Well, we are all in a situation that none of us could have imagined even a month ago. My school is out for Spring Break next week and at least an extra week after that. It is the expectation that our teachers provide distance learning for our students beginning the Wednesday after Spring Break, so the teachers are scrambling to learn technology and find a good variety of math tasks to create an engaging, yet meaningful, distance learning experience. We don’t want students to just sit in front of the computer for all of their lessons, so we’re looking for some balance. Let me say that I am no expert on distance learning, but I wanted to provide some resources that might be helpful. This post features online math resources, and I am working on a second post for tomorrow featuring free materials you can download and send home.
Online Resources
No need to reinvent the wheel. Check out this post from We Are Teachers for an extensive list of online resources. Many are resources that have always been free, but others, like Brain Pop, are waiving their fees to support schools that have closed.
Seesaw is an amazing platform that is perfect for supporting distance learning. If you are not familiar with Seesaw, you might want to take a minute to watch this intro video. Even if you have not already been using Seesaw with your class, they have set up a special page to help you get started. The page includes step-by-step directions for everything you’ll need to set up your class and get going. It is a super easy platform to learn!
Do you want to be able to narrate a lesson and show students how to work out a particular type of problem? Screencast-o-matic is the tool you’re looking for. The base product is free, or you can upgrade for less than $2 a month to access a more robust product with video editing features. Honestly, you can probably do what you want with the free version. You can record just your screen, but you can also record from your webcam so your students can see you as well. Check out this short tutorial video.
If you don’t already know about Khan Academy, prepare for your mind to be blown! Check out this page for parent and educator quick start guides and video tutorials.
Bedtime Math is a website that aims to “make kids love math like dessert.” The activities on the website are designed for parents to do with their children, so they are perfect for incorporating into your overall distance learning plan. You can access their archive of activities by month or category using the search function on the right side-bar, and they also have links to their free apps!
Finally, if you want to provide your parents with a variety of websites that children can use to continue practicing fact fluency, click here to grab a flyer for addition practice, and check out this post for a multiplication game flyer.
Majority of my Kindergarten students do not have Internet. What about resources for them?
Understood! Check out this post for some offline options. More to come in the near future.
Dear Dona, I enrolled in you upcoming workshop in Houston. I wonder what is going to happen with it. I’m not sure on how I can communicate better with you. Can I have an email?
Thank you.
Yngrid Hornickel
Hey, Yndrid. Good to hear from you! The short answer is that I don’t know at this point. There’s really no way to predict the situation that far out. If it’s not possible to have the workshop in June, I will likely try to reschedule it for the fall. For those who would rather have a refund than attend the rescheduled workshop, I am happy to do that. Be well!
Will any of the resources help with kids with learning challenges/IEP?
Students with learning challenges often need more hands-on activities, but depending on a child’s particular program, these activities could definitely be used.