We have already talked about setting up your digital classroom and exploring technology tools. Today we will discuss something else all teachers should do to prepare for next school year:

You can take time to find resources that will work with in class learning AND digital learning.

The summer is when I find and create those teaching resources for the upcoming year. This is the time where I find the projects and activities that I can use throughout the year to supplement my provided curriculum. I'm still doing this this summer, but this year I am making sure that each resource can be used in a paper format and a digital format. This way I am prepared for whatever type of learning we're doing next year. 

Digital formatting of paper resources can be very diverse. Since I use Google Classroom, I tend to use Google Drive formats like Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Forms to create digital resources. Other people choose to use websites like Quizlet, Kahoot, Smart Learning Suite and Gimkit to create digital resources. Additionally, some websites provide digital versions of print resources. Zearn, for example, gives you a perfect digital resource to go with the math curriculum from Engage New York (also known as Eureka Math).

One of my favorite resource is my math tiling puzzles. I use them in class to model problem solving skills, as well as the inverse nature of operations (ie. using addition to solve subtraction). Then students use tiling puzzles as a center activity, as an early finisher challenge and as a homework extension. Since I know I want these available next year - whatever next year holds - I created a digital version of each of these puzzles. I used Google Slides to make puzzles where the kiddos can pull the tiles into the different equations, and I tried them out with my kiddos this year. They worked perfectly! Now I have the paper copies for in the classroom and the digital copies that will work for distance learning or in class at a computer center.

You can download one puzzle from each of my sets for free on Teachers Pay Teachers. Here are the links to these free tiling puzzles:
Addition Facts - digital version and print version
Subtraction Facts - digital version and print version
Addition with Regrouping  - digital version and print version
Subtraction with Regrouping  - digital version and print version
Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping - digital version and print version
Multiplication Facts - digital version and print version
Division Facts - digital version and print version
2 Digit Multiplication - digital version and print version
3 or 4 Digit Multiplication - digital version and print version
Long Division - digital version and print version

Throughout the summer I will be taking more and more of my paper resources and creating digital versions. If you sign up to follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store, you will receive an e-mail each time I add a new digital version.

Yesterday we talked about setting up your digital classroom. Today we will discuss something else all teachers should do to prepare for next school year:
​
You can explore a new technology tool.

So if you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a super techie. I LOVE trying out new technology tools and playing with new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. However, I fought trying new things during my 6 weeks of distance learning instruction. Our time with distance learning was so short that by the time the student and I adjusted and were ready to try new tech tools, our time was about up.

However, I did try one new tool during the last week of instruction. I started using Whiteboard.fi with my class while I was doing "live lesson" Google Meets.  As soon as I started using it, I wished I had been using it the whole time. It was such a beneficial tool during our Google Meet classes because I could see what each kiddo was doing and knew who was stuck and who was ready to move on. I could create a template and send it to all of my students. I could actually feel like I was teaching instead of just talking at my kiddos.

Of course, as soon as I started playing with this new technology tool, I thought of ways to use this in a brick and mortar school. Students could have an assignment pushed to them that they could work on as they rotate through a computer center. Then we could look at everyone's work all together. It could be used in small groups to save paper and practice computer skills. In a one to one device situation students could work out math problems, circle parts of words or even draw visualization pictures of a read aloud. Then we can review whole group and be able to see each and every students' thinking.​

Learning Technology Tools Takes Time

So why did I start using this technology tool so late into the process? Because I was overwhelmed with trying to learn how to use these other technology tools. Each new tool that we use has to be learned, played with and tried out. What better time to explore and find new technology tools than when we are staying at home trying to prepare for next year. If we end up back in our classrooms next year, then we will have great new tools for presentation, extension and technology integration. If we end up doing distance learning, we will have some new important ways to teach from far away. Either way, it's a win/win!
Looking for some technology tools to check out? I suggest checking out these blog posts:
Top Tech Tools for Teachers
Technology Infused Math Lessons
Creating Collaborative Slide Shows
Using Voice Recording Software

You also might want to check out these specific tech tools:  
Whiteboard.fi
Prezi
Powtoon
Classroom Screen
PearDeck
Near Pod
Smart Learning Suite.

FREE Resources for Your Classroom

As you take some time to explore new tech tools this summer, here are some free resources which may help you out:

Earth Day Video Creation Project -  This video creation project guides you and your students through the creation of a video about the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Online Book Report - This resource helps students create a digital book report about any book that they have read.

June Digital Learning Resource Bundle Giveaway

Now time for our giveaway!!! With today's giveaway entry form, you will be entering to win my 5th Grade Internet Scavenger Hunt Bundle. This bundle includes: 8 different internet scavenger hunts. Each scavenger hunt comes with 4 different formats: .doc format that allows students to type on them, a .pdf that allows students to click the links, a QR code version that allows students to scan QR codes and a Google Classroom version that includes a Google Doc and a Google Form. Enter to win this Internet Scavenger Hunt Bundle, by completing the June Giveaway Entry Form #2.  

All winners will be chosen on July 1st.  Winners will receive the bundle directly to the provided email. All those who enter will also receive my monthly Raki's Rad Resources News Releases.
​
Interested in more tips on how to prepare for the unpreparable 2020/2021 school year? Come back tomorrow for tip #3!

Missed a day? This blog post contains the entire list of 10 Things You Can Do to Prepare for Next School Year.

Today we will begin with the first thing all teachers should do to prepare for next school year:

You can prepare a digital classroom.

My current school uses Google Classroom for our digital classrooms. However, digital classrooms can also be created using Edmodo, Schoology, Seesaw, Otus, Kiddom, Canvas, and many other platforms. Technically, you could build a digital classroom out of any website with forums, if you had enough coding experience. Personally, I like using a program like Google Classroom or Edmodo, where someone else has done the heavy lifting and all I have to do is create assignments.

The essence of a digital classroom is that it provides you with an online place to: give students access to website links, videos, digital documents, etc. Then the students have a place to complete assignments, ask and answer questions and post what they have completed. This can look very different from class to to class depending on the age of the students and the subject area(s) being studied. Personally, I spend time each year organizing my digital classroom similarly to how I organize my bricks and mortar classroom. In my Google Classroom, I create "topics" with each subject area so that kiddos can go and find everything they need for that topic. To me this is the same as putting all of the math manipulatives in one cabinet and the ELA materials in another. It helps me, AND THE KIDS, know where to get the learning materials needed.

Digital Classrooms work in Traditional Classrooms Too

Digital classrooms are not only helpful when you are doing distance learning. Having a digital classroom when you are in a brick and mortar school gives you a way to give students website links, videos and activities in an organized and easy to access way.  This is much easier than having students type in links, often incorrectly, wasting learning time with technology issues. Within the classroom, students can use the digital classroom when they are at a computer center, in the computer lab, or any other time they are working on a device (Chromebook, iPad, laptop, etc.) in your classroom. 

Digital classrooms also allow students to continue working on these assignments at home, which is a good feature for distance learning, but is also helpful when we are in a brick and mortar school and students want or need extension and remediation activities at home. I have used digital classrooms to post videos that help students through homework assignments and family projects. I have used digital classroom to help students remember links and passwords to websites we use in class - like Zearn, Freckle, Duolingo, etc. My students also have access to all of the videos we use in class (skip counting videos, background knowledge videos, teaching videos etc.) at home. So if they miss a day or they need to review what we did, they have access to everything everywhere.
​
If we are back to "normal" come fall, having a digital classroom will be beneficial. If we are doing "distance learning" or any kind of "hybrid learning" situation, having a digital classroom will be a necessity.  So basically, working on a digital classroom will be a win/win activity for all teachers to work on this summer.