Blog – MrsJennings.com

Why I Love Boom Cards

This year, I’ve been teaching entirely virtual. Our district decided to open with distance learning and we’ve stayed that way all year so far. There are rumors about going back into the classroom, but at this point, they are just rumors with no return date in sight. Our district purchased all kinds of technology for us, which is great, including Seesaw. But, a site that I love, and our district didn’t purchase, unfortunately, is Boom Cards (wow.boomlearning.com). Basically, they are auto-correcting task cards. A no-brainer, really!

The Gist

Boom Cards are auto-correcting task cards.
With an upgraded, low-cost membership, you can view student reports.
Affordable and free decks are available (decks are the equivalent of a set of task cards.)
Easy for the kids to use (they need a username and password that you, the teacher, create).
Free play is available for free accounts, but there are no reports with that option.

Distance Learning

Preparing for the New School Year During a Pandemic

Well, where do I even begin…I guess with how things went the last three months of school while I was teaching and the kids were learning at home. Over all, I felt I had a good system in place and a good turn-out in terms of students engaging and completing work. But, truthfully, it wasn’t perfect and I didn’t have 100% engagement. With that in mind, and no plan in place for our school district as of yet, I’m trying to prepare for all kinds of learning and teaching methods.

The Gist

Preparing for both online and in-class teaching since our district hasn’t announced a plan yet
Keeping the tech simple enough for parents and students to feel comfortable
Researching ways to get closer to 100% engagement of students
Realizing I need to be super flexible and not commit 100% to anything just yet

Distance Learning

How Distance Teaching Is Going So Far

We are finally on spring break this week, which gives me time to catch my breath a bit. For the past three weeks, we transitioned from the classroom to distance learning, or e-learning. Distance teaching at the elementary level is tricky and a bit of a struggle, but here’s how I’m making it work:

The Gist

I absolutely love Seesaw more than ever!
Task cards work great for a grammar and math warm-up.
Chunking learning activities works best for the students.
Sticking to a schedule Monday thru Thursday and having a flexible Friday is working.

Emergency

How I Plan to Teach During the Coronavirus Closure

I wasn’t too worried about schools closing due to the Coronavirus until this week. The virus outbreak became too real as events were canceled, colleges went to teaching online, and the president finally looked presidential in his address to the nation. It also doesn’t help that our school’s rumor mill is predicting a closure date. UPDATE: We are closing Monday, March 16th. (I started writing this a couple of days ago.) With three weeks until spring break, I came up with a plan to continue teaching from the comfort of my house and hope my students engage in the lessons since this is our new reality.

The Gist

Sending a work packet and activities home that everyone can do to bridge the equity gap.
Using SeeSaw to fill in with additional lessons and activities, including videos to make it seem more like real teaching is occurring for my students.
Using Bloomz to stay connected with parents.

Organization

Why I Love Task Cards

I first started using task cards when I became a resource teacher. They were a great way to quickly review topics, get the kids up and moving by playing Scoot with them, and I could have the students work independently on specific sets. When I moved to kindergarten, I used kinder task cards in center activities. And this year in fourth grade, I’m using them as a “May Do” activity and when I want to review a topic.

The Gist

Task cards can be used in many ways: playing Scoot, a May Do independent activity, or as a review.
I organize them in a task card bin with rubber bands and pull out the ones that match topics I’m teaching and put them in document cases. The answer sheets are kept in a binder.

Core Literature

My Favorite Novel Study At the Moment

Switching to fourth from kindergarten this year opened up a new way to teach literacy: core literature in the form of novels! Such an exciting way to introduce novels to students. Since I hadn’t taught a novel in a few years, I asked my colleagues for some suggestions on books and how to go about teaching a novel to a whole class. I got a great recommendation on a book that was grade level appropriate, By the Great Horn Spoon, but I wasn’t thrilled with the packet a teacher offered me. It seemed a bit dated, and frankly, boring for the students. Instead, I wanted to make it more of a “project” report, so I searched Teachers Pay Teachers and found the perfect guide by Ms Cookie.

The Gist

Instead of teaching a current unit in our curriculum, I decided to dedicate four weeks to the novel. It tied in nicely with our social studies.
I used Ms Cookie’s hyper doc with the whole class, but to make it a little simpler, I used SeeSaw to post follow up activities per chapter or every couple of chapters instead of Google Classroom.
To better organize the students’ notes, I used a file folder with a two-prong fastener (I love using these!) to hold everything they needed.

Class Management

Managing My Time With Checklists

Balancing teaching and a personal life can be hard. The lines begin to blur a bit on weekends, after school, and even during holiday breaks. It’s easy to get stuck at school for hours on end and still feel like nothing gets done. I personally can’t be in my room past 3:30 p.m. without feeling like I “live” there. To get out of my room in a timely manner without feeling like I haven’t accomplished anything, I use checklists to manage my time.

The Gist

A checklist of tasks for the morning and afternoon keep me on track.
Using checklists to check student work keeps grading from becoming unruly.
Organizing a “turn-in bin” and “drop box” keeps paperwork manageable.

Teachers Pay Teachers

How I Use Teachers Pay Teachers

I first heard about Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) many years ago. I was quite intrigued to find a site where I could download classroom lessons and activities for free or a low cost, especially as a new teacher back then. As my teaching years passed, I realized I could also sell my own lessons and activities and help pay for activities I purchase through TPT; it was a win-win.

The Gist

I purchase activities from TPT I just wouldn’t have time to create myself (ie. project-based units).
I use TPT activities when I’m switching to a new grade level to help me fill in curriculum gaps.
I sell lessons I’ve created and used successfully in my own classroom to make a few extra bucks here and there.

Reading

How I Finally got SeeSaw To Work For Me

I first heard about SeeSaw a few years ago through a colleague. I tried implementing it a couple of years ago while I was in kindergarten, and I just couldn’t quite get the students to use it appropriately or monitor them efficiently. So I gave up using it in kinder. Then I tried again twice this year in fourth grade, and I finally am getting the hang of using it efficiently in the classroom.

The Gist

Posting directions for complex projects broken into smaller, bite-sized pieces is my favorite use of SeeSaw so far.
For example, directions to follow-up activities to core literature are posted in SeeSaw, and the students complete them.
The students write “DONE” in the notes section when they complete the activity in a notebook.
I prefer using this in the upper grades versus kinder.

Reading

Freebie: Syllable Sections

Helping struggling readers can be challenging. Why they struggle with reading can range from a lack of phonemic awareness, not knowing vowel patterns, syllable patterns, and not ever mastering their sight words. This year in fourth grade, I have many struggling readers that have one or more of these challenges. So, I’ve started tackling breaking down syllables with syllable strips.

The Gist

Small, targeted sessions help struggling readers
Hands-on materials reinforce skills, such as the syllable strips
Read, read, read