Ms. Avrick's Owlets: Engaging Little Minds from Far Away

Teaching can be difficult when teaching from a distance and especially when teaching from across a city or from inside a computer screen. Grabbing the attention of small minds inside the classroom is not an easy task and putting any sort of distance between you and those students makes it all the more difficult. Here are some ways that I have found to be successfully engaging when working with my students:

#1: Use Movement

I have found that using movement has made distance learning more engaging for my students. I use a LOT of hand motions, not only do I make hand motions, but the students will repeat the hand motions as well. they can be motions that go along with the lesson like pointing to the directions (North, South, East, West) or silly things like using your tentacle arms to feed yourself just like squid, when learning about Squids during a nonfiction reading unit. Anytime I can get the students to move around I try to add it in. Another way to keep the students engaged with movement in a easy way is have all the students stand up and give an answer to a question or add to a discussion. Often this encourages active listening and they are not sitting a bit of time which is good for their health.

#2: Sing It Out

Okay, I know you may not be a singer, but kids love to sing. I guarantee you that my signing voice is not top notch, but the kids love when I randomly sing the answer. It breaks the monotony of a normal voice or 'lecture' and wakes the students up a little bit. Try it. You may like it.

#3: Create Things

One thing that the students get to do in the school building that they don't get to do as much during distance learning is to create things. Use their creative side and really make things. We have been learning about text features lately and I assigned the students a Google Slide activity that asked them to create their own nonfiction book page about an animal that includes text features. I was very pleased with how it turned out. The students did such a great job. Here are some of the final products and it cemented these text features in their minds.

You can find this activity in the SHOP tab or by clicking here.

Having students work on their journals at home is always a useful tool as well. Working from a digital tool and transferring answers or information into a journal is a good way to keep students on task and I find it helps them remember the skills they are learning. It's also much easier for smaller students to work this way. Check out these Reading Choice Boards.