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Students take turns adding one word a time to a story. Challenging and fun!

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Using #zoom_us to create a collaborative story this morning ... once we had our order, can we work together to build a story one word a time? A myth about an earthquake that goes with our #unitofinquiry #howtheworldworks ? Even better! #AISGZ #onlinelearning #virtuallearning

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Using #zoom_us to create a collaborative story this morning ... once we had our order, can we work together to build a story one word a time? A myth about an earthquake that goes with our #unitofinquiry #howtheworldworks ? Even better! #AISGZ #onlinelearning #virtuallearning https://t.co/W4EvYnGK2B

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Using #zoom_us to create a collaborative story this morning ... once we had our order, can we work together to build a story one word a time? A myth about an earthquake that goes with our #unitofinquiry #howtheworldworks ? Even better! #AISGZ #onlinelearning #virtuallearning pic.twitter.com/W4EvYnGK2B
— Katie Robbins (@krobbins84) March 5, 2020

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Using #zoom_us to create a collaborative story this morning ... once we had our order, can we work together to build a story one word a time? A myth about an earthquake that goes with our #unitofinquiry #howtheworldworks ? Even better! #AISGZ #onlinelearning #virtuallearning https://t.co/W4EvYnGK2B

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Using #zoom_us to create a collaborative story this morning ... once we had our order, can we work together to build a story one word a time? A myth about an earthquake that goes with our #unitofinquiry #howtheworldworks ? Even better! #AISGZ #onlinelearning #virtuallearning https://t.co/W4EvYnGK2B

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Using #zoom_us to create a collaborative story this morning ... once we had our order, can we work together to build a story one word a time? A myth about an earthquake that goes with our #unitofinquiry #howtheworldworks ? Even better! #AISGZ #onlinelearning #virtuallearning

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w/ See/Think/Wonder

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Virtual field trips are a great way to expose kids to new places all from the comfort of home. In this age of technology, so many museums, zoos and aquariums have set up virtual tours and webcams of their facilities. Now more than ever, is it easier to visit destinations around the world from the comfort of your couch.

The last couple of years has shown us how much we take being able to visit places for granted. Even something as ordinary as a school field trip became rare. So, we came up with a list of places you could visit using technology for those times when you can't be there in person. Virtual field trips are a fun and educational way to visit places virtually and and "travel" without leaving home or school.

I've rounded up 20 virtual field trips that you can take with your kids. There are also lesson ideas, activities and book suggestions to extend the learning for each type of destination.

Art Museums

Visit some of the best art galleries in the world virtually. From Paris to New York to Amsterdam, kids can see priceless works of art from the world's most famous artists.

Activities and Resources

Choose a favorite painting or sculpture and create a copycat piece of art.

Research an artist. This is a great book about some amazing artists kids should know about https://amzn.to/38QWQGf (affiliate link).

Choose a piece of art to focus on. Describe it, tell why you chose it and how it makes you feel.

Choose 2 works of art to compare.

Zoos

Zoo webcams have allowed visitors to drop in on the habitats of some of the zoo's favorite animal exhibits. Here are some highlights. Want more? Here is our complete list of virtual zoo field trips.

Activities and Resources

Aquariums

Just like with zoos, aquariums have used webcams to let you visit their exhibits virtually. In addition, some aquariums have set up virtual tours led by their staff to give visitors a more in depth look at their facility.

Activities and Resources

Travel the World

In this day and age, it is easier than ever to travel the world without leaving home.

Activities and Resources

Plan a trip to a new destination. What would you do, see, eat?

Make a travel brochure for the destination you visited.

Write a postcard from that destination. Include details about the place and what you can see there.

More Stuff to Do at Home:

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20 Virtual Field Trips to Take with Your Kids - Adventures in Familyhood

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Virtual field trips are a great way to expose kids to new places all from the comfort of home. In this age of technology, so many museums, zoos and aquariums have set up virtual tours and webcams of their facilities. Now more than ever, is it easier to visit destinations around the world from the comfort of your couch.

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Somebody chooses an object to hold without showing it. Each student asks a yes/no type of question to try to find out what the other is holding.

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This is a great site full of materials that work very well on Zoom sessions. Engaging, fun and very simple to do, plus you get to work on important number sense skills.

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51 Esti-Mysteries - Steve Wyborney's Blog: I'm on a Learning Mission.

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Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs story instantly online! This mad lib only has nouns, verbs, and adjectives so it can be used with Kindergarten common core classes. (Hint: a Verb is an action. A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)

Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs story instantly online! This mad lib only has nouns, verbs, and adjectives so it can be used with Kindergarten common core classes. (Hint: a Verb is an action. A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)

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Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs story instantly online! This mad lib only has nouns, verbs, and adjectives so it can be used with Kindergarten common core classes. (Hint: a Verb is an action. A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)

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I've used the splats by steve wyborney
https://stevewyborney.com/2018/09/splat-for-google-slides-40-lessons/

I post the image of the splat with the total and then students have to come up with the different possibilities that could be under the splat.
They all think about it, then type the different ideas in the zoom chat but don't hit return until I ask them to. Then once everyone hits return we discuss and share our thinking!

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Would You Rather for Kids – 100 Questions
Here are all 100 Would You Rather Questions for Kids: 

1. Would you rather lick a dirty trash can or the bathroom floor?
2. Would you rather have a magic carpet that flies or your own personal robot?
3. Would you rather be the worst player on a team that always wins or the best player on a team that always loses?
4. Would you rather have one eye in the middle of your head or two noses?
5. Would you rather see a firework display or go to a concert?
6. Would you rather go water skiing or snow skiing?
7. Would you rather eat donuts or candy?
8. Would you rather fly a kite or ride on a scooter?
9. Would you rather have an extra finger or an extra toe?
10. Would you rather only be able to crawl on all fours or only be able to walk backwards?
11. Would you rather be able to create a new holiday or create a new language?
12. Would you rather be the funniest person alive or the smartest person alive?
13. Would you rather be a famous singer or a famous actor?
14. Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?
15. Would you rather never have to shower again or never have to clip your toenails?
16. Would you rather have the chance to design a new toy or direct a movie?
17. Would you rather be ten years older or four years younger?
18. Would you rather be able to control the weather or have the ability to talk to animals?
19. Would you rather be a master at painting or an amazing dancer?
20. Would you rather live on the Moon or live on Mars?
21. Would you rather meet your favorite celebrity or be in a movie?
22. Would you rather only be able to whisper or have an incredibly loud voice?
23. Would you rather eat a raw potato or a whole lime?
24. Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?
25. Would you rather speak every language or play every instrument?
26. Would you rather live without a TV or without a phone?
27. Would you rather be a bird or a horse?
28. Would you rather live in the desert or on a deserted island?
29. Would you rather go on a rollercoaster or go sky diving?
30. Would you rather live in the sky or under the sea?
31. Would you rather have a hand twice as big or half as small?
32. Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon?
33. Would you rather always have to enter rooms by announcing your name or always have to do cartwheels out?
34. Would you rather have butterfly wings or a horse tail?
35. Would you rather have wings but you can’t fly or have gills but you can’t swim underwater?
36. Would you rather be the smartest person in the world or the best athlete in the world?
37. Would you rather eat a beetle or get stung by a bee?
38. Would you rather be able to change the color of your hair whenever you want or be able to change the length of your hair whenever you want?
39. Would you rather live in a mansion in the city or on a farm with lots of animals?
40. Would you rather have 5 brothers or 5 sisters?
41. Would you rather be a unicorn or a pegasus?
42. Would you rather meet a superhero or a cartoon character?
43. Would you rather be an Olympic athlete or the President?
44. Would you rather drink sour milk or eat rotten eggs?
45. Would you rather eat a whole jar of mayonnaise or drink a cup of hot sauce?
46. Would you rather live without music or without movies?
47. Would you rather have a new cool shirt in your closet every morning or a new pair of shoes once a week?
48. Would you rather play in the snow in the mountains or in the sand at the beach?
49. Would you rather have a pet panda bear or a pet zebra?
50. Would you rather sweat honey or always smell like a skunk?
51. Would you rather kiss a frog or hug a snake?
52. Would you rather have lived in the 1870’s or in the 1970’s?
53. Would you rather shovel snow or rake leaves?
54. Would you rather play the guitar or the piano?
55. Would you rather not be allowed to watch T.V. for a year or not be allowed to eat any sweets for a year?
56. Would you rather have a car that can fly or go underwater?
57. Would you rather be the fastest person in the world or can freeze time?
58. Would you rather be trapped in a room with a friendly tiger or with 10 bumblebees?
59. Would you rather have a bucket stuck on your head or a cement block stuck on your foot?
60. Would you rather have a pool or a trampoline?
61. Would you rather be a doctor or a scientist?
62. Would you rather go to the zoo or an aquarium?
63. Would you rather be really fast or really strong?
64. Would you rather set the table before dinner or wash the dishes after dinner?
65. Would you rather jump into a pool of chocolate pudding or a pool of strawberry ice cream?
66. Would you rather have pizza or chips?
67. Would you rather have a pet hamster or a pet cat?
68. Would you rather have hamburgers or hot dogs?
69. Would you rather be an art teacher or a physical education teacher?
70. Would you rather eat a dead spider or a live worm?
71. Would you rather have really small hands or really big feet?
72. Would you rather read minds or be invisible?
73. Would you rather have french fries or chocolate cake?
74. Would you rather be a police officer or a doctor?
75. Would you rather play paint ball or laser tag?
76. Would you rather have a picnic in a park or on the beach?
77. Would you rather eat pizza for every meal or ice cream for every meal?
78. Would you rather have a purple nose or green ears?
79. Would you rather moo like a cow after every sentence or bark like a dog?
80. Would you rather live in the North Pole or the South Pole?
81. Would you rather have 3 legs or 3 arms?
82. Would you rather see a giant ant or a tiny giraffe?
83. Would you rather always be dressed up or always wear your pajamas?
84. Would you rather drive go for a drive in a convertible or a double decker bus?
85. Would you rather have to wear a clown wig or a clown nose for the rest of your life?
86. Would you rather only be able to wear your swimsuit for the rest of your life or only be able to wear pants and a winter coat?
87. Would you rather play soccer or baseball?
88. Would you rather be able to live 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future?
89. Would you rather go to the doctor or the dentist?
90. Would you rather fly a helicopter or a commercial plane?
91. Would you rather have breakfast on the Eiffel tower or dinner in a castle?
92. Would you rather give up eating sweets or give up eating fast food?
93. Would you rather live where it is always dark outside or always light outside?
94. Would you rather it be warm and raining or cold and snowing?
95. Would you rather discover a hidden treasure or discover a living dinosaur?
96. Would you rather go to the movies or go to a waterpark?
97. Would you rather be friends with superman or spiderman?
98. Would you rather go bungee jumping or go on the tallest roller coaster?
99. Would you rather go ice skating or tobogganing?
100. Would you rather constantly itch or always have a cough?

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Students can participate in these fun online teaching activities which can make their new virtual classroom a little less intimidating.

With schools utilizing virtual classroom meetings, webchats, and other distance learning tools, it can be difficult to get students to engage or participate in class. Students are often distracted or struggling to figure out what is going on in the meeting and they do not focus on the instructor or speaker.

While there are no magic words or online teaching games that will make them focus, a new or fun game can help capture their attention at least for a bit. We will look at games and activities that take preparation ahead of time and others that can be done spur of the moment.

No Preparation

These online teaching activities will take no preparation ahead of time. Students can participate whether they are on a mobile device or a computer and can make the new classroom a little less intimidating

1. What's Left?

Ask each person to hold up the nearest thing to the left of them that they can. Obviously, they cannot hold up a TV or couch, but students can hold up a remote, bag of chips, drink, or sock.

To make it even more fun, you can give a scenario such as a zombie apocalypse where students are going to fight the walking dead using only the object to their left!

For students without a camera, ask them to describe the item to their left.

2. Eye Spy

Play a game of eye spy with the people in the class to figure out whose background you are looking at. This might get fun for classes that have a mixture of virtual backgrounds and home backgrounds.

3. Storytime

Students will build a story one sentence at a time. The teacher begins by giving the opening line. Each student adds another line to the story. The rules are that the next line has to make sense. It can be silly or outrageous but should make sense. For example, you would not say, "We all went swimming. My truck was making a weird noise." However, it would be fine if one person said, "We all went swimming." Then the next student said, "since my truck was making a weird noise, so I didn't want to drive." When the class is finished creating the story, you could introduce topics such as the author's purpose, word choice, setting, and other writing or language arts related topics.

4. Two Truths and a Lie

This game is a popular ice breaker for many groups. Children old enough to understand the truth and lies can play. Adults even enjoy this game sometimes. Each person tells two true things and one that is a lie. Each thing either needs to be reasonably believable or all sound unbelievable. This game is easy to adapt to your classroom as well. You could make it two lies and a truth or three truths and two lies. Adapt this game to meet your time and classroom needs. The person with the most incorrect guesses is the winner. You might offer them extra points or a virtual high five for winning.

Some Preparation

5. Where in the world?

Have all of the students change their background to a location. Each student gets to write down their guesses as to where each place is. Some might be obvious like the Eiffel Tower, Great Wall, or San Francisco Bay Bridge, but others might be more difficult. They might be grandma's backyard, the Pacific Ocean, Australian Outback, or many other places. This is one of the online teaching activities that can be the introduction into a geography, context clues, social studies, or even art lesson if you choose.

6. Pet Day!

Have students bring their pets to the meeting. Any student without a pet can find a photo or bring a stuffed animal of a pet they think would be cool. Students should introduce their pets, tell a little about what they do all day, and what their diet is like. This way, you can sneak a little science into the lesson too!

7. Whose is this?

Have students take a picture of the oldest thing they still own and email it to you. Use your presentation to put a few of them up on the screen. The first person who virtually raises his or her hand guesses to whom the item belongs. For example, if Shannon wanted to guess, he would raise his hand and wait for you to unmute him, then. he would guess who owns the first object. If he gets it right, the next item would be shown. If he gets it wrong, someone else can guess. You could do a few each meeting if you were concerned about time.

8. Music Video Scavenger Hunt

On YouTube, find a music video where you can find 5 or more things related to the theme of your unit or lesson. The song lyrics is also a good place to find unit-related vocabulary. Before the class starts, watch the music video with the students and ask them to find series of items within the video or series of words in the lyrics!

9. Help Me!

Tell students the topic of the meeting/class. Have them email you one question that they have about the topic. Read a few at the beginning of the meeting, especially if there are several of the same kinds of questions. Ask if anyone already knows the answer or wants to take a guess. At the end of the session ask again. See if the students can now answer the question. Students will often want to listen for their questions and listen for the answer if they think they can be the one to talk after.

10. Teach us

Once a week or so, have an "extra credit" session where students can take turns teaching something. This can be a recipe, craft, or artistic task. It cannot just be a showcase of talent. Students who teach the lesson get extra credit. All students must attend. If a student attends and follows the instructions or lesson and emails you proof (a photo of the finished product), he or she may also get extra credit. Students will sign up for a week and can "work together" but should remain in their own spaces.

For example, one student might demonstrate from their home the first part of the dish, and the partner, having completed that part ahead of time can complete the second part. This works best with recipes that take longer cooking times. Materials lists can be sent ahead of time for what students need to have on hand to complete the recipe or activity. If the students need extra time to do the activity (a recipe that requires baking time) this should be noted in the materials list, so that students do not expect to do it in real-time. While this activity is better for older students, even young children can complete age-appropriate recipes and tasks.

11. Gamify Reviews

Take advantage of the many quiz apps and formative assessment tools already available online! Turn your review lessons into a fun online game! Luckily, most of these apps are playable remotely. You can also use quizzes made by other educators that are available on the platform. Why not try Kahoot, Gimkit, or Quizalize perhaps?

Closing thoughts

All of these online teaching activities can be adapted to meet your class's needs and abilities. Think outside the classroom walls to come up with fun activities. Plan virtual playtimes too. Students need to be able to decompress and destress too. The learning is sometimes secondary to the mental health improvement that comes from having a community of peers that understands their struggles, goals, and achievements. Anything, we as teachers, can do, to foster a love of the classroom, is a good thing.

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What do you think of these online teaching activities? Let us know in the comments!

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11 Online Teaching Activities to Warm Up the Class

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Students can participate in these fun online teaching activities which can make their new virtual classroom a little less intimidating. With schools utilizing virtual classroom meetings, webchats, and other distance learning tools, it can be difficult to get students to engage or participate in class.

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Students guess what the close up image is by raising their hand in Google Meet. Solutions on next slide

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Students make words from the letters to earn points in 3 mins

Share screen
Sts type the words in the chat
T types words on the game

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Play Wordshake and see how many points can you get in three minutes. Longer words score more points!

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Using the whiteboard with annotations feature on zoom, students can take turns making a drawing and having others guess (works best for small groups)

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https://www.coolmathgames.com/0-hangman

A bit more challenging, but no "hanging" men... balloons and monsters are way cuter