Virtual learning, distance learning, asynchronous, synchronous, unprecedented times, flexibility. The words we are tired of hearing, am I right?? Let’s chat about the first day of (virtual) school!
I’m going to take you through my first day of (virtual) school slides. It kept me organized to have everything I would be doing in one powerpoint (or in this case-google slide deck).
When students/parents logged on, they saw this slide presented. I was still able to speak with them, but I was waving hi and saying their names, they said hi back and would go on mute so we could wait for the rest of us.
I went in 15 minutes early and started the timer at 10 minutes. I included a timer to keep us on track and allowing students time to come in.
Next we introduced ourselves with our favorite color. I was trying to get them to speak up in the class with something low-risk, like favorite color.
Following our introductions, we all “unmuted” and greeted each other by name. I would say “let’s meet _____” and we would all say “Nice to meet you _____!”
I shared a read aloud (First Grade Drop Out-aff link). I picked this as my first read aloud because I wanted to share something silly to start the year.
We did a quick check in with our first day feelings (using images I googled for kid faces). Since I wasn’t sure their skill level, I kept it to showing me their feelings on their fingers. Once we went over our chat feature, I use that a lot for students to put the number of their feelings in the chat box. If my students had greater digital abilities (possibly 2nd and above) I would use THIS FIRST DAY FEELS DIGITAL ACTIVITY.
We played “Simon Says” with our Google Meet features to make sure we knew had to get around. They were pretty quick to figure these features out! I left this up and I would say, “Simon says type your name in the chat”, “Simon says unmute…”, etc. They loved it. I also made sure I had printable pictures of the symbols (I found those free HERE).
After that, we went over what they would be doing for the rest of the day (with the help of their parents). I’m a big fan of icons and emojis. Any visuals really, especially for young ones and language learners. I went over their agenda, learning targets for the day, brain break sheet, and calendar for the week!
I don’t have these exact slides ready to go for you, but I do have editable slides that are very similar and ready for you to make just right for your classroom!
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