Bitmoji Classroom

We started our learning online and we needed a way to make the links easy to access enter, Bitmoji Classroom! I'll admit I was skeptical at first as I thought it was merely for a cute effect, but I was wrong! Here is what it looked like while we were learning from home.

This site has helped us stay organized. It helped immensely when we were learning in a remote setting becuase the kids were able to login to our Google Meet on their own and easily see what pictures we were asking them to click on while in class. Toggling between tabs was a whole other thing but moving on...  It was user friendly for our first graders and the fun factor of Bitmoji helps too. Ha!

Now tha we're back in the classroom I'm still finding it very useful. I've created slides for our Must Do May Do station time in both reading and math. I've also done a digital word wall, and am currently working on an intervention page. 

It's helping when students are absent too. The kid are able to access the Must Do May Do lists and can work on them from home if they have access to a device. The images are all links to these platforms and the kids can access the assignent from there.

If you're teaching remotely or in person I hope it's going well for you! 

How are you using Bitmoji in your classroom?

Mentor Text of the Month

There are tons of books out there and as Jen Jones says, you need to read tons and tons of books to get good enough to help kids. I stumbled upon this one last year and just have rediscovered how much I love it!

This one is a gem....

Teaching Points:

Plot

Summarizing

Setting

Settings can change.

Characters feelings change.

Illustrations help us understand the story.

Verbs

Lesson

Theme

Kevin is a Koala who likes his life the way it is in the savannah. People encourage him to try new things, but he doesn't like change so he stays in his safe tree. Then one day his tree is knocked down and he learns that trying something new can actually be the most fun!

The illustrtions are amazing, and the message is great. 

Your students will love it!

Happy reading!

Individual Supplies for Hands-on Activities

In the current situation our students can't have common supplies. Our team still wanted students to have hands on materials so we came up with a plan!

Indivudaly supply trays! The goal was to spend as little money as possible, but still give the kids items that could be used only by them. Many of the items we had in our classrooms, but some items we did have to purchase of Dolllar Tree and Amazon.

I had many skinny baskets for turning in papers, but I needed more so I ordered these from Oriental Trading. 

They fit perfectly in the one side of the students desk.

Inside the basket...

Small plastic conainer with 2 dice. You can always give different dice to students to differentiate.

Reusable makeup remover pad (From Dollar Tree) to be used as an eraser

Bag of 20 counters- used unifix blocks, foam squares, Target erasers erc. Each kid has their own object so if one falls on the floor we know who it belongs to and can return it without a problem.

Bumpy board- Orton Gilligham tool.

Play doh for word work.

Dry erase pocket with cardstock inserts for hands on math and reading practice.We have been able to use less paper because we turned a lot of the papers into cardstock inserts for the dry erase pockets.

Pencil Sharpener- works well for some students and others can't handle it so use your judgement here.

Magnet Letters

Number cards 1-20

Word wallet- we put our weekly word cards in here. To make: fold a sheet of cardstock in half long ways, fold in half the other way and stape the ends.

These items have become so helpful to us. 

If you have ideas share them in the comments below! We are better when we work together!

Mixed Math Fact Station

My favorite kind of math stations are those that can easily be implemented, have flexible uses, and can be differentiated. I like to be able to put something out and allow the kids to use it repeatedly if possible. This makes less prep for me, and allows the kids to feel like they can complete the task.

This station is one of the kids' favorites.
The kids can work together or independently on this station.

There are also 2 levels of practice which keeps everyone engaged. The purple ones are addition and subtraction. The yellow, pink and orange set have multipilcation and 3 addends.

After they practice this one a few times I give them blank templates of these petals and centers so they can create their own. This increases rigor, and the kids love creatiing stations that a peer must complete.

What stations do you find the most helpful to your students?
Interested in this one!? Here it is!