and it came with several colors.
• Black Light Reactive Balloons: I hung these from the ceiling as decor. They glow really well.
• Black Lights: 3 Fluorescent Black Light Fixture: Party City
• Party Lights: These are not a must, but it added to the atmosphere. 
• Glow Glasses: Even though the glow sticks died after the first day, I collected the attachment pieces from the kids so I can reuse them for my class next year. That is a huge money saver!

• Neon Posters: I got these from The Dollar Tree. I cut them in half and used blue tape to create the giant " GLOW DAY" letters for the main wall of my classroom. I also cut them into speech bubbles and clouds and wrote fun little "glow" messages on them. 

CONTENT: 

I decided to do a glow day classroom transformation to review our reading, math and grammar concepts for the year. For the content I used all Toothy Task Cards from Lucky Little Learners and I printed them on Astrobrites neon paper so they would glow in the black light. That was basically all I used for our review. I love these cards because they have a self check feature on the back. This way, there wasn't much grading to be done. 

You can use any task cards for this depending on the content you want to review and or teach for Glow Day(s). 

ACTIVITIES: 

Glow Introduction: 

To begin a glow day classroom transformation extravaganza, you can watch a Mystery Doug video about how things glow in the dark. We watched that video and we had a discussion in which many great questions were asked about plants and animals that glow. 

Text Evidence: 

Then I partnered the kids up and gave them a reading passage where they needed to "tag" their answers with neon Post-It flags to cite their evidence.  

Because of the black lights, neon tags and glowing passages, the engagement was unbelievable. If I did this same activity without the glowing atmosphere, it would not have had the same effect. 

Fast Finisher: 

I also had a noun activity for the kids to complete as they finished their tasks early. I hung a set of picture cards around the room and they were backed on neon paper so they would glow. The children needed to write one noun they saw within the picture. They wrote their answer on their recording sheet. 

Tic Tac Toe Sequencing Events: 

Sequencing is an important skill in elementary school and I needed to make sure I was giving my students tons of practice. For this activity. I split my students up into four groups and made two tic-tac-toe boards on my whiteboard. Two teams would play each other on one board and the other two teams would play each other on the other board. 

Next, every student got a communicator/plastic sleeve with a sequencing reading passages printed on neon glow paper. If you do not have these plastic sleeves, you can just laminate them. I wanted to be sure I got simple reading passages for my students with a quick way to check the answers for each child. 

Here are the rules of the game:

1. Every student must work independently reading their passage and putting their events in order. 

2. When they are finished, they get their passage checked by the teacher. (Be sure you have an answer key handy.)

3. If they get their answers correct they may either put a mark on the board for their team OR erase one mark from the other team. If they are not correct, they must fix their answers and get rechecked.

4. The student erases their board and gets a new passage.

5. This goes on until one team on each board wins. You can just put tallies and continue playing or switch teams. 

Free Write Time:

For a glow day classroom transformation you can have a free write time! During our free writing time I had my students write in their writer's notebooks with secret coding pens. These pens glow wonderfully when the kids shine the lights on them.  

Center Activities:  

For all of these activities, the children needed to answer a question correctly on the task card before they got a turn. That was the routine for each center so the children knew the rules before they began. 

1. Jumbo Kerplunk: 

I taped the ends of the sticks with the extra glow tape I used for the decor around the room. I also purchased some glow ping pong balls for the inside of the game. You can also put glow tape on the balls that come with the game if you do not want to buy glow ping pong balls. If you cannot get the Kerplunk game you can certainly use any other game that glows, or adapt a game you already have so it glows by adding glow tape or cards. 

2. Jumbo Jenga: 

For this center game I used the neon tape on the edges so the blocks of the game would glow in the black light. The kids would take turns answering questions and pulling blocks. 

3. Target Practice: 

I drew a target on my dry erase board with a dark marker and bought some suction dart guns at The Dollar Tree. You do not need to use these guns but you can use anything that will stick to the target. My students wanted to keep track of the points earned (extra addition practice) but you do not have to. 

4. Bottle Flip: 

For this center I saved four small gatorade bottles and filled them about 1/3 with water. Then I poured a sprinkle of glow powder into each to make them glow. Of course the children needed to answer questions correctly before flipping!

5. Flip Tac Toe: 

On my back table I made a tic-tac-toe board out of glow tape. Then I marked some neon plastic cups with two different colors on the bottom. The kids needed to flip their cup until it landed up-right. Then they got to place their cup on the board. 

6. Slam Dunk: 

For this center I used plastic neon cups with point values written on them. The kids shot light weight neon pool balls into the cups. 

Although these are the six centers I used, there are so many other ideas you can use for neon games. 

I hope this post gave you some suggestions if you are planning a glow day classroom transformation for your classroom. As always, feel free to email me any questions and tag me in any glow day posts! Happy teaching.

Kelly

Jurassic World Classroom Transformation & Fossil Activities

Who wouldn't love a Jurassic World classroom transformation? Well, I guess if you haven't seen the movie you don't know what you're missing.  I'm not sure my second graders have seen the movie, but they definitely know what it's all about. Our Jurassic World classroom theme was a little different. We were finishing up our unit on fossils, carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, so I figured it would work perfectly with a little Jurassic World decor. 

Jurassic World Content:  

There were a few items on my agenda I knew I wanted to teach over these few days.

1. Types of fossils (impression, amber, body and trace) 
2. Fossil classification 
3. Carnivore, herbivore, omnivores traits/characteristics.
4. Then I threw in review items I wanted to be sure they grasped with math and social studies. 

Types of Fossils: 

During our Jurassic World classroom transformation we discussed what fossils were, how they formed, and the various types. We watched several videos and made a few samples of fossils. 

The first type of fossil we made was an impression fossil. We mixed up three batches of salt dough. 

Recipe for one batch: 

1 cup flour

1 cup salt

1/2 cup water

Mix until a dough forms.

 I gave my students a variety of items to use for pressing into the salt dough. Flowers, leaves, animals, shells, shark teeth, bugs and sticks to name a few. 

My students loved the way they came out. I also gave the children the option to paint their fossils when they dried completely.

Another fossil we studied was the amber fossil. After watching how an amber fossils formed, I showed the children some different examples of amber. Then we began to make our own. 

To make "amber" You only need a few items.

• clear shot glasses (I got mine from The Dollar Tree.)
• plastic bugs
• clear glue (white doesn't work) 
• red food coloring  (1 small drop)
• yellow food coloring ( 2 to 3 drops) 
• tooth picks for stirring

 

 We let the "amber" dry for a few days so the kids got the idea of how they hardened. This was their favorite fossil to make. 

To make a trace and body fossils, I let my students form them out of modeling clay on their own. 

Fossil Classification: 

These activities took place on the last day of our Jurassic World classroom transformation. After the children were able to recall the different types of fossils, they felt a bit more confident. 

The first activity was a paleontologist fossil dig. Before we did any digging, the children learned what a paleontologist does and what tools he or she uses. We talked about the importance of being very carful and working slowly as to not break the fossils. 

For this activity I laminated a sheet of numbered, colored fossils. (shown below) I placed those into an aluminum pan under some sand and rocks. I threw in a small paint brush and gave my students a recording sheet. 

I had five pans and only hid three fossils in each pan. The children rotated to each pan switching the paleontologist for each. This way, every child got a turn digging up fossils. 

After each fossil was dug up the children needed to classify them as either trace, body, impression or amber. They matched the number of the fossil with the number on their recording sheet. Total engagement! They had a blast digging and I had a blast watching them recall what they learned about fossils. 

If the kids finished early and were waiting on another group, they filled out a sheet about paleontologists and what they learned about their jobs and tools. 

The second fossil classification activity was also a bit of a social studies review as well. Since we studied the seven continents earlier in the year, I wanted to tie that into our fossil unit. I divided the students in to groups and told them there were pieces of fossils hidden all around the world on different continents, and they needed to go retrieve them. 

I placed buckets with continent signs on them around the school and I started each group with a puzzle piece to a fossil they needed to find. I gave one student per group a clue about a continent. If they named the correct continent described, they raced through the school to get their puzzle piece from that continent's bucket. When they brought it back to the classroom, the next member of their group got a clue and did the same thing. After a group finished collecting all of their puzzle pieces, they assembled it and recorded what the fossil looked like on their paper. They colored, classified and measured their fossil. 

The next step was to flip the puzzle pieces over and read about how the fossil formed. This was a test to see if my students remembered how to put facts into their own words without plagiarizing. That was a skill we worked on a lot this year. 

My students worked together really well for this activity. They were up, moving and most importantly, THINKING!

Carnivore, Herbivore and Omnivore Traits and Characteristics

To begin these lessons, I had my class sit in a circle and I told them I found some dinosaurs who are very ill and we need to help. I told them I collected the stomach contents to see if they ate something that make them sick. I passed around two zipper bags filled with carnivore insides and one with herbivore insides. We talked about what these dinosaurs possibly ate. Then I showed the pictures of several herbivores and carnivores. The kids "pair shared" what they noticed about the body, teeth and leg difference in the two types of animals. It was a great discussion that helped my students gain a background. 

Next, I had the children choose a dinosaur silhouette. Based on what they learned about carnivore's and herbivore's body types, they needed to feed their dinosaur the right food. Each child got a grocery store circular and they cut and pasted the foods onto their dinosaur's silhouette. 

On the last day of our Jurassic World classroom transformation we continued to talk about other ways people can find out what animals and dinosaurs ate. Sure enough the kids knew...THE POOP!  My students had the feeling of what they would be digging in as soon as I pulled out those plastic gloves. You guessed it! Dino dung! I got this idea from Hope King at Elementary Shenanigans. I had the kids looking for items within the dung (chocolate cake mix and water) to see if they could figure out what their animal ate. After rinsing off several items (plastic fish, sticks, leaves, bugs, animal bones etc.) they recorded if their animal was a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore, giving valid justification of course!

This was by far their favorite activity of the unit. They will talk about this in years to come!

Review Activity

Finally, I needed to throw in a few review questions for practice. My colleague had a fantastic group idea. She printed T-Rex bones on different colored paper. It was a different color per team. Then a variety of review questions were printed and cut out on the same colors, folded and paced into a bucket. 

One at a time, each team took a question. If they answered it correctly they earned a bone to their dinosaur. Once their team collected all the bones they assembled their dinosaur, drew it on poster paper and colored it. The activity was simple, quick and engaging. 

Jurassic World Classroom Decor: 

The decor for Jurassic World was ultra simple. Most of the decor was butcher paper from my school's stockroom. Other items I bought from The Dollar Tree such as flower table cloths, hula skirts and dinosaur masks. The only other item I bought was caution tape that I used for other classroom transformations during the school year, so I had it on hand already. 

I hope these ideas can help you plan your Jurassic World classroom transformation. Please tag me on Facebook or Instagram when you decide to do this transformation. 

If you would like to grab my Fossil Activities to help you get started CLICK HERE or visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop Kaylynn's Place by clicking "Shop" at the top of my blog. 

Click Here to grab this resource in my TPT Store.