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Need supplemental or "just in time" lssons? Finished with the 15 required Second Step Lessons? Here are some resources for you!

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TLS ISD Essential Learnings for Trimester 3

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TLS ISD Essential Learnings for Trimester 3

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TLS ISD Essential Learnings for Trimester 3

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Click "open in new window" to see the complete form.

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Completing this form ensures your student's name will be read at our Friday Mustang Meeting. Submissions after 4:00PM Wednesday will be read at the following week's Mustang Meeting (as we record our Mustang Meetings on Thursday morning).

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Family Engagement Conferences Suggested Script

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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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Second Step has Unit 1 materials uploaded, including lesson scripts. To access this resource:

1. Log in to www.secondstep.org (click on picture below)

2. Click "My Dashboard"

3. Click "Teachers & Counselors"

4. Click "Downloads" (not hover).

5. Click "Get English Materials"

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Social-Emotional Learning Programs | Second Step

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Discover Second Step, an evidence-based social-emotional learning curriculum that fosters students’ emotional intelligence, empathy, and problem-solving skills.

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TLS ISD Essential Learnings for Trimester 2

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TLS ISD Essential Learnings for Trimester 2

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Trimester 2 TLS Essential Learnings Document

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Elementary Scope and Sequence (Tri 1 + School Year)

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Elementary Scope and Sequence (Tri 1 + School Year)

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Elementary Scope and Sequence Documents 2020

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Second Step Elementary Remote Class Meeting Guide

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Second Step Elementary Remote Class Meeting Guide

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from PBSES coaches

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Icebreaker templates

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Icebreakers may seem cliche to some and you may even think they are cheesy and even a little awkward, but using a tool like Mentimeter to facilitate these icebreakers takes the hassle out of it and all answers are anonymous. Let's have a look at what kind of icebreakers will work for you.Word Association Word Clouds

You can tailor each and every one of these icebreakers for middle school, high school or university students.

1. Word Association

2. This or That

3. Two Truths & A Lie

4. Subject specific

5. Junior/Middle School

6. High School

7. University

8. Get to Know Your Teacher/Lecturer

Using icebreaker questions is a great way to encourage students to interact with what you are asking while also thinking critically about the response they are going to submit. All of the templates included are free and ready-to-use and you can use any of the other suggestions as inspiration for your next presentation.

1. Word Association icebreakers

Choose a subject, it could be something educational or perhaps a completely random topic. Ask the student's what words they associate with that particular topic and get them to enter their words into Menti.com. Create beautiful visualisations in real-time from your student's inputs with a word cloud. The younger students will love to watch the word cloud grow and the most popular words appear larger. Older students will get inspired by their peers' ideas.

1. What comes to mind when you think of math?

2. What words do you associate with school?

3. What does the word 'History' make you think of?

4. How do you feel about homework?

5. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'test'?

6. What word comes to mind when considering the character of Hamlet.

7. What comes to mind when hearing the word 'French'?

8. What do you think of when you read the word 'homework'?

9. What is a good teacher?

10. What comes to mind when you think of science?

2. This or That icebreakers

'This or that' is a fun icebreaker to see what your students have in common. The more random the options the better and the funnier for the students. To make this icebreaker work the question must be a 'yes or no' or would you rather kind of question with only two answer choices.

3. Truths & A Lie

The name says it all, give the students two truths and one lie and they have to choose which one is the lie. It is a fun way to find an unusual fact about their teacher and they may even be shocked to find out their teacher has skydived or scuba dived with sharks. It could also be used as a fun way for students to introduce themselves to the class.

4. Junior/Middle School Icebreakers

Time to get your students thinking about something fun. Let them use their imagination to come up with some really creative answers. But don't just leave it there, feel free to ask them to explain their decisions and see what reasoning went into their choices. This can be a great way to promote discussion and help kids express themselves and improve their reasoning skills.

1. What is your favourite hobby?

2. If you could be an animal, which animal would you be?

3. Who is your favorite character from a book?

4. What superpower would you love to have?

5. If you could only watch one tv show, which would you watch?

6. What is your favorite subject and why?

7. What historical figure would you like to meet?

8. What is your dream job and why?

9. What is the first thing you would do if you became President?

10. What country would you most like to visit?

5. High School Icebreakers

This could be a great way to get students talking with people they don't regularly interact with or a means to encourage them to really think long and hard about a relevant issue or topic. More than simply as a yes or now question this can require students to debate, discuss, and think critically about their answers.

6. University Icebreakers

This could be a great way to get students talking with people they don't regularly interact with or a means to encourage them to really think long and hard about a relevant issue or topic. More than simply as a yes or now question this can require students to debate, discuss, and think critically about their answers.

7. Get to Know Your Teacher/Lecturer

Introductions can be awkward and oftentimes a little dull. So why not create some friendly competition and see who comes out on top with a 'get to know your teacher' quiz. Thanks to Mentimeter you can also let your student's submit some questions with the built in Q/A function.

1. Where does your teacher come from?

2. What is your teacher's favorite sport?

3. What is your teacher's favorite ice cream flavor?

4. If your teacher could go somewhere on holidays where would they go?

5. What subject did your teacher love in school?

University

1. Where does your lecturer come from?

2. Where did your lecturer study for their BA?

3. What topic did your lecturer choose for their PhD?

4. What book does your lecturer consider a 'must read'?

5. Where did your lecturer study?

More Templates means more inspiration

We have plenty more ready made and easy to use templates that range from quizzes to icebreakers. These are perfect for icebreakers to use for your next lesson or lecture, or as a fun and unique way to quiz students. Perfect for a live setting, asynchronous learning, as well as formative assessment.

If you're looking for more then we also have plenty of education focused blog posts you can read through!

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Icebreakers may seem cliche to some and you may even think they are cheesy and even a little awkward, but using a tool like Mentimeter to facilitate these icebreakers takes the hassle out of it and all answers are anonymous.

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Equal Opportunity NoticeThe Issaquah School District complies with all applicable federal and state rules and regulations and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities, or employment related matters, and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees are designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Executive Director of Human Resources and Legal Affairs, District Title IX Coordinator, Section 504/ADA Coordinator or Compliance Coordinator for 28A.540 and 28A.642 RCW, in writing at or by telephone at 425.837.7060. The Issaquah School District will also take steps to assure that national origin persons who lack English language skills can participate in all educational programs, services and activities. For information regarding translation services or transitional bilingual education programs, contact Kathy Connally in writing at 565 NW Holly St., Issaquah, WA 98027 or by telephone at 425.837.7225. For general information or to be directed to a specific department, please contact the ISD Receptionist at 425-837-7000.

Sena Camarata, Title IX Coordinator Melissa Evans, District HIB Coordinator Lisa Hechtman, Civil Rights Compliance Officer Pam Ridenour, Section 504 Coordinator
425-837-7000 565 NW Holly Street, Issaquah, WA 98027

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Equal Opportunity NoticeThe Issaquah School District complies with all applicable federal and state rules and regulations and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities, or employment related matters, and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.

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Zoom Activities to Use in Distance Learning

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Zoom Activities to Use in Distance Learning

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Zoom Activities to Use with Distance Learning

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Zoom is being used by teachers and students all over the world right now. Here are our favorite Zoom activities to use with your classroom.

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Building a Virtual Classroom Environment

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Building a Virtual Classroom Environment

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Building a Virtual Classroom Environment

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Virtual jobs are a great way to build classroom community when in-person teaching is not an option. Assigning students a specific job to do during an online meeting helps keeps students on task and engaged with the meeting, too!

Building a classroom community is still just as important when virtual teaching, but you may need to get creative with how to transfer tried and true "analog" methods into an online space. Plus, not every team building activity or classroom management strategy works when adapted for a digital space. Teachers need to be thoughtful about which classroom routines to continue and how to best adapt them when students are only interacting through a screen.

Online Job Ideas for Virtual Classrooms

Online jobs are one way to get students involved in your online meetings or your classroom feeds. By assigning students a specific role, you can organize their participation and keep it fair - especially because it can be difficult to keep track of participation in a live online meeting on Zoom or Google Meet.

Online jobs can also help establish a buy-in as it gives students some control in a format that can feel one-sided. So much of online learning defaults to "students-receiving-content" that making students more part of the lesson is very motivating.

Giving students a defined role also helps students and caretakers plan ahead. Many teachers have reported students being more reserved and less likely to participate in online discussions; however, if students know what their job is and what they will share/do during the meeting, some of the anxiety about talking to a screen is lessened.

Using an Interactive Digital Bulletin Board

In a brick and mortar classroom, I used various job chart displays over the years to assign students roles. I was trying to brainstorm how this could best be accomplished in an online virtual classroom while still maintaining the flexibility of a physical job chart.

I created an interactive digital bulletin board of 20 virtual jobs that can be edited by the teacher and then easily shared with students to reference.
View the Virtual Jobs for Online Classrooms: Digital Interactive Bulletin Board here.
This digital bulletin board is meant to be used in a virtual or remote learning classroom and viewed in presentation mode - that way the teacher or students can click to view the various posters up close.

Students click the poster to open the slide with more details about the job.

These jobs are currently worded for a "Live Meeting" situation where you will be streaming live on Google Meet or Zoom with students. Use the jobs to start, end and break up a live synchronous meeting - for example, you could have a brain break after one lesson, show & tell after another, then wrap up the meeting with a question.

Editing the Online Jobs

You can also edit the job description to work on Google Classroom, Seesaw or other LMS assignment feeds. Instead of having students perform their job live, they could create a post or video.

You can also delete any of the job posters that you aren't using. Keep in mind you will also want to delete the matching job slide as well as the job name on the table. After deleting, just click and drag the remaining posters around to arrange.

This is one reason I recommend making a copy of the slideshow - one copy to edit and the other to leave intact in case you want to change things up!

Each individual job image is linked to the slide with the description of the job. If your links "break" you can just click on the image, click the link icon, then choose "link to a slide" and scroll to find the slide that matches the poster.

After determining the jobs you will use, you will want to assign the jobs to your students. Use the spreadsheet on the first slide to type student names next to each job.

Organizing the Student Jobs

You will also want to plan out the "duration" of the jobs. The job duration is also editable in the master slide view.

Depending on your Live meeting schedule, you might only have students "do" their job once each week. You might not want every meeting to have the same components so I recommend spacing out the jobs a bit - for example, a joke one meeting, a read aloud another meeting, and a survey another meeting.

Since the duration is editable, you can set this in a way that works best. For example, the duration for "Joke Teller" could be Monday whereas the Weather may be MWF or all week or just leave it 1 week and during the meeting call on students to perform their job.

Once you have edited and tweaked the slides to your liking, you will want to share with students.

Sharing Online Jobs Digitally with Students

I recommend sharing with students in presentation mode. There are two ways to accomplish this - one using Google Classroom and the other is to create a presentation link that you would share over Seesaw or your LMS.

Sharing Online Jobs in Google Classroom

In Google Classroom, create an assignment called "Weekly Jobs" and attach the slideshow from your Google Drive using " Students Can View File " in the drop down.

This way students can see the presentation and click through to read the job selection, but they can't edit it.

Pro Tip: Include the duration of the job in your assignment name. You can also create Topic called "Online Jobs" in Google Classroom to organize your job assignments each week (or whatever your duration).

Sharing Online Jobs in Seesaw or Another LMS

If you aren't using Google Classroom, you will want to grab the presentation link.

1. To do that, open your edited copy of the slideshow.

2. Click Share and make sure it is shared as a view only link. You won't be using this link...you are just turning it on.

3. Next, go up to the URL of the your slideshow. At the end of the URL you will see the word "edit" and a bunch of other stuff after that. Select up to and including the word "edit" and replace with the word "present"

4. Now copy your entire URL...this is the URL you will share with students (on Seesaw or in your LMS).

One you have the presentation URL, you would share this with students. They can view and click on the online jobs slideshow, but they can't change, delete, or edit it.

You could make one URL and link the URL to your Bitmoji Classroom for example. As you change the jobs each week, you would not need to create a new link!

What other classroom management procedures are you adapting and bringing with you into your online space? What ones are you leaving in "the real world?" If you are using these online jobs in your classroom, be sure to tag me on social media to share with me! I love seeing how you build classroom community into a virtual classroom.

And be sure to check out the ready-made Virtual Jobs for Online Classrooms: Digital Interactive Bulletin Board here.

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Virtual Jobs for Online Classrooms and Distance Learning

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Virtual jobs are a great way to build classroom community when in-person teaching is not an option. Assigning students a specific job to do during an online meeting helps keeps students on ta...

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Click "open in new window" to see the complete form.

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Before completing this form, please ensure you have made multiple attempts to address the problem with the student's family first. Submissions will be reviewed at our Friday afternoon Tier II team meetings. Following the meeting, a student coordinator will reach out to you regarding next steps.

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Before we jump into our list, let's talk about relationships. Remote learning is having a detrimental impact on the mental health of our students and impacting their social and emotional learning learning. Gone are the daily interactions of peers and social activities like lunch or football games. Instead students are stuck at home, often spending hours on their devices, and they are craving meaningful relationships.

As educators, we must make time to check-in with our students. During a live class session, such as through Zoom or Google Meet s, teachers can use the activities provided below to increase engagement and re-connect with students. While some are perfect for enhancing academic learning, many are intended to focus on relationship building and mental health. Only students engaged in learning will find academic success!

But how do we build deeper relationships? The best approach we have found is through using sparks. A spark is what a student is passionate about, what lights them up and gives them well......that "spark". Sparks were developed by the Search Institute, who explains them as follows: "Sparks are the activities and interests that truly engage kids to be their best. Research shows that kids who know and develop their sparks-and who have adults in their lives to help-have higher grades, better school attendance, and a sense of purpose."

In our STEM programs, we use different games and activities to help students find their spark, and then we utilize those sparks throughout the year to personalize activities. Click here to read more about using sparks in the classroom, and click here for a guide on sparks via distance learning. Many of the games below are a perfect way to share and connect with student sparks.

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50 Distance Learning Icebreakers & Games - Vivify STEM

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Are you struggling to engage students during distance learning? Here is a list of 50 icebreakers and games to keep students engaged and motivated during remote learning! Perfect for back to school, these activities also develop important 21st-century skills like communication, creativity, and collab

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First 10 Days of Morning Meetings: Purposeful and Engaging Plans in Response to COVID-19

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First 10 Days of Morning Meetings: Purposeful and Engaging Plans in Response to COVID-19

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from Responsive Classrooms

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The beginning of the school day is an important time for students as they transition from home to school. Helping students make this transition is even more important when they're doing their school work at home. One strategy I use to set the tone for a day of learning is an interactive morning message. The morning message is a daily message from the teacher that is posted for students when they enter the classroom. It can be written on chart paper or projected on the whiteboard. It can also be shared via Google Slides to reach students who are distance learning.

The morning message welcomes students to school and helps reinforce academic skills. Adding an interactive component helps increase student motivation and engagement and builds classroom community. Students anticipate the message and know that their first task each day is to read and respond to it.

Creating an interactive morning message each day may seem like a lot of work, but it's not too difficult. I use a weekly schedule of message themes and repeat the same types of messages each week to streamline the process. This makes planning easy and offers the students predictability. I use alliteration in the theme names to establish a fun, simple routine that is easy to remember.

Math Monday

On Mondays, the morning message includes a math puzzle or problem for students to solve. It can relate to the current lesson or review a prior concept. It can be as simple as a math problem for each student to solve, like adding or dividing or simplifying fractions. Or it can be a complex, multistep word problem that students work together to solve.

Incorporating math into morning messages provides extra time for math. It also allows me to introduce or review topics in a fun and low-stakes manner. Even students who say they aren't good at math often enjoy participating in the morning message and will try problems they might otherwise be reluctant to do.

Tell Me About It Tuesday

On Tuesdays, I pose a question to the class and ask each student to respond. Students can respond directly on the message or, when we're in the classroom, on a sticky note that they stick on or near the message. I like to mix up the format. During distance learning, you can post these questions online and allow students to respond either during a class discussion or in a private message.

I use these questions for a variety of purposes, including getting to know the students, building classroom community, reinforcing academic concepts, and teaching social and emotional learning skills.

Examples include:

What is something a good friend always does?

What is your favorite book that we have read this year?

Which climate would you prefer to live in?

Tell me about a time you learned how to do something hard.

Would You Rather Wednesday

"Would you rather..." is a favorite activity of many children. It provides a quick and easy way for them to voice their opinions. Questions can be outlandish, tied to academic content, based on the season, or even completely random.

Examples include:

Would you rather have a pet unicorn or a pet dinosaur?

Would you rather battle a polar bear or a lion?

I use "Would you rather..." questions to discuss and review tally marks. For older students, they can also initiate a conversation about fractions or probability. Sometimes I ask the students to defend their choice or persuade someone else why their choice is better.

Think Outside the Box Thursday

On Thursdays, students flex their creative thinking muscles and think outside the box. I draw part of an object on the message and provide a photocopy for each student to complete. During distance learning, you can send your simple drawing online and have a parent or guardian either print it out or replicate it on a sheet of paper, and send you a photo of the completed drawing. I impose a time limit for the drawings, and students have the opportunity to share their creations with the class.

I often tie the drawing to the current season or holidays, and I restrain students' thinking by telling them what the object is not-they can turn it into anything else. For instance, if the message contains a drawing of a V, I might add, "It is NOT an ice-cream cone. What could it be?" The students complete their drawing based on the V making it anything but an ice-cream cone.

Thursdays are always my students' favorite morning message. I'm amazed by how creative and artistic they are. This activity also allows students who often struggle with academics to shine.

Figure It Out Fridays

On Fridays, the message contains a riddle or puzzle. Sometimes I use a simple brain teaser, "This is the longest word in the English language." (Answer: "smiles," because it has a mile between the first and last letter). I also introduce analogies, logic puzzles, and word play. These messages help develop critical thinking skills.

Sometimes the puzzle is simple, and students can guess the answer on their own. Other times it's more challenging, and students must work together.

The best morning messages are both fun and instructional. As you experiment with them, you'll figure out what works best for your students.

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Using Morning Messages to Start the Day in Distance Learning

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The beginning of the school day is an important time for students as they transition from home to school. Helping students make this transition is even more important when they're doing their school work at home. One strategy I use to set the tone for a day of learning is an interactive morning message.

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Free Games & Activities for Virtual Class Meetings

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Transitioning to online teaching has been a challenge to say the least. And while I'm not teaching content "live", I am meeting with m...

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With schools cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been a challenging time for all. For teachers, implementing distance learning with little-to-no training ahead of time, has left us overwhelmed and worried as we navigate these unchartered territories.

But what's really amazing, is that in the midst of this uncomfortability and uncertainty, I have witnessed so many teachers come together, and rise to the occasion. We are not giving up. We are committed, as always, to educating our students.

One of my favorite parts of our school day is our morning meetings. Wanting to continue to foster that classroom community and build relationships with my students, I knew I needed to find a way to implement a virtual morning meeting. Today I'm sharing the steps to implementing a morning meeting / classroom meeting with your students, despite not being at school.
Plan Your Meeting Components
Just like any time we teach, the first step is to lesson plan. Decide the components you'd like to include in your virtual class meeting. Then plan for those components. I included a Greeting, Share, Activity, and Message. You can read more about the components of class meetings here. Want a copy of these plans? Click here: Week 1 Virtual Morning Meeting Plans.

Prepare Your Slides
I thought about recording a virtual morning meeting of just myself talking, but what fun would that be? Plus, visuals help students understand better. The picture above shows my slides that I edited for our our first virtual morning meeting. Using the blank templates from my Class Meeting Slides, I added text and a visual to go along with each component you'll see in the plans.

The pictured slides were created using the templates from my Editable Class Meeting/Morning Meeting Slides in my TPT Store.

Select and Set Up a Screencast Program

(spoiler alert: it's easier than it sounds!)

You could just do a screen recording, but here's why I chose not to do that: A screen recording is just that - a recording of your screen. When you use a screencast system, the video captures your screen AND you. This will give your virtual morning meeting a much more personal touch.

There are many screencast programs out there. I have been using Screencastify and Screencast-O-Matic. They're both free and you can use them on chrome. Here's a general overview of how screencasting works:

Install the free program

Select your screen recording options (do you want to record your entire screen, just an application screen - such as powerpoint, or just a webcam)

Start recording!

Save to drive and/or share with your students!

I also love that with Screencastify, you can share directly to Google Classroom!

Record Your Morning Meeting and Share!
Once you have your screencast system selected and running, you're ready to record. Get your slides ready, and press play. Remember, the point is not to be perfect - it's to continue fostering a classroom community with your students, even if it has to be virtual.

When you've finished, share it out to your students. Encourage them to interact/participate with pictures, videos, and comments. If you teach Kindergarten like I do, this may mean that parents have to help. I chose to make the posting participation optional.

To watch my first Virtual Morning Meeting, click here!

For Editable Class Meeting/Morning Meeting Slides click here!

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How to Have a Virtual Morning Meeting During Distance Learning

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With schools cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been a challenging time for all. For teachers, implementing distance learning with little-to-no training ahead of time, has left us overwhelmed and worried as we navigate these unchartered territories.

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Second Step Elementary Remote Class Meeting Guide

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Second Step Elementary Remote Class Meeting Guide

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You’ve reached out to the family multiple times in multiples ways (email, text, voice call) with no response.

You are in contact with the family and have tried interventions, yet the student is still struggling.

Use your professional judgement - no required steps before reaching out to the Tier 2 Team via the form.