Teachers around the country and world are being asked to plan two weeks of lessons that students can do at home. As if lesson planning wasn’t challenging enough, right?!
I have seen the questions posted across social media and facebook groups over the past week. What should we plan for students to do from home in case our school is shut down due to the current corona virus concerns.
To confirm things are getting crazy: This is the scene from my local Target this morning, so I know people are freaking out.
I have been putting a lot of thought into what type of work I could send home for students to accomplish real learning here towards the end of the school year- especially for STAAR testing teachers.
My best lesson ideas for a packet you can send home with students would be grabbing some pieces most of you already have with my Complete Lesson Sets.
- Informational Text with defining key terms
- Graphic Organizer (reading response for the informational text)
- Summary Writing with Key Terms
- Vocabulary/Word Wall Cards
- Vocabulary/Word Wall Building Chart
- Vocabulary/Word Wall Learning Page
- Analyzing Data
- Critical Thinking Writing
Bam! Whole lesson done in printable form! Put one of these together for each week or two of Science that needs to be done at home. I have complete years of lesson sets already made of these resources for 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades. I also have several lesson sets for kindergarten, 1st grade, and middle school science.
Here is a look at what this lesson would look like using activities from one of my second grade complete lesson sets:
AND, for my teacher friends out there who just want a lesson, any lesson, to print and go… Check out this FREEBIE I just made just for you. The following FREE lesson set is designed for students to complete independently and still do REAL learning. I made this to help all of the science teachers needing easy, but quality lessons to prep for school closures due to natural disasters and illnesses like the Corona Virus. But, this would also make a great sub plan or student work when you need to pull small groups. Click the image to grab this FREEBIE.
Another option for those of you needing STAAR Science Test Prep that students can do from home would be my digital escape challenges. Engaging, standards-based for the STAAR science assessed curriculum.
Take a look at how these digital escape challenges work using PowerPoint or Google Slides:
Whether you are planning for students who are out sick, out of town, or a class of kiddos needing to be taught from home, these ideas are a great option to make this task so much easier and less time consuming.
Always here to help you save time and sanity!!