Planning for Distance or In-Class Learning

Planning for both?

At this point in the summer, many teachers are still wondering how school will look in August/September. Will we even physically return to school? Will all learning have to be online or will part of it involve sending packets home. How will ALL kids receive the same quality instruction? So many questions! Let’s talk about what we DO know.

In Class Instruction

My former classroom was smaller, but adequate for distancing. I would remove tables in favor of individual desks for half of my group. The other half would be in personal space circles distanced 6 ft from each other on the carpet. The two halves would rotate every other day after a good disinfecting occurs. Personal supply tubs will travel with the student to their work space. What do you think?

So far, we have learned most schools will need to prepare for both types of instruction. What will it look like in your classroom? Here are some ideas you may like.

From entering your classroom, to classroom procedures, planning for distance learning will all be different.

Planning for Arrival Time:

*Place a tub near your door with sanitizing supplies for starting clean. If your school provides masks, have them ready for students who need them (no guarantee they will keep the mask on, or will not lose it).

*Come up with an attendance cue that does not require sharing of sign-in sheets, or active board sign in. Instead, have students to put a chair down when they arrive. Student chairs still on desks are kids who are absent. Easy!

*Have individual activity tubs for each student. If required to stay at their desk, students will have learning activities that hold their attention . These can be purchased by the case for $1 each (38 in a case) at Dollar Tree online. For kinders, individual name toolkits, tangram cards and manipulatives, making words letters and magnaboard, etc., can be kept in this tub). If you need manipulatives, they need to be individualized–no class tub to share from.

*Store backpacks under chairs (like this) NO backpack would be my preference.

What will your classroom look like?

Here is a mock up of my previous space. I think hula hoops are a solution, but are hard to keep in place. I would opt for tape that can stay in place.

During Class;

*Teach routines for asking questions–raise your hand: 1 finger to ask a question, 2 fingers to share information, 3 to use the restroom. Teach routines for returning to class after a restroom break.

For virtual learning, I would adopt ASL for on/off for microphones during a live meeting. Kids pick up on this quickly, and you never know when sound will fail, but they may still have video. ASL works! See this post for how to use ASL for on and off!

*Have individual manipulatives, art supplies, tissues, and trash bags for each student.

Group Management

Lets be honest, there is no way to call more than 2 kids at a time to your small group table if you want to maintain proper social distancing. I recommend a long table with 1 student seated at each end. If you sit behind the table in the middle, you can conduct components of the small group lesson while maintaining distancing. The frequency with which students are called for small group time each week will change. If you can meet with a student two to three times a week, he/she will gain essential instruction and make progress.

This setup would look different with social distancing. Tables would be removed in favor of individual student desks. One seat at each end of the bucket table with teacher in the middle for small group time. This floor works well for Sit Spots to mark social distancing areas for students to sit if desks are not part of your classroom setup.

Small Group Guided Reading Time

If you have access to an online guided reader library, you can use the digital copy of guided reading books for two students at a time utilizing tablets/ipads. If you have only paper copies, the safer way to use guided readers is to work with students using a document camera and laptop as you focus on components of your guided reading lessons. Use of printable readers for student tubs and take home will be very important!

Tub Activities Management

Keeping Center Tubs clean will be the most challenging aspect of your daily routine. Most of us know having a good centers rotation setup is a life saver when we are instructing small groups. The main change in this setup will be requiring students to take the tub to their own space. Whether it be at a desk or on the floor, students will need to maintain a safe perimeter while they work with the tub activities. Students should be trained to put used tubs in an area of the room the teacher designates as ready for disinfecting. Tubs should only go back to storage area when they are disinfected.

Disinfecting Tip:

At the end of the day, teachers will need to fog the tub with disinfectant, then put a lid on, or cover the tub to let the disinfectant do its job. If tubs have no lids, cover with trash bags and seal after you spray inside the bag.

These are just a few ideas that may help you through the thought process of planning for in-class attended school.

What about At-Home Distanced Learning?

It is likely that part of your time will be spent helping kids learn from home. Whether you have one-one devices, chromebooks, or other devices for student use at home, every option you choose will need to address most of them. This is the reason @Seesaw makes sense!

Our kinders are so hands-on! They need fine motor practice, identifying letters and sounds activities, counting, manipulatives for showing learning, and much more! Here are a few ideas for digital distanced learning:

As many teachers will tell you, Seesaw is the best digital tool for distanced learning! It has built in annotating tools so littles can use fingers or a stylus to manipulate pens or shapes to complete activities. If your school requires Google Classroom, google apps work seamlessly with Seesaw.

Do you need a beginning of school lesson plan for kinder? Here is a FREE Seesaw Activity for you!

Learning Games on Boomlearning.com

If you haven’t heard of Boomlearning.com, you need to take a look! Teachers are uploading tons of games that address skills you will teach this year, and they are all online for easy at-home access!

Here are a few I have made for CVC Words: