Yes! We can make our virtual classrooms vibrant and exciting no matter what grade we are teaching.
While not the best situation for all students, online learning is a great alternative during this scary and uncertain time. So let’s make the most of this wonderful opportunity to relate to our students and their families in a new and rewarding way.
Just like in-person learning, all of the “best practices” in teaching still apply in the virtual arena…only now they are even more crucial. Here are a few ideas to get you started!
A Solid Morning Routine Is Key
Working online can have an impersonal feel, especially to a child. So greet each student with a cheerful hello as soon as they log on each morning. Allow students to join before class starts. You need time to interact with them and they usually have a lot to tell you!
Build community in your virtual classroom by encouraging your students to say “hi” to each other too. Insert a couple of “social breaks” into your daily schedule to give the children opportunities to talk to each other. (More on this in a future post.)
After morning prayers and Pledge of Allegiance, conduct a fun and fast- paced morning meeting to set the tone for the day. Have them write the day and date in their notebook or on a post-it. As simple as that sounds, writing and posting the date really helps students to orient themselves in an online environment.
What Is the Weather Today?
A weather report is another great way to help them mark the passage of time. Each student can create a colorful weekly weather calendar from a template you provide.
The weather calendar also offers lots of opportunities for Math and Science conversations, vocabulary acquisition, and student sharing. Have intermediate students find the daily temperature online and plot their data on a graph.
Music and Videos Bring the Day Into Focus
I love to start the day with a song, so I have a “happy” playlist with of a variety of upbeat tunes most kids have never heard before. We enjoy listening to, and sometimes singing, one of these gems a few mornings a week.
Another way to put a smile on those little faces each morning is to play a lively music video like “Taco Tuesday,” (on Tuesday of course!) Or a bright video rendition of the “Days of the Week,” or “Months of the Year.” Just make sure to change it up, so the songs/videos are always fresh and never boring.
Get Them Involved with a Classroom Job
Students love to help their teacher, and there are lots of ways they can assist online. Try to involve as many students as you can with some creative, age appropriate, tasks they can choose from each week.
Some ideas: prayer leader, flag holder, weather reporter, scribe to model the day/date, bell ringer to start class, textbook manager, and the catch-all “teachers helper.” A student may even serve as the “Bathroom Break Reminder Person!”
As the year progresses, new jobs can be added for variety…such as Spelling Checker or Reader-Of-Directions, or whatever you can think of! Jobs give students a feeling of belonging, which is extremely important in an online setting.
More to Come
Next time we’ll explore even more ideas to make the virtual classroom a wonderful place where children can learn and make new friends.