I hope you are doing okay and taking care of yourself during this difficult and stressful time. I just learned that North Carolina schools will be closed through May 15 (possibly longer). I am so sad about the sudden end to this school year, before my students and I were ready for it.
I saw this post on Facebook and it encouraged me. I hope it will do the same for you. It was posted HERE by Ken Buck.
As a board member and veteran English teacher, I have felt the urge to write down my thoughts and how incredibly proud I am of educators. Here are my thoughts over coffee this morning:
We gave educators almost no notice. We asked them to completely redesign what school looks like and in about 24 hours local administrators and teachers “Apollo 13’ed” the problem and fixed it. Kids learning, children being fed, needs being met in the midst of a global crisis.
No state agency did this, no so-called national experts on curriculum. The local educators fixed it in hours. HOURS.
In fact, existing state and federal policies actually created multiple roadblocks. Local schools figured out how to do it around those too. No complaining and no handwringing – just solutions and amazingly clever plans.
Remember that the next time someone tries to convince you that schools are better run by mandates from non-educators. Remember that the next time someone tells you that teachers have it easy or try to persuade you that educators are not among the smartest, most ingenious people in society. And please never say to me again, “Those who can’t do anything else just go into teaching.”
Get out of the way of a teacher and watch with amazement of what really happens.
And now — here we go with round three of resources for distance learning during our school closures. I hope you find some good resources to use for your own students OR for your own children!
I’ve also updated the PDF list of resources from all three posts if you want to download it.
Resources for all subjects
Distance learning lessons from North Carolina Teachers of the Year – there are some great lessons here for all subjects and all grades! They are adding a new elementary lesson (grades K-5) every day at 9 a.m. and a secondary lesson (grades 6-12) every day at 9:30 a.m.
Extended at-home learning board from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in North Carolina.
Elementary digital learning links Padlet
*List of web resources organized on a google sheet. They are organized by grade level and subject!
*YouTube channels for kids ages 5 and up.
This is an awesome list of web resources organized on a google sheet. They are organized by grade level and subject!
*Another awesome list of organized resources on a google sheet. This comes from the Milwaukee with Kids team.
*List of live virtual opportunities that are organized by the time of day they are available!
I love this list of live virtual opportunities which are organized by the time of day they are available!
Reading resources
List of online read-alouds & other learning options
Site about the importance of reading aloud to kids. Did you know that March is read-aloud month?
Authors Everywhere YouTube channel
Knowledge on the Go – knowledge-building content for grades K-12! This is updated daily.
Writing resources
I’ve seen lots of suggestions about having kids document this pandemic and create their own primary source. If you’re interested in doing that, here are some great resources for it.
Historical moment journal prompts organized on google slides
Another option, based on the popular “I Survived . . .” historical fiction books:
Another option, based on the books.
Primary source journal prompts on google slides
New York Times coronavirus resources (if you want students to do some research)
This looks fun. Save Our Habitat gives students a different picture and prompts to write about each day.
Math resources
Rio School District K-8 math resources, organized by grade. Also take a look at the second page where they post some other great resources.
Investigations curriculum games, organized by grade level:
Bedtime Math – fun family math puzzles
Estimation 180 – I love this site & completely forgot about including it in my earlier lists.
Knowledge on the Go – math knowledge-building content for grades K-12! This is updated daily.
Content areas
Knowledge on the Go – science knowledge-building content for grades K-12! This is updated daily.
Weekend fun – google slides
Best nature webcams from We Are Teachers website
That’s it for now! I’ll keep up the hunt for great free resources to share. My next posts will be tips for teachers doing distance learning for the first time (like I’m doing) and tips for parents. I’m also working on a post about building community when you can only connect with students online. Subscribe so you never miss a post!