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The first week of school there is so much to cover. But nothing is more important (and fun) than getting to know your students. If you are teaching virtually you may wonder: how will I welcome kids virtually? Will my go-to first day activities work online? Fortunately, there are so many creative ways to break the ice on screen. Your favorite activities work just as well thanks to some awesome (and free) technology tools. Draw on these ideas for inspiration so day one is full of fun and not so different after all.

1. Email a virtual invite

Photo Credit: youngteacherlove.com

Welcome kids to your virtual classroom with an email invitation a few days before. Build excitement and help students understand that four walls don't make a classroom, rather the students and teacher do. Elementary teacher Kristine Nannini's virtual invite for her kiddos is so fun.

2. Welcome students to your virtual classroom

If you are late to the Bitmoji party, welcome! Students will love visiting their virtual classroom. Interactive elements make it fun for students to find and complete assignments. We've gathered a variety of Bitmoji classroom examples, inspiration, and an easy-to-follow tutorial. We love Tricia Dougherty's creation for her kindergarten students in Scranton, PA.

3. Conduct digital surveys

Remember the days where you gave students notecards and asked them to write down important information like their birthday and their favorite color? The digital survey is a virtual replacement (thanks, Google and Microsoft Forms). Just make sure you make your survey private! Ask students questions like, what do you wish I knew about you? Here are other ideas:

Do you like working in groups? Why or why not?

What are you most worried about this school year?

What are you most excited about this school year?

I am most successful in school when I ...

I may find _______challenging this year.

I think I will enjoy __________this year.

4. Have virtual dicebreakers!

This is one of my favorite icebreakers for the first day of school. It works just as well virtually. All students need is a die that they can borrow from a board game or they can make their own! Just use a paper dice template and watch this short video . For the dicebreaker, start by writing out six questions. Students take turns rolling. Then, they answer the question that matches the number they rolled. Here are some ideas:

1. If you were stranded on an island what three items would you bring with you and why?

2. What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

3. Who is someone you admire and why do you look up to this person?

4. Would you rather wake up early or sleep in?

5. After school, I like to_______.

6. During school, I like to______.

5. Make a selfie Kahoot

Games are always a hit on day one. Kahoot is easy to use and free, and this template has everything your kids need to make it their own. It's also a fun way for students to introduce themselves and meet their classmates. Added bonus: they learn how to use a tool you can introduce again for quizzes, self-assessments, and feedback.

6. Have a Hopes and Dreams Padlet

Padlet is a free tool where you can create a digital pinboard and share it with your students. You email the link or post it in your LMS. There are so many ways you can welcome your kids using Padlet. Some ideas:

Ask students what they hope for this year (save this "Board of Hope" and share it with students if morale is done or everyone is having a tough day.)

Ask students to find a GIF that represents how they feel about starting a new school year and post it on the Padlet.

Brainstorm ideas for writing a class mission statement or class values.

7. Make digital name tents

Learning names is an important first day task for teachers and students. We love Betsy Potash's digital name tents . Kelsey Brooke, a 10th grade English teacher at Pinellas High School in Largo, Florida, is sharing hers with students on the first day. She recommends that once students finish their tents, you put them together into a Powerpoint presentation. Then, upload it to your LMS or email it so they can learn more about each other. Here are some ideas:

If you could have any superpower what would you choose and why?

If you had thirty minutes to do anything you wanted, what would you choose and why?

What's your favorite book? Why do you love it?

Add an emoji or bitmoji that shows how you feel about distance learning.

What was your favorite assignment last year?

8. Choose Zoom chat emojis

Students copy and paste an emoji (this emoji tool is free and easy to use) that best fits their personality. Then, they post it in the Zoom chat! Or you can ask them to choose the emoji that best represents how they feel about distance learning.

9. Show how we are all connected

You can create a strong virtual community where students feel connected to you and each other. This low prep activity helps students see what they have in common. Read each statement. Ask students to raise their hands if the statement is true for them. You can also ask students to type in the meeting chat if they aren't ready to share out loud. Here are some ideas:

Raise your hand if you have a pet.

Raise your hand if you have a sibling.

Raise your hand if you wear glasses.

Raise your hand if you play an instrument.

Raise your hand if you read a book this summer.

Raise your hand if you play a sport.

Raise your hand if you miss your friends.

Raise your hand if you miss our school building.

Raise your hand if you are excited to learn in our virtual classroom.

10. Host The Room I'm In scavenger hunt

This one works especially well with younger kiddos. Your students find items in the room they are in and share them in your first virtual class. Give students five minutes or so to gather everything on the list. Here are some ideas starting with: In the room you are in, find...

Something that rhymes with red.

Something that is soft.

Something that fits in your hand.

Something that is blue.

Something you can eat or drink.

11. Have a virtual show and tell

Early elementary students love show and tell. Email students' parents prior to the first day of school. Ask them to help their children find three items to introduce themselves (their interests, family, likes/dislikes, etc.). Students bring these items to your virtual show and tell on the first day.

12. Use Finish My Sentence prompts

Type a sentence starter in the Zoom chat or share your screen and present a slideshow with a sentence starter on each slide. Then, ask students to complete the sentence. They can share out loud or type in the chat. Students love learning (and are often surprised) by how much they have in common. Here are some ideas:

I am looking forward to ...

This summer I ...

One thing about me that might surprise you is ...

I wish ...

I can't stop thinking about ...

What if ...

I hope ...

13. Create Meet and Greet videos

Flipgrid (#Flipgridfever) is a social learning platform where teachers pose a question and students respond in a video. First, create a welcome video introducing yourself. Then, challenge students to create their own. Students watch each others' videos and respond with comments and likes.

14. Play Find Someone Who Bingo

Remember the popular first day game, Find Someone Who? Use this tool to take the game virtual. Put students into breakout rooms where they ask each other questions like, "are you an only child" and "were you born in January?" Bring the groups back together and see who got Bingo. If you have a smaller class, play together.

15. Play Virtual Trivia

Use Poll Everywhere to create your own virtual trivia game (it's free!). First, write your questions. A mix of silly and serious works well. Students compete in small groups to see who can answer the questions fastest. At the end, the leaderboard declares a winner and a sprinkle of confetti dances down the screen.
How do you plan to welcome kids virtually? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, don't miss our special hub for online teaching tips.

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15 Ways To Virtually Welcome Kids Back to School

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The first week of school there is so much to cover. But nothing is more important (and fun) than getting to know your students. If you are teaching virtually you may wonder: how will I welcome kids virtually? Will my go-to first day activities work online?

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This is going to be a very challenging back to school season for all of us. One of the biggest concerns I have heard from many teacher friends is about how to build those important relationships with their students when they are either all virtual or have to maintain social distancing and wear a mask in the classroom.

As we all know, building relationships with our students at the beginning of the year helps them feel more secure, supported, and loved which makes them more likely to want to engage and participate in learning which can lead to less misbehavior.

In this blog post I am sharing some ideas, free downloads, & resources for how to build relationships and connections with your students at the start of the school year whether you are beginning virtually or in the classroom.

1. Send a Welcome Letter, Meet the Teacher Note

The unknown is scary for all of us. This year more than ever both students and parents may be very apprehensive about what the school year will be like. Getting advanced information about who you are and what fun activities you have planned or what to expect when they arrive or log-in on the first day goes a long way in easing those fears.

You can begin to build a relationship with your students before school even starts by sending them a Meet the Teacher and/or welcome letter. Young students love getting something special addressed just to them whether it is through regular mail or email. Telling them about yourself helps students begin to make connections with you. Including a photo of yourself helps give them a visual connection to you as well. They will know who to look for on the first day of school or who to expect to see on the first day of virtual learning.

Sending an accompanying welcome letter with what they will expect to do or see on the first day or week of school eases anxieties. You can also include log-in information for virtual learning or a special invitation for your first Zoom Meeting or Google Meet.

Since I am a strong believer in sending welcome letters prior to the beginning of school, I wanted to make it easier for you to do during this hectic back to school season. Therefore, I created 10 different pre-designed Meet the Teacher & Welcome Letter templates for you in fun themes that will help get students excited about the school year. I also included student gift tags so you can have something special waiting for students on the first day or send it with their take-home packets.

ALL the text is editable so you can continue to use the templates throughout the school year. Change the text for your monthly newsletters, parent communication, Zoom Meeting or Google Meet invitations, class notes, etc. Use the Meet the Teacher form for each student as a get-to-know-you / student of the week activity. Change the text on the gift tag for surprises throughout the school year.

The templates can be print or digital to accommodate in-person and virtual classrooms and I have included both a Google Slides and PowerPoint format for easy editing. Watch this short video to see an example of how to edit the templates.

Here are the themes for the templates. Click any of the links to view more details:

2. Get to Know You Questions (Free)

CLICK HERE to download a list of 30 get to know you questions for young students.

These questions can be used as ice-breakers for the first weeks of school and will help you get to know your students in a fun way.

Students are going to want to talk with their classmates both in the classroom and online. Since they have to be social distanced or in an online meeting this may be difficult. Therefore, it is important to have social time built-in to your schedule to give students an opportunity to talk. Use the get to know you questions during this time to promote discussions.

You can also set up 1:1 virtual or in-person meetings with your students to get to know them better. Use some of the questions to help the conversation along.

3. Use Students' Names as Much as Possible

Say your students' names as much as possible, especially during online meetings. Hearing their name helps students feel better connected to you.

Name Game - This will help you get to know students' names and also assess their letter knowledge. Go through the alphabet and tell students to stand up when they hear the first letter in their name. When they stand up, have them tell the class their name.

4. Make the Rules Together

Students are more likely to follow rules when they have a hand in creating them. Creating the rules together as a class shows your students that you care about their feelings and also value their opinions. It is also a great way to begin to build a classroom community.

Even if you are beginning the year virtually, setting rules together about how to behave during your online meetings will help them run more smoothly.

5. Get Moving, Get to Know Each Other Activity

Since your students may not be able to move freely around your classroom or have to sit in front of a computer, this get to know you game incorporates movement and helps with listening skills. It will also help students see which of their classmates have similar interests as them and also helps you get to know your students.

Ask students questions and have them do specific movements as the answer. For example, say "Do you have any pets? If you do, clap your hands. If you do not, wave.". Students can then look around and see who is doing the same movement as them (this also works during Zoom Meetings if you have it set so all students can see each other).

You can also give 3 choices once students become familiar with how it works. Do you have brothers and sisters? If you have a sister hop on 1 foot. If you have a brother, march. If you have both, jump up & down on both feet.

6. Share Your Favorite Places

Use the virtual background option in Zoom to show some of your favorite places. If you are not using Zoom, show pictures on your whiteboard. Use a different place each day and see if students can guess where you are or where the picture was taken. Then explain why it is one of your favorite places. This not only helps students get to know you better, but it gets them excited about logging in every day and seeing where you are or seeing what the picture is.

If you are recording your distance learning videos in your classroom, show a different place in the room each day.

If you do not know how to use the virtual background in Zoom here are directions:

In the Home section of Zoom, click the Settings button (the gear in the upper right)

Click Virtual Background along the left-hand side.

Click the plus sign to add your own image.

7. Be Real

This year is going to be a learning experience for all of us and there are bound to be mistakes. That's OK! Let students see you make mistakes. Embrace them, laugh about them when appropriate. This will h elp students understand that it's OK not to be perfect and they will be more likely to take risks that increase their learning.

8. Embrace Your Students' Interests

Once you get to know some of your students' interests, talk about them during morning meeting or when you are talking 1:1 with them. Try to incorporate their interests into your lessons or activities.

I hope these ideas were helpful in building relationships with your students. I know this is going to be a crazy & challenging school year, but together we can get through this, lift each other up, and provide students with wonderful learning experiences. If there is anything I can do for you or if you have any questions please feel free to email me at lessonsforlittleones@gmail.com.

You may also like:
Back to School Student Gift Ideas Celebrating Birthdays in the Classroom
Using Birthday Certificates Digitally for Distance Learning

Bucket Filler Activities

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How to Build Relationships with Your Students Virtually & in the Classroom - Lessons for Little Ones by Tina O'Block

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This is going to be a very challenging back to school season for all of us. One of the biggest concerns I have heard from many teacher friends is about how to build those important relationships with their students when they are either all virtual or have to maintain social distancing and wear a mask in the classroom.

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Four weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, I left my 7th grade ELA classroom not knowing that I was saying goodbye. That weekend, I found out that my school would be closed until May. Like many other teachers, I went through a brief period of mourning. I was mourning the loss of my physical classroom and I was missing my students terribly, but there was something else I couldn't quite put my finger on--something that staring at a computer screen and posting assignments on Google Classroom could not replace.

What was missing was the magic. I was missing the magic of face-to-face interactions with my kids, the magic of inside jokes, the magic of close proximity when a student struggled to pay attention to a lesson, the magic of eye contact and showing a student with a simple look that we would get through this together.

It's important that, as teachers, we allow ourselves to feel that mourning for our classrooms and our time with students, but once we work through those feelings, maybe we'll be ready to redefine the magic we felt in the classroom. I refuse to give up hope that we can still bring magic to our classrooms, even from a distance.

Together, I worked with 12 other Secondary English educators to gather the best ideas for keeping the magic alive in our online classrooms. We hope that these ideas will refresh your online teaching and help to bring joy to you and your students. Along with each idea, we provide ways to differentiate for students with limited access to resources.

Differentiation idea: Send home a paper copy or email a copy for families to print. Students can complete many of the projects with little or no Internet (crafting a piece of art with pieces from nature, writing a story book version of a novel, and more!). If sending work back to you is not an option, students or parents can take a picture of the work and email it back. All ideas are editable, so you can recreate some of the digital choices with similar paper activities.

If your district supports the use of Google Meet and you're thinking about giving it a try, Shana suggests downloading a few Chrome extensions first. If you aren't familiar with Chrome extensions, they're basically little programs that enhance the functionality of Google Chrome. You can learn more and read about Shana's favorite Chrome extensions for teachers and students , , and .

Again, make sure to check with your district before using Google Meet or initiating any kind of two-way communication with students. They may have restrictions or additional guidelines to follow.

Differentiation idea: For students who struggle to make it to a Google Meet at a specific time, record your meeting to share through Google Classroom or email later. That way, students who are sharing devices with siblings or parents won't be left out. For students who struggle to access Google products from home, send a quick email or try to touch base by phone. Calling too many students would obviously be overwhelming, but most likely, the numbers of students who cannot access through email or a recording would be low. Dial *67 before any student phone numbers to keep your own phone number private.

1. Create fun, creative prompts: Emily's students post one FlipGrid each week in response to their reading. Last week, students had to create a three minute news story detailing the juiciest character gossip from their books. The videos were so much fun, and kids loved the idea of sharing character gossip. Students heard about Katniss Everdeen's love triangle, the gossip surrounding the murder of Simon in One of Us is Lying, and the gossip about Matthew's newest love interest in The Boy in the Black Suit. In another prompt, students had to create a FlipGrid from their character's point of view. For optional fun, students could dress up like the character. Students then were tasked with sharing how the character would handle social distancing. The responses were so relevant and creative. Best of all, students demonstrated deep understandings of their characters.

2. Create models: For each prompt Emily posts, she creates a model video response. Emily is known to dress up, get as creative as possible, and provide students with an example of the finished product she expects. Dressing up and being a little silly has helped to create a fun online learning experience.

3. Give feedback: FlipGrid makes it easy to leave quick video feedback. After watching videos, Emily usually records a quick 10-30 second response. She recommends sharing specific feedback about student's analysis. She also recommends responding to the parts of the video that make you smile! Giving feedback through video helps teachers to reconnect with students in that face to face way we all are missing.

FlipGrid reading responses are fun, accessible, and allow students to tap into their creativity. FlipGrid also provides a method of reconnecting from a distance. FlipGrid videos will help you to recreate the magic of talking about books face to face in your online classroom.

Differentiation idea: Provide an alternative to video responses for students who do not have access. Simply having students write their responses instead of creating a video is easy. Students can email responses or post them in Google Classroom. Emily's students have the option to post a video or a written response in the comment section. For students who are anxious to show their face on video, model how to have fun with emoji stickers. Emily models how to use the whiteboard option to write out a response or even draw an animated response. Encourage students to play around and have fun!

There are two free video chatting resources that work well for virtual literature circles: Zoom and Google Meets. Before deciding on which route to take, you should check with your school district about their policies and expectations.

1. Zoom has a unique function for setting up breakout rooms. This lets the teacher split your larger class meeting into smaller separate rooms. Therefore, you can start in a full class meet by explaining directions and expectations, and then break up students into their assigned groups. What's great about this is that you can bounce between meetings easily. You can read the directions for setting up the breakout rooms in Zoom .

2. Google Meet is another free resource for video chats. With this option, you'll have to setup individual Google Meets and label them for each group so the students know which one to attend. It might also be helpful to schedule the group presentations at different times so you can attend all meetings. You can find directions for setting up a Google Meet .

Differentiation idea: For students who cannot participate at a specific time, Zoom and Google both have options to record meetings. For students who struggle with access, encourage them to submit questions or quotes for literature circle discussions. Then, share classmate responses through email.

Whether you are doing synchronous or asynchronous online instruction, connecting with your students can be challenging. Maybe you feel like you are merely speaking at a screen during live or screenrecorded lessons, or you're wondering if students are even reading everything you've posted for them. If you're struggling with this disconnect and missing your students, try incorporating some form of online discussion. Here are a few suggestions:

If you are using Google Classroom, you can use its "Ask a question" feature as an online discussion forum. When you ask a question, students can not only reply, but they can also see their classmates' responses and comment on them. If you want to take this feature a step further, consider letting students generate their own questions for a mini virtual

If you are hosting live lessons through a video conferencing platform, you can easily facilitate discussions. If you feel like your discussions are flopping, try one of these fun strategies:

Flood The Chat: Ask students a question, and set a timer. Ask them to enter their answer only after the timer has sounded. This will create a "flood" of responses in the chat at once.

Virtual Turn & Talk: Depending on your platform and what it supports, you can create fun conditions for students to message peers with an answer to a question. For example, you can have students message the student above/below them on the participants lists or to the left/right on the grid view of screens. If those aren't options, ask students to respond to someone whose name starts with the same letter or simply let them pick a friend. You'll be surprised at how many students respond to each other.

Respond with Emojis/Characters: Post a multiple choice question on the screen, and designate each answer with an emoji or character (*!~+). Ask students to reply with the emoji/character in the chat.

If you are ready to try a new tech tool, consider online "backchannel" discussion platforms like (similar to the former Today's Meet)or , a platform where you can browse public "debates" or create your own.

For more tech tools and ideas to connect with your students online, head to Abby's blog

Differentiation Idea: Record online discussions for students who can't make it. For students with little to no Internet access, ask for prompts that can be shared in class chats or to start virtual turn and talk discussions, then share classmates' answers via email.

In an attempt to create normalcy, Amanda has tried to streamline instruction in limited platforms and focus on the ones that her class had already been using before school ended. The first platform that's helped create normalcy is utilizing - a digital reading platform that does it all (check it out in Amanda's insta stories highlights for elearning!). The other platform she's used is a Google extension called Kami. Kami allows users to upload documents or images and convert them to PDFs that can be annotated in dozens of ways . Finally, Amanda's team has decided to give writing assessments that look almost identical to ones that students have already done, just with a few updates. One of these assignments is to have students write an alternate ending to the book they're reading in class using Google Slides ! Each slide has clickable links for the reader to choose her own adventure and they're so much fun to read and write!

Differentiation: Mail paper versions of class work and agendas, or if your school has meal delivery, see if work can be sent home with meals. If the work needs to be slightly different and sent in bulk (one month at a time), that's okay. Keep it simple so work is both accessible to students and reasonable for you to create. Reading and response, like writing an alternate book ending, is easy to do with very few materials. Offer audio book apps like Audible and Sora to make reading more accessible.

Students enjoy hearing their teachers read, and Lauralee from Language Arts Classroom has incorporated read alouds into her lessons. As a wonderful bonus, reading aloud has helped her to connect with her students online. Primarily, Lauralee reads to students in two ways.

One, Lauralee created a YouTube channel for her students where she reads the first chapter of books in the public domain. The data showed her that students watch the videos. In the future, she can ask students to watch these videos if they are absent, if they are searching for a book, or if they need inspiration. Since the books are in the public domain, students can immediately access the books.

Even though Lauralee is not in the classroom, keeping FCF has increased her connection with students online.

You can also tie this kind of activity into content. Perhaps you can host a spirit week for your ELA classroom. Think about Dress Like Your Favorite Character Day or What Are You Doing? Day and have students free write about something that they are doing during this time.

We know that our kids (and maybe...admittedly, ourselves haha) are getting more and more into TikTok. If they're going to be on it anyway, imagine how much fun and creativity they could demonstrate by blending content into short TikToks. Staci has so many ideas about how this could work with Romeo and Juliet (which is what Staci is currently reading with her students). To make the Digital Spirit Week idea more flexible, you could have a weekly content instead of daily content to allow time for creation.

Differentiation: Tanesha's ideas ARE differentiation techniques. To spread these resources even further, offer students paper copies of the Digital Community resource and allow students to weigh in on how to include students who have limited access in the classroom community.

Another great digital platform is Padlet, and it is completely free as long as you don't plan to have more than three active Padlets at a time. Think of it as a chart you would typically have students add sticky notes to, but with the capability of including graphics, videos, hyperlinks, drawings, and even voice recordings!

Response to text: Think, collaborative "double entry journal." Using a Padlet Wall, students can share a meaningful quote from a selected text and respond with connections, inferences, predictions, etc. The fun part is seeing how students choose to share their commentary!

Anchor charts: On a Padlet shelf, content can be organized in columns. This one is a game changer. There are many different ways it can be used, depending on your area of study. Let's say you're practicing character analysis, make different columns such as personality, appearance, thoughts, and interactions with others. Then have students add their ideas with evidence and explanations within each column. Another fun way Staci has used this layout is to create an A-Z Guide to Being at Home where her students posted different ways they are staying busy during this time at home.

Final Projects or the Planning Stages of Writing: Use Padlet Timelines for literal comprehension, like tracking events in a story, or ask students to get more creative by making a timeline of a character's life based on textual evidence and inferences. How about writing? Organize ideas for a narrative in chronological order or use it like an outline to plan a more structured essay.

Differentiation Idea: Use the print screen feature on your computer keyboard to screen shot a Padlet conversation to share with students through email if their Internet access is limited. Give students with limited access the opportunity to create questions that students on Padlet can answer. Then, highlight responses through a whole-class email. Email students with limited access posing specific questions, then copy and paste answers into Padlet so classmates can add to the discussion. Give students the opportunity to answer similar questions on paper.

As an English teacher experienced with grades 6-12 and a current instructional coach, Melissa recommends focusing on what is most important right now. Less is more. She suggests one of the most important ways we can be connecting with students online is by encouraging them to continue their reading lives.

As a certified reading specialist, Melissa has no shortage of ideas for using books to build relationships with students and create positive classroom cultures for older students. You can read more of her ideas , Reading and Writing Haven .

Using Google Forms for daily or attendance check-ins has many benefits.

1. I can export the data to Google Sheets to easily sort the information.

2. I can edit the form each day to include new pictures or questions related to that day's content.

3. I can share the shortened link via Remind so that students have easy access to the Form.

4. Finally, it saves all of the data so that I have a record of my student check-ins.

Differentiation: For students who cannot attend online classes, see if your school has an easy way to deliver paper copies. For students with limited access (just email, for example), create a regular schedule with any students who need that accommodation. For example, ask students to share work or responses every Tuesday and Thursday.

I hope these ideas inspire you to find the magic in your online clasroom. We fell in love with teaching because our goal was to reach the human beings who enter our classrooms everyday. Yes, it's definitely different teaching on a computer, but those same humans are behind the screen, and we can still find ways to connect and spark a love for learning.

If you find this post helpful, please share it with your friends!

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12 Creative Ways to Connect with Students Online

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Four weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, I left my 7th grade ELA classroom not knowing that I was saying goodbye. That weekend, I found out that my school would be closed until May. Like many other teachers, I went through a brief period of mourning.

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Getting Started with Pear Deck to Make Your Google Slides Presentations Interactive

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How to Create Drag and Drop Activities on Google Slides | EDTech Made Easy Tutorial