Hi everyone,
What a glorious bank holiday weekend. I have been trying to avoid the laptop all weekend to get some much needed down time. And it worked until today. I find the start of the week very busy as I send out emails with daily plans and individual plans for some of my SEN students.
I have been trying to plan out the month of June for my class to reduce the workload and also ensure they are engaging as much as they can until the end of term. It always proves difficult with 6th class so distance learning makes it so much harder.
Microsoft Teams
I have been using Teams with the class since the start of Term 3. I like the set up and how you can add direct links to sites that open in Teams which was ideal for the ebooks I used. I have also used Teams to video call my class and this has worked well. I tried to call on Friday for recap of the week and some games and then I tried a lesson on English writing on Tuesdays. It worked really well, and the class could ask questions from the work I sent through on Monday. I will continue these Teams calls but the actual lessons will reduce as the end of term approaches
Quiz Week
I am a huge fan of Kahoot and have used it all year with my class and even during Distance Learning. However to play it live the children need two devices and this wasn’t an option for my class. I have since discovered myquiz.org where you can create quizzes and host them live. It isn’t as animated as Kahoot and as far as I know it doesn’t have the same question varieties but it is definitely a hit with my class. They like playing live with their peers and it can be done with just one device and doesn’t need video calls or screen sharing. This week I am planning a quiz week for the whole school and sharing links to the Quiz of the Day to all families. Hopefully it will go well. My class have been busy planning their own questions and rounds for the Quiz Week.
As June approaches I wanted to change my plan, include a variety of activities and virtual tours. I had planned a virtual tour week, however I felt the engagement would decrease if I had the tours too early so I have planned my weeks out like this instead.
Make and Do Monday
On advice from my nephew I am going to do Make and Do Monday, he said it would be something nice to look forward to after the weekend. I know I struggle on Mondays sometimes and I’m sure so do some of my class. So I am planning some nice make and do activities each Monday. They will include an Art lessons, STEM challenges (from the amazing Playful Classroom) along with a written response or oral response on Flipgrid
Tech Tuesday
On Tuesday the class will work on online games such as Hit the Button on TopMarks and Coding activities from Hour of Code. I have also planned other activities such as Webwise lessons and Digital Footprint. We covered this in class for Safer Internet Day so it will be a nice recap to our year.
Where we off to Wednesday
Virtual Tours each Wednesday is my plan. This week my plan is to visit the various NASA virtual tours such as the Zero Gravity facility. The class will complete a written task based on the tours they chose at NASA and at the end of the day to complete the free Spaced Explorer Training Digital Escape Rooms.
Tasty Thursday
My class are all keen bakers and chefs, I have seen the efforts for Book Club during the year so on a Thursday it will be a Bake Off/Cook Off where they can share their favourite dishes. They will also create a procedure text on Word or Book Creator and then I will make a class book of recipes to send to everyone at the end of Term. I will also include different questions/puzzles for shopping bargains to incorporate real life maths too.
Fitness Friday
I recently was asked to help Skoolbox.ie and review their products. I was gifted a membership so I am sharing the information with my class so they can engage in different activities such as Gymnastics, Yoga or Dance on a Friday. I am also going to look at a different Olympic event each week and get the class to do a little research on different events too.
I am hoping that these activities each week will encourage the class to stay engaged until the end of June. We also have different weekly challenges shared between the staff for families to take part in.
How are you planning for June??
Aistear Muinteoir
Aistear Múinteoir 