Have you returned to in person learning yet? Are struggling to figure out how to keep students engaged with meaningful activities while staying 6 feet apart? This has been challenge for me. I am used to hands on learning with centers. Paper and pencil activities have their place in a classroom, but all day long seems like WAY to much. I am definitely trying to get creative. We do a lot of cut and paste activities and we do a lot of smartboard activities.
I have used these Interactive Fall Math Books for YEARS. Do you remember when interactive everything was really popular 5 years ago? This was my take on it. I didn’t want to mess with a journal, full of loose papers that may fall apart, so I made individual interactive books. The kids love them because they have their own “book” when they are all done. Your early finishers can sit there and “read” their book while they wait with their friends to finish. There are 7 books in all. You can purchase these books here.
This is another classic activity that I have used for years. Fall Read It, Write It, Build It. Here is a trick I adapted this year for the sentences – I am the only one that touches the word cards in the pocket chart, but I do still have students pick the picture cards. I do allow students to come up, one at a time and point to the sentences to read them. Yes, I bought individual pointers for each student at the Dollar Tree. I keep the pocket chart 6 feet away from any students and allow them to come up one at time. I am also so grateful that I have these books! If it wasn’t for individual books, these students would never get to read. They keep the books in their desk and if they finish something early, they can take the book out to read.
I also LOVE these Read Write Build Simple sentences. You can pull several skills from these, including word counting, sight word recognition, handwriting, word spacing, pictures match words, plus the fine motor benefits of cutting, gluing, drawing, and writing. These are NOT just fall themed. They are designed for the entire year.
If you all know me, you know I love a good craft. This FREE Scarecrow craft is no different. You can get this FREE Template HERE. If you are interested in additional fall crafts, check out this blog post here.
Finally, I do a lot of Google Slides. You can show these on your Smartboard. If you are fortunate enough to have individual student pointers, you can have students come up and point. Otherwise, you can point and say this or that? Count with me. What letter is this? What number is this? You can ask the entire class or individual students (I like to shake it up).You can assign them in a Google Classroom. I am really enjoying these Fall Math and Literacy Google Slides. I have a FREE sample for you to try here. You can find all of my Google Slides here.
My last piece of advice- Movement breaks are your friend. These kids have to sit for WAY to long. Every 10-15 minutes, play a Jack Hartman video. Do a GoNoodle. Get those little bodies moving, even if they can’t sing, they can here the songs. Let them stand next to their chair and MOVE. Is it a challenge to teach Kindergarteners, while maintaining social distance? Yes. Can we make the best of it? Absolutely. Our attitude is a HUGE component in student success. Make the bets of it.
